Kuzul

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It’s official. The Marlins have taken the word frugal to an entirely new level.

Deadspin.com released the Marlins’ financial statements for the last two seasons, when the team had a combined operating income of around $50 million, with a net profit of $33 million.

This is a farce and an outrage, considering they have consistently ranked at the bottom of the league in payroll for the last six to seven years.

It’s something the league addressed in the offseason urging the Marlins to spend more from their revenue sharing allotment. So they extended ace Josh Johnson. Big whoop.

The following is an open letter to Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria.

Dear Mr. Loria,

On behalf of the entire Marlins fan base, I am saddened, angry, and hurt after learning about the financial details of the Marlins over the last two seasons.

I know you were left with a terribly, scummy lease during your entire tenure as Marlins owner and you don’t profit much from stadium ventures like concessions and so forth. But that is not our problem!

You’re the owner, the top dog, and it is your moral obligation to this city, to your players, fans, and coaches to do your best to put the best possible product of baseball on the field.

Instead of allowing this young team to grow, you’ve handcuffed them. You shipped out one of the best young stars in baseball in Miguel Cabrera a few years ago for what reason exactly? The only answer is you didn’t want to pay him.

The entire point of revenue sharing is so teams on smaller financial scales like the Marlins can go out and compete! Yet you decide that money is better used in your pockets than on the field.

We are sick and tired of this same old routine. The team stockpiles great young talent via one of the best farm systems in baseball. The factory puts out stars like Josh Beckett and Cabrera but once it’s time to deliver them their big payday, you ship them out for prospects. What is the point of trading a star for a prospect who may or may not be a star one day?

Now you’re furious with Deadspin who exposed the Marlins financial documents? They did a service to the fans. Now you’re the one put in an uncomfortable corner. It’s on you now to give us a reason why we should go spend our hard-earned cash to watch this team play.

We are tired tired of this.

After both of the Marlins’ World Series wins, ownership has held a fire sale, drying up every crevice of talent there was. Marlins fans have been beat on for too long. We’ve endured the pain of seeing our champions stripped from our hands just days after victory, twice.

Every Marlins fan should punish you by not going to another game for the rest of the season. Maybe then you will learn your lesson. Loria you’re officially in timeout.

The good news it’s not too late. In fact, if you want any respect at all from this community you will do the following”

1. Offer free admission to select games next season.

2. Pay Dan Uggla. Extend Mike Stanton when the time comes! Lock up the young talent on this team for once! Bring in some quality relief pitching for crying out loud.

3. Sign a big-time free agent, something unheard of in Marlins history.

4. Hold an event in which you will sent in a chair and get pied in the face by every Marlins fan, past or present, in South Florida.

It’s not always about the future, Jeffrey. The present is here and you’re not in your new stadium yet. Tough!

There is no reason why you shouldn’t spend this offseason and put a great quality product on the field next year. I don’t care if you have to suffer financial losses to get it done. Do what you have to do.

You owe it to the players. You owe it to the coaches. Above all, you owe it to the fans.

Sincerely,

A Marlins Fan

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Mike Stanton, all 20 years of him, has officially planted himself among the best power hitters in all of baseball. His .569 slugging percentage, a true indicator of power, ranks 13th in the majors for players with at least 200 at-bats. He already has five homers midway through the month of august.

The kid is 20-years-old!

His batting average has spiked over the last 10 games, jumping forty points to its current standing at .275. With runners in scoring position, only Gaby Sanchez (.327) bests Stanton’s .307 mark among Marlins who play consistently.

Most guys his age are thinking about girls and their next meal, while Stanton is achieving great success at the most difficult task in professional sports, hitting a baseball.

His age clearly shows during interviews with a bunch of “ya knows” thrown into his dialogue. When that’s the main thing the superstar-in-the-making can improve upon, his future looks even brighter.

This fascinating physical specimen has just moved up to the number five spot in the order, with the team looking to capitalize off his sizzling bat.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Stanton said of the switch. “It doesn’t really matter. Wherever I’m at, it doesn’t really matter, as long as I’m in there.”

