It's fairly common consensus that Jeffrey Loria of the Florida Marlins is among the worst managers in Major League Baseball, along with Peter Angelos of the O's. Yet somehow, the Florida Marlins have won 2 World Series in their brief 18 year history, one of them under Loria's tenure. After both of those wins though, the Marlins front office purged the lineups from those teams as a cost cutting measure. The Marlins still have a winning record under Loria, but he clearly sees the Marlins as dollar signs, not a baseball team.
One of the most surprising releases by the Marlins this year was Cody Ross. Ross is an up and coming outfielder, and while his numbers certainly weren't stellar, but they weren't bad enough that putting him on the waiver wire outright seemed appropriate. (Although the appearance of Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison didn't help Ross.) No, Cody Ross is arbitration eligible next season. Rather than paying for Ross' talent, the Marlins decided to kick him to the curb.
So tonight, it is poetic justice that Cody Ross became the National League Championship Series MVP for the San Fransisco Giants. Congrats to Cody and the Giants. It's going to be a great World Series!
I can't necessarily find a link to support this, but I read reports that the Marlin's clubhouse was devadstated at Ross's waiver dumping by the front office. Clearly a salary dump (though not totally unexpected since the Stanton showed he was such a good replacement for Ross after his callup), you still have to wonder how the move affected the team morale.
ReplyDeleteI had considered Ross as a possible Nats target for 2011, knowing that he would likely be non-tendered. Now after his success in SF i'll bet they keep him on out West.