The “Our Colores” rebranding campaign is beautiful and the franchise’s community outreach efforts seem genuine. The Miami Marlins are trending in the right direction, on and off the field.
But some fans remain upset with the new ownership group. Inheriting a team with the National League’s longest postseason drought in the fall of 2017, they immediately dealt away productive and recognizable stars. This pushed the Marlins further away from contention (for the time being). More than a year later, there are those who still do not “Re2pect The Process,” unwilling to accept that a core with MVP-caliber players like Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich wasn’t good enough.
You have to hand it to Jeffrey Loria: it took a million little things—signings, trades, and business deals—to sabotage the organization. Loria’s mistakes and missed opportunities soiled the Marlins’ reputation, depleted their farm system and forced his successors into a rebuild.
There is an alternate reality in which the Marlins are currently competitive and relevant. They had sufficient talent, but so frequently abused it or bought/sold it with poor timing. Tactful moves were often squandered by stubbornness and greed as Loria and former stepson David Samson meddled with the front office. Despite a legitimate desire to be successful, they suffered from a lack of collaboration and a misunderstanding of what their fans actually wanted.
In this thread, we created a timeline from 2012—the opening of the new ballpark—through early 2017 when the Marlins were officially put up for sale. Aside from exposing lopsided deals in hindsight, the analysis points to troubling patterns in decision-making under the previous regime. Think of it as a “what not to do” manual for Jeter and Co. moving forward. —Daniel Martinez, Anthony Garcia & Ely Sussman