The fact that he speaks with such a humble attitude is astounding as well. Here’s a guy who had the athleticism to play any major sport of his choosing collegiately. He was thrown into the majors after just a couple of seasons in the minors and still, his head remains straight.

His swing is pure beauty. Watching the poor, tiny baseball explode off the barrel of his bat is comparable to picking up your first Playboy, or if that’s not your thing, watching a champion racehorse in full stride coming around the final turn.

My hat goes out to Stanton, and I’m petrified when I think about how great of a player he will be three years from now when he’s an old man at 23.

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The trade deadline (July 31) is closing in fast and still, the Marlins haven’t expressed their intentions. They are eight games back in the division trailing the Braves, Mets, and Phillies and six games back in the wild-card race trailing seven teams.

They embody mediocrity. As of Sunday afternoon, they stand with a 49-49 record and have major league rankings of 12th in ERA and 20th in batting average.

They have had a surge of late, winning seven of their last ten with a walk-off win against the Braves this afternoon. So that begs the question, will they look to buy, sell, or sit tight in the next week?

Why Buy?

If they are serious about making a strong push toward a playoff spot , and don’t want fans to have any more strokes, they absolutely must acquire relief pitching. Headlines along the line of “Bullpen Crumbles” have seen the front page too many times this season. The routine story has been a starting pitcher pitches great, followed by a reliever’s collapse, concluding with a fight to to the finish to crank out a win. Unloading a prospect to benefit the team in the short-term would be new ground for this franchise.

Why Sell?

They still have plenty of ground to make up and they likely don’t have the pieces to make a pennant run. It would be wise to unload players like outfielder Cody Ross or third-baseman Jorge Cantu, since they probably aren’t going to be a part of the big picture anyway.

Do Nothing?

Ride it out with what you have and hope for the playoffs without sacrificing any prospects and not getting anything in return for the veterans in their last year with the team.

The Move : Get the fans excited for a Marlins regime that is about to undergo a major transformation next season when they get a new park. Acquire a couple of strong relievers. It would be nice to see what this team is made of if they were a more balanced unit.

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Batters facing Florida Marlins ace Josh Johnson this season can empathize with those helpless premium dinner entrees. They can slap, bunt, and swing all they want. They can extend the at-bat with foul balls. They can take their sweet old time going in and out of the box trying to break the pitcher’s momentum.

No matter what they do they can’t hit Josh Johnson.

Johnson has cooked batters this season to the tune of 130 strikeouts against 128 innings of work with a 1.62 ERA, and a 10 – 3 record on an average club. The Marlins are currently in the middle of the pack in the NL with a 45-47 record, 9.0 games back in the N.L. East. Additionally the Marlins have one of the worst defensive units in baseball. With 72 errors thus far, they only trail the Nationals (77).

Whether it’s a 96 mph fastball, a vicious slider, or a sinking change-up, players aren’t going to touch first base often and rarely, if ever, cross home plate when JJ is pitching.

In his 19 starts this season he has given up more than two runs a mere three times. Three! The most runs he gave up all season was four, and that was in the season opener against the Mets in April.

Johnson is gaining steam towards his first Cy Young. The Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez has been struggling of late.

His case will only strengthen if the Marlins turn it out around in the second half and close in on the division. Regardless, he is having one of the best seasons in recent history.

Johnson’s 2010 season has a chance to go down as one of the best of the decade for a starting pitcher.

Pedro Martinez’s 2000 season, when he went 18-6 with a 1.74 ERA and 284 strikeouts, comes to mind, as does Randy Johnson in 02′, when he went 24-5 with a 2.32 ERA and an amazing 334 strikeouts.

To say that Johnson’s year thus far isn’t on par with those legendary marks in baseball history is blasphemy.

Johnson is easily among the top three pitchers in all of baseball, and arguably the best. The fact that he’s still just 26 years old just isn’t right. The guy is going to get even better.

Terrifying, I know.

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