That Damn Tigers Trade

    Back to the future: Another one-run game in San Diego, another loss. Disappointed in JP's lead-off performance, they put Hechavarria (.188) there and he goes 0-3 with a walk.
    Which of course brings me back as a sour fan to that damned 2007 Tigers trade and what might have been.
    Back in October, after Miggy won the first triple crown since 1967, Sportspickle.com quoted Marlins GM Michael Hill as saying that he's still confident the Marlins got the better of the deal. "Miguel Cabrera likely peaked this year. Whereas the guys we got in return have yet to do anything. You could say they're full of potential."
        Oh yeah? Of the six guys the Tigers sent the Marlins, three -- Dallas Trahern, Mike Rabelo and Eulogio De La Cruz – -- got dumped without any compensation.
    Let's look at  the others:
    Andrew Miller – traded to Boston Red Sox in 2010 in return for Dustin Richardson, who was claimed off waivers by the Braves the following year. So zero benefit there.
    Burke Badenhop – traded in 2011 to Tampa Bay for Jake Jefferies, who's now with AAA New Orleans. In six minor league seasons, Jefferies has  batted .250, with 10 stolen bases and 15  homers.
    Cameron Maybin – traded in 2010 to Padres for Edward Mujica and Ryan Webb.  Mujica, who showed considerable promise, was dumped last year to the Cards for Zack Cox, who is now playing third base at AA Jacksonville batting .328 with no homers. Ryan Webb is a run-of-the-mill bullpen guy with Marlins.
        So six years after giving away Cabrera, we have ... Ryan Webb.
        Still, of those still in the minor leagues as spin-offs of the trade, Hill said:  Now, you may say: 'Those guys you got in return suck major ass' or 'I never heard of any of them.' And that's fine. But maybe we'll somehow trade one of those guys for a future Hall of Famer."
        Wanna bet?
        After Tuesday's 5-1 loss to the Padres, the Marlins are now 10-24. The '62 Mets were 12-22 at this point, the 2003 Tigers 7-27.

Bring back the Phillies

    Monday night was back to reality with the Padres, a 5-0 loss, cementing the team's last-place ML stance for runs scored. The crowd was 14,156.
    My guess is most of those San Diego fans paid full price for their tickets. Not here in Miami, where the Marlins are literally giving away tickets to try to win back disgusted fans.
    My buddy OA says: "We are babysitting our grandson tonight and he's raised on Sir Pizza. So with the order, the box came with a kind of post-it coupon that'll give you two tickets to any April-May game, Monday-Thursday, up to baseline reserved, for free. So I kept it. (On the back, it has a little calendar that tells you which games it's good for.) Redeemable at the stadium. And I just saw that with an empty can of Pepsi, you can get almost any seat (even some of the prime ones) for $5."
    Plus on Thursdays old farts like OA and I get in for free. And we still have unused free coupons that we got by purchasing our opening day tickets.
     Last month, I paid $31 apiece for four upper deck outfield seats at Yankees Stadium. With my most recent Marlins visit, I paid $9 and got a much better seat.
    For the season, Marlins are now 10-23. The '62 Mets at this point were 12-21, the 2003 Tigers were 7-26. Thanks to their Phillies cheese steaks, the Marlins are now averaging 2.97 runs a game -- ahead of the worst-ever 2.85 posted by the 1968 White Sox.

What a weekend

    Fernandez and Slowey pick up their first victories, Ozuna is batting .478 in his first six games, and Hechavarria goes 2-4 Sunday with seven RBIs, putting him closer to the Mendoza line with a .190 average.
    Fun games to watch. But, in this season of our discontent, I have to point out that Marlins are still last in ML in runs, and they gained two victories against the declining Phillies.
    If there is anything more pathetic than the Astros (payroll $22 million) and Marlins (payroll $36.3 million), it's the aging Phillies with a payroll of $165 million, behind only the Yankees and Dodgers. The Phillies are paying Cliff Lee $25 million, Howard, Halladay and Hamels $20 million each.
    Halladay was way over-the-hill on Sunday, and the Marlins youngsters had a great day. The Phillies have gotten 14 victories for their $165 million so far, the Marlins 10 for their $36 million. Still, Philadelphia loves its team -- 45,276 showed up on Sunday. The Marlins are hard pressed to get 20,000, even with deeply discounted tickets.
    For the year, the Marlins are now 10-22. The '62 Mets were 12-20 at this point, the 2003 Tigers 7-25.

