Their success began with decisions in the offseason and continued through NLCS.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published October 17, 2003
CHICAGO - Aside from all those 5-year-olds running around South Florida who have never been able to see their team win a championship, the Marlins don't have a gripping, romantic, literature-inspiring story line.
They don't come with a curse or a jinx or a fire-breathing owner who demands victory and nothing less. But, after spending Thursday celebrating their pennant-clinching victory over the Cubs, the Marlins are going to the World Series, starting Saturday.
"We've kind of been the black sheep," Marlins vice president Dan Jennings, the former Devil Rays scouting director, said Thursday. "Everything has been about the history of the Cubs and the history of the Red Sox and the history of the Yankees. It's been like we stole the invitation to get in."
The truth is far from it.
The Marlins won the National League pennant the old-fashioned way: They earned it by playing hard and working hard.
The transformation from a 79-83 team last season to a champion this season was as much the work of the front office as the front-line players.
"We had to be creative," Jennings said. "You've got to take chances. You can't win if you're afraid to lose."
The Marlins got here because they worked at it, the front office making a string of proactive and reactive moves, managing their limited resources (an on-field payroll of about $42-million) and assets to maximize the results.
General manager Larry Beinfest, Jennings and others saw a team that could be built around strong young pitching that needed to cut down on strikeouts and improve its defense. And they had to fill a small hole in the No. 3 spot in the batting order.
They started with a complicated three-way November deal with Colorado and Atlanta that allowed them to a) acquire speedy centerfielder Juan Pierre and reliever Tim Spooneybarger, b) unload the hefty contracts of Preston Wilson and Charles Johnson and c) create some needed financial and roster flexibility.
The bigger deal came in January when they saw Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez still on the free-agent market, did enough research to be sure he was over his injuries, and convinced ownership to raise the payroll, signing him to a one-year, $10-million contract (of which $7-million was deferred).
"That was the big one," Jennings said.
Team president David Samson predicted they'd win 91. Rodriguez suggested they could go to the playoffs. Not many people believed them. "Not many not in black and teal anyway," Jennings said.
There was more work to do. After a sluggish start, they fired manager Jeff Torborg and, at the suggestion of team travel director Bill Beck, hired grandfatherly Jack McKeon, who took over May 11 and took them from 10 games under on May 22 to the postseason, posting a best-in-baseball 72-42 record along the way.
McKeon made it fun, but he also made it clear to the players they could be doing better.
"There was a lot of talent on this ballclub," McKeon said. "It was just a question of trying to guide it in the right direction. You know, I just had a meeting with the guys when I took over the club and said, "Hey, there's enough talent in this room that we can win this thing and play in October if everybody wants to do the things I want them to do.' "That was to work a little harder, improve their work habits, play smarter, play unselfish, and just go out and have fun. The biggest thing I saw in the club, they didn't have fun. Winning is fun and fun is winning."
When three of their top starters got hurt, they brought up a kid named Dontrelle Willis from Double A, and all he did was pitched his way to the All-Star Game and rekindle interest in the team throughout South Florida. When Todd Hollandsworth wasn't producing, they brought up 20-year-old Miguel Cabrera, and all he did was spark the offense starting with the 11th-inning walkoff homer to beat the Rays in his first game.
When the bullpen needed help after an injury to Spooneybarger, they went out and got Ugueth Urbina, who has since supplanted Braden Looper as their closer. When All-Star Mike Lowell broke bones in his hand Aug. 30, they made a postseason roster deadline deal to bring back Mr. Marlin, Jeff Conine. Even small-deal acquisitions such as Chad Fox and Lenny Harris have been big helps.
"They worked," Jennings said. "It's a great feeling to be the top one standing in the National League."
Even better because no one expected them to be there.
