February 25, 201313 yr 23. Jacoby Ellsbury 25. Matt Garza 26. Craig Hansen 42. Clay Buchholz 45. Jed Lowrie 47. Michael Bowden Injury prone Not that good Who? Injury prone On the Astros lol Who?Chase Headley was drafted in the 2nd round of this draft btw.
February 25, 201313 yr For the record, I think that the Marlins have been average-ish in drafting players. However, they've almost entirely neglected the international players market, which is probably one of the reasons they've lacked depth in recent years. Last 2-3 years I'd buy that. For much of the 2000's decade, I'd put them in the bottom 1/3. 2005 alone puts them in the bottom half.
February 25, 201313 yr How sad, I actually appreciated the letter and appreciated him finally saying something, but its sad how no matter what he does, its automatically taken negatively. At this point, Loria can walk on water and people would complain that he can't swim. What did you like about the letter? Serious question.The best thing about the letter was that someone seems to have convinced Loria that it matters what fans think, and he should try to do something about it. That might not go far toward fielding a winning team, but better communication might relieve some of our frustrations. I do think it is strange that he justifies dismantling the team because players had a year that wasn't consistent with their career numbers. That would normally be an argument for keeping players, not getting rid of them.
February 25, 201313 yr How sad, I actually appreciated the letter and appreciated him finally saying something, but its sad how no matter what he does, its automatically taken negatively. At this point, Loria can walk on water and people would complain that he can't swim. What did you like about the letter? Serious question.That he actually gave a response instead of staying quiet. And that he gave reasons for his actions. I may not agree 100% with all of them but I think that letter is better than staying silent and having people assume that Loria does things out of a pure hatred for all mankind or something. I see the letter as a small step in trying to fix their image. Whats wrong with trying?
February 25, 201313 yr Talk is cheap when it takes this long to come out. If he would have just came out and said yep I'm cutting payroll because I dont care about you fans I just want my money that would have worked for me at least he would have manned up then.
February 25, 201313 yr How sad, I actually appreciated the letter and appreciated him finally saying something, but its sad how no matter what he does, its automatically taken negatively. At this point, Loria can walk on water and people would complain that he can't swim. Appreciation? I can think of many ways to take his letter-but feeling appreciation is not one of them. One of his issues is that the tone is that we should appreciate him for everything he has done including bringing us an artistic building. What is missing from his letter is the appreciation he owes to the community, the city and the county and those politicians whose service ended as a result, REGARDLESS if those politicians had any specific purpose. I think some of them actually knew it was not a good deal but wanted to secure a major league team for future generations, knowing one day Loria would be gone. Again, Loria has much to thank the community for and any real appreciation should be for that-not by us for his self serving narcisstic letter.
February 25, 201313 yr Well, I myself appreciate the effort and the intent of the letter, the end. As for him appreciating the community, and city county etc... that's on him. He isn't exactly the nicest guy on earth, nor does he have to be really. All I've gathered from the reactions to this letter is that the wounds on this community are still fresh enough that absolutely nothing will appease the people until we have a collection of championships. It feels like even signing Stanton longterm or even a miraculous winning season in 2013 would still have this community, media, politicians, etc upset at Loria. The image seems unfixable now. Damn if you do and damn if you do. Sadly.
February 25, 201313 yr SB Nation's take on the letter http://mlb.sbnation.com/2013/2/25/4026032/jeffrey-loria-letter-fans-miami-marlins-owner
February 25, 201313 yr I'm waiting for Jeff Passan's take, does he have one up yet? Admin, what's your own take? I'm sorry if I missed it in this thread, but I'm curious.
February 25, 201313 yr How sad, I actually appreciated the letter and appreciated him finally saying something, but its sad how no matter what he does, its automatically taken negatively. At this point, Loria can walk on water and people would complain that he can't swim. What did you like about the letter? Serious question.The best thing about the letter was that someone seems to have convinced Loria that it matters what fans think, and he should try to do something about it. That might not go far toward fielding a winning team, but better communication might relieve some of our frustrations. I do think it is strange that he justifies dismantling the team because players had a year that wasn't consistent with their career numbers. That would normally be an argument for keeping players, not getting rid of them. true. even the career numbers stuff didn't really involve the offseason trade guys except for Bell. Gaby was gone, Hanley was gone & that was done with. Buehrle pitched exactly as advertised, Reyes pretty close, and Buck wasn't very good in the first place. JJ maybe but coming back from injury is a different story. Really his only honest reason can be that "hey guys look, in hindsight it seems the only way this all was going to last is if we won tons of games and sold the place out routinely. we didn't do either and didn't plan for either contingency which means we're back to square one." Or else it was the plan all along if it didn't go well to blow it all up immediately. Christ I could come up with a letter in 15 minutes that would be better received. It would include a little humility which I don't think he's capable of though, and probably would've been sent out a couple of months ago.
