Thanks Glen for your immensely entertaining article, I actually feel a "little" better after reading how bad it can get. Hopefully our hapless Fish won't lower the bar. As for the why of it all, I keep thinking how things might have been if our perennial "spark plug" was still with the team. Is there any way we could get Jon Berti back? LOL!
Thanks for the kind words, Jim. It’s sad to say in an era when teams have payrolls that exceed $200 million or even $300 million, but the Marlins are unwilling to pay Berti’s $3.5 million this year. Their thinking is they can get by with someone in that role making the ML minimum. They can…unless their goal is to put the best possible team on the field. The Marlins’ problems are much greater than Jon Berti no longer being part of the team, but his departure is a symptom of the larger issues.
What I don't get is why wasn't Berti given the chance to be the every-day short stop...or any of the other positions he plays pretty well. His batting AVG was improving the more he got to play.
Their judgment was that he was productive because he played just enough, and there would be diminishing returns if he were to play every day.
They were looking for more offense from the shortstop position. I'm just not convinced that the guy they brought in, who was on the short list of the worst offensive players in MLB in 2023, is the answer. Can he bounce back in 2024 and again be the hitter he once was? There's a chance.
But if you go around the horn, there aren't many sure things in the Marlins lineup in terms of 1) health and 2) track record. Their "upgrade" at shortstop is just another question mark.
Just one thing..Yes the Orioles were coming off a 95 loss season in '87..but they went 14-42 down the stretch in '86, not '87. In '86 they actually got some weird mojo going with Jim Traber subbing in for an injured Eddie Murray, a rare DL stint for "Steady Eddie", and providing some nice hitting, and some '83 holdovers like Boddicker, Flanny, McGregor pitching ok, and Don Aase great out of the pen... They were 59-47 and within shouting distance of suddenly shaky Boston when the wheels feel off, setting three seasons of misery, '86 included, into motion.
Good catch, Chris. Thanks for pointing out my error. They lost 30 of their final 41 in 1987. I mixed up a couple of my notes but made the correction above. Thanks again for reaching out.
1987 was punctuated by giving up 10! homers in one game vs. Toronto at old Exhibition Stadium/parking lot in a late season game. God those teams were bad.
I was reminded about this season on "X" but I had forgotten the details, especially the players on that team. So many memorable names to me. I suppose it's normal to reach for these types of outliers when you're a fan of a team such as the 2024 Marlins. It helps a little, reminding us of the appropriate and proverbial tagline of your work. For me, the spiel I gravitate towards relates to the two Marlins' WS wins over 30 years. In that time, Atlanta has two (despite their incredible run in the 1990s) and the Dodgers would have zero, save the fishbowl 2020 designated "championship." That stat does make me feel better. It demonstrates the randomness and difficulty of the sport's true success on the field, regardless of our rationalizations as fans or the financial success of these enterprises.
That’s why building a team that has a legit shot to go to the playoffs almost every year should be the goal. Yes, it’s a total crapshoot when you get there. But the more lottery tickets you have, the better your chance of eventually cashing in.
Frankly, I’d rather be the team that expects to win every time it takes the field and plays in October every year than the one that has 2 titles, the most recent more than 20 years ago and no reason to believe #3 is remotely imminent.
Thanks Glen for your immensely entertaining article, I actually feel a "little" better after reading how bad it can get. Hopefully our hapless Fish won't lower the bar. As for the why of it all, I keep thinking how things might have been if our perennial "spark plug" was still with the team. Is there any way we could get Jon Berti back? LOL!
Thanks for the kind words, Jim. It’s sad to say in an era when teams have payrolls that exceed $200 million or even $300 million, but the Marlins are unwilling to pay Berti’s $3.5 million this year. Their thinking is they can get by with someone in that role making the ML minimum. They can…unless their goal is to put the best possible team on the field. The Marlins’ problems are much greater than Jon Berti no longer being part of the team, but his departure is a symptom of the larger issues.
What I don't get is why wasn't Berti given the chance to be the every-day short stop...or any of the other positions he plays pretty well. His batting AVG was improving the more he got to play.
Their judgment was that he was productive because he played just enough, and there would be diminishing returns if he were to play every day.
They were looking for more offense from the shortstop position. I'm just not convinced that the guy they brought in, who was on the short list of the worst offensive players in MLB in 2023, is the answer. Can he bounce back in 2024 and again be the hitter he once was? There's a chance.
But if you go around the horn, there aren't many sure things in the Marlins lineup in terms of 1) health and 2) track record. Their "upgrade" at shortstop is just another question mark.
Just one thing..Yes the Orioles were coming off a 95 loss season in '87..but they went 14-42 down the stretch in '86, not '87. In '86 they actually got some weird mojo going with Jim Traber subbing in for an injured Eddie Murray, a rare DL stint for "Steady Eddie", and providing some nice hitting, and some '83 holdovers like Boddicker, Flanny, McGregor pitching ok, and Don Aase great out of the pen... They were 59-47 and within shouting distance of suddenly shaky Boston when the wheels feel off, setting three seasons of misery, '86 included, into motion.
Good catch, Chris. Thanks for pointing out my error. They lost 30 of their final 41 in 1987. I mixed up a couple of my notes but made the correction above. Thanks again for reaching out.
1987 was punctuated by giving up 10! homers in one game vs. Toronto at old Exhibition Stadium/parking lot in a late season game. God those teams were bad.
That record still stands, 10 in a game. I'm assuming you're an O's fan. I wrote this happier story about the Orioles last August.
https://open.substack.com/pub/glenngeffner/p/orioles-magic?r=2y108&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I was reminded about this season on "X" but I had forgotten the details, especially the players on that team. So many memorable names to me. I suppose it's normal to reach for these types of outliers when you're a fan of a team such as the 2024 Marlins. It helps a little, reminding us of the appropriate and proverbial tagline of your work. For me, the spiel I gravitate towards relates to the two Marlins' WS wins over 30 years. In that time, Atlanta has two (despite their incredible run in the 1990s) and the Dodgers would have zero, save the fishbowl 2020 designated "championship." That stat does make me feel better. It demonstrates the randomness and difficulty of the sport's true success on the field, regardless of our rationalizations as fans or the financial success of these enterprises.
That’s why building a team that has a legit shot to go to the playoffs almost every year should be the goal. Yes, it’s a total crapshoot when you get there. But the more lottery tickets you have, the better your chance of eventually cashing in.
Frankly, I’d rather be the team that expects to win every time it takes the field and plays in October every year than the one that has 2 titles, the most recent more than 20 years ago and no reason to believe #3 is remotely imminent.