JUPITER, Fla. — "I never went into a ballgame thinking I was gonna lose."
This was Don Mattingly the other day at Roger Dean Stadium as he observed his stripped-down Miami Marlins — who are in fact going to lose a lot of games this season — going through their spring training drills. In his third year as Marlins manager, Mattingly has no illusions about the team that was decimated by the new ownership of Bruce Sherman and fellow Yankee icon, Derek Jeter, over the winter, but he also has no lack of enthusiasm for the massive rebuilding job at hand, calling it "the most fun I've ever had" in baseball.
I have to say I found that rather interesting coming from a guy who watched helplessly this winter after Jeter & Co. got control of the team from the previously most-reviled owner, Jeffrey Loria, and proceeded to gut the best outfield in baseball, sending Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees for Starlin Castro and a couple of marginal low-level prospects; Christian Yelich to the Brewers for top prospect center fielder Lewis Brinson (who may already be the Marlins' best player) plus two other prospects, and Marcell Ozuna to the Cardinals for four prospects including righthander Sandy Alcantara, who is expected to be in the Marlins' rotation at some point this year. In addition, there was the trade of National League stolen base champ Dee Gordon to the Mariners for three other prospects who don't figure to have any impact any time soon.
All the deals were payroll driven, and now the Marlins are starting from the ground up, with the lowest payroll in baseball and along with it very likely the lowest attendance, and highest revenue sharing payout for the third straight year. They are, for all intents and purposes, a pseudo expansion team, likely to open the season with at least a half-dozen rookies, and only four proven vets in Castro, catcher J.T. Realmuto, third baseman Martin Prado, outfielder Derek Dietrich, and one quality starting pitcher in Jose Urena.
Jeter remains unapologetic for what he has come to call Project Wolverine. It had to be done, he says, because the old plan wasn't working. Despite that impressive traded core, the Marlins were 77-85 last year, good for second place in the mediocre NL East, and they weren't going to be any better this year unless they invested big time in the free-agent market for at least two quality starting pitchers to complement Urena and veteran Dan Straily. They had one of the lowest rated farm systems, which desperately needed replenishing, one of the worst local TV deals and precious little corporate sponsorships and marketing deals.
"If you want to be perfectly honest about it, the turning point for this organization was the death of (Cuban-born pitching ace) Jose Fernandez (in September 2016)," Mattingly said. "When you have a guy like that at the top of your rotation, you have a chance. He couldn't be replaced. They tried to patch last year with Straily (acquired in a trade from the Reds and (Edinson) Volquez (signed as a free agent), but you can't keep putting Band-Aids on it. We needed to do something that's sustainable.
"We're gonna build pitching here because if you do that well, you can compete."
In Alcantara, lefthander Braxton Garrett, the seventh overall pick in last year's draft, righthander Jorge Guzman, the hard-throwing but erratic low-level prospect from the Yankees in the Stanton deal, high-nineties righty Pablo Lopez, acquired from the Mariners for ex-Yankee David Phelps last year and Tyler Kolek, the second-overall pick in the 2014 draft currently working his way back from Tommy John surgery, the Marlins are building a stable of big arms to hopefully join Urena in the next couple of years.
In the meantime, Mattingly is focused on teaching his young core the Jeter staple of playing the game the right way. "We're preparing them like we're here to win a championship," he said firmly, pointing to the players on the field. "I know what everyone's saying. Don't tell that to them. They look at this situation and they see opportunity. I don't want anyone here to feel comfortable."
Time will tell when — or even if — the long-suffering Marlin fans will buy into what Jeter and Mattingly are doing, but as further affirmation the Marlins hired Hip Hop artist DJ Khaled to compose and perform a new team anthem, "Just Gettin' Started," for Opening Day at Marlins Park on Thursday.
In baseball, spring is always a time for renewal and hope. This is Donny Baseball's 28th major league spring as a player, coach or manager. We can understand if, under the present circumstances, hope is more the operative word for this one than any of the others.