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Marlins Making The Right Moves with Coaching Staff

November 10, 2012 in Offseason

The Marlins recently announced the hiring of former Marlin Mike Redmond as their new manager. The fanfare was palpable, and the writing around the move was described generally as a pretty good move with a pin-ache of character. References were made to Redmond’s now infamous naked bout with batting practice that helped cure a team that would eventually propel itself to the 2003 World Series title. It was a team that drastically overachieved according to many viewpoints, and it is precisely this overachievement mentality that the Marlins are hoping to recapture.

In hiring Tino Martinez as their hitting coach, the Marlins are putting together the right culture to accomplish this. Martinez, a two time all star, played for the Mariners, the Yankees, the Cardinals, and the Devil-Rays (his hometown team). He collected 1,271 RBIs with 339 home runs over his strong career and put together a .271 average. Always the consummate professional, Tino Martinez will bring an excellent approach to the plate and help fix a team that only scored 609 runs last season with a .234 average with RISP. He also sports four World Series rings with his time playing for the Yankees and along with Mike Redmond, that is five championships.

It is not only the experience, but also accountability that Martinez will bring. It is one thing to take batting tips from a guy who never really had success in the majors, but another thing to get tips from a guy who has had sustained success over a 16 year career. If you want to create a team of “overachievers” you have to have the proper tools of assessment in place to know where player performance even stacks up in the first place. Then you need to hold them accountable for their performances and recognize the most efficient approach towards getting production on the field.

In Redmond, and now Martinez, the Marlins have the makings of a strong coaching staff that will institute a culture of accountability and professionalism – something this franchise has not really seen since the Girardi-led days back in 2006. Under Fredi Gonzalez, the Marlins had a mental disconnect with their coach and the two parties had to part ways – but Gonzalez has proven to be the more successful of the two visions as he has acclimated quickly into the Braves clubhouse and culture, filling in for the shadow of Bobby Cox.

The other test here is can the Marlins have a coaching staff that will be insulated from the mania of their owner who is prone to delusions of grandeur in his assessment of his own franchise. Martinez, who played under George Steinbrenner’s careful eye, knows what that is like and Redmond, who has played under Loria, both give this staff the correct perspective it will need in order to institute its program with the Marlins.

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Miguel Cabrera Wins Player Choice Award, Indicates Wrong Direction for Marlins

November 6, 2012 in Offseason

Award season is starting for MLB and it’s going to be a long one for Fish fans. Miguel Cabrera, fresh off his Triple Crown season and World Series appearance, now is a constant reminder of the wrong direction the Marlins have taken since 2003.

Sure, Miguel Cabrera was putting on weight and there were some maturity issues back when Miggy was looking for his first big contract. The amount of money he was going to command was significant, and the Marlins were cash-strapped and had no real way to bridge Cabrera to when the Marlins would have more revenue. There was no tangible plan on the horizon, at the time, for a new park for the Marlins.

That said, it pains to think of what Miguel Cabrera, teamed up with Hanley Ramirez, would mean for this team’s identity and on-field performance. If you do feel though that the Marlins had to deal Miguel Cabrera, then you would look to what was acquired in return to assess the Marlins moves. In dealing Cabrera along with fan-favorite Dontrelle Willis, they netted back Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin, neither of which made an impact for the Marlins nor even with subsequent teams outside of Maybin’s defensive presence. Basically, the Marlins traded both Cabrera and Willis away for future talent that never arrived. This was not a move to save money as neither player had significant money on the books at the time.

Flash forward to the Hanley Ramirez debacle this season. The Marlins had spent money in the offseason and had a brand new facility to generate new, previously unfathomed revenue. They decided enough was enough and had to deal Ramirez because of maturity issues and other behaviors that just became too much to bear. This was not a financial move because the Marlins had taken the plunge to build a contender. There were concerns about his plummeting performance over the last few years as Hanley’s average has declined from .342 in 2009 to .300 in 2010, .243 in 2011, and .257 in 2012. If the Marlins simply thought Hanley’s time was up, that wouldn’t have been too much of a problem but the Marlins dealt future 3B, Matt Dominguez, for rental Carlos Lee. In fact, they made this deal only a few weeks before they decided to pull the plug on Hanley – which is a clear sign that the Marlins had some mixed signals internally about the direction of the Fish.

If there was doubt about Hanley, they wouldn’t have dealt Matt Dominguez as he could have manned the position for the future. If there were doubts about both players, then perhaps this makes sense. Still, the free agent market for 3B starts, and pretty much ends, with Kevin Youkilis as he is the best option on the board right now.

