http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9251691/2

JUPITER, Fla. -- Now here was something worth watching on the first day of the Florida Marlins camp. Money. Lots of it. All in simple white envelopes.

 

The stuff, you know, that the club doesn't have nearly enough of without a new stadium deal. The reason why the Marlins whacked almost every one of their veteran players over the bloody, bloody winter.

 

Here it was, in those little white envelopes, stacked neatly on a table in the middle of the clubhouse. Early morning, and veteran traveling secretary Bill Beck was acting as the Marlins' very own human ATM, dispensing meal money to a bunch of kids whose idea of a meal, undoubtedly, includes one with the word "Happy" in front of it at McDonald's.

 

It was a scene that made a person wonder: Shouldn't Beck be demanding ID from some of these guys before forking over the dough?

 

With Miguel Cabrera not due in for a few more days, Dontrelle Willis is the only recognizable face in the joint. It's like Dontrelle and the 32 dwarfs.

 

"I figure if they got in here, they must be OK," Beck quipped. "If they're carrying notepads and microphones, then I'm suspicious."

 

Not that this club is anonymous, but you could more easily identify members of the Federal Witness Protection program than most of the Marlins.

 

Willis, now the face of the franchise by both talent and default, laughed when the story was relayed to him.

 

"This ain't Boomer's first rodeo," Willis said, employing Beck's nickname. "He knows what he's doing. He knows the money game."

 

It's good someone here does, because despite new manager Joe Girardi's bold proclamation in the first team meeting of the season before the downsized Marlins took the field for the first time Monday -- "We're here to win a World Series. That's the bottom line." -- there will be no getting around economics in South Florida this season.

 

Willis, who went 22-10 with a 2.63 ERA last season -- leading the majors in wins and shutouts (five) and tying St. Louis' Chris Carpenter for the major-league lead with seven complete games -- might be one of the loneliest men on the baseball planet this summer.

 

Not only does the prospect of rebuilding promise to mess with his personal statistics, with the anonymity of everyone else, he might be delivering more press briefings this year than White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

 

Fortunately for the Marlins, Willis, 24, is one of the more earnest, gregarious and conscientious men in the game. If he needs to answer question after question because he is one of the few Marlins who can offer any type of perspective on a major-league game or season, then that's what he will do.

 

"I don't really care, to be honest," Willis said. "It is what it is. You still have a job to do, like it or not. So why not like it? I'm not really that complicated in my thinking.

 

"You just have to be smarter. You have to pace yourself. If not, you'll wear yourself out. If it affects you on the field, then it becomes a problem."

 

Girardi does not think that will be a problem with his ace because of "who he is." So far, Willis has handled stunning success at an early age in spectacularly mature fashion. And there's no reason to believe it will change now.

 

Granted, if the losses start racking up and Willis' win total nosedives, things could change. And it might be understandable if he would snap.

 

But as far as the prospect of a lousy Marlins season costing him personal stats and money, he isn't having any of that.

 

"That's kind of weak," said Willis, whose $4.35 million salary this season is tops on the Florida roster. "I don't think anybody goes out there worrying about guys making errors. That's negative thinking. You have to be optimistic in the big leagues.

 

"I don't know that it will cost me money. The money was never mine to begin with. I'm making great money, great money for the normal man. I was making great money my rookie year -- $300,000 goes a long way.

 

"I don't think anybody in here wants to make errors. I don't want to give up nine runs a start. We have to help each other out.

 

"There's enough negativity going on around this team. We have to pick each other up and help each other out."

 

Not that Willis was charmed with the way the Marlins did business over the winter. Center fielder Juan Pierre, who was dealt to the Cubs, is his best friend in baseball and his workout buddy. Josh Beckett, dealt to Boston, and A.J. Burnett, who signed with Toronto as a free agent, gave him a couple of other anchors in the rotation. Third baseman Mike Lowell, also dealt to Boston, emerged as a team leader a few years after the Marlins' last fire sale, before and during the 1998 season.

 

"It's my friends," Willis said. "It's sad to see them go."

 

But Pierre and Lowell told him on their way out the door: Keep doing what you're doing. Don't let outside influences dictate your work. Willis vows to take that to heart. He's got too much going not to. He finished second to Carpenter in last season's NL Cy Young balloting. His 22 wins rank as a franchise record. His five shutouts were the most by a pitcher under the age of 24 since 1985, when Dwight Gooden threw eight shutouts at 20 years old.

 

Which is roughly the age of many of these kids in the Florida clubhouse on this hot Florida morning. So there is nothing preventing kids from scooping up their share of success quickly. It's just that the odds are, of course, strongly against it.

 

The Marlins think they netted a very good haul of prospects in the veteran blood-letting. Mike Jacobs is expected to be the first baseman. Hanley Ramirez could eventually become a star at shortstop. Anibal Sanchez might start the season in the minors, but scouts think he has the kind of talent to rocket to stardom sooner rather than later. Yusmeiro Petit, acquired from the Mets in the Carlos Delgado trade, is another young starting pitcher to watch closely.

 

Sitting in front of his locker, Willis looked around the clubhouse, taking mental inventory of just how many of the 33 pitchers and catchers in the room he knew.

 

"All those guys at the table over there, those four guys, I know them," he said. "I don't know, about seven guys maybe. Maybe a little more than that."

 

Several yards away, players quietly continued approaching Beck, accepting their meal money, hoping the hope of all rookies:

 

That their stay in the majors might be for more than a quick burger or, especially, that dreaded cup of coffee.

Been the meal ticket since mid 2003, bud

Been the meal ticket since mid 2003, bud

 

Exactly.

It's sad how lazy sports reporters today seem to feed off each other.

 

Gone are the days when it was every man for himself, each trying to outdo the other, and the sin of all sins was to report the same thing as the other guy. Unfortunately today, we're inundated with so-called reporters who think a quote by player X is fair game to be picked up by any and all (without attribution) and reported over and over.

 

My guess is that probably most if not all of these Sportsline, USAToday, fillintheblank columns being written about the Marlins were penned by guys who haven't been within a thousand miles of Marlins training camp and were it not for the cellphone and somebody else's work, they'd have nothing to write.

 

While that might not be the case with this particular piece, there seems to be a common theme these days "I don't know Dan Uggla from Matt Cepicky from Jeremy Hermida from Jesus Delgado so no one else does either". Or "So and so said they traded seven starting players so it's okay for me to say the same...".

 

Sad, very sad what sports journalism has evolved into. Doubly sad when you think about in the context of Curt Goudy's passing, one of the greatest broadcast voices of the twentieth century, who did his best work in an era when reporters really cared about what was written below their names.

well said.

ditto

Willis has been the Marlin's coverboy since May 21, 2003.

It's sad how lazy sports reporters today seem to feed off each other.

 

Gone are the days when it was every man for himself, each trying to outdo the other, and the sin of all sins was to report the same thing as the other guy. Unfortunately today, we're inundated with so-called reporters who think a quote by player X is fair game to be picked up by any and all (without attribution) and reported over and over.

 

My guess is that probably most if not all of these Sportsline, USAToday, fillintheblank columns being written about the Marlins were penned by guys who haven't been within a thousand miles of Marlins training camp and were it not for the cellphone and somebody else's work, they'd have nothing to write.

 

While that might not be the case with this particular piece, there seems to be a common theme these days "I don't know Dan Uggla from Matt Cepicky from Jeremy Hermida from Jesus Delgado so no one else does either". Or "So and so said they traded seven starting players so it's okay for me to say the same...".

 

Sad, very sad what sports journalism has evolved into. Doubly sad when you think about in the context of Curt Goudy's passing, one of the greatest broadcast voices of the twentieth century, who did his best work in an era when reporters really cared about what was written below their names.

 

 

 

Very well stated. The fact of the matter is....outside of SoFla, no one really cares about the Marlins (of course there are a few scattered fans/writers here and there.) If you ask ppl up north about the Marlins they will laugh at you. They were laughing after we won in 2003! I told my nephew who is a big Spankees fan that I saw Brad Penny in Publix the other day......He had NO idea who Brad Penny was! The Marlins will

ALWAYS be the most under appreciated, unresearched franchise in Pro Sports.