Spring training capsule for Florida Marlins

BY PETE PELEGRIN

Knight Ridder Newspapers

 

FLORIDA MARLINS

 

2005: 83-79,

 

tied for 3rd in NL East

 

Manager: Joe Girardi, 1st season

 

Additions: 2B Pokey Reese, C Miguel Olivo, 1B Wes Helms, RHP Joe Borowski

 

Subtractions: RHP Josh Beckett, RHP A.J. Burnett, 3B Mike Lowell, SS Alex Gonzalez, 2B Luis Castillo, 1B Carlos Delgado, OF Juan Pierre, OF Juan Encarnacion, C Paul Lo Duca, RHP Guillermo Mota, RHP Todd Jones

 

Did you know? The Marlins do not have a single player on their roster that played with the team before the 2003 season.

 

Watch out for: Jeremy Hermida. Many are projecting Hermida, a 22-year-old right fielder, as one of the leading candidates to take home 2006 NL Rookie of the Year honors. Hermida hit .293 with four home runs, including a grand slam in his first major-league at bat, after being called up last September.

 

Outlook: The Marlins' franchise record for losses - 108 in 1998 - could be in jeopardy after the roster was gutted. Patience will be required of Girardi, who never has managed before at any professional level.

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...ts/13969252.htm

i dont think we will lose 108 this year...we are definitely better

It's Knight-Ridder. Perhaps you didn't see their Herald intro to spring training today that crucified the Marlins.

 

The front page is pics of all the departed players and where they went. No mention of the Marlins players appears until page six (after full page stories on the Yankees and NY Mets), the first Marlins story titled "Picking up the Pieces" about how hard poor Perry Hill has it followed on page seven with a piece on Lenny Harris and his fighting to survive.

 

The entire section is pretty much devoted to where ex-Marlins players have been sent and what spring training games you should go to (only one game has the Marlins playing, of course against the Red Sox so you can see Gonzo and Mikey and Joshy, etc.) where you can see them.

 

One might think they would focus on the new players in town but that's not the Herald's agenda. It seems that everyday they have to remind South Florida that there's been a rebuilding effort. Get used to it. Clark Spencer and Kevin Baxter won't feel the season is complete until each of them makes sure they have mentioned Josh Beckett was traded away at least one thousand times each.

 

You won't find a discussion of Travis Bowyer's 100 mph fastball or the fact virtually every Mets fan in America had Mike Jacobs penciled in as their ROY in 2006, heck Hermida gets less play than Juan Encarnacion's travels in the off-season.

 

I wanted to puke as I read this, my only solice is that Knight-Ridder, being one the worst run, worthless piece of crap daily newspaper chains in America is about to be taken over and the pieces sold off because they are such dismal failures even in the monopoly market they serve (lol). It's like not being able to sell steaks in Dallas Texas and you have the only steakhouse in town.