Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2003 | 9:43 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.
They're doing it, they're doing it again even after they said they wouldn't.
They promised this wouldn't happen. They swore that they wouldn't make the same mistake they made the last time they were in this position.
But they're following the exact same course. They're repeating history.
They're tearing apart the world champions.
Have you seen what's going on with the Florida Marlins since they won the World Series? And do you remember the aftermath of the Marlins' world championship in 1997?
Both times, to the detriment of the franchise and everything to do with baseball in South Florida, the owner of the Marlins has decided not so much to gut his team as to neglect it or leave it to the ravages of fate.
As opposed to building a perennial contender as the Yankees, Braves and a few others in baseball attempt to do, the Marlins owner -- it was Wayne Huizenga in '97 and it's Jeffrey Loria now -- seems to prefer a more diabolical approach.
Win and rebuild and maybe extend your reign? Nah, the Marlins win and commit Hari Kari.
"If they keep this ballclub together for the next 3, 4 or 5 years, you'll see more than one World Series," catcher and Series MVP Ivan Rodriguez said after the Marlins defeated the Yankees in Game 6 to claim the title.
Yet Rodriguez, the physical and emotional mainstay of the club who was working under a one-year, $10-million contract, was almost first to go as Loria lapsed into the doldrums of his post-Series stupor. He not only denied Rodriguez a raise or even the same salary for 2004, he offered him a contract that was worth $3 million per year less than what Rodriguez had been earning.
Offer the World Series MVP a cut in pay? Only an owner of the Marlins would be so clueless.
"For the sake of the fans, they need to bring back as much of this team as possible," Florida third baseman Mike Lowell said after the Series. "The fans can't take another dismantling."
But that's what they're getting, although Loria did sign Lowell (and second baseman Luis Castillo) to new contracts and is holding out hope that a prominent free agent such as Montreal's Vladimir Guerrero can be obtained during the ongoing winter meetings.
But Rodriguez and closer Ugueth Urbina were invited to walk away as free agents and first baseman Derrek Lee -- who was eligible for arbitration -- was all but given to the Cubs. And over the weekend, the Marlins virtually gave outfielder Juan Encarnacion to the Dodgers (getting only the vague "player to be named later" in return).
Rodriguez, Lee and Encarnacion combined for 271 RBIs last season and their collective loss will be a great one to overcome even for a team with a nice assortment of good, young pitchers.
Of course the Marlins are familiar with this pattern of tanking it after winning a title. In '97, after becoming the first wild-card team to make it to the World Series let alone win it, they had the all-time fire sale, deleting such key players as Moises Alou, Robb Nen, Devon White, Jeff Conine and Kevin Brown as Huizenga not only turned over a new leaf but gave the tree a good shake before razing it to the ground.
Predictably, the Marlins went from champions to chumps the following year, finishing 54-108 in 1998. They won only 64 games the year after that and, in essence, remained a National League also-ran until the emergence of their young pitchers and the addition of manager Jack McKeon rejuvenated the team in May.
A team that had been 16-22 went on to have the best record in the majors the rest of the way, and McKeon -- at 72 years old and with 54 years in baseball behind him -- celebrated along with his players as Florida won its three postseason series to claim the world title.
It was fun to see the Marlins win and fun to see the effervescent Rodriguez in such a key role. For a franchise that needs a new, rainproof stadium, the cards were in place to get one had Loria been smart enough to protect his most important assets.
Instead he has violated the team, removed its soul and destroyed its championship momentum.
If he doesn't do the improbable and land Guerrero in the next few days, he will have sent four regulars packing without getting much of anything in return.
At a time when Florida should still be peaking, it is, instead, piqued today.
And, as was the case when the Marlins were in their post-1997 funk and were targeted for dismemberment by Major League Baseball, it may not be long before they're back among the proletariat, a Saddam Hussein in a hole scrounging for scraps just months after living a palatial high life.
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