Tweet
NEW YORK —
No matter how the Marlins play each season, the front office always meets in October to review the organization’s performance.
Given that the club is on its way to one of the most disappointing finishes in franchise history, the meetings with owner Jeffrey Loria two months from now will be even more serious than usual.
“I think it’s going to be an interesting October, a little different than the October we envisioned,’’ team president David Samson said.
“Jeffrey is going to look at everything from me to Larry (Beinfest, baseball operations president) to Mike (Hill, general manager) to Ozzie (Guillen, manager) to (equipment manager) John Silverman. He’s angry and he should be.’’
Samson wouldn’t speculate on what, if any, changes might be in store for the Marlins, who are 49-60 as they open a three-game series Tuesday at the New York Mets.
“It was not one thing,’’ he said about what has gone wrong over the first 109 games. “That’s sort of the message to the fans, that this year has to be an anomaly.’’
For now, the Marlins’ goal for the final 53 games will be to climb back to the respectability of a .500 record. But even that seems remote. Miami — which has won just 18 of its past 50 — would have to go 32-21 the rest of the way to finish 81-81.
Last year, the Marlins were 54-55 after 109 games en route to a 72-90 finish. That team had a $57.6 million opening-day payroll. But the 2012 team, with an opening-day payroll of $101.6 million, was built to win.
“The craziest thing is the money was spent this year and for whatever reason the combination of players wasn’t right,’’ Samson said.
“This was an all-in season, there’s no doubt about that. The moves we made were an effort to win and they have not panned out.’’
The team traded away six key players in four deals last month: third baseman Hanley Ramirez, second baseman Omar Infante, starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez, first baseman Gaby Sanchez and relievers Randy Choate and Edward Mujica.
“Not one trade that was done was payroll-motivated,” Samson said. “It was chemistry-motivated, it was winning motivated.’’
The most significant move was trading away Ramirez, who underperformed and whose attitude was said to have hurt the atmosphere in the clubhouse.
Since he was traded July 25, the Marlins are 4-8. One bright spot during that time has been Jose Reyes, who replaced Ramirez at shortstop this spring and currently has a 24-game hitting streak. He is hitting .408 in his last 49 at-bats.
The Marlins next year will look to anchor the team around Reyes and slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who had knee surgery July 8 and is scheduled to return to the lineup Tuesday.
What the rest of the team looks like next year remains to be seen.
Samson said the team will consider adding key players this winter through free-agent signings and trades, although it wouldn’t be on the scale of the $190 million spending spree that brought in Reyes, starter Mark Buehrle and reliever Heath Bell.
Reyes and Buehrle have played well. But Bell, who signed a three-year, $27 million contract, has blew six of 25 save chances in the first half and lost his closer’s job.
“The players we have right now should be winning games. It is clear the evaluation was wrong on certain players but that’s a constant process of seeing what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong and changing,’’ Samson said.
“We don’t want to not admit mistakes.’’
Asked if his confidence in the baseball operations staff has wavered, Samson said: “I don’t look at it like that. We have been together a long time. I don’t evaluate on a day to day basis like that. I would say that this year took a lot out of everyone, including me.’’
Samson didn’t suggest that he or Loria thinks Guillen deserves an extra share of the blame. The season wasn’t even a week old when the team suspended Guillen five games for public comments sympathetic to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
“Ozzie is Ozzie and the coaching staff is the coaching staff. They can’t go out there,’’ Samson said. “We gave them the players and they have used them in the exact way we envisioned them being used.”
That doesn’t mean the coaching staff will be immune from changes.
“That’s something that Jeffrey will address because that’s his purview,’’ Samson said.
The season has not been a total disaster. The Marlins’ home attendance is 18th among 30 teams with an average of 28,405. Last year the Marlins were 29th with an average of 18,772. Samson said fans have been raving about the new Marlins Park.
“So that has a much longer-lasting legacy and it feels good that we were able to accomplish that,’’ he said. “It is certainly tempered by the fact that this season we had completely different visions of how it would go.’’
