Leyland Quits Marlins, Talks to Rockies

Jim Leyland resigned as manager of the Florida Marlins on Thursday, four days after the team finished with the worst record in the National League since 1969.

The Marlins won the World Series in 1997, but lost many of their key players after a massive payroll reduction and had a 54-108 record this year.

Leyland, 53, wants to manage a contender rather than a rebuilding team with a low budget. He talked Thursday with the Colorado Rockies, who fired the only manager in their six years of existence, Don Baylor, on Monday.

“He’s [Leyland’s] the only one we’ve talked to,” Rocky owner Jerry McMorris said. “Jim is clearly at the head of our list.”

A clause in Leyland’s five-year Marlin contract, which had three years remaining, calls for him to receive a $500,000 buyout because the team is in the process of being sold.

Candidates to replace Leyland are John Boles, the Marlin manager for the second half of 1996 and now vice president of player development, and Fredi Gonzalez, manager of the Marlins’ triple-A team in Charlotte.

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San Francisco Giant outfielder Barry Bonds, who this year became the first player to hit 400 home runs and steal 400 bases, had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Giant outfielder Ellis Burks had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. . . . The Seattle Mariners completed their July 31 trade of Randy Johnson to the Houston Astros, acquiring left-hander John Halama. Halama, 26, was 1-1 with a 5.85 earned-run average for the Astros before being sent to triple-A New Orleans. . . . Frisch’s Restaurants Inc. completed a $7-million sale of its limited partnership of the Cincinnati Reds to Carl Lindner, George Strike, William Reik and Louise Nippert. Frisch’s netted $4.9 million after taxes on the sale. Marge Schott remains the controlling partner of the Reds.

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