In its Spring Training baseball preview, Deadspin has decided to take shots at every team and of course the Marlins were fish in a barrel. Will Leitch looks at some of the best players in team history and suggests that he doesn’t remember them as Marlins.
Here are the five humans who have started the most games on the mound for the Marlins, in order: Willis, A.J. Burnett, Brad Penny, Ryan Dempster, Pat Rapp.
When you conjure up images of those players, not a single one of them is wearing a Marlins uniform. (With the possible exception of Pat Rapp, whom I’m impressed you remember at all.) The only Florida Marlin historical figure — as historical as anything that started in 1993 can be — who comes to my mind is Jeff Conine, for some reason. Maybe that weird mascot. Actually, it’s just the Manatees. In case you forgot what state the Marlins play in.
Baseball is always trying to whitewash the history it doesn’t like and bronze the history it does, so it’s not a surprise that the team that has won the second-most World Series in the last 30 years rarely shows up in retrospective packages. (How cruel that the most crushing moment for the Cubs, a team so desperate for a World Series, happened against a team that history has already forgotten, a team barely even noticed at the time.) The Florida Marlins are a nowhere team, an anomaly, an unfortunate wart that keeps popping up every few years, long after you thought you’d taken care of it already.
I know this writing is meant to elicit such a response, but at some point the world of baseball does not revolve around the Yankees and Red Sox. But as part of the Marlins “Nation” (did the Red Sox “trademark” that?) I must stand up for our brethren at FishStripes.
FishStripes, a nice little Marlins blog for the SB Nation network, dutifully updated fans with five posts yesterday. These were posts from Spring Training, the most lush, hopeful time of the season, the time when even casual fans stretch their arms out and shake off the cobwebs for a new year. Not a single one of those posts elicited so much as one comment. They’re fine posts, hearty posts, sturdy posts. And nothing.
Looking at a few quiet posts doesn’t tell the complete story. Perhaps we’re not spending the entire off-season debating who Alex Rodriguez is dating or which team Manny Ramirez doesn’t want to lazily play for anymore. But when things start rolling, we’re a loud active bunch who care about our team no matter who owns it, what stadium the play in, which former player is an All-Star and how many incredibly talented players we have in the system. I would argue that it’s easy to be a Yankees fan – you can buy whichever player you want, you expect to contend every year, you play in a billion dollar stadium, your merchandise is everywhere and your highlights lead off SportsCenter. That’s what makes us Marlins better because we have to deal with so much more and have to work much harder for it, but we still love the Fish.
Despite the best efforts of another crop of youngsters, Loria may be running a second franchise into the ground. The art dealer turned a nation of fans against him with his first team, the Expos, before forcing their move from Montreal and selling them back to Major League Baseball. He then took control of the Marlins and watched his exciting team shock the Yankees in the 2003 World Series and then became Miami fans’ worst nightmare: the second coming of Wayne Huizenga. The Marlins slowly have been rebuilding themselves with more young talent, despite the lowest cash outlay provided by any owner, and could be turning a corner soon. That is, until Hanley Ramírez and Dan Uggla are shown the door like Josh Beckett, Derrek Lee and Miguel Cabrera.
It is clear that the SI team just phoned this one in. After all why do any research and thinking when you have this urban legend about Mr. Loria. While he didn’t make the best moves in Montreal, he was, in the end, nothing more than a caretaker for a dying franchise. His time with the Marlins has been a mix — a couple of fire sales on one hand, but a championship and a new ballpark on the other. We can debate his decision to keep a low payroll for most of his tenure but it is the results on the field and talent today that matter. Despite not being a serious contender since winning it all in 2003, the team still outperforms many MLB teams over this period.
Today, the Fish are looking at a new ballpark which secures their existence in South Florida for the long run. Hanley Ramirez is locked up for the next 6-years of his potential Hall of Fame career. Larry Beinfest and Mike Hill continue to run and excellent front office which has built a nice core of young players that allows the Fish to compete. Yes, we will miss Josh Beckett, Derrek Lee and Miguel Cabrera but no team (other than the Yankees, perhaps) could have kept all these guys. In fact, in baseball, you can be good one day and terrible the other. See Dontrelle Willis. And SI, since you liked ripping Dan Uggla for his All-Star errors, but now elevate him to a star, I will point out his sub .200 average today.