February 25, 201313 yr The part that gets me most is that he keeps bringing up '03. Look at any successful business or corporation in this country or worldwide: in baseball, sports, or any other industry, they aren't content with succeeding every 10 years. Successful businesses look to succeed every year, every day, every hour. By him bringing up 03 over and over and over and saying something like "we'll get there again" makes me believe that he is completely content with winning, regressing back to nothing, building back up, and winning again 10 years later. That's not how business is run especially when your audience is the general public. When is this team going to try to sustain excellence? When are we going to not be content with teams like this? When are we going to start trying to be better every year? When?
February 25, 201313 yr Author For the record, I think that the Marlins have been average-ish in drafting players. However, they've almost entirely neglected the international players market, which is probably one of the reasons they've lacked depth in recent years. Last 2-3 years I'd buy that. For much of the 2000's decade, I'd put them in the bottom 1/3. 2005 alone puts them in the bottom half. I personally think them taking Chad James over Shelby Miller is almost as bad as the entire 2005 first round debacle.
February 25, 201313 yr Author By the by, if Loria would just come out and say "Hey, I have been trolling you guys for years, I use the Marlins to further my personal wealth and have never lost a dime owning the team. I pocket the revenue sharing and TV revenues and invest as little into the product as possible so I an be more wealthy. I dont spend on the draft or free agency because I want to be more wealthy. I only own the team because it makes me a ton of money. All that stuff about losing money? Lies on top of lies. Its why I complain about losing money but refuse to even listen to offers to sell, because I am not really losing money. If I sell the team I will lose my cash cow! But hey, the commissioner wont do anything about it so you are stuck with me. I am going to keep pocketing the money MLB gives me that I am supposed to invest in the team and there aint a damn thing you can do about it!" I would at least respect that. He is a crook, a very sophisticated one, but a crook nonetheless, but what really puts him over the top is that he is a crook who is also a lying, pompous, asshole.
February 25, 201313 yr Author I'm waiting for Jeff Passan's take, does he have one up yet? Admin, what's your own take? I'm sorry if I missed it in this thread, but I'm curious. I posted it earlier in the thread, please take a look at page 1.
February 25, 201313 yr I don't want to sound like a Loria apologist but people complained when he stayed silent after the trade. Now there are complaints when he says something. I don't think he said anything particularly wrong but it just proves there is nothing he can do to appease most of the fans ever again. 100% This.
February 25, 201313 yr So basically everyone is saying they'd only be ok with the letter if he wrote... Dear fans, I'm an idiot. Sorry. Loria ....I don't get how anyone expects him to do that.
February 25, 201313 yr Author Loria has never given anyone reason to trust, support, or like him. When you are generally considered by most people, from around your sport, people who cover your sport, people who cover other sports, and your own fanbase to be one of if not the worst owners in the history of professional sports, you are not going to be well liked. When you spend years lying about losing money and then pocket most of the money MLB gives you to help you be competitive, you are not going to be well liked. When you almost refuse to spend money on the draft or international market and only prop up your farm system by unloaded players and stocking it with other teams prospects, you are not going to be well liked. When you backload every contract and refuse to give no trade clauses, in what appears to be a pre-meditated plan to dump every big contract you have whether the player lives up to it or not, you are not going to be well liked.
February 25, 201313 yr This board is filled with so many FO sympathizers that they either are the FO themselves or work for them. Loria doesn't give a shit about the fans. He likes to fire people. There is a long, long documented history of this behavior. The letter is a nice touch, if anything I'd say he hired some good PR people. But it still doesn't acknowledge the litany of poor draft choices, strings of firings/dismissals, and a pool of comments by players colleagues and peers that when taken as a whole paint a picture of a self absorbed compulsive douche salesman. He's a fat fuck.
February 25, 201313 yr Author I also forgot to add...when you rebrand your team and give it among the worst color combinations, logos, and uniforms in the long history of this sport, rivaled only by the Astros rainbow bright uniforms of decades ago, you are not going to be well liked.
February 25, 201313 yr Cote on the letter: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/25/3253220/greg-cote-letter-shows-miami-marlins.html
February 25, 201313 yr Passan http://sports.yahoo.com/news/jeffrey-loria-s-spin-cycle--separating-fact-from-flack-for-marlins-fans-205315315.html
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