The 2008 Florida Marlins: Good Seats Are Still Available

The Florida Marlins won their third game in a row last night, defeating the Brewers 6-2. The mini-streak has the Marlins tied for 1st in the NL East with the Phillies at 19-14. The game was seen by a whopping 10,405 people, filling nearly a third of Dolphins Stadium. The season is starting to shape up in a predictable pattern for the Marlins; a good, young team playing in the proverbial forest where they make little, if any, noise. Last night’s plethora of empty seats has been pretty typical throughout the team’s existence, which is now in its 16th season. This is in spite of the fact that the franchise is only one of three, the Yankees and the Red Sox being the others, to win multiple World Series during that time. The Marlins have broken the 3 million mark only once, their inaugural season, have broken 2 million only once, in 1997, their 1st championship season, and had a low of 813,000 in 2002. These are the kind of numbers that only the Montreal Expos could have envied.

It’s not hard to see why the fans have stayed away. Unlike other low-income teams such as the A’s and the Twins, the Marlins have essentially started over after each championship, reducing the team back to an expansion-like state instead of attempting to remain competitive year in and year out. The team has regularly been one of the worst in baseball, averaging 71 wins per season since 1993. The boom or bust cycle has kept fans away and kept the team off national television, leading to a vicious catch-22 cycle where the team can’t afford to keep talent once it comes of age, leaving fans unwilling to get attached to players who are going to leave for greener pastures after a couple of good seasons.

Playing in Dolphins Stadium hasn’t helped. Attempting to play baseball in a football stadium never works, and probably never will. That, at least, is about to change. The Marlins are scheduled to open a brand-new, 37,000 seat, retractable-roof stadium on the site of the old Orange Bowl in 2011. The stadium, funded jointly by the team, the city of Miami, and Miami-Dade County, is expected to cost $525 million, though plans have yet to be finalized. The new stadium probably represents the last best chance to keep baseball in South Florida. Hopefully the revenue generated by the new stadium allows the team to increase its payroll to a competitive level, a la the Cleveland Indians and Jacobs Field.

But for now, the Marlins will continue to play home games in front of rows of empty orange seats. Which is a shame, because it means South Floridians are missing out on a pretty good team led by one of the best, and most underrated, players in the game. Hanley Ramirez is to fantasy owners what Ronald Reagan is to the Republican Party. His unparalleled all-around game has never been better, though he remains unknown to many casual fans. This is thanks largely to ESPN’s and Fox’s addiction to the Red Sox and Yankees, which they occasionally supplement with the Indians, the Mets, the Cardinals and the Dodgers, leaving us with only occasional SportsCenter highlights and box scores to judge other teams and players. For the record, Ramirez is batting .328, with 8 home runs, 19 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. He’s 6th in the majors in steals, and his 28 runs is 7th.

But lest you think Ramirez is the LeBron James of baseball, there are others in the lineup to complement Ramirez. The Marlins are second in the majors behind Philadelphia with 45 home runs. First baseman Mike Jacobs leads the team in that category with 9, 4th most in the majors, while slugging .607 and driving in 24. Second baseman Dan Uggla has 8 home runs and 20 RBIs, while third baseman Jorge Cantu and outfielder Jeremy Herrida have contributed OBPs of .328 and .343, respectively.  Outfielder Josh Willingham may be the second best batter on the team behind Ramirez. Despite a stint on the DL thanks to a stiff back, Willingham has hit 6 home runs and driven in 16. His average stands at .341 and his .637 slugging percentage is 7th in the majors among players with at least 80 at-bats.

On the mound the Marlins boast a staff with an average age of 25, but the biggest surprise comes from a real oldster, 33 year old Mark Hendrickson. With a career record of 43-55 and an ERA of 5.01, not much was expected of the free agent signee who spent much of last season buried in the Dodgers’ bullpen. But thanks to a newly-developed curveball, and a new willingness to throw any pitch in any count, Hendrickson is 5-1 in seven starts with an ERA of 3.71 and a WHIP of 1.17. Creating a one-two punch with Hendrickson is 24 year old Scott Olsen. Now in his third full season, the lefty appears to be turning the corner into a dominant staff ace. His record stands at 4-1 after seven starts and his ERA is 2.22. Opponents are batting .186 against Olsen and his WHIP stands at 1.05. Neither Olsen and Hendrickson are blowing anyone away (they have only 42 k’s between them, and the team ranks 27th overall in that category), but they have been able limit home runs and avoid big innings.

In the bullpen the Marlins have five arms pitching well. Closer Kelly Gregg is six for seven in save opportunities, while Renyel Pinto, a 25 year old lefty, has a 0.76 ERA in 23.2 innings. Righthander Justin Miller has contributed 16 innings with an ERA of 2.81, while Logan Kensing (14 IP, 3.21 ERA) and Doug Waechter (0.71 ERA in 12.2 innings) have also kept opponents under wraps. Of the quintet, only Miller has reached the age of 30.

One big question mark surrounding this team is its depth. Aside from Willingham, no major contributor has spent any of the regular season on the DL. It’s hard to imagine this continuing for the entire season, but if they stay healthy, the Marlins could challenge the Mets and the Phillies for NL East supremacy. The team will play three game sets against both teams at the end of May, in addition to three games against the Diamondbacks earlier this month. Those games could go a long way in showing whether the Marlins are in this for the long haul. Let’s hope somebody’s watching.