The Lerners didn’t want to fire Martinez. They wanted Rizzo to do it. And they didn’t want to fire Rizzo, either, at least not until his contract was up at th e end of the season. The only thing the Lerners hate more than having to pay peo ple to work is to pay people not to work.
But Rizzo wouldn’t do their bidding. He wouldn’t fire Martinez, sources said. That’s why the GM got fired in a move that stunned many in baseball, less than two weeks before the MLB draft.