These Fish Are Dead In The Water

April 10, 2006

Losing to the Florida Marlins these days is a bit like losing to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Neither team exists anymore, not really, and you shouldn't get beaten by a set of ghosts in uniforms.

So it was a very good thing the Mets came back to beat the team once known as the Marlins yesterday at Shea, 3-2 - on a walk in the ninth to Carlos Beltran, a sharp single to right by Carlos Delgado, then a sacrifice fly by David Wright. For Delgado, the man in the middle of that winning rally, it was not worth so much as a glance back at the other dugout.

"None whatsoever," Delgado said about having any sympathy for his former team. "I had some friends. We had nice guys. The guys are great. But it was time to turn the page. This is a business, and we have enough to worry about here."

The Marlins are dead yet again. Perhaps more precisely, they are a franchise suffering from chronic bulimia. Twice they've stuffed themselves on world championships, then purged afterwards.

Ownership wants a new stadium, or a new hometown, and this is the way it's decided to go about getting one. It is a familiar form of blackmail, once practiced by the commissioner himself, Bud Selig, in Milwaukee: We're going to lose baseball games until you taxpayers build us a new ballpark.

Florida dumped more than $40 million in salaries in the offseason, sending away the likes of Delgado, Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell. The Marlins are left with a payroll of about $14.3 million, by far the lowest in the league, less than the salary paid five individual Yankees. Fourteen of their players make the league minimum of $327,000.

You get what you pay for, more or less. It is one of Selig's many shortsighted, laissez-faire policies (exactly how long does Cleveland get to use that racial caricature on its cap, by the way?) that allows ownership in Florida to steal revenue-sharing dollars without spending the money necessary to compete.

Joe Girardi is the manager of the Marlins, which is a job description you wouldn't wish on Barry Bonds. Everybody in the business wishes the guy luck, and for the moment everybody is saying that things will improve for him. Willie Randolph gave him some advice over the summer, told him to be himself and have patience. Omar Minaya, who knows a little bit about creating a whole team out of shards from his days in Montreal, insists the Marlins are not as bad as they look right now.

"They've got a lot of young talent," Minaya said. "Ownership has a plan over there. It's not the same situation as the last time with them."

Easy for Minaya to say now. He has a $101 million payroll. But this was the day when Dontrelle Willis was starting for Florida, so the game figured to be close. Willis earns about $4.35 million, nearly a third of the team's total, and he is a real major leaguer. He also has a history of eating the Mets for brunch.

The Marlins' anemic lineup yesterday was hanging on to a 2-0 lead, and then the game was tied going into the last inning. There really ought to be a law against $101 million teams playing a theme from "Rocky" during a game against the Marlins, but the Mets dredged it up anyway at Shea going into the bottom of the ninth.

The Mets won. The real Rocky lost. And nobody cried a single teardrop for the Marlins.

"I don't write the paychecks," Delgado said. "It's not my problem."

That may not be entirely true. If enough of the 30 major league teams are allowed to drop off the face of the standings by spending nothing on talent, then sooner or later such nonactivity will affect salaries at the top.

This is not the way the players on the Mets see it at the moment.

"You have to look at their situation," Pedro Martinez said. "They're fighting for a stadium. They invested all that money for a championship team, and then they weren't getting anything out of it."

Which comes first, the lousy stadium or the losing? The Mets seem to be proving that a team can become a contender while inhabiting a scruffy, lame-duck ballpark in Queens.

The Mets are winning, and getting a new place. The Marlins? They don't really exist anymore. Just uniforms and ground ball outs.

Originally published on April 10, 2006

Source

Not that I value his opinion at all, but thought I'd share.

CYmarlins · April 10, 2006

kinda of a jerk to say that were non existant now and no team should lose to us. but that is just one of the reasons we need to go out there and win.

ultimopain · April 10, 2006

No words can describe how much of a moron that journo is.

fanfish · April 10, 2006

We only lost by one run yesterday. What does that say about "these almighty" Mets!

I hope we can all remember all this trash talk. Hopefully in the near future, when the Marlins start winning these close games, we can remind them of their BS and make them eat their words.