Which leads us finally back to the Marlins’ hiring of Mike Redmond as their new coach. He is clearly a great pick as an understated guy who has garnered lots of respect throughout the league both as an overachieving player and now as a rising coaching talent. The question is, will the Marlins give him a longer leash than they did with Joe Girardi, Fredi Gonzalez, or even Ozzie Guillen? Girardi was named coach of the year in 2006 – after being let go by the Marlins. Both he and Fredi Gonzalez have skippered their clubs into respectable contenders. All along, the signs pointed towards getting Ozzie Guillen as he was the Marlins’ “guy”. They got him, and he didn’t deliver. They let Ozzie be “Ozzie” and it didn’t pay off.

So, it seems the Marlins latest trend of trying to go big failed. They have to get back to building with pitching, defense, and speed. They have to get back to maximizing talent and overachieving. They do have some extra money to spend this year, as the new ballpark has helped level the playing field, but this front office has to do better with their allocation of funds and identification of talent. Very little has played out the way it should.

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Hanley Ramirez and His Legacy of Ego?

July 26, 2012 in Trades

When Hanley Ramirez eventually returns to Miami in Dodger Blue, what kind of recognition will he get from the crowd?

Apparently, those left behind to pick up the pieces of a franchise being characterized as a “disappointment”, a “failure”, or having a “fire sale” have nothing to say, except relief.

If Greg Cote’s article is right, Ozzie Guillen bluntly calls out Hanley for his lack of production. In fact, to quote the quotable one, Ozzie was asked what Hanley’s absence would mean to the lineup, “Nothing. Because he wasn’t producing.” Even Larry Beinfest admits some problems, “We’ve had some challenges with him.”

Before this is characterized as some spin-doctoring, remember that the Marlins do have a past shadowed with problems from Hanley. And, to be honest, it is self-inflicted. Maybe the Marlins pandered to him a bit too much. It was Jeffrey Loria who did surprise him with jewelry. Also, looking back at Fredi Gonzalez’s attempt to discipline Hanley may have been the straw that broke the fish’s back. From Heyman’s article:

We can only guess as to how many times Gonzalez has covered for his petulant star before, but Marlins people say it has happened quite frequently. “It seems to be an annual thing with him,” said one Marlins-connected person. Ramirez’s maturity level is said by people around the team to be nowhere near even his 25 years, and he’s earned their disrespect through previous misdeeds, many of which were cagily obscured by Gonzalez.

There is a history here with Hanley and his tantrums behind the scenes with the Marlins. Many are starting to point this out, which begs the obvious question – why now? Like Ozzie says, “When you winning, everybody look better to you, even your wife. When you losing, everybody hate each other.”

Despite the pointing of fingers over Hanley’s actions while he was a Marlin. the fact is the Marlins still have a season to play and have to find ways to win games. They weren’t doing it with Hanley here, so they might as well get it going without him. We’ll see if the attitude really has changed with this team and if they can salvage the season.

Share what you think about the Hanley deal on our group forum.

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The Confusing State of Bobby Valentine: What I Meant to Say…

July 2, 2010 in Coaching Moves, Coaching Staff, Commentary, Roster

You know what makes for a great relationship? Communication.

Apparently Jeffrey Loria and the Marlins don’t get that and would lose out on their Valentine: Bobby V, baby, Bobby V.

In what has been probably the most convoluted and confusing situation of any managerial hiring process, or hiring process, Bobby Valentine shed some light on the situation. In fact, it seems that he is still in the hunt to be the Marlins’ next skipper because he was never told he wasn’t.

That is the problem – Valentine was never informed that he was out of the running and the Marlins’ made a decision:

“I didn’t mean for [my words] to be harsh,” Valentine said on Chris Russo’s show on Sirius XM’s “Mad Dog Radio” Thursday. “I just meant for them to be honest. It’s a tough process once you start getting down to a situation. We never negotiated anything and, you know, I just feel when you’re 60 years old — I know Jeffrey [Loria], I’ve known him for 25 years — I just felt that being left in the dark isn’t quite the way to allow things to move forward, but I think it’s a good situation.”

He seems to be back-peddling a bit, endorsing the Marlins’ move a bit by saying that an in-season move is difficult to make. “As I told them right from the start, someone from the outside moving in in midseason I don’t believe is a good idea,” Valentine said. “I don’t think you can train coaches and train players to think and do what you’re expecting on the run. That’s what spring training is for. And Edwin Rodriguez has had these guys in the minor leagues. He knows the spring training process, what that organizational philosophy is. So, you know, that was a good move. If, in fact, they had to change Fredi [Gonzalez] I would think that’s probably the right way to go.”

