Miami Marlins cannot hide behind glitz of their new ballpark - Part 2
A ballpark which has only to become a graveyard of their side was better off not built in the first place, where their hitters are to tremble, rotation is to go awry, manager is to spew profanities after every loss. Such will be the height of their frustration.
At least they will argue, in the old ballpark opponents were to endure extreme heat and humidity and since their own players were used to it, they won more matches.
Thus, within few years Marlins will be back from where they began, in sparsely filled stadiums in high profile games, roster hosting ordinary players and every year passing with poor season performance before repeating the same in the next.
Then, they will ponder over contriving something new again like they have done this year in the form of designing a new Ballpark. Presumably they learn nothing from their last experience, vicious circle of poor season performances will linger on and on,
with no real change coming through.
One needs to heed what Marlins' manager Ozzie Guillen suggested in his words while sensing a likely resurgence of complacency with the club.
“To keep things exciting, we have to win games,” Guillen said.
While complacency is a strict term as it contains an assumption of Marlins being near perfect with everything. Exclude three all-stars Marlins decorated their roster with this year and take a dig on their existing strength.
Right fielder Giancarlo Stanton’s career record appears as a typical Marlins’ with .258 career batting average and 56 home-runs. His ability to trigger activity at the bases is hopelessly visible with mediocre 146 career RBIs.
Closer Edward Mujica has an unimpressive career ERA of 4.10 and 257 strike-outs.
Emilio Bonifacio, an outfielder for Marlins, has scored just six home-runs in his whole career. His 89 RBI, .329 OBP and batting average of .269 are in a stark contrast to extremely incredible figures handful of players that the Marlins has.
As much as he can contribute to the side, his limitations to go beyond a certain level in his career to explain that he will only be a misfit for players like Ramirez whose prodigy is by far incomparable.
With this kind of records, expecting these players to stand up behind newly purchased star players and take Marlins to victories along with them begs the question that if they were to be so talented, they will not motivate Marlins to purchase new players
in an overnight attempt to change their fate in the first place.
Traditionally, Marlins had been frugal in the purchase of players. So miserable was their fate that their roster will exhibit unknowns, players least exciting to the fans.
As the thought of hefty profits with a new ballpark encouraged them to go all out in their offseason purchases, the Marlins searched for a miracle. Instead of diversifying funds on various players and thus bridging wide-spread discrepancies, their focus
was myopic.
Inclusion of three all-stars with the likes of Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell ensured that bulk of players’ payroll funds will concentrate around these players. In turn, Marlins were handicapped to address other issues with their offence and thus their
prospective greatest weak-link was left open to exploitation.
Amid all this, Marlins brace an uphill task ahead. Justifying dramatic changes management wreaked to the club will require consistent performances in the next few seasons.
As a vehement denouncement has come from all sides after their first two defeats, one will hope that they will bounce back soon with a few emphatic victories.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Tags: