Friday, November 25, 2005
On a positive note, check out the prospects
Thu, Nov. 24, 2005
This flood of awful feels worse by the drop, Carlos Delgado the latest Marlin swept out of town by this godforsaken current, but there is at least one rainbow at the end of this Apocalyptic baseball reign: Management is getting back a wonderful array of the world's best baseball prospects for this or some other city to enjoy in a few years.
Remember, that's how Dontrelle Willis ended up here, in what was perceived as a salary dump. A.J. Burnett, too. And Juan Pierre. And Derrek Lee. And Carl Pavano. And Brad Penny. And all those guys did was knock over Barry Bonds, then Sammy Sosa, then the New York Freaking Yankees in the single best surprise in South Florida sports history.
So there's still hope. That hasn't been traded. Not yet, anyway, though the Marlins are now commissioner-approved to look into swapping even that for a moving van to be named later. Still, the Florida-Las-Vegas-Portland-Charlotte Marlins have gotten the very best prospects the Red Sox and Mets have even with all leverage lost in this public dismantling.
DEMISE INEVITABLE
Florida will be worse next season, but it won't be that 108-loss atrocity it fielded in 1998 when manager Jim Leyland was embarrassed to have his team introduced before games as defending champions. Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera alone will make this team playoff-good every fifth day. Their new teammates might catch up to them in time to make this team a winner again the moment it debuts elsewhere to a full new baseball stadium and proper support.
But at least the sting will lessen from here. The worst is over. The past two days will be as terrible as local baseball fans (both of them) feel until the day the franchise does finally decide to leave. Trading Paul Lo Duca and Luis Castillo and Pierre won't cripple as much as losing Josh Beckett and Carlos Delgado, the former a young link to the glorious past, the latter the symbolic bridge to a competitive future.
You should see how excited Boston, a real sports town, is about the acquisition of Beckett. The Red Sox know how hard it is to groom a talent of his pedigree, so they'll happily borrow his nine disabled-list stints and zero career 200-inning seasons in exchange for their best prospect. Beckett immediately steps to the front of a 95-victory rotation as the single best pitching talent in the entire Red-Sox-Yankee rivalry now that Randy Johnson and Schilling have aged. He's going to be great for the next decade, elsewhere.
NO LOVE FOR BASEBALL
But we have zero appreciation for baseball excellence. The Mets know what they are getting in Delgado as we yawn. We've been so baseball blessed that we lose sight of the fact that Florida, for example, has had three pitchers throw no-hitters while the Mets, born in 1962, are still waiting for their first.
We're a banana republic for baseball, and anyone who cares about sports in this market should be alternately embarrassed and ashamed as fans throughout the country marvel and laugh at our incompetence and indifference while scavenging at the skeletal remains of our former champion like sharks lured to chum. We should get the commissioner's approval to change the name of the team -- The Florida Chum.
This is only the most underappreciated team in modern-sports history. That's all. And there's plenty of blame to go around, stretching from a wretched fan base to politicians who couldn't get a stadium done even with the Marlins paying for so much of it. Hispanic fans -- or alleged fans -- should be especially ashamed because we claim this to be the sport of our people, and we've never done anything to support this team even as it has pandered to our interests by signing the likes of Livan Hernandez and Alex Fernandez in search of such a spike.
Delgado is gone now, shipped to a market that cares.
He wanted to be here, God bless him.
Happy Thanksgiving, Carlos.
At least you'll be in The Major Leagues in 2006, The Bush Leagues in your rearview mirror.
Source: http://www.miami.com/
This flood of awful feels worse by the drop, Carlos Delgado the latest Marlin swept out of town by this godforsaken current, but there is at least one rainbow at the end of this Apocalyptic baseball reign: Management is getting back a wonderful array of the world's best baseball prospects for this or some other city to enjoy in a few years.
Remember, that's how Dontrelle Willis ended up here, in what was perceived as a salary dump. A.J. Burnett, too. And Juan Pierre. And Derrek Lee. And Carl Pavano. And Brad Penny. And all those guys did was knock over Barry Bonds, then Sammy Sosa, then the New York Freaking Yankees in the single best surprise in South Florida sports history.
So there's still hope. That hasn't been traded. Not yet, anyway, though the Marlins are now commissioner-approved to look into swapping even that for a moving van to be named later. Still, the Florida-Las-Vegas-Portland-Charlotte Marlins have gotten the very best prospects the Red Sox and Mets have even with all leverage lost in this public dismantling.
DEMISE INEVITABLE
Florida will be worse next season, but it won't be that 108-loss atrocity it fielded in 1998 when manager Jim Leyland was embarrassed to have his team introduced before games as defending champions. Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera alone will make this team playoff-good every fifth day. Their new teammates might catch up to them in time to make this team a winner again the moment it debuts elsewhere to a full new baseball stadium and proper support.
But at least the sting will lessen from here. The worst is over. The past two days will be as terrible as local baseball fans (both of them) feel until the day the franchise does finally decide to leave. Trading Paul Lo Duca and Luis Castillo and Pierre won't cripple as much as losing Josh Beckett and Carlos Delgado, the former a young link to the glorious past, the latter the symbolic bridge to a competitive future.
You should see how excited Boston, a real sports town, is about the acquisition of Beckett. The Red Sox know how hard it is to groom a talent of his pedigree, so they'll happily borrow his nine disabled-list stints and zero career 200-inning seasons in exchange for their best prospect. Beckett immediately steps to the front of a 95-victory rotation as the single best pitching talent in the entire Red-Sox-Yankee rivalry now that Randy Johnson and Schilling have aged. He's going to be great for the next decade, elsewhere.
NO LOVE FOR BASEBALL
But we have zero appreciation for baseball excellence. The Mets know what they are getting in Delgado as we yawn. We've been so baseball blessed that we lose sight of the fact that Florida, for example, has had three pitchers throw no-hitters while the Mets, born in 1962, are still waiting for their first.
We're a banana republic for baseball, and anyone who cares about sports in this market should be alternately embarrassed and ashamed as fans throughout the country marvel and laugh at our incompetence and indifference while scavenging at the skeletal remains of our former champion like sharks lured to chum. We should get the commissioner's approval to change the name of the team -- The Florida Chum.
This is only the most underappreciated team in modern-sports history. That's all. And there's plenty of blame to go around, stretching from a wretched fan base to politicians who couldn't get a stadium done even with the Marlins paying for so much of it. Hispanic fans -- or alleged fans -- should be especially ashamed because we claim this to be the sport of our people, and we've never done anything to support this team even as it has pandered to our interests by signing the likes of Livan Hernandez and Alex Fernandez in search of such a spike.
Delgado is gone now, shipped to a market that cares.
He wanted to be here, God bless him.
Happy Thanksgiving, Carlos.
At least you'll be in The Major Leagues in 2006, The Bush Leagues in your rearview mirror.
Source: http://www.miami.com/
