Congratulations! After 20 years of working hard and saving money, you can finally buy the house of your dreams. It’s not the nicest house in the world, but it’s good enough. It’s got a a lot of acreage, a pool, granite countertops, and stainless steel appliances. You put your name on the dotted line, and in five days, you’ll get the keys to your brand new house.
You couldn’t wait to move into your new house. For the last six months, you have been to every home store picking out decorations and furniture. During the open-house and walkthrough, you had the chance to see the old family’s decorations. It was nice, you guess, but it could definitely use some work. There’s no need to worry about it though; in five days, the old family will be completely moved out, taking all of their furniture with them. The house will be completely empty, and it will be all yours to paint, redecorate, and furnish. Right?
Five days later, you get the keys. You back in the U-haul and open the door. What do you find?
For one, there is still furniture in the building. The drab couches, kitchen furniture, drapes, and rugs are still in the house. Not only that, the old family also left their 180-gallon aquarium plugged into the wall.
Look at that thing. It has to weigh over 2000 pounds. Think about how much electricity and water that thing uses. It has to just kill your utility bills. And it’s still just sitting in your new living room. What are you going to do about it?
It’s ok. We’ll make a call on that later. In the long run, it may be cool. A decision doesn’t have to be made about it yet. Let’s keep on going.
You walk past the living room and check out the rest of the house. So far so good; despite having to remove all of the old family’s stuff, the house looks ok. But as you walk down to the guest bedrooms, you suddenly hear something at the end of the hall. Is that talking? Are there people in the guest room? You sneak up to the room, and you crack the door open. What do you find?
HOLY COW. The old family forgot to move out grandma and grandpa! How could they do that? There are literally four old people still living in your house, sleeping head-to-feet in the bed. But you signed on the dotted line a couple days ago — they’re not supposed to be here?
Here’s a question...what do you do? Look at grandpa and grandma just sleeping. I mean, they clearly mean something to the old family, but still, here they are. Do you put grandma in a half-nelson and drag her out of the house? You can make a legal issue out of it — maybe you can call the police, and they can do something about it?
Here’s a better idea. What if you just make a phone call to the old owners, and tell them to come get their grandparents, so that they can move out of the house? Then the family could just come over, wake up the grands, and move them out. Wouldn’t that create less of an ordeal than removing them from the house yourself? Or calling the cops? That must sound like a much better option.
Ultimately, this long-awaited day has proven to be quite stressful for you. Is this what you bargained for? Obviously, you knew that in buying a lived-in home, you wouldn’t be getting a total clean slate. We mentioned earlier, you knew that some permanent appliances — like the washer and dryer, the refrigerator, the oven — would end up staying. But the fish tank? And the grandparents? Wouldn’t you feel a little upset that you didn’t get exactly what you bargained for — that there are strings attached to getting the house of your dreams?
If you sympathized with the house-buyer in the past story, you may be feeling how Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter are feeling right now. For the past year-or-so, Sherman and Jeter have been in negotiations to buy the Miami Marlins from much maligned Jeffrey Loria.
At least since 2007, when Loria traded Miguel Cabrera to the Detroit Tigers and “lost the trust of Marlins fans everywhere,” the fans have seldom wasted an opportunity to complain about their owner. In the same tune that people are protesting the NFL, Marlins “fans” have vowed to never step foot in Marlins Park until Loria was fired. Forget the fact that the Marlins won a World Series in 2003 — that was basically Huizenga’s guys, right?
Since then, the Loria Regime seemingly hasn’t been able to do anything right.
“Oh, you built us a new stadium? We don’t want it. You’re stealing Miami’s money. SunTrust Park is awesome though. What’s that? They also borrowed $400 million from their county to build their stadium? Whatever, I’m still not going to watch the Marlins.”
“Oh, you traded for a bunch of prospects? That’s exactly what we wanted, another rebuild. Anyway, if Loria does it, it’s not a rebuild, it’s called a firesale. What’s that? John Buck doesn’t play anymore? Neither does Josh Johnson? AND Mark Buehrle? Are you kidding? I don’t care. I still have scars from the Dontrelle trade. It’s still a bad deal, I’m not buying Marlins tickets while Loria is still owner.”
Marlins “fans” have never found a shortage of excuses to complain about the Loria Regime. And yet, as the ink dries on the contract granting ownership of the Marlins to Derek Jeter, those same fans have wasted no time in complaining about Jeter’s ownership.
