Jeter faces angry fans at Marlins town hall

Derek Jeter’s coming-out party with his Marlins fanbase Tuesday night was more like an intervention.

The new co-owner met with a group of mainly disgruntled fans for a town hallstyle gathering at Marlins Park and, for nearly 90 minutes, answered questions about the current state of the franchise. Jeter’s flurry of activity out of the gate, including trading away three star players and prompting two others to say they want out too, has apparently not sat well with a fanbase that already is used to losing and poor management.

“This makes me miss [Jeffery] Loria,” the famous Marlins Man said at the town hall of the team’s former owner, who was far from fans’ good graces by the time he sold the Marlins to Jeter and Bruce Sherman in August. “Who would have thought that?”

Marlins Man, whose real name is Laurence Leavy, earned his nickname over 24 years of passionate fandom as a season-ticket holder, yet indicated Tuesday he hasn’t renewed his package for the 2018 season. He can’t imagine paying to watch what will amount to a “Triple-A team,” the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reported from the scene.

Jeter attempted to minimize tension before opening the floor to questions. In his initial speech, the former Yankees shortstop suggested the front office’s decisions so far should be taken with a grain of salt since selling expensive players — and shedding payroll — is just the first step in a long-term rebuild.

“We didn’t buy this team to continue losing money or more importantly losing games,” Jeter said, attempting to separate his ownership group from Loria’s long unfavorable one.

Many of the fans who spoke up didn’t buy Jeter’s sweet talk.

To the one fan who began crying at the podium while asking why he chose to send hitters away instead of signing more pitchers, as Jackson of the Miami Herald noted, Jeter said pitchers were not on their radar though he appreciated her show of passion.