Marlins CEO Derek Jeter addressed his organization’s outlook and near-term spending plans in an appearance yesterday. David Wilson of the Miami Herald was among those to cover the chat.
Jeter offered up a bit of a soundbite when he responded to a question about pursuing a given player that the organization likes in free agency. “We’ll go get him,” Jeter provided.
There was a proviso, however. “If a guy fits with our plan and what we’re trying to do, we’ll go get him,” Jeter continued. “I should say, make an attempt to get him.”
There’s a price for every team on every player of interest. But the Fish won’t necessarily be swimming in the deep end just yet. “We must be responsible,” Jeter explained.
Nobody expected the Marlins to plunk down major cash for a premium free agent or to clog up their roster with an array of veterans. In a broadly competitive National League landscape, the Miami roster is obviously far shy of contention-quality.
Still, it’s arguably time that the club begin moving towards a winning outfit after two seasons under Jeter’s helm. And there are opportunities for value in free agency, even for a team that has no plausible hope of winning during the term of a contract. Beyond the veteran leadership component, some wise investments can generate trade returns (and perhaps stave off grievances from the players’ union).
So, what does a “responsible” offseason look like? Details were not forthcoming, unsurprisingly, but Jeter did suggest the focus was less on payroll and more on roster space and opportunity. While there’s certainly some corporate-speak in there, there’s also some underlying merit.
[RELATED: Offseason Outlook: Miami Marlins]
Jeter spoke of the “challenging year” ahead, with the team “filling gaps” while “not blocking the young prospects.” It stands to reason there’ll be some exploration of more opportunistic pursuits, though that wasn’t an item raised by the soon-to-be-Hall-of-Famer.
At the end of the day, the ongoing focus is clear. “We have to stick with the plan,” says Jeter, “and our plan is to build a system the right way, which we’ve made a lot of progress in two years.”
Don’t know about the Zac Gallen for Chisholm trade… but other then that, Jeter’s done a fine job thus far.
The progress that he notes seems questionable to me. While there appears to be some competent pitchers in the system, only one is viewed as a top fifty talent, and his stock has been falling, not rising (Sixto Sanchez). None of them shows “ace” potential. As far as position players go, not a single one has shown anything close to star potential. Every team in the division (if not the entire NL) has multiple players that stand far ahead of any Marlin.
@sandman12
How has Sanchez’ stock dropped? He had a nice 2019 w/ a sub 3 ERA in over 100 IP at his highest level thus far.
Look, I’m a Braves fan and this is gonna seem bias…. but honestly he can’t say they have made “a lot of progress” since taking over. In fact, since 2016 they have gotten significantly worse each and every year (and they were bad in 2016). They traded away 2 MVP’s and pretty much got nothing in return for them, and traded away Ozuna who they got a ok return for him, but not stellar by any means. Let’s not forget they traded away arguably the best catcher in baseball away for a marginal return. When you trade that sort of talent (plus some), there is no reason you can’t completely flip your farm system from one of the worse to at least 10 ten in all of baseball. Truth be told, their farm is still weak, it doesn’t appear they are drafting amazing, and they really don’t have talent at the MLB lvl to trade away to rebuild either. The prospect that do come up aren’t even performing well enough to give you some excitement which is because they didn’t perform well in the minors to justify a call up to begin with.
Attendance is down in a market that doesn’t draw a great attendance to begin with…. revenue is down…. if I’m a marlins fan, I’m extremely concerned. This rebuild isn’t a 2-4 year plan… it’s looking like a 10 year plan at best
On a bright side, I think some of their mlb pitching is legit. Time will give us a better idea if it really is or not, but that’s the only area I would be slightly excited about.
Maybe it’s time for the marlins to consider moving or do that “duel city thing” the rays threw out… Louisiana has some great baseball, might be a state worth considering (they already have a minor league presence there). I know they have that newish stadium in Miami but that team needs a spark somehow (even though I as a Braves fan enjoy there overwhelming lack of success).
Maybe play half the games in the Dominican?
Marlins have some very solid young pitching in the majors and in their system. They may not be top 100 prospects, but they are solid and young. They have some top position players in JJ Bleday, Jesus Sanchez and Jazz Chisholm coming up. They have some very young international players in their system… Victor Victor Mesa, Lewin Diaz, and Jose Devers (Rafael’s cousin).
The Marlins will be a very good team very soon.
Louisiana, seriously? I’m a NoLa native and still think that’s a horrendous idea. You mean the same Zephyr/Baby Cakes team that’s relocating to KS in 2020? LOL. Yeah, they can’t keep a AAA team – let’s give them a failed MLB team.
They’re going to Kansas?
Where exactly?
Never mind, I looked it up.
Internet magic!
RunDMC. It’s more of a brainstorming than it is a legit suggestion. Y’all nolaian straight love your sports, so I figured it wouldn’t be a terrible idea. Obviously they can use a ridiculous names like baby cakes lol
And for everyone else, they are moving into a new $73MM facility in Wichita, KS. Most likely they are not keeping the name: Baby Cakes, but they still will be the affiliate of Miami Marlins. Very interesting as they won’t be too far from baseball heaven in Omaha, as well as the baseball powerhouse that is Wichita State Univ.
