Jeter brings professionalism as Marlins rebuild
I’m sorry,” Miami Marlins rookie outfielder Brian Anderson said with a puzzled look, “but I don’t understand the question.” Yet again, Wiggins’ World had outsmarted itself.
Trying to be clever, WW had instead created confusion by beginning an Anderson interview with: “I guess you’re among the few people that are happy ‘the purge’ took place.”
WW was referring to the Marlins’ highly controversial offseason jettisoning of star outfielders Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna, among others.
After offering up an apology of its own, WW then simply asked: “Are you happy the trades opened up a roster spot for you?”
After all, Anderson’s path to the majors could have been blocked for years.
“Oh, yeah, for sure,” responded Anderson, obviously relieved he no longer had to deal with a convoluted question.
“As a young player, it’s something you always dream of getting that opportunity to play in the big leagues. It’s exciting and I’m trying to take advantage of it as best I can.”
So far so good on that front for Anderson, but more on this later.
For now, back to the Marlins once again tearing down a contender. It’s becoming old hat for them.
Twice before, after winning World Series titles in 1997 and 2003, team owners had held fire sales for star players because they couldn’t afford their salaries.
This time, though, the clearing out of big contracts was more philosophical than fiscal.
There was a new sheriff in town in the form of part-owner and CEO Derek Jeter, the former New York Yankees superstar.
And he wanted to rebuild the organisation from the ground up — his way.
One might assume, that blueprint for success would also be the “Yankees Way”, in view of all the success Jeter had experienced with the Bronx Bombers (including a whopping seven World Series titles).
Not so says Marlins manager Don Mattingly, himself a former Yankee great, albeit one who never experienced postseason success.
“We’re not a market that has the same revenues as the Yanks and Boston,” Mattingly explained to WW.
“So, we understand that our system has to be producing talent and there’s gotta be a certain amount of depth to that system.”
Thus, buying up the best available talent is out.
As team prez, Jeter oversees the whole franchise — from box office to scouting to the field (“I have my hand in everything,” Jeter says).
Even without abundant monies, at least for now, Jeter feels sustainable winning is still possible.
It’s a matter of doing things the right way.
“I think Derek brings a professionalism within the whole organisation, from the minor leagues all the way to the top,” offered Mattingly.
“It’s kind of a culture that you want to create for yourselves, you want to do things first class.”
So far the Marlins, predictably, have struggled in the early stages of the rebuild. They haven’t been horrible but the Fish are still in last place in the National League East. Jeter is not discouraged. “We’ve been in a lot of games,” Jeter stated. “We’ve got to figure out ways to win those games.”
“What I try to do is take positives from every game,” Jeter stated. “There are a lot of good things we’ve seen.”
One of those good things has been the performance of the rookie Anderson. As their everyday right fielder, Anderson leads the Marlins in batting with a .296 average and in RBIs with 34.
But it hasn’t been a walk on Miami’s South Beach.
“The pitching is extremely high quality,” said Anderson of MLB hurlers, in comparison with those in in the minors.
“Everyday, the other team’s gonna be running out top arms.
“You can’t take it easy; you gotta come out ready to go every single day and be locked in every pitch.”
Anderson has to pinch himself that Jeter is now his boss.
“He was my idol growing up, one of the best that’s ever played,” gushed Anderson.
Not surprisingly, Anderson is all in with his idol also being his mentor — as is his whole Marlins team.
“We have a lot of young guys who are focused on just playing the game the right way and playing it hard.” Anderson explained.
“I don’t know much about rebuilding but I think that as an organisation we trust his leadership,” said Anderson.
“We feel he’s gonna lead us the right way, whichever direction he takes.”
And this time, Anderson showed zero uncertainty.