Valentine also cited the difficulties of hiring a new manager based on the mandated hiring process. “The in-season stuff where you have all the rules and regulations that are set forth, rightfully so, I guess, by the commissioner that you have to interview so many different types of people from in and outside your organization before you’re allowed to hire a person you want to, it’s a pretty tough process.”

According to Juan C. Rodriguez, the Marlins may have gotten annoyed by Valentine’s behavior during the hiring process. Immediately after Gonzalez was fired, Valentine was pretty actively promoting his next move. So, the Marlins will ride out the season with Edwin Rodriguez and re-evaluate their candidates at season’s end most likely. It seems the only thing to come out of Gonzalez’s firing isB to make an immediate change, which doesn’t necessarily translate into success.

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Jeffrey Loria: Blaming Owner Only Gets You So Far

June 30, 2010 in Commentary

Last I checked, Jeffrey Loria can’t turn a double play much less hit a ball out of the infield. The guy could probably not even make it around the bases at half stride without a chauffeur. So, what is with all the noise about him?

Sure, he is the owner of the Marlins franchise. Yes he is a cheapskate that is using his sports franchise as an investment tool and not as a hobby like his fellow colleagues – who all have much deeper pockets. Say what you want, but the question remains, why should this team spend money?

Ethan Skolnick, another guy who looks like he has never played sports, writes about how his innocent wittle cowwum was picked on by Jeffrey Loria and then goes on to collect what other writers are saying “internationally”. Guess what? The reviews for Loria suck! Of course they do! How hard is it to not like a guy who refuses to spend money yet continues to get a pretty good ballclub on the field each season? Oh, and has pulled off the impossible and has a brand new stadium being built AS WE SPEAK in Miami and basically not pay for that either?

Well, if you look at what Skolnick has amassed, you will see that the people writing either a) already have a bias against Loria or b) know jack about baseball. It made me wonder, does anyone write anything positive about Jeffrey Loria?

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have an owner that has billions of dollars to throw around but you know what? That hardly leads to a good product you can be proud of. How many times have the Mets thrown money at the problem? How many of those teams, as a fan, would you be proud to root for? Exactly. Spending money is hardly the answer and the geniuses that Skolnick amassed would all disagree – they would all be supportive of someone who simply wrote progressively bigger and bigger checks.

Because Loria isn’t as rich as his fellow owners, he has had to be better if he wants to win. He put people in charge that scout and do the things a franchise with small revenue has to do – get the best talent they can afford together. Spend wisely.

To me, it doesn’t matter who the owner is. In fact, that is the point – all of this whining over Loria is ridiculous. You don’t root for the team because of the owner, you root for the team because they represent your neighborhood, your city, and hopefully they do that well. This team is young and loaded with talent and yes, they should be contending for a playoff spot. Disagree with that and maybe you don’t know enough about this sport in the first place. Which is the main problem with our media down here – they are mostly concerned with celebrity worship and making grandstands on things that have no consequence instead of focusing on things like the team’s ability to advance runners in scoring position and their record in 1 run games (which, by the way, is one of the key reasons why Fredi was canned – he wasn’t making those managerial decisions to win games).

So of course the media is going to point the finger at the owner. Look, his job is to sign the checks and make sure the money is there. In fact, that is the problem – the Marlins don’t draw and they don’t get revenue from ticket sales. How can you blame the owner when fans don’t go to games and the media, instead of covering the sport they paint a picture that the Marlins can’t sell to fans? In fact, the reason they Marlins are forced to spend so much in advertising is because that is one of the things they must do to combat the negative reviews from our mediocre media. The game is never the focus down here, instead it is the things going on behind the game. We aren’t New York even though we have a bunch of the mamalukes living down here – none of which support Miami teams but remain loyal to their muttaland, NYC.

If you are looking for someone to blame, blame the media for presenting the Marlins as a hack franchise. They do such a good job of it that they are probably the single largest reason fans in south Florida stay home (well, except for the Palm Beach Post who always does a great job with the Fish). If the fans stay home, the Marlins don’t make revenue off of ticket sales.

And if the fans came out in droves, you know who gets the money? Not Loria – but Wayne “H-bomb” Huizenga. He forced the Marlins to sign a near criminal lease where they will not see much revenue at all. Thank God he sold the Dolphins and the Marlins are getting the hell out of there to their own facility.

Most importantly, support the team. The name on the front of the jersey is who should get all the attention. Names on the back will always change but the name on the front is here to stay. Be critical, but be reasonable. Did the Marlins muck up this Fredi firing? Yeah – it needed to happen but they needed to have a candidate in place ready to go. As it stands, Edwin Rodriguez will now be the manager til the end of the season. That is a solid move and should have been done from the start instead of pursuing the Bobby Valentine “process”. Right now, the Fish have a baseball guy who is hungry and wants to prove himself and maybe the team takes on that characteristic. If not, they have the offseason to make a decision and possibly get a guy they want like Ozzie Guillen.

