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JUPITER - As he strolls the fields of his own spring camp at Roger Dean Stadium, Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, native New Yorker, is not oblivious to the buzz emanating out of Mets camp 40 miles north on I-95 where, for the first time in five years, there is real optimism about meaningful games in September and beyond. And, of course, 100 miles even further north, in Vierra, Loria is also instinctively aware that the Washington Nationals are already polishing up the World Series trophy.
“I’m happy for them, I really am,” Loria said of the Mets. “It’s been a tough few years for Fred (Wilpon) and they’ve got a lot of really good pitchers up there. I wish them well, I really do.”
Sure he does.
The fact is it’s been a few really tough last few years for Loria, in which he was the most vilified man in south Florida, held in even lower esteem than Fidel Castro in one poll, after his decision to gut the Marlins, one year after he’d more than doubled their payroll — to $118 million — with splashy free agent signings of Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle among others, along with luring Ozzie Guillen away from the Chicago White Sox as his manager, as the team prepared to move into its glitzy new $651 million retractable roof, taxpayer-funded ballpark. “Trust me,” Loria told the fans, after trading Reyes and Buehrle and dumping the contracts of all his other high-paid players, like Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante. “We are doing the right thing here.”
Of course nobody believed that. But as Loria suffered through two straight last-place seasons in which the Marlins lost 93 and 108 games and then a fourth-place, 77-85 finish last year, he and his new baseball operations president Michael Hill, along with GM Dan Jennings, were very quietly putting back together a team they believe is a legitimate World Series contender, unlike the much-ballyhooed 2012 team that, under Guillen, turned out to be a profane fraud. They already knew they had the makings of a star-studded homegrown nucleus with Jose Fernandez (14th overall pick in 2011), Giancarlo Stanton (2nd round 2007), Christian Yelich (23rd overall pick in 2010), Marcell Ozuna (Dominican free agent) and Steve Cishek (fifth-round pick 2007). Fernandez was arguably the most dominant starting pitcher in the NL East until blowing out his elbow last May; Cishek, with 73 saves over the last two years, has been one of the more consistently effective closers in the game, while the Stanton/Yelich/Ozuna tandem is now universally regarded as the best overall outfield in baseball. At the same time, Loria’s baseball operations team embellished that core by getting back righthander Henderson Alvarez (who emerged as the Marlins’ No. 2 starter behind Fernandez last year) and potential All-Star shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria (along with top pitching prospect Justin Nicolino) in the (then much-criticized) trade with Toronto for Reyes and Buehrle.
Then this past winter, sensing they had the makings of a team that could challenge the Nationals, Loria’s team made up a list of needs that would hopefully complete the rebuilding job — a speed guy for the top of the order, a couple of veteran starting pitchers to fill out the rotation until Fernandez returns in late June, a first baseman and perhaps another infielder with some pop — all with the emphasis on character. And then, one-by-one they checked them off, acquiring second baseman Dee Gordon, whose 64 stolen bases last season were more than the entire Marlin team in 2014, in a trade with the Dodgers along with 13-game winner Dan Haren; signing first baseman Michael Morse, one of the real clubhouse leaders on the 2014 world champion Giants; trading two prospects to the Cincinnati Reds for righty Mat Latos, a 14-game winner in 2010, 2012 and 2013, and lastly dealing righty Nathan Eovaldi to the Yankees for Martin Prado, who will play third base, and spot starter/long reliever David Phelps. For good measure, Loria added 41-year-old future Hall-of-Famer Ichiro Suzuki as an extra bat off the bench and another veteran clubhouse influence. At least on paper, with the exception of maybe the White Sox, nobody had a better winter than the Marlins, who were also awarded the 2017 All-Star Game — and after giving Stanton a $325 million extension, Loria was able to erase a lot of the doubt about his commitment to winning. In addition, he spent more millions on a private jet to transport the Marlins throughout the season, along with a personal nutrition chef, and hired 10 additional scouts.
“I think they finally understand why we had to re-set (after 2012) in a big way,” Loria was saying, in a rare interview, at Roger Dean the other day, “and that included the reinvigorating and reformation of our baseball department. I just wasn’t willing to keep losing games with that same group like other National League teams. So we did something that was initially painful for the fans but with an eye on getting two years down the road to where we are now, with a lot of terrific young players and a very interesting team.”