No matter how the Marlins play each season, the front office always meets in October to review the organization’s performance.
Given that the club is on its way to one of the most disappointing finishes in franchise history, the meetings with owner Jeffrey Loria two months from now will be even more serious than usual.
“I think it’s going to be an interesting October, a little different than the October we envisioned,’’ team president David Samson said.
“Jeffrey is going to look at everything from me to Larry (Beinfest, baseball operations president) to Mike (Hill, general manager) to Ozzie (Guillen, manager) to (equipment manager) John Silverman. He’s angry and he should be.’’
Samson wouldn’t speculate on what, if any, changes might be in store for the Marlins, who are 49-60 as they open a three-game series Tuesday at the New York Mets.
“It was not one thing,’’ he said about what has gone wrong over the first 109 games. “That’s sort of the message to the fans, that this year has to be an anomaly.’’
For now, the Marlins’ goal for the final 53 games will be to climb back to the respectability of a .500 record. But even that seems remote. Miami — which has won just 18 of its past 50 — would have to go 32-21 the rest of the way to finish 81-81.
Last year, the Marlins were 54-55 after 109 games en route to a 72-90 finish. That team had a $57.6 million opening-day payroll. But the 2012 team, with an opening-day payroll of $101.6 million, was built to win.
“The craziest thing is the money was spent this year and for whatever reason the combination of players wasn’t right,’’ Samson said.
“This was an all-in season, there’s no doubt about that. The moves we made were an effort to win and they have not panned out.’’
The team traded away six key players in four deals last month: third baseman Hanley Ramirez, second baseman Omar Infante, starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez, first baseman Gaby Sanchez and relievers Randy Choate and Edward Mujica.
“Not one trade that was done was payroll-motivated,” Samson said. “It was chemistry-motivated, it was winning motivated.’’
The most significant move was trading away Ramirez, who underperformed and whose attitude was said to have hurt the atmosphere in the clubhouse.
Since he was traded July 25, the Marlins are 4-8. One bright spot during that time has been Jose Reyes, who replaced Ramirez at shortstop this spring and currently has a 24-game hitting streak. He is hitting .408 in his last 49 at-bats.
The Marlins next year will look to anchor the team around Reyes and slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who had knee surgery July 8 and is scheduled to return to the lineup Tuesday.
What the rest of the team looks like next year remains to be seen.
Samson said the team will consider adding key players this winter through free-agent signings and trades, although it wouldn’t be on the scale of the $190 million spending spree that brought in Reyes, starter Mark Buehrle and reliever Heath Bell.
Reyes and Buehrle have played well. But Bell, who signed a three-year, $27 million contract, has blew six of 25 save chances in the first half and lost his closer’s job.
“The players we have right now should be winning games. It is clear the evaluation was wrong on certain players but that’s a constant process of seeing what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong and changing,’’ Samson said.
“We don’t want to not admit mistakes.’’
Asked if his confidence in the baseball operations staff has wavered, Samson said: “I don’t look at it like that. We have been together a long time. I don’t evaluate on a day to day basis like that. I would say that this year took a lot out of everyone, including me.’’
Samson didn’t suggest that he or Loria thinks Guillen deserves an extra share of the blame. The season wasn’t even a week old when the team suspended Guillen five games for public comments sympathetic to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
“Ozzie is Ozzie and the coaching staff is the coaching staff. They can’t go out there,’’ Samson said. “We gave them the players and they have used them in the exact way we envisioned them being used.”
That doesn’t mean the coaching staff will be immune from changes.
“That’s something that Jeffrey will address because that’s his purview,’’ Samson said.
The season has not been a total disaster. The Marlins’ home attendance is 18th among 30 teams with an average of 28,405. Last year the Marlins were 29th with an average of 18,772. Samson said fans have been raving about the new Marlins Park.
“So that has a much longer-lasting legacy and it feels good that we were able to accomplish that,’’ he said. “It is certainly tempered by the fact that this season we had completely different visions of how it would go.’’
Comment