Fish Food: Jeter’s Town Hall Meeting, The “Rebuild”, Marlins’ Fandom Check

Jeter talks to the people

One of the more interesting pieces of news to come out of last week (you know, aside from the fall out from all the trades the Marlins made) was that Derek Jeter was going to meet with 200 season ticket holders, town hall meeting style, to discuss the future of the ball club.

It’s unclear how this group of season ticket holders was selected; speculation is that many of these people have not renewed their plans as of yet and this is a chance to pitch “the plan” to these fans who are, collectively, an important source of revenue for the fledgling ownership group. I’m a little jealous of those who are going to be able to attend in person, because I’d love to see the spin on this one.

Jeter: Thank you so much for coming out today. Getting down to the heart of the matter, we wanted to show you that we’re committed to giving you an entertaining product while building up a true winner. That’s why 2018 will feature a lineup anchored by superstar outfielder Christian Yel—

[Michael Hill rushes up to the Captain and whispers in his ear]

Jeter: —anchored by our rising star catcher, J.T. Real—

[Hill pivots and launches himself at Jeter’s ear again]

Jeter: —anchored by internet icon Derek Dietrich!

More likely, it will be a rehashing of what Clark Spencer wrote in his column a day or two ago: The moves were a necessary precursor to creating something special in Miami, ala the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros. You may recall that Dayton Moore infamously told impatient Kansas City Royals fans to “trust the process.” Whatever he ends up saying, I eagerly await what should be theoretically some of the Marlins’ most loyal fans’ response.

Can we call it a rebuild yet?

There has been a lot of teeth-gnashing over what exactly to call what has been happening to the Marlins these past couple weeks. I think it’s safe to call it a fire sale; hell, some people would call it the worst one yet, though I imagine there are Marlins fans who might beg to differ.

Beyond that, though, is it a rebuild or a straight salary dump? We know for a fact that Stanton’s return was impinged by his massive contract; I don’t think it can be argued that he wasn’t moved to free up payroll. Gordon, similarly, probably wouldn’t have been moved if not for the money tied up in his deal (though from both a depth and peak value standpoint, it made sense). Marcell Ozuna would’ve stood to make Gordon money this season, but you have to think that this is more about being the right time to move him. We saw the pitiable return JD Martinez fetched for the Detroit Tigers when they traded him to the Arizona Diamondbacks at the trade deadline last season, and though Ozuna would’ve had an extra year to offer to sweeten the pot, I’m not so sure the return would be significantly better.

I’m not a prospect hound, that’s what we have Kevin Kraczkowski around these parts for, but it seems to me that the Marlins love Sandy Alcantara (who has a non-zero chance of seeing the rotation at some point next season), not to mention the other three prospects gained in that deal. Much has been made about the fact that none of these guys appeared in Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects list. If they appear on a future updated list, will that calm some of the angst associated with that particular quibble?

Adding more prospects to the mix might convince those on the fence to embrace this as a rebuild. We know they’re at least actively listening to offers on Christian Yelich and Dan Straily; one can imagine that practically anyone is on the table for the right price at this point. If they hold tight and make no further moves, I wouldn’t argue with those who want to call it a salary dump. But I believe they will continue trading remaining assets and the farm system will come out of the whole thing looking much, much better. None of us want a trash major league product, but we all want a sparkling farm system. We seem to be on a collision course with both outcomes. Sounds like a rebuild to me.

How’s your Fish fandom holding up?

Not actually being in Florida amongst living, breathing Marlins’ fans (in fact, as far away in the continental United States as I could possibly be), I often take to the interwebs in an attempt gauge how Marlins fans are thinking and feeling about current events surrounding the team.

I stumbled across this particular thread on Reddit and it got me thinking “If some of the staunchest Marlins fans are throwing in the towel, that probably doesn’t bode well for the rest of the fan base.”

So I pose the open question to you, dear reader: How are you feeling about all of this? Are you done with the Marlins for good (probably not if you’re reading this)? Are you good with what the Marlins have done up to this point? Are you disgusted to an extent but still observing for progress?

Feel free to answer via the attached poll* or in the comments below!

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