After citing Morse and Prado “as the sort of high character guys we sought to bring in to mix with our kids,” Loria is unable to conceal his excitement over the acquisition of the 26-year-old Gordon, who was surprisingly available after really coming into his own with the Dodgers last year, hitting .289 with 92 runs and leading the NL in stolen bases and triples.
“I love speed,” Loria said, “going all the way back to 2003 (the Marlins’ world championship team). I told my baseball operations team then I wanted Juan Pierre, even though (with second baseman Luis Castillo) it was going to give us two speed guys at the top of the lineup. Without Pierre (who hit .305, scored 100 runs and led the NL with 65 stolen bases) we don’t win that year. I’m hoping for the same impact from Gordon this year.”
And just to make sure, Loria has brought Pierre in as a special baserunning mentor for Gordon this spring. Along with Perry Hill, regarded as one of the best infield coaches in baseball, Gordon could not have better tutors at his disposal to hone his game. The debate with Gordon is whether the Dodgers sold high (after he seemed to wear down in the second half of last season, stealing only eight bases after Aug. 15), or sold low (with his full potential still yet to be reached). Loria is obviously banking on the latter.
“I don’t know why the Dodgers gave up on me after drafting me and bringing me up through their system. I just know that coming to the Marlins has been a blessing for me and my family,” said Gordon, an Orlando native. “My average stayed pretty much the same, and I felt like I did really well for them. I know this, I haven’t reached my prime.”
Prado likewise feels he was unappreciated with the Yankees last year, despite hitting .316 with seven homers in 37 games for them after coming over in a deal with the Diamondbacks.
“I was surprised by (the trade),” Prado said. “But I get it. I just wasn’t part of their plan for 2015. But I couldn’t be more happy to be here. They’re building a team for this year and I’m glad to be part of it; to be around all these good young players here.”
That, however, is as far as he’ll go. Whenever the subject comes up of unseating the heavily favored Nationals as NL East champs, or the Marlins even making it to the postseason for the first time since 2003, everyone here is noticeably reserved.
“We don’t talk about that,” Prado said, tersely. “We just play the game.”
I asked Loria if the Marlins downplaying expectations for 2015 is by design.
“There are no horns to be blown here,” the owner said, “we haven’t done anything yet.”
Then, with a smile, he added: “No more re-set buttons either.”
“I’m happy for them, I really am,” Loria said of the Mets. “It’s been a tough few years for Fred (Wilpon) and they’ve got a lot of really good pitchers up there. I wish them well, I really do.”
Sure he does.
The fact is it’s been a few really tough last few years for Loria, in which he was the most vilified man in south Florida, held in even lower esteem than Fidel Castro in one poll, after his decision to gut the Marlins, one year after he’d more than doubled their payroll — to $118 million — with splashy free agent signings of Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle among others, along with luring Ozzie Guillen away from the Chicago White Sox as his manager, as the team prepared to move into its glitzy new $651 million retractable roof, taxpayer-funded ballpark. “Trust me,” Loria told the fans, after trading Reyes and Buehrle and dumping the contracts of all his other high-paid players, like Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante. “We are doing the right thing here.”
Of course nobody believed that. But as Loria suffered through two straight last-place seasons in which the Marlins lost 93 and 108 games and then a fourth-place, 77-85 finish last year, he and his new baseball operations president Michael Hill, along with GM Dan Jennings, were very quietly putting back together a team they believe is a legitimate World Series contender, unlike the much-ballyhooed 2012 team that, under Guillen, turned out to be a profane fraud. They already knew they had the makings of a star-studded homegrown nucleus with Jose Fernandez (14th overall pick in 2011), Giancarlo Stanton (2nd round 2007), Christian Yelich (23rd overall pick in 2010), Marcell Ozuna (Dominican free agent) and Steve Cishek (fifth-round pick 2007). Fernandez was arguably the most dominant starting pitcher in the NL East until blowing out his elbow last May; Cishek, with 73 saves over the last two years, has been one of the more consistently effective closers in the game, while the Stanton/Yelich/Ozuna tandem is now universally regarded as the best overall outfield in baseball. At the same time, Loria’s baseball operations team embellished that core by getting back righthander Henderson Alvarez (who emerged as the Marlins’ No. 2 starter behind Fernandez last year) and potential All-Star shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria (along with top pitching prospect Justin Nicolino) in the (then much-criticized) trade with Toronto for Reyes and Buehrle.
