Fish For Sale...
The Florida Marlins have opened up the newest store on the block. Of the nine players on their 2005 opening day starting line-up just one remains, and he has been shifted to a new position. Miguel Cabrera the young homerun hitting player has been shifted from the outfield to third base and nearly all his teammates have been removed from the team. First baseman Carlos Delgado, traded to the NY Mets; Second baseman Luis Castillo, traded to the Minnesota Twins; Third baseman Mike Lowell, traded to the Red Sox; Outfielder Juan Pierre, traded to the Cubs; Catcher Pal LoDuca, traded to the Mets. The opening day starter was Josh Beckett and he has since been traded to the Red Sox with Lowell and setup man Guillermo Mota. Opening Day closer Todd Jones was lost to free agency, signing with the Detroit Tigers. Outfielder Juan Encarnacion and shortstop Alex Gonzalez as well as five other everyday players were not offered arbitration and Pitcher A.J. Burnett left via free agency as well signing a monster-deal in Toronto.
It seems that we have seen this occurrence before. In 1997 the Florida Marlins won the World Series with a whole slew of big-name players and salaries. Before the team even had a chance to cherish the win they were dismantled. Then owner Wayne Huizenga ordered Dave Dombrowski, then GM, to shed all the big salaries. He did just that trading away Moises Alou, Robb Nen, Devon White, Jeff Conine (who was back with the team from 2003 - 2005, and was not offered arbitration), Kevin Brown and Dennis Cook before 1998 even arrived. Before Spring training he also managed to trade away starting pitcher Al Leiter. The following May, Dombrowski dealt Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson and Jim Eisenreich getting Mike Piazza and Todd Ziele in return. Piazza was traded after playing just five games and Ziele, two and half months later, was also shipped.
This time however, after having won the World Series over the New York Yankees in six games in 2003, the Marlins organization tried to keep the team up to competing and hoped to get a new stadium and also hoped that fans would come to baseball games that were not in October. Neither of these ever happened and Jeffrey Loria's money was swiftly swimming away. I guess at this point he just felt it was time to make a point and keep some money for himself rather then invest in a team that doesn't have any really loyal fans. Exploring possibilities for the team to move is a very good move for the Marlins ballclub, and with any luck they may just find a city to land with fans that will cheer their hometown team even when they are not in the World Series.
In exchange for the players the Marlins have traded in their 14-day trading spree they received 14 highly touted prospects (one to be named) including 10 pitchers. All of these players would seem to have a legitimate chance of making the '06 squad, which may not prove to be any better than a AAA-team.
oVeR AnD oUt!!
It seems that we have seen this occurrence before. In 1997 the Florida Marlins won the World Series with a whole slew of big-name players and salaries. Before the team even had a chance to cherish the win they were dismantled. Then owner Wayne Huizenga ordered Dave Dombrowski, then GM, to shed all the big salaries. He did just that trading away Moises Alou, Robb Nen, Devon White, Jeff Conine (who was back with the team from 2003 - 2005, and was not offered arbitration), Kevin Brown and Dennis Cook before 1998 even arrived. Before Spring training he also managed to trade away starting pitcher Al Leiter. The following May, Dombrowski dealt Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson and Jim Eisenreich getting Mike Piazza and Todd Ziele in return. Piazza was traded after playing just five games and Ziele, two and half months later, was also shipped.
This time however, after having won the World Series over the New York Yankees in six games in 2003, the Marlins organization tried to keep the team up to competing and hoped to get a new stadium and also hoped that fans would come to baseball games that were not in October. Neither of these ever happened and Jeffrey Loria's money was swiftly swimming away. I guess at this point he just felt it was time to make a point and keep some money for himself rather then invest in a team that doesn't have any really loyal fans. Exploring possibilities for the team to move is a very good move for the Marlins ballclub, and with any luck they may just find a city to land with fans that will cheer their hometown team even when they are not in the World Series.
In exchange for the players the Marlins have traded in their 14-day trading spree they received 14 highly touted prospects (one to be named) including 10 pitchers. All of these players would seem to have a legitimate chance of making the '06 squad, which may not prove to be any better than a AAA-team.
oVeR AnD oUt!!
posted by Levi M. at 8:33 PM
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