It’s been an offseason to forget for the Miami Marlins as the team’s implosion has started. Marlins fans are sick of trading good players time after time for scraps. There is no clear plan in sight and the fans are sick of this and seem to be at the end of the line. The Marlins front office must answer for what they have done and give the fans some plan to believe in going forward.
In the last couple of months, the Marlins have traded Jake Burger and Jesus Luzardo to the Rangers and Phillies respectively. Fans are pissed off, but not entirely for who they traded, but rather for what they got in return.
Let’s remind everyone who Jake Burger was last season. In the second half of last season, he was a top three first baseman, slashing a .279 BA/ .339 OBP/ 19 HRs and 40+ RBIs. Beyond the impressive numbers, the best part of Burger’s situation was the team-friendly contract and four years of team control. What did the Fish get in return for this unbelievable player? A 19-year-old shortstop ranked 17th in the Rangers system, as well as a pitcher and shortstop who are both long ways away from sniffing the majors. Burger performed so well last year that he should have demanded a team’s top five prospect or an MLB-ranked top-100 prospect. If this trade wasn’t bad enough, the Luzardo trade was much worse.
Luzardo has been a fixture in the Marlins rotation the last couple of seasons. When he was at his best, he was an ACE-level pitcher. And if it even mattered, Luzardo was one of the few players that enjoyed playing for the Marlins as he is from the South Florida area and grew up a Marlins fan. He even attended Game 3 of the 2003 World Series.
In return for Luzardo, the Phillies gave up Starlyn Caba, MLB pipeline’s 81st-ranked prospect. They threw in another prospect in Emmarion Boyd, but he isn’t expected to make the majors anytime soon, if ever. Yes, Miami did land a top-100 prospect. However, Luzardo is a star that all teams have been clamoring for. How did the Marlins not get more for him? Marlins fans are truly sick of Bruce Sherman. Let’s not even go into the details on the Jazz Chisholm trade as it’ll make me pop a blood vessel. We won’t discuss last year’s trade deadline trades either (Luis Arraez, Tanner Scott, AJ Puk, Josh Bell and others).
Sherman is officially one of the worst owners in sports and won’t answer to the fans. Sherman is a sports terrorist holding us fans hostage and we’re being tortured with a team that will lose over 100 games. Enough is enough. Fans will soon boycott the team and hopefully an empty stadium will help wake up front office eyes.
Author’s final note: I’m not ready for the day the Marlins trade Sandy Alcantara, a former Cy Young winner (2022). It’s coming soon, and it’ll be the day I officially stop being a Marlins fan.