Don't sell the Fish short just yet

Credit: Orlando Sentinel

George Diaz / Orlando Sentinel

Don't sell the Fish short just yet

Published March 25, 2004

The champions of professional baseball have been misplaced during a frenzied off-season.

What with the travel adventures of A-Rod, the weighty issues of suspected steroid use among the game's prominent stars, and Boston's acquisition of Curt Schilling in its continued pursuit of the Yankees, the Florida Marlins barely made the agate page on 10 D.

It's hard to remember a World Series champion in recent history with such a short-lived celebration, unless you're talking Marlins baseball. They won a world title in 1997, only to have most of their best players dispatched to various places shortly after getting out of their convertibles in the victory parade.

The turnover ratio isn't quite so devastating this time around, though the Marlins payroll remains of the Dollar Store variety while the Yankees continue their spending binge. (There are unconfirmed reports that The Axis of Evil acquired LeBron James, Peyton Manning and Lance Armstrong to shore up their infield recently).

And what of the Marlins?

They are just one of three World Series champions in the past 15 years not to spend more in their following season.

Derek Lee, Juan Encarnacion, Pudge Rodriguez, Braden Looper and Ugueth Urbina are among those who went bye-bye.

It all makes the challenge of repeating as World Series champs -- the only National League team to do that since 1922 was the Cincinnati Reds in 1975-76 -- more daunting than getting on the 'list' at a posh South Beach night club.

"You've got to enjoy it and realize what we did was special," reliever Chad Fox told reporters during opening week of spring training. "But when we go out there, we've got to work harder, because people are going to be shooting for us now. And that's what we want."

The Marlins may have taken a bit of a sting from off-season transactions, but the damage report isn't nearly as ominous as '97, when the team went 54-108 after the financial purge.

A talented rotation, rising stars in Miguel Cabrera and World Series MVP Josh Beckett, and solid veteran leadership from Mike Lowell and Jeff Conine allow the Marlins to stay within competitive reach.

"I think the guys are motivated," manager Jack McKeon told reporters recently. "They realize all the good things that happened and the reason they came about. I think what we did in the playoffs will have a big carry-over effect. Confidence won't be a problem. But the other clubs will have something to say about it, too."

Still, believing in Marlin Magic is a tough sell outside of Pro Player Stadium.

Houston, Philadelphia and Chicago have ratcheted expectations in their cities. Insiders dismiss the Marlins as just another fish in the sea this coming season.

Perhaps a refresher course in playoff history is necessary: The Marlins buried Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants, sent the Chicago Cubs into another year of misery, and gave Yankee Stadium as much respect as the local Y.

"'What more would you have liked us to do?"' Conine told The Miami Herald. "'Beat Babe Ruth and the 1927 Yankees, too?"

Now we're talking fantasy baseball, kinda like picking the Marlins to be the dominant team in professional baseball this season.

But until Opening Day, they are the only one who can flash their gaudy World Series rings and call themselves "world champions."