The media doesn’t get it and probably never will. The fans need to stop listening/reading the media and form their own opinions. Go online, find a fan site for the Fish – there are tons of us out here. Express your own thoughts and opinions with fellow fans who know the game and stay clear of the talking heads. The Marlins should be supported because they are our team and actually have some good talent. Vilifying the owner offers nothing in return.

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Valentine Interview Delayed; Fans and Media Need to Stop Whining

June 26, 2010 in Commentary

The Bobby Valentine interview, and impending hire, is on hold. The Marlins are saying to be patient, that there is a process here and that they want to hire the right guy.

I am going to be critical here. Firing Fredi Gonzalez so abruptly without having someone in line shows the Marlins to not really have a plan. Then again, to fire Gonzalez and immediately bring in a new manager means that this was going on for awhile and that Gonzalez was a lame duck. Since the Marlins were, in all likelihood, supportive of the Fred, it makes sense that they have an interim situation while they find their next skipper. But, if the Marlins fire Fredi Gonzalez only to hire a retread, this will be a bad move. They need to not make a lateral move here, but find someone who is going to be there when the Marlins move into the new stadium and will anchor the franchise and help get them on a winning track again. Delays only confuse and possibly lose the team and vitally important games.

Yet, there is surprisingly a lot of bitterness in the media and among celebrity fans (notably, Stan Van Gundy) that are not supportive of firing the Fred. I want to stress something – if fans actually go to games, this doesn’t happen. Perception and reality are usually conjoined, and just as a business will spend lots of money to market itself to its customers, the perception coming back to the business owners can be an alternate of reality as well.

The Marlins have a huge following on TV, but it doesn’t translate into ticket sales. Say what you want, but the fans have gotten away with way too many excuses at this point and the owners need ticket sales to drive their business.

The Marlins aren’t moving. There is no threat of contraction. They have a new stadium on the horizon and one of the best players in baseball in Hanley Ramirez. And still, you can’t give away tickets. Why?

People actually have the audacity to bemoan the firing of Fredi Gonzalez? What is the front office and ownership supposed to do? They know if they don’t win they don’t draw. We are not talking about just having a winning season – like the Braves franchise can get away with every year in Atlanta – but the Marlins have to win big just to have a sniff at an on-field profit.

Sure, Marlins fans have had their share of heartbreak. We watched the franchise’s birth only to be cut short a season later in the 1994 strike. Then we won the World Series in ’97 only to have the dismantling made by criminal Wayne “H-Bomb” Huizenga a few weeks later. Ask a Cub fan if they would take those circumstances for a title, by the way, and they would immediately snatch at the opportunity.

The 2003 title was probably one of the best in baseball history – but it is largely ignored because of the luke-warm Miami sports fan market. ESPN doesn’t show the Fish on TV because they don’t respect the fan following here in south Florida. We whine and cry about the lack of national coverage and I always criticize ESPN for its lack of teal (I even go so far as to boycott ESPN whenever I can) but there is little interest – which makes little interest for stakes holders.

And even though Stan Van Gundy has a right to be angry that Fredi was fired and criticize owner Jeffrey Loria for being a cheapskate, he doesn’t have the proper perspective. This team doesn’t draw – so how can Loria spend money? Sure, he has revenue from TV and other streams, and the Marlins spend more on advertising than they do on acquiring a star player. But what historical evidence is there that the fans of south Florida would support a Marlins franchise that spends big money on a star player? There isn’t any. Only winning can draw fans.

So, the real Marlins fans might feel the right to criticize the ownership because, well, they have been supportive and showing their loyalty throughout these years. But we have to also remember, this isn’t about you – this is about your quiet brethren out there, tuning in on TV but not going to the games. Because those “fans” don’t go to games, there is no visible support for this team.

The perception is there for the ownership and front office that the team needs to make a change to get this franchise winning so that they can draw fans to games. And to be fair, who wants to shell out all of the money and make the haul to Land Shark/Pro Player/Joe Robbie/Suntrust Stadium to watch a team that doesn’t have appeal? They want to see a win and feel good when they leave the park.

This is a move to try and reawaken the team but also to get fans’ attention. Not the ones who are currently at the games – they are fans and will be at the games no matter what. It is an attempt to try and get this team winning so that they can draw out those fans to the ballpark. Say what you want about Loria, but the guy wants to see his team win if only to drive up his profit potential. He is not a bad businessman and is not going to be charitable with his money. Of course, he does not have the deep pockets of other owners, but you don’t get rich by spending money.  You also don’t get rich by not winning games.

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