Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter hears all the criticism that surrounds the franchise and him personally, just as he did as a player.
It’s been a brutal offseason for Jeter and his ownership group, led by partner Bruce Sherman, since they were approved in late September. A fire sale of the club’s major league roster, led by National League Most Valuable Player Giancarlo Stanton, has been joined by the unpopular dismissal of several team staffers and ambassadors, and the public release of internal financial projections forecasting hefty team profits, even amid the organizational rebuild.
The net result, at least thus far, has been a sizable hit to Jeter’s long-stellar image as some other MLB team executives privately wonder what exactly the Marlins’ plan is and whether it can work. The Marlins also had the third-worst attendance in baseball last year, and a plummet to the bottom in 2018 remains possible.
But as he did when he was the New York Yankees’ shortstop, Jeter said he is dismissing much of the noise around him, and said he remains firmly entrenched in a long-term plan to rebuild the team around homegrown prospects.
“We have a plan, and we’re going to stick to it. There are many ways to improve an organization.”AP Images
“I understand the frustrations. The fans have been through quite a lot,” Jeter said. “But the ultimate goal is for us to be sustainable over time. … Criticism comes with it, I guess. I’ve said from day one, our opening press conference, that there were going to be some unpopular decisions. We’ve been very open and honest about what could be expected.”
Jeter acknowledged that many of the initial, bullish financial projections from his Project Wolverine were from prior to his group getting control of the franchise, are now out of date and have since been updated. But his optimism and belief in South Florida as a baseball market remain intact.
“The model has changed over time … but the bottom line is we believe in the market. And we believe we’re going to be able to turn this around. I think having optimistic projections, whatever people think of it, is a positive. Being overly optimistic, that’s always been my nature. I’d much rather be optimistic.”
The Marlins’ retrenching being led by Jeter also comes amid larger movements taking place within all of baseball this winter. Among them are a historically slow offseason player market, and an increasing number of clubs looking to replicate the teardown-and-rebuild model centered on player development that has sent the Kansas City Royals, Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros to the last three World Series titles.
Those recent trends have prompted many observers and player agents around baseball, notably Scott Boras, to openly question the will to win of some clubs, the prioritization of profits over wins, and wondering whether deliberate tanking is ruining the sport. But Jeter bristles at those suggestions.
“I’m very competitive, and I want to win,” he said. “This is a situation where we need to fix something that was broken. We have an ownership that is very well capitalized and they’re not focused on near-term cash returns to put in their pockets. We’re investing back into the organization. And there are ways to do that, whether it’s player development, scouting, analytics, which we have to improve. When it’s appropriate, we’ll be investing in [major league] players, the free-agent market.
“As I said, we have a plan, and we’re going to stick to it. There are many ways to improve an organization.”
