Not to disparage Derek Jeter, but it’s unlikely that he has ever read anything George Santayana ever wrote. Surely, though, he is familiar with Yogi Berra.
Whether or not Berra uttered any of his infamous Yogiisms when he and Jeter spent time together with the Yankees, the shortstop and captain might have heard Yogi’s “it’s like déjà vu all over again.”
Santayana, the late 19th Century and early 20th Century American writer and philosopher, wrote something that fits with Berra’s observation:
“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”
The history we’re talking about here is the history of the Miami Marlins, the team of which Jeter is chief executive officer and minority owner. Jeter was the Yankees’ shortstop who batted .346 against the Marlins in the 2003 World Series that the Marlins won.
Jeter was also the Yankees’ shortstop when the Marlins won the 1997 World Series, though he had no connection to that World Series because the Yankees lost to Cleveland in the division series of the playoffs.
Following both of those World Series, however, Jeter was aware of developments in the Marlins organization, and in his present capacity, he has ignored them. He has not learned from history (Santayana), and he has done the same thing all over again (Berra).
And I suspect if Berra were alive, the first time he encountered Jeter the first words out of his mouth might be “déjà vu all over again.”
What would Yogi be referring to? Well, in the event you had already begun your winter hibernation, resting up for next baseball season, the Marlins are doing it again, stripping their financially strapped franchise of their best players, slashing their payroll as previous owners did following World Series championships of 1997 and 2003.
The Marlins, who did not win the World Series last season, have traded second baseman Dee Gordon and outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna. Stanton has 10 years and $295 million left on his contract, Gordon three years and $37 million. Ozuna, two years from free agency, had a $3.5 million salary last season.
Demolishing their team has been a routine practice for Marlins owners. This decimation, ordered by Bruce Sherman, the new owner, is the third in two decades. H. Wayne Huizenga began the practice after the Marlins won the World Series in 1997, and Jeffrey Loria, who recently sold the Marlins to Sherman, copied Huizenga after the Marlins won the World Series in 2003.
The victims of the owners’ actions were the fans. The owners didn’t give the team a chance to repeat, depriving the fans of the excitement of watching the Marlins try to repeat.
Loria, always quick to defend himself, always pointed out that he gave the team a chance to defend its championship, said he didn’t shed players until a year after the Series victory. The record says otherwise.
First baseman Derrek Lee, right fielder Juan Encarnacion and starting pitchers Mark Redman were traded following the 2003 season. Catcher Ivan Rodriguez and left fielder Todd Hollandsworth were allowed to leave the Marlins as free agents. Starting pitcher Brad Penny was traded the following July 30.
Starting pitcher Carl Pavano was the next regular to go, leaving as a free agent after the 2004 season. Shortstop Alex Gonzalez left as a free agent after the 2005 season. In that same off-season second baseman Luis Castillo, who had escaped the 1997 purge, was traded as were starting pitcher Josh Beckett, third baseman Mike Lowell and center fielder Juan Pierre.
Jeff Conine also left as a free agent after the 2005 season. A unique member of the Marlins, he also played for the ’97 champions and was traded after that season.
Another member of the 2003 champions worthy of note was Miguel Cabrera. He was a rookie and lasted with the Marlins for four more seasons before being traded to Detroit with Dontrelle Willis for six players, including Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin.
Cabrera, of course, became one of the most productive sluggers in the game. At least the Marlins didn’t have to pay him. That was something Loria and Huizenga had in common. They didn’t like paying players.
After the Marlins won their first World Series under Huizenga’s ownership, he realized what it would cost him in seriously increased player salaries, declared he was a businessman and wasn’t in baseball to lose money and ordered the demolition of the Marlins’ roster.
When General Manager Dave Dombrowski was finished carrying out the boss’s scorched-earth policy, second baseman Castillo, shortstop Edgar Renteria and starting pitcher Alex Fernandez were the only regulars left unsinged.
Before the ’98 season began, Dombrowski had traded outfielders Devon White to Arizona and Moises Alou to Houston, first baseman Conine to Kansas City, starting pitchers Kevin Brown to San Diego and Al Leiter to the Mets and closer Robb Nen to San Francisco.
Seven and a half weeks into the 1998 season Dombrowski executed the most spectacular trade of his owner-forced flurry of deals. He sent third baseman Bobby Bonilla, catcher Charles Johnson and outfielders Gary Sheffield to Los Angeles for Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile.
As a postscript, Dombrowski traded shortstop Edgar Renteria, whose single won the 1997 World Series in Game 7’s 11thinning, to St. Louis. That deal left Castillo as the only survivor of both Marlins’ payroll purges. They finally traded him after the 2005 season, and he played five more seasons, finishing his career with the Mets and a .290 batting average.
As for the Marlins, their future is uncertain. Well, it is not entirely uncertain. They certainly seem to have a bleak future, meaning their fans don’t have much to look forward to. Their best players are gone, and for the third time they are faced with an owner who either doesn’t have money to spend on the team or doesn’t want to spend it.
It’s difficult to understand why Major League Baseball approves an owner who pays $1.2 billion for the team but can’t or won’t put money into the team to make it attractive for the fans, who have been treated worse than the infield dirt at Marlins Park.
First, Bud Selig approves a questionable deal that allowed Jeffrey Loria to buy the Marlins from John Henry so that Henry could buy the Red Sox even though another bidder submitted a higher price for the team. Now Rob Manfred gleefully approves Bruce Sherman as the new owner of the Marlins even though Sherman is apparently still seeking investors to defray his cost for the team.
Manfred also applauded the Marlins’ sale price, and why wouldn’t he? It makes baseball look good that a team as bedraggled as the Marlins can command such a ridiculous price.
At the same time the commissioner has urged fans and the news media to go easy on the Marlins for slashing payroll by trading away their best players. He told reporters that new owners need time to evaluate their franchise. On the contrary, prospective owners need to do that before submitting a bid for a team. It’s too late to buy a team and then figure out if you can afford it.
I don‘t often agree with Scott Boras, the player agent, but what he said to reporters last week at the winter meetings was appropriate. Presumably alluding to the new Marlins owners, he said they were acting not like a jewelry store that’s “coveting your diamonds. You now become a pawn shop that is trying to pay the rent of the building.”
It strikes me that Manfred was dazzled by the prospect of having Derek Jeter in a minority ownership role as chief executive officer even though Jeter has as much CEO experience as Sherman has playing shortstop.
Jeter had a good opportunity last week to gain some insight into his new role, but he passed up baseball’s winter meetings and instead attended a National Football League game.
After 20 years of a Hall of Fame playing career, Jeter has achieved his desire to be a team owner. Maybe he understands what his new job entails; maybe he doesn’t. Maybe his new status will generate greater fan interest in South Florida; may it won’t.
Will he be enough to replace Stanton, Gordon and Ozuna in the hearts, the minds and the eyes of the Florida fans? Who knows? He is something, though, that Huizenga and Loria didn’t have when they purged the payroll.