April 10, 2006

We only lost by one run yesterday. What does that say about "these almighty" Mets!

I hope we can all remember all this trash talk. Hopefully in the near future, when the Marlins start winning these close games, we can remind them of their BS and make them eat their words.

Yeah but the Marlins have always had that problem too. In the years past they couldn't beat the teams they should dominate and the power houses they could beat. Like I have said before, only time will tell. I just hope that these young kids aren't ruined in the process.

SilverBullet · April 10, 2006

thats why we need to turn some heads...we dont get enough respect...we're miles ahead of the 98 Marlins and today's Royals, probably Tampa Bay and Colorado too...likely over Washington and Pittsburgh as well...

we just need to go out there and prove it in our record...we definitely have the talent to do so...and have gotten extremely close in 3 out 4 losses...let's git r dun! :notworthy

ilovemarlins · April 10, 2006

I can't wait to see the fish sweep the damn met in the next series !!! :whistle :whistle :whistle

MarlinFan10 · April 10, 2006

I really hope the fish crush the Mets next time to shut these kind of people up.

Hotcorner · April 10, 2006

Typical of that awful rag. I wouldn't wipe my asss with that paper.

"You have to look at their situation," Pedro Martinez said. "They're fighting for a stadium. They invested all that money for a championship team, and then they weren't getting anything out of it."

Which comes first, the lousy stadium or the losing? The Mets seem to be proving that a team can become a contender while inhabiting a scruffy, lame-duck ballpark in Queens.

nice try jackass. Yeah in the largest media market & population in the country. Idiot.

It has nothing to do with becoming a contender for one year you dolt. The Marlins did it too, for a couple of years actually, & it wasn't enough to get the financial situation & stadium turned around. That's a problem the Mets will never have to face. What an idiotic comparison.

:jackass

Heywood Jablowme · April 10, 2006

Its really sad, but typical of NY'ers, they will only show respect, and then begrudgingly when you beat the snot out of them.

Anyone who has seen the games the Marlins have played so far, knows how good this team can be. Just give them some time.

mva5580 · April 10, 2006

While I do think the guy's an idiot (hell 99% of "journalists" are,) these statements are quite depressing:

"The Marlins are left with a payroll of about $14.3 million, by far the lowest in the league, less than the salary paid five individual Yankees. Fourteen of their players make the league minimum of $327,000."

"Willis earns about $4.35 million, nearly a third of the team's total"

We can be appreciative all we want of the efforts these young kids are giving, but victories just aren't going to happen a whole lot this year. I'm scared to even see some of the home attendance numbers that are going to come up this year.

Admin · April 10, 2006

I wouldn't even call the Mets contenders yet. That pitching staff outside of Pedro and Wagner is awful, and thats what wins.

Also how can you say a team is "winning" when the season is only a week old.

I say this out of meaning it, I hope late at night when no one is around(so no one gets hurt), a bad driver rams into the infastructure of their new stadium and brings the whole thing down. God willing, his airbag will deploy, and he will survive to go on and be the hero he would be in my eyes. Or, we could just drop John Rocker a $20 and he will be more than happy to get the job done.

mr_eob · April 10, 2006

I love it when these a**holes make those kind of comments, because they are nothing but pathetic, self-adoring, extremely confused, since they can't win after aspending sooo much money on overrated club with aging talent, bitter snobs. And in the end they're going to end up in the same spot they do every year, out of the playoffs.

musk · April 10, 2006

...we dont get enough respect...we're miles ahead of the 98 Marlins

We don't get enough respect? We are miles ahead of the 98 Marlins? It's been a week and in that week we have 1 win yet somehow you already know we are miles ahead of the 98 Marlins. And with this 1 win in 7 days somehow we are warrented more respect? You know what, you're absolutly right. :banghead

Marlins04 · April 10, 2006

i already wrote this idiot an email thats was well how should i put it.......................... exactly what he needs :thumbup

April 10, 2006

This guy pisses me off so much.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/407485p-344975c.html

These Fish are dead in the water