Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
December 06, 2007
Major League Farm Team

Greg Cote sums up the problem with the Marlins constantly abandoning expensive players:

The problem is that the Marlins can claim to justify their course by pointing to the two World Series championships in only 15 years' existence, the latter, in 2003, with a team of young guys that blossomed en masse prior to then being sold piece-meal.

The club happens to have, in Larry Beinfest, the perfect general manager for the Scrooge-like Loria, a talent-finder adept at identifying guys who'll be very good in a few years and buying them cheap.

He might have done the same in this week's deal, especially in acquiring left-handed pitcher Andrew Miller, 22, who is supposed to be special, and center fielder Cameron Maybin, 20, a five-tool player who also fills a big position need.

Miller, if he develops as advertised, could more than compensate for the loss of Willis. Maybin, if his potential is realized, could be Ramirez-like in his ability to do everything well. If one or two of those other four prospects turn into anything this trade may well look better when reflected upon in, say, 2010 than it does today.

The problem is that Florida has turned itself into a farm team for other franchises, and that is what lends an unavoidably depressing note to this latest deal.

A local fan who imagines Miller or Maybin will turn into superstars must in turn lament which lucky team will have them next when they get good enough for the cheap Marlins to inevitably trade.

I understood the 2005 fire sale. The Marlins did a good job of acquiring players for the future, much as Cleveland did in the early part of this decade. The Indians, however, when they find a good player, sign him long term so they don't lose the advantage gained from good drafts and good trades. The low costs gained by the 2005 fire sale allowed the Marlins to keep Willis and Cabrera long term and have them as part of the next developing championship team. Unfortunately for Florida fans, that team is the Tigers.


Posted by David Pinto at 04:12 PM | Team Evaluation | TrackBack (0)
Comments

If Loria isn't willing to extend these players with his revenue-sharing money, they should cut him off.

Posted by: Mr. Furious at December 6, 2007 05:53 PM

It also seems like the low-payroll teams are cashing out their young superstars much sooner these days. It used to be common for a team to hold onto a player at least until the last year of his contract, a la John Santana. Now, we've got the Marlins dumping Willis and Cabrera; the A's are shopping Dan Haren; the Orioles are taking offers for Eric Bedard. It seems like the treadmill is speeding up. If this trend continues, it's going to be tougher and tougher for a low-budget franchise to build a good team before starting the whole talent-for-prospects cycle all over again.

Posted by: jvwalt at December 6, 2007 06:38 PM

Pardon the typo; that's "Johan Santana," obviously.

Posted by: jvwalt at December 6, 2007 06:39 PM

Dumping Willis?? He was 1-11 from June on with an ERA over 6. They're lucky anyone took him.

Posted by: Bandit at December 6, 2007 08:54 PM

Miller and Maybin are at least a year away from being major league rookies. Far too soon to tell how well this deal is.

I am assuming that Loria is getting revenue sharing and luxury tax dollars (yet another team that need to than the NY Yankees) so what is he doing with those dollars?

Posted by: rbj at December 7, 2007 08:32 AM

What is he doing? Sticking it in his pocket. When the highest-paid guy on your team draws less than $600,000, you end up pocketing a lot of cash. Maybe this would be a good thing if the Marlins were going to use that money to build a stadium, but that remains to be seen.

Posted by: Beau at December 7, 2007 10:41 AM

That's why I think banning the teams with the lowest attendance (over, say, a five year period) from receiving any revenue sharing money makes sense. If a team is making an honest effort to succeed, they'll draw fans and get paid. If some crook like Loria is trying to game the system, he won't.

Posted by: DenverGregg at December 7, 2007 11:02 AM
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