The Marlins occupy last place in the NL East with a 63-79 record after entering the season with as much hype as any team in recent memory. It’s been a disappointing year, but owner Jeffrey Loria says he expects his team to contend again in 2013, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports. Here are more notes from Loria (via Spencer):
- Loria declined to discuss any potential changes to his front office staff. He also refused to offer a public assessment of manager Ozzie Guillen. “I just don’t want to get drawn into that until the end of the season,” Loria said. “There’s good and bad with every situation.”
- Loria acknowledged that the team has holes. “We need to fill them to complement some of the other really good parts that are here,” he added. The Marlins will likely consider upgrades at third base this offseason, Spencer writes.
- Loria said he’s been thrilled with Jose Reyes’ performance and impressed by Mark Buehrle’s approach. He also mentioned infielder Donovan Solano and outfielder Justin Ruggiano as “pleasant surprises” in an otherwise trying season.
Why do writers even ask about the future of a manager? What does he expect Loria to say “Oh, Ozzie’s done a good job…(in Homer Simpson-like hushed voice…”he’s as good as gone….don’t tell him, though”)
maybe it’s a slight problem when they have five different guys all in charge of baseball operations?
Met fans will hate to admit this…but Jose Reyes overall was a much better option than David Wright…
Among all MLB SS…
Reyes is 3rd in OBP ( so much for those sabermaticians that thought Jose didnt get on base enough )
Reyes is 1st in Walks….thats right…Mr. Impatient himself actually leads all MLB SS in walks this year
Reyes is 1st in SB
Reyes is 3rd in SLG
Reyes is 3rd in OPS
Reyes is 3rd in Hits
Reyes is 3rd in Doubles
Reyes is 1st in Triples
Reyes got paid 10 mil this year…
Only Met fans that place more value on how a player interacts with the camera than what he does on the field will say that David Wright was a better choice going forward…
The Mets could’ve had Reyes at SS…Tejada at 2B…moving Murph to 3B…moved Wright to either LF or shipped him out…guarentee they would’ve gotten more than what they got for losing Reyes…
but Met fans would riot….cuz at the end of the day for met fans…its not about the name on the front of the jersey…but often the name on the back ….this is why Sandy Alderson will at least make a half-hearted attempt to keep Wright….
this is why the mets continue to be and will always be a losing franchise…b/c they always put marketing a product ahead of the actual product…
dont believe me?
check out Matt Cerrone try to make a case for keeping Wright …
Sept. 11, 9:52 am: This idea of being a “Face of the Franchise,” as people like to call it, is SO much more than what happens on field. In fact, it’s mostly about what happens off field, in the clubhouse, in the community, in print, in marketing, etc. It’s a big deal. I see Wright hustle… off field. He does more or less everything the team asks of him, from attending charity events, doing radio and phone interviews, talking to reporters, meeting fans before games, and so on. He has some sort of non-baseball obligation every game, as far as I can see. And, of course, he shouldn’t complain, and he doesn’t. He knows some of these efforts are in his contract, but some are not. Nevertheless, he does most all of them (with a smile) when asked. And, given the team’s record and struggle at the ticket booth and on air, his face is worth a lot. He keeps them present and relevant in lots of ways. If it wasn’t Wright, it would be all RA Dickey basically. And, if not Wright and Dickey, then who? The point is, as Costa explains, much like with Dickey, this off-field component has value… especially in New York, where the demands are significantly more than in any other market. These guys will need to be compensated for this, since many of these obligations will be spelled out in their next contracts (assuming they sign new ones with the Mets). And, I’d love to know what type premium this sort of publicity plays in the deal.
@Just_da_damaja
Long suffering Mets fans will take this in stride, and what I mean by that is your very articulate attempt to pile on after the fact. No doubt Reyes is an immense talent, at times he can be electric and has proven to be just that on many occasions in the past. But after all that, the bottom line has been that he’s been more style than substance. Reyes has never been a leader or a guy who could carry a team, when the Mets had good teams, he was a piece in the puzzle.
The reason Alderson decided not to sign him was because he felt the price for his production was way overpriced. For all the hype concerning Reyes last year, that was the only year where he put up those numbers. The contract he signed was built on the astronomical numbers he complied in the first half of 2011. The only reason he got the bloated contract, was Miami wanted stars on the team to bring in fans to their new park. Reyes was at the right place at the right time.
The Mets feel they can put together a good team with Wright at a smaller price, surrounded by good players at a reasonable cost. We still don’t know what the future will be concerning Wright, other than the Mets will pick up his option.
Reyes’ departure hasn’t made much difference in the standings from last year for the Mets, what it’s done is allow Tejada to play and be very productive at a much cheaper price which gives payroll flexibility.
The numbers you cite are a very good example of Reyes’ career. Yes, he’s putting up some gaudy numbers and at just $10MM, so it looks like a steal for the Marlins, but in three years the contract jumps to $22MM per. Is he going to sustain that production in coming years? Or do what he did in NY, get comfortable and just play on his talents?
Here’s the most telling feature of Reyes’ numbers for you. With all the impressive stats he’s put up, the Marlins are looking up at the Mets in the standings. That kind of sums up Reyes’ career for you.
I would say that the NYT should hire you after that well thought out post above.. Then you would be the only worthwhile writer that they employ and we would lose a poster here who makes excellent points 🙂
I do agree on Reyes. Players who rely solely on their legs are virtually never more than “pieces of the puzzle” as you wrote. people like that can affect games, but are not impact, unless maybe their name is Rickey Henderson.
@johnsilver
Thanks for the kind words, but trust me, I’m not quite NY Times material.
stary by firing or reassigning beinfest
Guillen.. he got what he asked for.. A big mouth that had won a crown earlier in a weak division, who happened to be Spanish in a spanish community. Loria should have known that Guillen has a bigger mouth than Valentine, alienates players and ‘goes off” quite often without thinking, like he did at 20% of the local Haitain population before the season started.
NE is a-buzz about unloading Valentine and we are hearing nothing about Guillen, who has ‘gone off” more, said worse and done a worse job with a roster of talent in a division his team should have competed for.. He isn’t a winner and never was.
Instead of rumblings of Beinfest’s removal, it should be Guillen as job #1 on a bus back to Chicago.
Ozzie is a cancer. I’m surprised that the Marlins have been as bad as they have been. It’s all underperformance. Hanley was bad for the Marlins. Johnson and Bell were both very mediocre. Big Z never turned it around (I thought a change out of Chicago would give him a fresh new start). Morrison underperformed too.
Wait a second… Didnt the Marlins steal the Cardinals 4th best prospect for Mujica? What were their words Cox is a .300 hitter with 25 hr power and 100rbi at big league level thats what they claimed on The Franchise during trade deadline.
Ozzie inherited a team built for the old ballpark, not the new one where homers go to die. he should get another year to work on his style of team, which IMO would work great there.
Hopefully in the future he learned his lesson with the Castro nonsense, and will watch what he says, and focuses on being the quality manager he is.
Marlins dont know what they want, a direct result of a messed up FO