In the first game against the Twins Tuesday, the radio announcers mentioned one of the less-remembered bad moves of the Marlins, the dumping of Josh Willingham in 2008. Management's thinking was that Willingham's back was problematic, and the Marlins had a new phenom, Jeremy Hermida, to take his place. That's what the announcers said.
Well, Willingham, now the Twins left fielder, has hit about 30 HR each of the last two years, with 100 RBI. Hermida has basically vanished from the big leagues, with one homer and eight RBI, total, in the past two years.
But wait! We got some players when we traded Willingham and Scott Olsen to the Washington Nats in 2008. What happened to them? We got Jake Smolinski, now 24, a weak-hitting outfielder with no power and career minor league average of .263 who is now in AA; P.J. Dean, a pitcher who apparently has been out of organized ball for several years, and Emilio Bonifacio, dumped in the Blue Jays trade last fall.
After splitting with the Twins on Tuesday, the Marlins are now 5-16. The '62 Mets were 5-16 also at this point, the 2003 Tigers were 2-19.
Champions of the world in 1997 and 2003 -- and now?
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