Derek Jeter is preparing for the “active” off-season to try and make the Miami Marlins a winner

MIAMI – Derek Jeter put the finishing touches to his baseball Hall of Fame speech when the plane landed to take him to the dedication ceremony in Cooperstown, New York.

It should be done much earlier. Sometimes it takes longer than expected.

That’s a lesson Jeter is still learning as CEO of the Miami Marlins, his job for four years. The Marlins are not winning nearly as fast as Jeter wants, and he said on Saturday that this off-season he will be personally busy helping the team get better through free agency or trades.

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“I expect this off-season will be active for us, be it talking to free agents or exploring other steps,” Jeter said. “But for the first time, really since we’ve been here as an owner group, I expect to be quite active – or should say, to have active conversations. There are two sides. “

But even Jeter isn’t sure what that means. The Marlins’ revenue streams have improved over the past year with a new local television deal and a naming rights agreement for the team’s ballpark, but Jeter did not reveal whether Miami, which has been at the bottom of the MLB payroll for years, plans to to spend more in 2022.

“We’ll see,” said Jeter. “Conversations.”

The conversion under Jeter was neither quick nor easy.

Miami made the playoffs last season – when the teams only played 60 games because of the coronavirus pandemic – to end a 17-year post-season drought. The Marlins’ Don Mattingly was the overwhelming choice for the National League Best Manager in response to this playoff run, and Miami went into this season with optimism.

The Marlins will finish this season with about 30 games under .500, and in Jeter’s four seasons – even with the playoff spot last year – Miami has the worst record in the National League. On Saturday, Miami’s record was the third worst in the majors since the start of the 2018 season, half a game behind Kansas City and just ahead of Detroit and Baltimore.

“Nobody is happy. Nobody should be happy,” said Jeter. “Especially the players who got a taste of the postseason after what they did last year. I think the expectations were a bit higher this year. Every time you go through a season like this, you have to sit “down, you need to evaluate, re-evaluate and see how we get better in the off-season for next year.”

Jeter is in daily contact with key people in the organization, such as Marlin’s general manager Kim Ng. He’s not on the team every day, but the half hour he spent on Saturday watching the batting practice showed that being in the Hall of Famer is a big deal, even for baseball folks.

He took his place in the back of the cage behind the plate and had half a dozen or more brief conversations with Marlins players, staff, and even some members of the Philadelphia Phillies organization who came over to say hello.

“Obviously these guys know who Derek is,” Mattingly said. “Pretty much everyone you would ever speak to has a respect for what they have achieved and what they stand for and how they approached it.”

Jeter entered the Hall of Fame earlier this year after originally slated to be anchored in a ceremony in 2020 that was eventually delayed by the pandemic. It was one vote less than a unanimous reverb selection; his longtime New York Yankees teammate Mariano Rivera remains the only player to appear on 100% of the ballot papers.

“Nobody is happy. Nobody should be happy. Especially the players who achieved what they achieved last year got a taste of the postseason. I think the expectations were a little higher this year.”

Derek Jeter, about the Marlins’ 2021 season that has left a playoff berth

Jeter spent his entire 20-year MLB career with the Yankees, with the shortstop being part of five World Series titles. He was a 14-time All-Star and 1996 American League Rookie of the Year, and his 3,465 hits rank sixth on the baseball all-time list, behind only Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial and Tris Speaker .

When the match days were over, the desire to lead a team was clear. Jeter was part of the group that received the right to buy the Marlins in August 2017, a $ 1.2 billion deal that became official about two months later. Jeter had a 4% stake in the purchase, came on board as CEO and oversaw baseball operations.

There are good signs: the pitching staff is a clear strength, the farm system is strong, and Jeter believes the young core in Miami will grow into a winner. It’s just not enough.

“I didn’t come in with any expectations,” said Jeter. “We knew what we wanted to do. We knew there were steps to improve. These steps take time. Unfortunately, they take time.”

Just like the speech. That turned out to be the winner, and Jeter still believes the Marlins will be too.

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