from the sun-sentinel: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basebal...-sports-marlins

 

BERARDINO: Walker's snub of deal mystifying

Published August 1, 2004

 

The biggest question in the wake of the Marlins' blockbuster trade with the Dodgers didn't concern the improved bullpen or the weakened starting rotation or whether the Marlins will name Paul Lo Duca their instant captain after he homered Saturday night on the first pitch he saw with his new team.

 

It wasn't how many thousand cell minutes General Manager Admin Beinfest logged over the last week or even what possible way Marlins manager Jack McKeon will invent to mispronounce "Mota."

 

Rather, it had to do with Admin Walker. As in: What the heck was the Colorado Rockies' star outfielder thinking when he rejected a deal to the Marlins late Friday night?

 

Here were the Marlins, all gussied up and pronouncing themselves ready for a run at repeating as World Series champions, reaching out to a 37-year-old former MVP who hasn't sniffed the playoffs in his fine 16-year career.

 

The Rockies would have eaten close to half the $18 million that remains on Walker's contract through next season. The Marlins would have given up only prospects, despite their best attempts to spin off Juan Encarnacion and the stomach-turning $5.7 million they now owe him through next year.

 

After more than a week of discussions, everything was in place. It was all up to Walker, who has the right to block any trade and an offseason home in West Palm Beach.

 

Should have been a slam dunk, right? Walker could have come here as the final piece in the midseason overhaul, taken over in right field, replaced the departed Hee Seop Choi as the Marlins' only left-handed power source and become an instant South Florida folk hero.

 

OK, so maybe he's no Shaq, but at the very least the injury-prone Walker could have been the Big Variable in a four-team National League East scrum that only figures to grow more interesting.

 

"When he's healthy and he's playing," one talent evaluator said of Walker last week, "he's one of the best in the game."

 

Alas, shortly after rejecting a trade to the Texas Rangers, Walker did the same with a Marlins proposal. That probably rules out getting him here before Sept. 1 on waivers, unless the Marlins are willing to pick up his entire salary. (They aren't.)

 

What was Walker thinking?

 

He's comfortable in Denver, everyone says. He's probably not too eager either to leave the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field for spacious Pro Player Stadium, just as Rockies catcher Charles Johnson (remember him?) nixed a similar swap to the Dodgers.

 

Only Walker truly knows the components of his Mike Hamptonesque decision, although it might have been as simple as scanning the rosters and trying to assess the potential for glory.

 

Maybe, just maybe, Walker took a look at the revamped Marlins and shrugged. Maybe, for various reasons, he wasn't convinced all that change would be enough to vault them beyond a desultory opening four months and into the playoffs again.

 

Maybe he glanced at the NL East standings, saw the 4?-game bulge the Braves had built with a strong six weeks and endorsed their bid to make it 13 consecutive division titles.

 

Maybe Walker's decision would have been different had he waited a while longer. Could be that he's a huge fan of Ismael Valdez and Rudy Seanez, the two veteran arms the Marlins added just before Saturday's deadline. (OK, probably not.)

 

At the very least, you would think Walker, having seen the Dodgers 19 times a year in the NL West, would like playing alongside a gamer like Lo Duca (or De Luca, as McKeon already calls him) and a dominant setup man like Guillermo Mota.

 

Ah, but maybe Walker went a little further in his evaluation. Maybe he looked at the weak season of Encarnacion, who joins shortstop Alex Gonzalez to give the Marlins two of the majors' seven lowest on-base percentages, and wondered just how much the Marlins had improved the league's fourth-worst offense.

 

Maybe he saw the franchise leader in victories heading west and wondered if the Marlins were wise to deal Brad Penny. Especially when they can't be sure Josh Beckett's troublesome index finger will cooperate.

 

Maybe he saw Mota's 7.11 ERA in his past seven outings and wondered if the workhorse reliever had hit some sort of wall.

 

Maybe he saw that 60-point career drop in Lo Duca's second-half batting average and feared he would wear down for the fourth year in a row. (Looked fine Saturday, though.)

 

Maybe all of these things went through Walker's mind as he tried to process one of the most difficult choices of his career. Or maybe I'm giving him too much credit ... and the Marlins' imaginative front office not enough.

All I have to say to Walker is :thumbdown

 

Go finish your career at the dump that is Coors Field without even everwhiffing the smell of a playoff game.

 

Maybe he looked at the weak season of Encarnacion, who joins shortstop Alex Gonzalez to give the Marlins two of the majors' seven lowest on-base percentages, and wondered just how much the Marlins had improved the league's fourth-worst offense.

 

Wow that really sucks.