5 questions facing Jeter and the management
Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter — man, that’s still a weird sequence of words — is mere days into the monumental task of turning the team around, and his to-do list is a long one.
Here are five major questions facing him and the Marlins that help frame their offseason at the onset.
1. Who will Jeter hire to help him run the Marlins?
These moves won’t be the most headline-grabbing of the Marlins’ winter, but they will be the most important. Front-office additions will guide everything from which players the Marlins trade to who they bring in to replace them to their longterm rebuilding outlook.
Executive choices are critical, and Jeter knows that.
“I’m not coming in here thinking that I know everything about team ownership. I do not,” Jeter said Tuesday. “One thing I’m very good at is knowing what I don’t know. I surround myself with people who are much more smarter than I am, and them for advice.”
Gary Denbo, the New York Yankees’ vice president of player development whose relationship with Jeter dates to Jeter’s minor league days, is among Jeter’s top targets, sources told the Sun Sentinel. Another buzzy name is Jim Hendry, the former Chicago Cubs general manager who now works for the Yankees as a special assistant.
Those are only two names. President of baseball operations Michael Hill is expected to remain, but Jeter has already fired four Marlins baseball-operations vice presidents (Mike Berger, Marc DelPiano, Jeff McAvoy, Jim Benedict), so there will probably be a few new faces comprising the Marlins’ brain trust.
Expect the Marlins to hire a COO to work with CEO Jeter, too.
2. Where will Giancarlo Stanton go?
Jeter didn’t say outright that Giancarlo Stanton will be traded — you’ll be hardpressed to find a baseball executive who tells you exactly what he’s going to do lean on — but he did warn of “unpopular decisions” and said in definitive terms the organization is rebuilding (while noting that that doesn’t have to mean losing). Stanton said he is not interested in rebuilding, but that he looked forward to talking with Jeter.
So, given the economics of baseball generally and the Marlins specifically, let’s conservatively call a Stanton trade a strong possibility at this point. Where could he go?
Among the teams most commonly linked to him: the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies. All three have the financial wherewithal to get a deal done, and the Cardinals and Phillies in particular have the prospect inventory.
Two less commonly referenced teams who could be dark horses: the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox. The White Sox have one of the best farm systems in baseball. And Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski — the architect of the Marlins’ 1997 World Series-winning team — has never been afraid of trading for a superstar. The Red Sox are lacking in the home run department, and don’t forget it was Dombrowski who took Miguel Cabrera (and Dontrelle Willis) off the Marlins’ hands when he was running the Tigers.
Worth noting: Stanton has a no-trade clause, so he’ll have to approve any deal that involves him.
3. How many other big pieces will the Marlins trade?
Aside from Stanton, let’s consider these six other players a part of the Marlins’ core (in no particular order): Marcell Ozuna, Christian Yelich, J.T. Realmuto, Dee Gordon, Justin Bour, Dan Straily.
The primary benefit of trading Stanton will be not having to pay at least most of the $295 million he is owed over the next decade. The primary benefit of trading most of the above halfdozen would be the prospect return. That return would be especially significant for Ozuna, Yelich and Realmuto.
Would the Marlins trade all of their best players? Probably not. But trading several of them would give their rebuild a jumpstart and their farm system a much-needed talent injection.
4. What will come of the coaching staff ?
This question will probably be answered early this offseason, but it needs to be answered nonetheless. Curiously, when asked Tuesday about the status of manager Don Mattingly and the coaching staff, Jeter praised Mattingly but didn’t say he would be back.
“I’ve developed a great relationship with him over the years and he’s done a great job. I have the utmost respect for Donnie,” Jeter said. “But we’ll sit down — everyone will sit down — once the time is right and evaluate everyone.”
There has been no indication Mattingly won’t be retained — indeed, it would be bizarre for one of Jeter’s first moves to be firing his fellow Yankees legend — but other spots on the coaching staff could be more up in the air.
Third-base coach Fredi Gonzalez interviewed with the Detroit Tigers for their managerial opening Thursday. Other Marlins coaches hadn’t had their futures addressed as of mid-week, sources told the Sun Sentinel, and a couple of them are free agents. And, as is always the case when new bosses take over, Jeter could make changes regardless of contract status.
5. What will the Marlins do to endear themselves to fans?
Jeter, before even taking a question Tuesday, declared: “The fans are our No. 1 priority.” That’s what you would expect the new face of the franchise to say, of course, but actions matter more than words.
It’s a tough spot: Blowing up the roster (probably) while also trying to tell the fans you care about them. Few fans would want to pay to see another bad team without the players they most recognize. What can Jeter’s Marlins do to win fans while they don’t win games?
Jeter avoided getting into specifics on re-engaging the market, but the list of possibilities is long: Keep ticket prices the same, or even lower them? Improve the concessions food good? Make parking cheap?
A few crowdsourced ideas from Marlins fans on Twitter: open the upper deck and sell cheap seats, bring back the out-of-town scoreboard, bring back the teal and black color scheme (perhaps on a Throwback Thursday basis), periodic progress reports in the form of letters to fans on their improvements/changes/efforts.
thealey@ sunsentinel.com; @timbhealey