This flood of awful feels worse by the drop, Carlos Delgado the latest Marlin swept out of town by this godforsaken current, but there is at least one rainbow at the end of this Apocalyptic baseball reign: Management is getting back a wonderful array of the world's best baseball prospects for this or some other city to enjoy in a few years.

 

Remember, that's how Dontrelle Willis ended up here, in what was perceived as a salary dump. A.J. Burnett, too. And Juan Pierre. And Derrek Lee. And Carl Pavano. And Brad Penny. And all those guys did was knock over Barry Bonds, then Sammy Sosa, then the New York Freaking Yankees in the single best surprise in South Florida sports history.

 

So there's still hope. That hasn't been traded. Not yet, anyway, though the Marlins are now commissioner-approved to look into swapping even that for a moving van to be named later. Still, the Florida-Las-Vegas-Portland-Charlotte Marlins have gotten the very best prospects the Red Sox and Mets have even with all leverage lost in this public dismantling.

 

DEMISE INEVITABLE

 

Florida will be worse next season, but it won't be that 108-loss atrocity it fielded in 1998 when manager Jim Leyland was embarrassed to have his team introduced before games as defending champions. Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera alone will make this team playoff-good every fifth day. Their new teammates might catch up to them in time to make this team a winner again the moment it debuts elsewhere to a full new baseball stadium and proper support.

 

But at least the sting will lessen from here. The worst is over. The past two days will be as terrible as local baseball fans (both of them) feel until the day the franchise does finally decide to leave. Trading Paul Lo Duca and Luis Castillo and Pierre won't cripple as much as losing Josh Beckett and Carlos Delgado, the former a young link to the glorious past, the latter the symbolic bridge to a competitive future.

 

You should see how excited Boston, a real sports town, is about the acquisition of Beckett. The Red Sox know how hard it is to groom a talent of his pedigree, so they'll happily borrow his nine disabled-list stints and zero career 200-inning seasons in exchange for their best prospect. Beckett immediately steps to the front of a 95-victory rotation as the single best pitching talent in the entire Red-Sox-Yankee rivalry now that Randy Johnson and Schilling have aged. He's going to be great for the next decade, elsewhere.

 

NO LOVE FOR BASEBALL

 

But we have zero appreciation for baseball excellence. The Mets know what they are getting in Delgado as we yawn. We've been so baseball blessed that we lose sight of the fact that Florida, for example, has had three pitchers throw no-hitters while the Mets, born in 1962, are still waiting for their first.

 

We're a banana republic for baseball, and anyone who cares about sports in this market should be alternately embarrassed and ashamed as fans throughout the country marvel and laugh at our incompetence and indifference while scavenging at the skeletal remains of our former champion like sharks lured to chum. We should get the commissioner's approval to change the name of the team -- The Florida Chum.

 

This is only the most underappreciated team in modern-sports history. That's all. And there's plenty of blame to go around, stretching from a wretched fan base to politicians who couldn't get a stadium done even with the Marlins paying for so much of it. Hispanic fans -- or alleged fans -- should be especially ashamed because we claim this to be the sport of our people, and we've never done anything to support this team even as it has pandered to our interests by signing the likes of Livan Hernandez and Alex Fernandez in search of such a spike.

 

Delgado is gone now, shipped to a market that cares.

 

He wanted to be here, God bless him.

 

Happy Thanksgiving, Carlos.

 

At least you'll be in The Major Leagues in 2006, The Bush Leagues in your rearview mirror.

 

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13247484.htm

i hate dan lebatard........BUT he has been on the money when it comes to bashing the fans for the marlins collapse. So I agree w/ all of his current Marlins related articles. But my appreciation for him ends there. He's just a craptastic journalist.

Is he hispanic? If hes not he sure sounded referring to latinos as we

yes he is of cuban decent

Yeah, he is. He did a story a while back in ESPN the Magazine on how hispanic players open up to reporters like him because he speaks the same language they do.

This is what LeBatard is really trying to say.

 

http://sites.gizoogle.com/?url=http://www....showtopic=53653

could be that the drive from downtown is 30 minutes without traffic...

 

i know of alot of people in Tampa that refuse to drive to Rays games because of the same distance...

 

if the stadium in both cities were in downtown miami/tampa then attendance would be up in both...

Yeah, he is. He did a story a while back in ESPN the Magazine on how hispanic players open up to reporters like him because he speaks the same language they do.

 

 

Although years ago he wrote an article on the Orioles game in Cuba and in one paragraph, referring to the Cuban national anthem, he referred to it as the "national anthem of Fidel Castro"... That day I labeled him an idiot for not double-checking his facts. He only had to ask his parents to know that the Cuban national anthem was written in the 19th century, not by Fidel Castro.

^ obviously its not an anthem written by Castro but its simple sarcasm...Castro pretty much owns Cuba thus its basically "his" anthem...you really couldnt figure that out?

I see the point though. It was the anthem of free Cubans long before Castro took over. To an older Cuban who escaped communism and was forced to leave all their worldly possessions and everything they held dearly behind it is surely not pleasant to hear their anthem called Fidel's anthem. Everything has been stolen, nothing is rightfully his. If you saw your parent's or your grandparent's home on TV and heard it described as Castro's house, I don't think it would be pleasant either.

 

But back to the article, Dan has been piling it on the fans to the point of overkill. That is where the bulk of his fingerpointing rage has been directed both in the paper and on radio. I wish he would use some of that blunt rage when he is sucking up to David Samson giggling like a schoolgirl at all the little twerp's bad jokes.

I wish he would use some of that blunt rage when he is sucking up to David Samson giggling like a schoolgirl at all the little twerp's bad jokes.

 

:notworthy Great remark. This wasnt a great article. All he was saying is that the Marlins are getting great players back, but will play somewhere else, in a stadium full of fans that appreciate them. LeBastard is an a**hole plan and simple. His show sucks and he really sounds like a lil school girl giggling all the time.

i hope dan lebatard moves with them