I’m not elevating Mr. Loria on a pedestal. He, like every MLB owner, has made mistakes and clearly he hasn’t spent as much money as everyone would like him to spend. But his performance as the owner of the Marlins has been a successful one. He has a championship, a great front office, a new ballpark and talent for the future. It’s something very few teams have today.
It’s only been one month since April Fools Day but Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is on the verge of making what would have been a bad joke into reality.
Sometime next week, it’s expected that Dolphin Stadium, home of our Florida Marlins, will be renamed LandShark Stadium after LandShark Lager. This one-year experiment will ensure that Joe Robbie Stadium will, once again, have no established name or identity. To make things worse, Ross’s motivation is that he wants to give the Stadium a Margaritaville feel, since, as we all know, South Floridians are all parrots, coconuts and Jimmy Buffet.
Is there any way we can accelerate the construction of the new ballpark? This is seriously embarrassing.
Just before the first team workout, the Marlins have announced that they’ve extendedFredi Gonzalez’s deal through the 2011 seasons. The next 3 seasons, hopefully leading to the first season in the new ballpark, will require stability and growth as payroll will probably remain low. Despite some criticism, Fredi has done a good job with a young team and, most importantly, does not yell at the owner in the middle of games.
Mike Berardino of the Sun-Sentinel provides some thoughts and insights on the Olsen/Hammer deal:
About that payroll dump so far:
the Fish have removed roughly $7 million from their books for 2009.
On what we got in return:
In return, they have brought in a cheap young setup man (Leo Nunez), a light-hitting second baseman with Gold Glove potential (Emilio Bonifacio) and a couple of decent low-level prospects who just finished their first full pro seasons (RHP P.J. Dean and IF Jake Smolinski).
What about Dan Uggla and his $5 million projection? Juan Rodriguez was assured again Monday night — as I have been recently — that the Marlins have made it clear Uggla stays into next season.
For now, look for Bonifacio to be sent down to Triple-A for a little more seasoning as the speedy switch-hitter in the Luis Castillo mode tries to get his bat going.
And on what to expect:
Something tells me, though, the Marlins aren’t quite done, that there will be an interesting addition or two at the end of this salary-shedding process.
Maybe a veteran catcher to handle all that fine young pitching? (Alas, it WON’T be Pudge Rodriguez, I’ve been told.) Maybe a proven corner outfielder with some sock? Maybe even a one-year closer to take the burden off Matt Lindstrom.
For all the ups and downs of the 2008 season, the Florida Marlins posted a record of 84-77, the third best record in franchise history. The team posted incredible offensive numbers lead by the historic home run power from all four of the starting infielders. As we start looking forward to a busy off-season and hopefully a successful 2009, here are some thoughts, observations, and links:
The Marlins shut down Shea Stadium for good by taking 2 of 3 from the Mets and once again eliminating them from the the playoffs. Dan Uggla said it best:
“They’re a bunch of great guys and they play the game the right way,” said Uggla, whose team had lost nine of 15 games against the Mets entering the series. “We’re not going to the playoffs and they kind of helped out with that throughout the whole year. To knock them out is pretty sweet for us.”
Memorize this: Speed and Defense. That’s all you’ll be hearing from the Marlins front office over the next few months. Every trade, salary dump, waiver, or promotion will be tied to those two word. With a pitching staff anchored by Ricky Nolasco, Josh Johnson and Chris Volstad (followed by the not so shabby Anibal Sanchez and Andrew Miller), the Marlins know that giving those guys the best support will do the trick. We just showed how a high-powered offense is not enough to win. And, as Larry Beinfest said:
“[Y]ou’d like to be able to manufacture, put the ball in play, put a little more speed in the lineup, kind of go back to the model that was successful for us a few years back.”
Looks like Cameron Maybin may have earned himself a job on the Major League roster with an impressive performance. Since being called up, he went 16 for 32 (.500) with an on-base percentage of 1.106. He also showed great speed and defense.