DIE-az

    Shortly after I wrote yesterday that the Marlins seem to specialize "in picking up free agents for low pay that no one else wants" -- I learned they had called up Matt Diaz, 35, released by the Yankees in spring training.
    Announcers happily say that Diaz has really beaten up Marlins pitchers over the years, but in Philadelphia, he wasn't facing a Marlins pitcher. He steps to the plate last night with the bases loaded and strikes out.
    Diaz -- he pronounces it DIE-az -- may have been picked up just to give Spanish broadcasters something to talk about for the rest of the season.
    After Friday night's lost, the Marlins are 8-22. The 2003 Tigers were 5-25 at this point, the 1962 Mets were 11-19.

FROM THE HALLS OF MARCELL OZUNA

    Phenom Marcell Ozuna had two hits Thursday night against Phillies, and he could be the real deal. Or he could be another Jeremy Hermida, who hit a grand slam in his first ML at bat and has been sliding downhill ever since. 
    Were my bad thoughts about the Marlins farm system wrong? Well, Ozuna was signed by the Marlins as an undrafted free agent in 2008. Sanabia, last night's pitcher, was drafted in the 32nd round in 2006; he's starting to show signs of true mediocrity. The other seven starters on Thursday all came from elsewhere.
    As a small market team, the Marlins need to build from within, but what they seem to specialize in is picking up free agents for low pay that no one else wants -- Dobbs, Solano, Polanco, Juan Pierre (who miraculously walked again Thursday night, making for his third walk of the season).
    Where are the great draft picks that the Marlins boasted about in the past? Like Kyle Skipworth and Matt Dominguez?
    The Marlins are now 8-21. The 1962 Mets were 10-19, the 2003 Tigers were 4-25.
    After Thursday night's two-run outing, the Marlins have now scored 81 runs in 29 games -- 2.79 per game. The record low for a 162-game season comes from the 1968 Chicago White Sox, which scored 2.85 a game.
    The Marlins are also close to the worst-fielding team in baseball this year. Only the Nats have more errors, for what it's worth.

A QUIET MIRACLE

    I witnessed a quiet miracle Wednesday afternoon at Marlins Park. Juan Pierre walked. In the first inning of his 25th game this season, the leadoff hitter drew a walk -- his mere second of the season.
    For the day, he also got two hits, raising his batting average to .222 and his on-base percentage to .260. Maybe he's got some life left yet. Stil, the team batting average from the leadoff spot is a miserable .191, second worst to the Twins' astonishing .173.
    I don't know why I pick on Juan Pierre, since the 2-9 hitters are also pretty bad.
    Still, we cling to slivers of hope. Phenom Ozuma goes 2-4 Wednesday, as does Nick Green, who ups his batting average to .321. Green also makes a couple of nice fielding plays, and my buddy OA says, "He's looking pretty good."
    Then I open the Herald this morning to see that Green will be released on waivers today because Adeiny Hechavarria is coming off the DL. You remember Adeiny, a key piece in the Bluejays give-away, who's batting .184.
    Wednesday was the second game of the season I attended in person. OA and I also went to opening day, buying cheap upper deck seats in which we got four free seats for a later game.  On Wednesday, we bought $9 seats (cheapest available in the home run porch, section 134, far center field), and then plopped ourselves down in about the 10th row of section 26 (lower deck, left field).
    Our favorite food (the Cuban guy whose stand is outside the east side of ball park) wasn't there, figuring the day game wasn't worth his time. He sells sausages for $3 that are twice the size of a Marlins Park $6 hot dog.  So we settled for the pork sandwich in the food court, a pretty good deal at $7.
    The upper deck was closed, and I'd say that 90 percent of those sitting in the lower deck were kids in school groups, admitted for free or vastly reduced prices. The announced crowd was 16,188, and I'd guess that only a couple of thousand of those were paying customers like us.
    The Marlins are now 8-20. The '62 Mets were 9-19 at this point, the 2003 Tigers were 3-25.

WHOA

    I leave town for a few days, and Marlins explode. They were 5-17 when I left. Now they're a roaring 8-19, having won three in a row, thanks to a 15-inning battle and an  ump's blown call at third.
    Still, the '62 Mets, losing-est team in baseball history, went on a streak about this time too, and they were 9-18 at this point. The 2003 Tigers, worst non-expansion team in history, were 3-24.
    The Marlins remain last in batting average, home runs, slugging percentage and runs scored. They are averaging 2.7 runs a game, still putting them on track for worst-ever run production over a 162-game season, the 1968 Chicago White Sox, which scored 2.85 a game.
    Stanton finds his home run swing. Stanton finds DL. But phenom Ozuma comes up and gets a hit. A sprig of hope in a dismal season -- even if the past two victories were against the lowly Mets.