Nice piece on former Florida Marlins infielder Alex Arias in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph (West Virginia). The 39-year old Arias is now managing the Bluefield Orioles who are the Baltimore Orioles’ Rookie League team.

Alex has some good things to say about his career with the Marlins:

“I got traded to the Marlins in 1993,” Arias said. “I was just in the right place at the right time. I played well and the rest is history.”

And the 1997 World Series Team:

“It’s hard to describe, to win a World Series you’ve got to have good chemistry on the ball club, you’ve got to have unselfish guys,” Arias said. “We had a team where everybody knew what their job was and the older guys took care of the young guys to make sure they were on top of their game and they just helped a lot.”

Of course, he then takes a negative view on South Florida:

“There’s really no tradition there. Everybody is from all over the place, Braves fans, Yankees fans, you’ve got to be around for 50 years in order to get some tradition in a city.”

And the stadium situation:

“They said they’re building a stadium downtown in Miami, but I don’t really think, personally, they’re going to draw … They’re going to draw the first 50 games and then it’s going to go right back down.”