Imagine getting the call from the Kansas plains to South Beach. Not sure if there’s more contrast in this great country.
They traded away 2 MVP’s and pretty much got nothing in return for them
———————————————————–
You can’t say either. Cabrera & Pujols are both multi-time MVPs, and you’d have to eat 95% of their salary to move them. In Stanton’s case, Jeter got salary relief, which is a lot more than nothing.
Stanton,Yelich, Ozuna, Realmuto out…
Starling Castro ? in…
Lol should’ve kept that core and added a top SP. They’d have won the WS
Thanks for your input, Nostraudamus.
Yeah. That Realmuto trade looks pretty bad with what the catching market is now. Even after giving up a year of his contract I would have bet the Marlins would have gotten more for him this offseason. So many teams need a catcher and their isn’t enough to go around. Even Zunino got 4 and a half mill. When a guy like darnaud gets flat out realeased by 2 teams in the same season and then 3 months later gets a $16 million contract it is definitely a catchers market.
The Stanton one is misleading though. They came out way ahead in that trade already, and Stanton hasn’t even came near to the back end of that deal.
Yeah. The Stanton trade made sense but it was the only one. They should have made the Yanks take Chen in that deal too. They wanted Stanton so bad that they probably still would have bit and it would save the Marlins $22 million next year.
You forget the Marlins tried to trade Stanton to two different organization BEFORE the Yankees but Stanton cancelled those plans. Yankees were never going to take back Stantons contract AND Chen’s who had, at the time, negative value and now even worse.
great points. if it wasnt for that new stadium id say the marlins were prime candidates to end up relocating to orlando. they are actively looking for a team and at this point all the signs are pointing to the rays moving there.
Orlando is a service industry town. People there dont make enough to go to a baseball game. The only people that could afford to go to a game are the tourists. They’d support the visiting team.
I live in Orlando. There are plenty of wealthy people here dont let that fool u. The magic founder wants a baseball franchise down here.
@bravesfan You clearly have zero clue as to what the Marlins are actually doing. Your consistent opinions on the Fish only validate that sentiment.
Every site has the Marlins Farm system at the very least rated top 10. Idk where you’re getting your information.
Not to mention the fact they had one of the best draft hauls this year.
By 2021 this team should be hovering around .500 if not better. By 2022 the entire NL East should have all 4 teams contending for the postseason, let alone division title..
Mjm117 yea you sound completely insane, so I’m gonna pretend your ridiculous uneducated comment never happened
Btw… there are more than 4 NL East teams. I understand the confusion, as we generally like to not associate the marlins within that group
It’s the Marlins, the plan is piddle around and do nothing.
Yeah, 1997 and 2003 clearly is a franchise that does nothing. If a team with 2 championships in 27 seasons is doing nothing, then what is a team that only has 3 championships in 148 years?
team reminds me a lot of the 2000 team. I see a glimmer of hope in this bunch of prospects. the real question is will they keep anyone who actually plans out and allow the fan base to have consistency.
Happy we got Yelich out of that deal.
Marlins will do little. Y mlb let them buy the team is beyond belief.
Michael Wacha would be a solid player for the Fish. He still has gas in the tank, is young enough to correct errors, and has legit experience. Wacha being in the locker room may help some of the others learn what a winner looks like.
Jeter’s piss poor performance as an executive is why he shouldn’t be a Unanimous HOFer. I would have let it go if he got 100% (even as a Red Sox fan) until he started nuking the Marlins. There are HOF executives (Larry/Lee MacPhail, Pat Gillick, Cum Posey, eventually George Steinbrenner, eventually Theo, etc), but Jeter is not one of them.
“I should say, make an attempt to get him.”
I imagine this is the attempt he’ll be making…
“We should get Rendon. *calls agent* Hey, how much is Rendon?…. Whoa. Ok, talk to you later. *hangs up and goes to lunch.
Jeter doesn’t know what he’s doing
This whole “first ballot” stuff is just horse hockey. Mariano’s a Hall of Famer; hard stop. He redefined the position, even more than Fingers, Eck, et all did before him. And ya, Jeter as a player unquestionably belongs.
As an executive? TBD. Frankly doesn’t look impressive. The Fish are better than they were 2 years ago, but only incrementally so, especially given what they’ve traded away. Most telling, their actions in the draft and International market have been less than compelling.
The division is tough; there’s some bright folks in Atlanta and DC, and Philly and NY may not have brains, but they have lots and lots of money, enough to outrun their mistakes. No one doubts its a HUGE challenge for the Marlins to succeed; but its legitimate to ask if Jeter and company are up to it.
The problem is there’s already two morons of the seven public ballots that only voted Jeter so he “doesn’t have to share the stage”. Like what? Why is Jeter up on such a high pedestal. HOF, yes. Some kind of inner circle HOFer? Not a chance.
The Michael Jordan school of ownership/team executive.
