Let's put an end to the Marlins-bashing

I typically attempt to avoid mainstream baseball coverage at all costs. I just can't see the point in getting all worked up over atrocities like Francisco Rodriguez being discussed as an MVP candidate. For this reason, I typically watch baseball games on mute (I strongly recommend this if you don't do it already). But because I currently work from 3 PM to 11 PM Central Time, I'm missing all of the World Series except for the weekend games. As a consequence, I'm checking espn.com/mlb as soon as I get home. Say what you will about the worldwide leader, but they do provide up-to-the-minute scores.

It is for this reason and this reason alone that I happened upon this particular outbreak of stupidity, which basically warns that the Rays' franchise may be in danger of become the next Florida Marlins. This claim is both explicitly and implicitly idiotic.

First, I'll address the explicit claim: The Rays are in danger of becoming the Florida Marlins.

While it is true that St. Petersburg is one of the smallest markets in baseball and that Tropicana Field was largely empty even as the Rays were making their historic run at the AL East championship, the Tampa and Florida organizations are more different than similar under their current management. Florida is one of the few clubs in baseball that hasn't boarded the bandwagon of signing their young talent to long-term, below-market contracts by buying out their arbitration years and a few free agent years. Tampa does this. Florida opts to non-tender its arbitration-eligible players or trade them away for several more players, all of whom won't be arb-eligible for several more years. At the same time, Florida's championship teams (engineered chiefly by current Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski) had some expensive veteran pieces. The Rays have a lot of young, cost-controlled players who will only get better.

Now, I'll address the implicit claim: the Florida Marlins are poorly run and not to be emulated.

The Marlins cannot be blamed for the incentive structure placed before them. If the profit-sharing rules make it so that they're in the black for the year before they even sell a ticket, that's on Bud. But more importantly, despite everyone in the media wanting to crucify Larry Beinfest in the offseason for dumping the salaries of Cabrera and Willis, the Marlins finished 84-77 in one of baseball's toughest divisions (and ten wins better than the Tigers). Did I mention that this all happened while the principal prospect in the deal, Cameron Maybin, spent most of the year still in the minor leagues? In addition, the Marlins have 2 World Championships in the last 11 years. Only the Red Sox and Yankees have won as many during that time span.

It's my opinion that the goal of operating a baseball team is to maximize games won and profit earned. The Rays clearly place more emphasis on the former than the Marlins do (I don't think Cliff Floyd or Eric Hinske would ever be found on a contemporary Marlins team). The Marlins just happen to win games while seeking profits, which is more than we can say for most other teams.

Of course, it's possible that Howard Bryant (the author of the article that started this rant) has a different view of how to run a franchise: retain all of your famous players and sign as many other teams' famous players as possible. Hey Howard: I think there might be some positions open in the Yankees' front office, if you're interested.