This wouldn’t fly under The Boss.
Unlike the splurging Yankees teams he starred for under George Steinbrenner, Derek Jeter doesn’t seem ready for the Marlins to be big-time spenders.
“We don’t ever sit down and say, ‘Look we’re not going to go over this particular number, because we’ve got people coming off the payroll.’ Our job is to make our team better,” Jeter said Friday, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
“Having said that, especially since the trade deadline, we have guys that are on the brink that are coming, and they’re coming quick,” Jeter said. “So you want to make sure you give them enough time to continue to develop, but you also don’t want to block anyone.”
The rebuilding Marlins were 53-100 (last in the NL) entering Saturday, and rank 27th in the majors with a $75 million payroll, according to the website Spotrac.
It’s gotten so bad that Jeter is begging for fans to come out to the ballpark. Miami ranks last in attendance, averaging about 5,000 fewer fans than the next team (Tampa Bay), according to ESPN.
“We need more fans to come out,” Jeter said. ��I think our ownership has invested in fan experience.
“I’d be lying if we said we don’t need to increase attendance.”
Their season lost, the Marlins surprisingly re-signed manager and former Yankee great Don Mattingly to a two-year extension Friday, according to multiple reports.
The Marlins have the fourth-best farm system in the majors, according to MLB.com, and their strategy appears to be somewhat reminiscent of what the Yankees have done post-Boss Era: Winning with homegrown talent.
But Miami has a long way to go.
They’ve been a mess since Jeter and owner Bruce Sherman took over in 2017, selling off core pieces such as defending NL MVPs Giancarlo Stanton (2017) and Christian Yelich (2018) — in order to clear salary — and failing to make the playoffs in that time.