Then this past winter, sensing they had the makings of a team that could challenge the Nationals, Loria’s team made up a list of needs that would hopefully complete the rebuilding job — a speed guy for the top of the order, a couple of veteran starting pitchers to fill out the rotation until Fernandez returns in late June, a first baseman and perhaps another infielder with some pop — all with the emphasis on character. And then, one-by-one they checked them off, acquiring second baseman Dee Gordon, whose 64 stolen bases last season were more than the entire Marlin team in 2014, in a trade with the Dodgers along with 13-game winner Dan Haren; signing first baseman Michael Morse, one of the real clubhouse leaders on the 2014 world champion Giants; trading two prospects to the Cincinnati Reds for righty Mat Latos, a 14-game winner in 2010, 2012 and 2013, and lastly dealing righty Nathan Eovaldi to the Yankees for Martin Prado, who will play third base, and spot starter/long reliever David Phelps. For good measure, Loria added 41-year-old future Hall-of-Famer Ichiro Suzuki as an extra bat off the bench and another veteran clubhouse influence. At least on paper, with the exception of maybe the White Sox, nobody had a better winter than the Marlins, who were also awarded the 2017 All-Star Game — and after giving Stanton a $325 million extension, Loria was able to erase a lot of the doubt about his commitment to winning. In addition, he spent more millions on a private jet to transport the Marlins throughout the season, along with a personal nutrition chef, and hired 10 additional scouts.
“I think they finally understand why we had to re-set (after 2012) in a big way,” Loria was saying, in a rare interview, at Roger Dean the other day, “and that included the reinvigorating and reformation of our baseball department. I just wasn’t willing to keep losing games with that same group like other National League teams. So we did something that was initially painful for the fans but with an eye on getting two years down the road to where we are now, with a lot of terrific young players and a very interesting team.”
After citing Morse and Prado “as the sort of high character guys we sought to bring in to mix with our kids,” Loria is unable to conceal his excitement over the acquisition of the 26-year-old Gordon, who was surprisingly available after really coming into his own with the Dodgers last year, hitting .289 with 92 runs and leading the NL in stolen bases and triples.
“I love speed,” Loria said, “going all the way back to 2003 (the Marlins’ world championship team). I told my baseball operations team then I wanted Juan Pierre, even though (with second baseman Luis Castillo) it was going to give us two speed guys at the top of the lineup. Without Pierre (who hit .305, scored 100 runs and led the NL with 65 stolen bases) we don’t win that year. I’m hoping for the same impact from Gordon this year.”
And just to make sure, Loria has brought Pierre in as a special baserunning mentor for Gordon this spring. Along with Perry Hill, regarded as one of the best infield coaches in baseball, Gordon could not have better tutors at his disposal to hone his game. The debate with Gordon is whether the Dodgers sold high (after he seemed to wear down in the second half of last season, stealing only eight bases after Aug. 15), or sold low (with his full potential still yet to be reached). Loria is obviously banking on the latter.
“I don’t know why the Dodgers gave up on me after drafting me and bringing me up through their system. I just know that coming to the Marlins has been a blessing for me and my family,” said Gordon, an Orlando native. “My average stayed pretty much the same, and I felt like I did really well for them. I know this, I haven’t reached my prime.”
Prado likewise feels he was unappreciated with the Yankees last year, despite hitting .316 with seven homers in 37 games for them after coming over in a deal with the Diamondbacks.
“I was surprised by (the trade),” Prado said. “But I get it. I just wasn’t part of their plan for 2015. But I couldn’t be more happy to be here. They’re building a team for this year and I’m glad to be part of it; to be around all these good young players here.”
That, however, is as far as he’ll go. Whenever the subject comes up of unseating the heavily favored Nationals as NL East champs, or the Marlins even making it to the postseason for the first time since 2003, everyone here is noticeably reserved.
“We don’t talk about that,” Prado said, tersely. “We just play the game.”
I asked Loria if the Marlins downplaying expectations for 2015 is by design.
“There are no horns to be blown here,” the owner said, “we haven’t done anything yet.”
Then, with a smile, he added: “No more re-set buttons either.”
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