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Money Talks, but Marlins prove sometimes it doesn't


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BALTIMORE, June 21 ? The Florida Marlins' latest makeover started the day that pitcher Dontrelle Willis walked into the clubhouse with a boxful of hand-me-downs.

 

When Willis opened the box, revealing a pile of colorful vintage jerseys from different sports and different teams, he kept at least one baseball tradition alive in South Florida.

 

"I had to tell the guys about Throwback Fridays," Willis said. "Everybody here wears throwback jerseys to the stadium on Fridays. That's been our thing for years."

 

Most players on the current roster did not know Throwback Fridays from Two-Dollar Tuesdays. The Marlins are mainly rookies who make the major league minimum salary, have never bought a throwback jersey and never realized it was part of the club's dress code. So last month, Willis ordered his young teammates to rummage through the box and take one of his.

 

For a franchise that seems to conduct a fire sale every few years, this is as close as it gets to continuity. The Marlins have many reasons not to trade Willis, chief among them his institutional knowledge. At 24, he is already the team's resident historian, a rare player who embraces, rather than dismisses, Florida's baseball past.

 

Conversations with Willis generally lead to 2003, when he was a rookie and throwbacks were the rage, and the Marlins strutted into Yankee Stadium to swipe the World Series. Much about baseball in South Florida has changed since then, but Willis has not. He returns to Yankee Stadium this weekend, still a high-kicking, fast-talking, chest-thumping phenomenon who can liven up a game simply by juggling a rosin bag.

 

The Yankees could use him. The Mets could use him. The Red Sox could use him. But it is hard to believe that any team could use him more than the Marlins. When Willis is not whispering advice to Florida's young pitchers, he is shouting encouragement at young infielders and offering thanks to young catchers, a happy face on what could have been a miserable situation.

 

On May 21, the Marlins' record was 11-31. They had lost every game of a seven-game trip, and their manager was about to pull a Woody Hayes. Joe Girardi, the former Yankee who is in his first year managing the Marlins, officially reached his boiling point May 23, right before the top of the third inning.

 

Girardi was watching his starting pitcher, Scott Olsen, pick an argument with the plate umpire for shorting him one warm-up toss. Obviously distracted, Olsen promptly gave up a home run. When Olsen reached the dugout after the inning, Girardi grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into the tunnel.

 

"He didn't want me to worry about stuff like that anymore," Olsen said. "Coincidence or not, we've been playing well ever since."

 

Something strange happened to the Marlins on their way to baseball ignominy. [After winning by 8-5 in 10 innings over Baltimore on Thursday night, Florida has won 20 out of 27 games, becoming the hottest team in the majors.] The Marlins reeled off a nine-game winning streak this month, matching the longest in franchise history. And they went from considering trading Willis to possibly building around him.

 

If the Yankees, the Mets or the Red Sox were going to obtain Willis, they had a better shot a month ago, when he was in the midst of a six-game slide. Feeling like he needed to win every time out, he could not win at all. Now that other pitchers have emerged for Florida, Willis may appear expendable, but his leadership has become invaluable.

 

"It's almost assumed when a big-market team needs something, a small-market team will give it up," said Michael Hill, the Marlins' assistant general manager. "That's not the case here. He's not for sale."

 

Keeping Willis was always part of the business plan. The Marlins reduced their payroll to a major league low of $15 million in the off-season, ensuring that they could at least afford their two cornerstones, Willis and Miguel Cabrera. When the team went to spring training, media guides were needed to identify every player except those two.

 

This organization cannot seem to lose, no matter how many strange things it does. The Marlins are starting a Rule V draft choice at second base, Dan Uggla, and he is leading the team in home runs, with 13. They pulled a rookie pitcher out of the bullpen, Josh Johnson, and he is flirting with the major league lead in earned run average. Even Olsen followed his outburst with four straight victories.

 

"If you're the only rookie on a team and you get shelled, you worry about what everyone thinks of you," Johnson said. "Here, with so many rookies, we don't worry much about anything."

 

The Marlins are like a college team that gets living expenses. They play soccer with a water bottle. They give each other piggyback rides. They fight over copies of Baseball America. When catcher Matt Treanor hit his first career home run here Tuesday, he sprinted around the bases, because he said that was what his high school coach taught him to do.

 

Even though Willis is a World Series champion and a Cy Young award runner-up, he blends into the romper room. In the dugout, he keeps up a running commentary about batters. On the mound, he acts as if he is a hyperactive point guard. After someone makes an error, Willis provides a pep talk. After someone makes a diving play, Willis showers him with praise.

 

"I caught his first big-league game, and I had never seen anything like it," Treanor said. "He's still the same, but now I've got all his motions down."

 

With that, Treanor started bobbing his head and shaking his arms and shrugging his shoulders, the ultimate Willis impersonation. It is unusual that any baseball player in South Florida would stick around long enough to be mimicked. Even when Willis set the club record for victories Tuesday night, with 50, he joked that the mark would soon be broken by someone else.

 

Florida has an elite pitching prospect at Class AAA, another at Class AA, and five pitchers at Class A who were first-round picks last year. If history is any indication, they will probably arrive in Miami sooner than expected: a veteran may be due for a raise and have to be traded.

 

But even a team that is forever in transition requires a few constants. Twenty-five throwback jerseys and one throwback pitcher are a start.

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Awesome read.

 

But did Treanor really catch D Train's first game? Coulda sworn he was still in the minors in '03..

 

Probably his first game as a Marlins minor leaguer?

 

 

Edit: Actually I dont know what he's talking about. Treanor was in AAA in 03.

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Awesome read.

 

But did Treanor really catch D Train's first game? Coulda sworn he was still in the minors in '03..

 

Probably his first game as a Marlins minor leaguer?

 

 

Edit: Actually I dont know what he's talking about. Treanor was in AAA in 03.

Maybe he meant 'caught' as in 'saw' or 'viewed'?

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Nice read, we are getting so much love lately.

 

This organization cannot seem to lose, no matter how many strange things it does.

 

so true. except for 05 of course...

I sometimes wonder if the reason why last years team underachieved was because of all the presure they had from being cosidered the ones who would win the division. :confused

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