Jeter gets an earful
Marlins fans air gripes to CEO.
MIAMI — This is what he needed to do. This night. This talk.
This face-to-face that The New Boss, Derek Jeter, had Tuesday night in a town meeting with confused and angry, concerned and angry, despondent and angry, but still engaged and still very angry Marlins fans.
This night was better than anything coming to Marlins Park for a while, folks. Some fans directed their anger at Jeter. Some fans questioned him trading off a great lineup with their Two Pitchers Away Theory. Some wanted Jeter to play in right field. “My playing days are done,’’ he said. And an in-full-orange-costume Marlins Man, Laurence Leavy, took the microphone, saying, “Do you know who I am?” “Yeah, I’ve heard of you,’’ Jeter said. By the time Marlins Man was finished making a long but good point that fans who buy multiyear season tickets should get discounts, he also eked out a promise from Jeter that the previous owner refused to make.
“Yeah, I’ll let you throw out the first pitch,’’ Jeter said. Uh, Ceremonial or Opening Day? Ba-da-bing! It was that kind of night at Marlins Park. Odd but good. Awkward but necessary.
Entertaining and, yes, informative. That was the disappointment with Jeter to this point. It wasn’t with the baseball moves, if you understand why they were made.
He traded Giancarlo Stanton last week — a move he had to make due to Stanton’s $295 million contract — but didn’t face the music of the baseball world to explain what was going on. He explained repeatedly over 90 minutes with fans on Tuesday.
“I keep saying this when I’m talking to people over and over,’’ Jeter said in an opening monologue. “This organization has not been in the postseason in 14 years and has not had a winning record for eight years. That is not acceptable.”
Which led to the first fan to take the microphone saying, “I agree with you, burn it down like the Cubs, the Astros, the Royals …”
“I want to correct you with, ‘burn it down,’” Jeter said. “That’s not exactly what we’re doing.”
Jeter laid out the general blueprint to win in baseball. You have to build up a minor-league system — and the Marlins’ is rated the worst in baseball. He might as well have said, “Come back in three years.” But do you want the truth or some silly talk?
That’s the only way to do this, folks.
“This team was special … and you broke it up,’’ a woman said, in tears.
Jeter lauded her passion. He’s no dummy. He’s not here to make fans. But last year’s team wasn’t special. And as for all those who took the microphone saying the team just needed two pitchers?
“Which two pitchers?” Jeter asked.
Derek Jeter, Marlins CEO
Follow-up: Does Marlins Man count?
OK, there were some pertinent questions about why Rich Waltz was fired (Jeter blamed Fox Sports, just like Jeffrey Loria did for the firing of Tommy Hutton). And there was the always-entertaining issue of the Home Run Sculpture’s future.
“You guys tell me,’’ Jeter said, adding it was a “divisive” topic. (I’m for its quirky appeal).
For the most part, Jeter kept explaining his longrange plan.
“Why should I be a season ticket holder for next year?” one fan asked.
“Because you want to be a part of something that we’re building,’’ Jeter said. “I don’t expect you to sit there and believe me, because you don’t know me and you’ve been told this before. But we’re going to build something.”
That’s all he can say. And he has to keep saying it. The few fans this team has left need to hear from him, even if we all know no one’s attending games until they win again.
If they win again.
“This organization has not been in the postseason in 14 years and has not had a winning record for eight years. That is not acceptable.”