It all started a couple weeks ago, when Derek Jeter requested that David Samson release special assistants: Jack McKeon, Tony Perez, Andre Dawson, and Jeff Conine. This goes to the grandparents part of the above metaphor. Derek Jeter finally has the chance to own a baseball team. He wants to move in his people, and he wants to manage the Marlins as he pleases. How is he going to move his people in if grandma and grandpa are still sleeping in the house? And is it totally unreasonable for Jeter to ask Samson to release them? Four people that Jeter may not know, that he would have to fire himself?
Yet people didn’t fail to come out of the wood-work, pitchforks and torches in hand, to protest Derek Jeter’s very first move as owner.
Wow so Jeter wants Sampson to fire Dawson, McKeon, Conine and Tony Perez because he's basically to much of a pussy to do it himself
— Mike Fuentes (@mikefountains) September 23, 2017
#Marlins firing of Tony Perez, Andre Dawson, Conine, & McKeon is another reason why they're the worst run #MLB franchise.
— Nick Diunte (@ExamineBaseball) September 25, 2017
I've said Marlins need house cleaning, but McKeon, Dawson, Perez, Conine are some of few things Loria got right. That's Marlins history.
— Will Manso (@WillManso) September 23, 2017
Sad and strange report...prospective new Marlins owner Derek Jeter reportedly tells ousted Samson to fire Dawson, Perez, Conine, and McKeon.
— Miami Sports Network (@MiamiSportsNet) September 23, 2017
So Jeter fires Jack McKeon, Jeff Conine, Tony Perez AND Andre Dawson yet doesn’t have the fortitude to do it himself? Worse than Loria? https://t.co/cIXgKr5h2F
— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) September 23, 2017
Sources who wanted to present as neutrally as possible simply broke the news on the requested firings, but used words such as “dumping” and “firing.” The bottom line is that right from the get-go, people aren’t trying to sympathize with Jeter wanting to give the Marlins a fresh start, as they should.
Most recently, news broke that Giancarlo Stanton had expressed his disdain towards the Jeter Regime potentially rebuilding. I think Giancarlo has every right to feel disappointed in light of a possible rebuild. The core of this team has been together for a while now, and Giancarlo’s feelings about losing his friends is quite empathetical.
With that being said, there is no reason to make Derek Jeter the bad guy here. In examining the news, respected colleague Brandon Carusillo broke down his own thoughts regarding the situation.
This speaks volume to the fans who have waited for a winning product for years now. Another rebuilding process just as Miami shows signs of building a competitive team? Is it an appropriate time for Derek Jeter — the owner who seemingly makes every baseball-related decision — to fire former greats like Jack McKeon and Jeff Conine from their small roles in the front office, and then trade arguably the biggest star in Miami sports right now?
Stanton doesn’t want to wait for that answer. In fact, he’ll make it easy for you, Jeter. You want to come in and clean house while selling us on another rebuild?
¡Hasta luego, Miami!
I understand the sentiment. Giancarlo Stanton is our franchise player. Although he will technically be a relic of the Loria Era starting next year, he very apparently has both baseball and moralistic value that Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter may be smart to retain.
But there is no reason to be so condescending towards Derek Jeter for tossing around the possibility of off-loading Stanton, or trying to rebuild around him. Put yourself in his shoes — Stanton is the fish tank! Is he cool? Yeah. Would he look really nice in your house? Probably yeah.
But does he cost a lot, and would you be in the right to move him? Also, potentially yes. Is he what you expected when you signed the deed and got the keys to your new house? Probably not.
The fact of the matter is that a rebuild is probably needed. At the end of the day, this is both a game and a business. The Marlins have for a long time now retained this home-grown core. There have been some extremely bright moments, but playoff-wise, the team’s efforts have been to no avail. The time-tested mantra rings true: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.
If you’re a Marlins fan reading this, and you feel that you have been victimized by Jeffrey Loria, the best thing that you can do is show support to Derek Jeter. I believe that Jeffrey Loria wasn’t a bad owner, and that him and his front office received more criticism than they deserved. Still, I’m going to give Derek Jeter a chance. Jeter should be allowed to come in and make whatever moves he feels necessary, and in the manner he deems most effective. If that means a rebuild, so be it. If that means hard firings, so be it. But before he’s even moved his things in, he has already caught an alarming amount of unnecessary flack. As a fanbase who has clamored for a new owner for many years, I think it’s only fair Marlins Nation’s to give The Jeets a chance to make his own home here in Miami.