Jeter ready for Marlins to welcome fans back as they continue long-term rebuild plan
Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter watched from the Miami Marlins’ unexpected playoff run from a distance. First it was Chicago’s Wrigley Field for the best-of-3 wild card series with the Cubs and then Houston’s Minute Maid Park for a neutral-site, best-of-5 National League Division Series matchup with the Atlanta Braves, in which the Marlins were swept.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, one that shortened the 2020 regular season to 60 games and kept fans out of ballparks until the NL Championship Series and the World Series hosted at Arlington’s Globe Life Field, Sherman and Jeter were limited to suites while fans watched from their TVs.
They are also left to wonder. In normal times of yesteryear, pre-pandemic, what would Marlins Park have looked like last October as the Marlins played postseason baseball for the first time in 17 years?
“Neither Derek or I know what it would been like to have some of those Cubs playoff games in Miami,” Sherman, the Marlins’ principal owner, said Monday ahead of the team’s pitchers and catchers reporting to Jupiter for spring training. “That might have been a lot of fun. We didn’t experience it and our fans didn’t experience it. It’s kind of strange watching with Derek and I in a box, 200 feet from the field. It was different. Even Atlanta. We didn’t have the outcome we wanted, but it was strange.”
This season, Jeter and Sherman hope, will bring some sense of normalcy. For starters, the Marlins plan to have fans at Marlins Park — starting around 25 percent capacity for the 37,446-seat ballpark and, pandemic conditions permitting, slowly increasing as the season goes along. The Marlins applied for the the WELL Health-Safety Rating, an evidence-based, third-party verified rating focusing on operational policies, maintenance protocols, stakeholder engagement and emergency plans to address a post-COVID-19 environment.
“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have an opportunity to let the fans in last season,” Jeter, the Marlins’ CEO said. “We could just see firsthand how much excitement was in the community. But just from my own personal experience with being out and about in a limited capacity, you could hear some of the excitement.”
As for the product on the field heading into Year 4 of the Sherman/Jeter ownership group and the first under new general manager Kim Ng? Expect another year focused on development.
“We have a plan to build this organization,” Jeter said. “and we’re gonna stick to that plan.”
That plan centers on the Marlins’ highly-rated farm system, one that lost a year of development with the minor-league season being canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic. The Marlins’ minor-league system is ranked No. 2 by ESPN, No. 4 by The Athletic and No. 11 by Baseball America and has five or six players ranked among the top 100 in baseball depending on which system you look at.
Eight of Miami’s top prospects — pitchers Sixto Sanchez, Trevor Rogers, Braxton Garrett and Nick Neidert; shortstop Jazz Chisholm; first baseman Lewin Diaz; and outfielders Monte Harrison and Jesus Sanchez — made their big-league debuts a season ago. Others, notably right-handed pitcher Edward Cabrera, are closing in on MLB debuts.
Now, to be clear, the Marlins did make a few offseason additions. They revamped their bullpen (highlighted by late-inning relievers Anthony Bass and Dylan Floro) and added power-hitting corner outfielder Adam Duvall to go along with Corey Dickerson and Starling Marte.
But getting a clear evaluation of how their prospects can project into the team’s future plans is a top-priority goal.
“We have to make sure that we give our young guys an opportunity and we don’t want to block them,” Jeter said. “We need them to continue to develop. I know we got a taste of the postseason last year, and our goal every year is to get back to the postseason, but at the same time we have to look at the big picture and make sure that the young guys get an opportunity to play.”
Translated: Expect a step back in the immediate in return for the long-term investment.
Granted, a step back was likely inevitable anyway, at least in the win-loss columns, considering how much the rest of the NL East improved this year.
The Braves re-signed Marcell Ozuna and added Charlie Morton to a pitching rotation that will also get back Mike Soroka. The New York Mets traded for Carlos Corrasco and Francisco Lindor and signed catcher James McCann. The Washington Nationals traded for first baseman Josh Bell and signed starting pitcher Jon Lester, closer Brad Hand and outfielder Kyle Schwarber. The Philadelphia Phillies re-signed catcher J.T. Realmuto and Didi Gregorious and are fortifying their bullpen.
“We know how difficult our division is,” Jeter said, “but if you want to be the best, you’re going to have to ultimately beat the best and you have to enjoy that competition. Our guys don’t shy away from competition. They don’t. I think they showed that last year.”
But there’s no denying that last season’s playoff run put some semblance of expectations on the Marlins to take the next step. Jeter is adamant it will happen if they stay the course and get back to the plan that they had prior to the pandemic.
How much longer will that take? Jeter, as he has since Day 1, won’t put a timeframe on it.
“When you put a timeframe on something,” Jeter said, “you’re giving yourself an excuse to fail.”
This story was originally published February 15, 2021 at 2:58 PM.
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