Miami Marlins: Time For Fans to Wake Up

In response to Sean’s article, “It’s not all bad“

Dear Sean,

This argument, whether the front office deserves the blame they receive, has little to do with the particulars of the current situation, and it has everything to do with the way the organization is run year after year.

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First let me clear something up, in regards to your choice of including my optimistic preseason post about the Miami Marlins. Yes, I was excited in March. I, like many others, bought into the idea that perhaps this year the Marlins could cook up some magic with a mediocre roster and make some noise in the playoffs. I was wrong, but even at the time I acknowledged that this was an incredibly high-risk roster requiring everything to go right in order for the Marlins to secure a playoff birth.

Here we are, in August, and the Marlins are one game away from securing the worst record in baseball.

Regardless of how many times Dee Gordon tweets “trust the process”, or how many times Mike Hill assures the fans that he is doing everything he can with the ultimate goal of making the playoffs, there is no plan. There is no process. There is, however, a history of losing seasons, 16 in 22 years to be exact.

Since Jeffrey Loria bought the team, the Marlins have posted 9 losing seasons in 12 years. In those 12 years, the Marlins have not operated with a consistent process or shown a commitment to winning.

No matter how you slice it, how you spin it, the Marlins are a losing organization. There is a reason for that, and it goes far beyond poor decision making. Teams who invest more in their players can get away with a few bad decisions here and there, such as a bad trade at the deadline or a dud free agent signing. But when you are trying to run a baseball team with $40-$60 million, the margin for error becomes increasingly smaller.

Jeffrey Loria has fired 9 managers since purchasing the team in 2002. In that time, Larry Beinfest has been the only decision maker removed from the front office. Why is Jeffrey Loria so tolerable of poor decision-making in the front office, but is willing to change managers on a yearly basis? This is just one of the many bewildering trends that have developed in the backwards organization that is the Miami Marlins.

Heath Bell, Jose Reyes, Mark Buerhle, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Garrett Jones, and Michael Morse have all signed multi-year deals with the Marlins since 2012. Saltalamacchia was the only player to last until the second year, and he played a total of 9 games this year before being released. If that isn’t an indication of poor decision making and a lack of patience I don’t know what is.

How much longer will Loria allow his peons to incorrectly assess talent, and misallocate the little resources this team has?

I grow tired of criticizing trades and rolling my eyes at scrap heap free agent signings. These feelings should be widespread throughout the ‘#MarlinsFamily’, but I fear they are not. I have been guilty of drinking the Kool-Aid in the past, but it’s time to “smell the coffee”, per se.

With the current structure of the organization and the people in charge of putting a team on the field, brighter days may not be in the near future. Mike Hill & co. have done little to inspire confidence that they can salvage a decent team for 2016, and they probably won’t.

There is no reason to subject yourself to the lies that this team has been shoving down the throats of their deprived fans any longer. For real change in the standings, there must be a real change in the executive group of this franchise, and ultimately in the ownership.

So, Sean, I’m sorry that you choose to believe in the Marlins’ vision, not because their vision is wrong but because it may not exist.

That is the sad reality of being a Marlins fan today. The fans may believe in the team more than the people who put it together. Free yourselves, fans, hope for change, not more of the same.

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