Miami Marlins Tickets

In 2018, the Miami Marlins won 63 games, which surprisingly, is a little better than expected. They were actually expected by many to finish with a win total in the mid-50’s. They had taken apart their roster, including a big offseason trade of Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees, and a few even asked if they would set the Major League record for losses in a season in the live ball era. The current record is still held by the 1935 Boston Braves, with their terrible season of 115 losses.

This offseason, the Marlins got to work almost before the bell sounded, and they made a ton of moves. In October, they signed a pair of Cubans- Victor Victor Mesa Rios(Yes that’s two Victor’s), and his brother, Victor Mesa Jr. If Cubans and other Caribbean players are the keys to Derek Jeter’s strategy of building the Marlins going forward, it is a shrewd one. The greater Miami area includes a large collection of people of various Carribean descent, and building a team with a lot of players they can relate to, is a brilliant strategy. In November, they traded left-handed pitcher Dillion Peters to the Los Angeles Angels for right-handed pitcher Tyler Stevens. To make a long story short, they swapped bullpen pieces. In December, they signed numerous players to minor league contracts, including first basemen Pedro Alverez, shortstop Dixon Machado, right-handed pitcher R.J. Alverez, third basemen Jon Berti, catcher Bryan Holaday, and left-handed pitcher Brian Moran. In January they added infielder Neil Walker for 2019 and right-handed pitcher Hector Noesi to a minor league contract. He will get a chance to compete for a bullpen spot. They also settled arbitration with right-handed pitcher Dan Straily, left-handed pitcher Adam Conley, shortstop Miguel Rojas, and right-handed pitcher Jose Urena. In February, they made finally made the big trade everybody was waiting for, sending catcher J.T. Realmuto to the Phillies for catcher Jorge Alfaro, right-handed pitcher Sixto Sanchez, left-handed pitcher Will Stewart, and international bonus pool money. Right before Spring Training, they added veteran right-handed bullpen pitcher Sergio Romo. Derek Jeter has the ball rolling in the right direction. He is building a champion. Just give it time.

The Marlins have long been known as a team that does not want to spend a lot of money. They also have been known, when they do spend money, to refuse to include no trade clauses. This item points to many people who claim that the Marlins are unwilling to commit to players long term. This offseason, the Marlins made history by giving franchise player Giancarlo Stanton a 13 year, 325 million dollar contract. Stanton’s contract is the largest in the history of American professional sports and officially dethrones Aaron Rodgers as the highest paid athlete in North America on a contractual basis. Over the last few years the Marlins have traded away a lot of pieces and have acquired a lot of young talent. Whether or not this works out remains to be seen.

The Miami Marlins originally came into being as the Florida Marlins in 1993 and are one of baseball’s newest teams. They remained the Florida Marlins until 2011 when they changed their name to the Miami Marlins. Throughout their history the Marlins have called two builds home. From 1993-2011 they played at Sun Life Stadium. In 2012, they moved into their brand new stadium, Marlins Park. The Marlins have had an interesting history. They have never won their division and have only made the postseason twice as a wild card team. However, both appearances ended with the Marlins winning the World Series. Those two years, by the way, would be 1997 and 2003.

The Miami Marlins had a really dysfunctional season in 2015. They were picked by many as a dark horse contender, the Marlins finished the season 71-91, good for third place in the National League East, 19 games back of the New York Mets, and nowhere near postseason contention. The Marlins dysfunction showed itself when General Manager Dan Jennings fired manager Mike Redmond, and named, well, himself as manager. Jennings had never played Major League Baseball nor ever managed before. He was fired at the end of the season from both roles, and the Marlins hired Don Mattingly as the new manager.

So far in 2016, Donnie Baseball has the Marlins positioned to stun the world. Not expected to contend, the Marlins are 59-52, good for second place in the National League East, seven games back of the Washington Nationals. The Marlins are determined to crash the National League postseason party, which they weren't supposed to be anywhere near. The Marlins are doing it with a solid offense and a good bullpen.

In 2017, The Marlins, expected to be dark horse postseason contenders. They didn’t live up to that thought, and finished the season with a record of 79-82, playing 161 games due to the canceled game following Jose Fernandez's death. That left them at 7.5 games out of the second wild card spot. This off-season, the Marlins front office realized they needed to quickly replace Fernandez in the pitching rotation, so they signed Edinson Volquez to a two-year contract. 10 days later, they signed catcher A.J. Ellis, left-handed pitcher Jeff Locke and right-handed pitcher Dustin McGowen to one-year contracts. They needed another pitcher on top of Volquez so they traded for Dan Straily of the Cincinnati Reds. They also settled arbitration with the likes of Marcel Ozuna, Tom Koehler, and A.J. Ramos.

The biggest story going on for the Marlins at the moment, is the sale of the club itself. Several super-groups have formed, much like the group that bought that Los Angeles Dodgers. We will see how the impending sale affects the team in 2017.

The Miami Marlins have been through a lot lately as an organization. First, there was the death of ace starting pitcher Jose Fernandez in that terrible boating accident. Then, of course, there was the highly publicized ownership change last year, in which a group led by Derek Jeter purchased the Marlins from the polarized Jeffery Loria, a man known for his refusal to spend money on the team. Initial reactions to the ownership change were positive. But then Jeter started making moves, trading away all of the team’s best players- Dee Gordon, Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and others. Many fans have been angered by these moves, saying that this is more of the same old story. However, when one looks deeper, it is not.

This ownership group went into a little bit of debt to purchase this team, and cutting costs up front is a good way to make up for that debt. Second, Jeter is a smart baseball man, and he saw a team that was stuck in mediocrity. The absurd contract previous ownership gave Stanton was unjustifiable on any measuring stick, so Jeter dumped it. The Marlins got some talented long-range prospects in these trades, which is a good place to start, but they do have a lot of work to do. This may sound ugly right now, but Jeter’s moves will pay off in the long run.