Sunday was probably the last time some Marlins will wear black and teal. Dan Uggla, Mike Jacobs, Scott Olsen and Jeremy Hermida will all get huge pay raises and will not fit into the new speed and defense mantra. Of these four, Olsen could be a hot trade commodity which can bring in the kind of players needed to replace Uggla and Jacobs.
No Marlin had 100 RBI but three guys had 90+.
For a platooning outfielder, Cody Ross put up incredible numbers hitting 22 home runs and driving in 73 runs. At one point he hit 9 home runs in 11 at bats.
Josh Johnson finished the season an outstanding 7-1 in 14 starts with a 3.61 ERA — all this less than a year removed from major surgery.
Scott Olsen didn’t get too many breaks — he finished 8-11 — despite 22 quality starts.
Chris Volstad finishes his rookie season with a 2.88 ERA in 14 starts and 1 relief appearance.
Rick Nolsaco wasn’t even in the starting rotation when the season started yet managed to finish 15-8 with a 3.52 ERA and a terrific strike out to walk ratio of 186 to 42.
Finally, and most importantly, pitchers and catchers report in less than 5 months.
I’ve always thought ESPN was full of itself and overly obsessed with their own importance and insight, so I was very excited to look back at their predictions for the 2008 Florida Marlins. Now, I know that the Marlins performed better than we expected (81 wins with 6 games to go) but ESPN’s predictions were so dire that I want us all to read and laugh.
First, here is the view from Bob Klapisch:
The bigger problem is the bottom half of the batting order, which is filled with question marks and experiments. It’s no stretch projecting the Marlins in the last third of the NL in runs scored. (Bob Klapisch)
Next, let’s see the actual win/loss projections:
Jayson Stark: 70-92, 5th in NL East
Tim Kurkjian: 64-98, 5th in NL East
Buster Olney: 68-94, 5th in NL East
Keith Law: 68-94, 5th in NL East
Steve Phillips: 66-96, 5th in NL East
You have to give Jayson Stark some credit. He’s only off by 11+ wins.
How about Jeremy Hermida? He was their sleeper:
Jeremy Hermida has fallen off a lot of fantasy radar screens, but remember, the former 11th overall pick is just 24 years old. After the All-Star break in ‘07, he hit .340/.401/.555, with a dramatically improved line-drive rate. A season-long line of .300/25/90 is possible.
Even when they got something right, they still screwed it up:
Don’t rely on Kevin Gregg to be a closer all year. Gregg earns the most money on this team, and has two more arbitration years ahead. The Marlins aren’t going anywhere, and they’ve got a bunch of power-arm closer replacements. Expect a midsummer trade.
or
Just as Cabrera will be missed, so will Willis, who gave the Marlins real mound presence and a legitimate chance to win every fifth day. There’s no such guarantee in the current rotation. Olsen has upside, but his ERA soared to 5.81 last year, the third season in a row that mark has increased. The league’s average against him ballooned from .239 to .315. Sergio Mitre is out until June with a forearm strain, opening the door for Volstad at the back end of the rotation. But his lack of major league experience will keep the Marlins from rushing him.
(For the record, Gregg performed well until August and most people who followed the Marlins knew that Dontrelle was sinking fast).
And please, don’t get me started with their fantasy stats projections: Jacobs with 13 HR, Cantu with 5 HR and 35 RBI, Ricky Nolasco with 5 wins.
Now, before you all begin to hammer me for, well, hammering ESPN, they did get a few things right, including:
Chris Volstad, a former first-rounder, throws an almost effortless 90-94 mph.
Josh Johnson was incredible tonight, throwing the Marlins second complete game of the season holding the Braves to one run and striking out eight. I know the Fish have a long way to go to catchup to the Phillies and we’ve all heard about the 18 arbitration eligible players but when you look at Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Anibal Sanchez, Chris Volstad, Scott Olsen and even Andrew Miller you have to believe that this team is going to do really well very soon.
It’s only been one month since April Fools Day but Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is on the verge of making what would have been a bad joke into reality. 
Mike Berardino of the Sun-Sentinel provides some 