Just as with the previous ownership, the priority here is maximizing profits. They followed the money to Miami where they continue to be misguided in targeting the Spanish-speaking audience, which continues to not support the team. Ownership should have targeted Broward/Palm Beach which has a better fan base and had better stadium access. They have further alienated the Southeast Florida market…
Prime example of the shoes on the other foot. Jeter won’t be as free with money as he wanted owner to be when he played
Sadly, The most exciting thing for this team in 2020, will be Jeter getting into the HOF
I feel that Jeter has a good incentive but coming out short. He should take notes from the Tampa organization or Los Angeles.
Undercapitalized, dead franchise.
Marlins have no plan to contend, under or over 90 loses in 2020 with no attendance. Marlins are the textbook reason there should be no revenue sharing.
Nailed it! There’s no point in them even playing ball anymore. There’s no plan in sight! They’re just going through the motions. They’re absolutely not doing the same as the Braves or Astros, more recently. At least they had a plan at least. Not the Marlins.
You sounds like a fan of Cubs, Yanks, Red Sox or Dodgers and thus, very likely, to have an opinion that carries zero value.
Good…good..so much hatred towards the Marlins…Let it flow through you…
Its gonna be even more sweet when they very soon begin contend for the postseason.
Mjm117 = The Emperor
“Soon you will feel the full power of the Marlins”
Who? They have at most 5 prospects. Translated to what happens to prospects, 2 won’t work out, 1 will get hurt until he’s no longer a prospect, 1 will get traded to the next Reds/Padres/whoever contender, and 1 is a wild card spin of the roulette wheel of the previous 3 options. They get lucky and 2 of them work out for a couple years, they win 70 games? Good job Derek. They should be burning him in effigy in Miami.
I bet you are fun at parties. Geesh, Seasame Street can still be seen in re-runs. Mr Hooper will live forever in your mind if you let him.
ngl, he’s been…. alright
Like he could’ve got more on Yelich, but the Stanton and Realmuto return actually look pretty promising. They absolutely had to rebuild and their farm system looks really nice.
The Marlins are doing the right thing in this rebuild. All of you who aren’t even Marlins fans to know the situation are just speaking from ignorance to the situation. The Marlins needed to blow the team up. They were not going to win with the team unless they found a way to resurrect Jose Fernandez and then add another frontline SP. The very second Fernandez died, the Marlins hope for building a championship with that roster died with him because they had zero pitching after that. To add the needed amount of pitching would have brought the Marlins to a payroll of over $200 million…and maybe trading one of the bats for a pitcher anyway…and that still wouldn’t guaranteed anything.
The Jeter organization is so cheap that when they hold a nickel, the buffalo jumps.
One comparable organization is the Pohlad (Mr. CHEAP) owned Minnesota Twins.
Financial success owning a MLB team is all about being “close?.
Because to truly compete and win ends up being way too expensive.
I find it funny that so many people keep bashing the Marlins, but ignore something about their championships:
1 – They are tied for the most championships by expansion teams (2 with the Royals, Blue Jays and Mets) in far less years than the teams they’re tied with.
2 – They are tied for being the 3rd youngest team in MLB, but have more championships than 10 other franchises – 8 that have been around longer than them.
3 – They are tied for total championships with 5 other franchises – 2 of which have been around for over 100 years (Phillies and Indians), 2 others over 40 (Royals and Blue Jays), and one more over 50 (Mets).
4 – They are 1 championship away from tying 5 franchises with 3 championships (Orioles, White Sox, Braves, Twins, and Cubs) – all of which are over 100 years old. And getting that 3rd championship would put them tied for 10th in most championships.
Wow, if this team gets bashed on all the time, I wonder why the other teams don’t get bashed too?
It’s not about the number of championships overall. It’s about the eras of ownerships groups and fandamonium or lackthereof. It’s a question of “what have you done for me lately?” Teams can win the WS one year and be an embarrassment the next (See: Red Sox 2018 vs 2019, etc.) and those teams get bashed on for bad overpaid contracts hamstringing team finances, or they get bashed on for poor management, etc. It’s all the same. I don’t agree with your defensiveness of your club, but I understand you want to see the best in them. You’re referencing players that are long retired and were recruited and paid by people no longer operating the Marlins or perhaps even in baseball, maybe even no longer alive… Hence the generations and eras matter more than the total championships or lackthereof…
I’m sorry, but the total number of championships do matter. If the Marlins end up becoming the expansion team with the most championships; the team with the most championships in the current NL East; top 10 total championships all time, that’s a big deal when they are tied for being the 3rd youngest franchise, when they are being more successful than franchises that are over 100 years old.
And you talk about eras? Okay, the Loria Era in Miami is over. People need to stop attributing what he did to this new ownership. Sherman, Jeter, Michael Jordan, and the rest of the ownership have nothing to do with Loria and have made it clear that they are not them. They are cleaning the mess he left and building their own era. I for one, like that they’re doing this. If your argument is about eras, then why are you holding on to a past era to bash the Marlins? If you want to hold onto that past, then you need to acknowledge the championships too. If you want the championships out because they are in the past, then you don’t hold Jeter and Co. responsible for Loria’s Era, which is also in the past. Or are you just interested in bashing the Marlins, even if it means being contradictory about what you want to pick from the past as relevant?