Sift through the chaos and the questions from Monday and this is the only idea to hold:
Derek Jeter failed in his four-year run with the Miami Marlins.
He didn’t fail miserably, or even singularly, because he’s just the latest in a line of Marlins leaders to go futiley out the door.
But Jeter didn’t fail as CEO in a small or unspectacular way, either. He arrived as a legendary name and the ordained pick of baseball commissioner Rob Manfred to make the Marlins matter and they’ve sunk into further disrepair in both the baseball and business sides.
The question as Jeter paid himself $5 million to raise the Titanic always was what the actual owner of the team thought of him. Bruce Sherman hasn’t been seen or heard from much, and usually then it was only at Jeter’s side.
Sherman gave his answer Monday.
Jeter’s exit as minority-share owner and franchise celebrity wasn’t officially dubbed a firing or resignation — based on the nimbly-worded statements by Sherman and Jeter.
But a source inside the team said it’s crystal clear Sherman wanted Jeter out. That their marriage had run its course. That Jeter wouldn’t go out like this, a contract unfinished and $5 million left on the table, unless he was pushed.
Here’s the quick answer to why Jeter’s leaving: Fans. There still aren’t many. The Marlins had the lowest attendance in baseball during Jeter’s three relevant seasons (the 2020 season had no attendance due to COVID-19).
Is that Jeter’s fault?
That’s not Monday’s question.
Does Sherman have any answers?
That’s the question. This is a tough job in a tough baseball market and moving on from Jeter only works if Sherman can do something Jeffrey Loria, John Henry and H. Wayne Huizenga couldn’t in making the sport viable in South Florida.
He’s never been front-and-center in this franchise. Now he’s front-and-center to the point the future of baseball in South Florida might come down to his decisions.
It’s almost irrelevant the owners and players are squabbling in a manner that suggests Opening Day will be delayed. That’s because this news is met with a yawn by most sports fans and the question of what the Dolphins will do in free agency.
That’s where baseball is in half its major-league markets. Again: Is that Jeter’s fault? That he can’t build a team in a sport that can’t build itself, either?
“The vision for the future of the franchise is different than the one I signed up to lead. Now is the right time for me to step aside as a new season begins,” Jeter said.
Jeter dumped the few good players when he arrived, rebuilt the minor-league system and developed a good pitching staff with the Marlins. But no one’s kidding themselves. The Marlins look like the worst team in the National League East again.
They’ll never buy their way to the top, too. A new local television and stadium deal pump some much-needed money into the revenue stream. But it’s pennies compared to what some big teams can do like Jeter’s New York Yankees.
Jeter always was an odd fit for the Marlins — a big name from a big franchise who answered any questions in New York by playing shortstop to a Hall-of-Fame level. That didn’t matter in South Florida. It’s as if Dan Marino went to Kansas City’s front office. What he once did had nothing to do with how he looked here.
He was spoiled by the Yankees’ endless love, too. That’s now how it is most places and certainly isn’t in this market. The Marlins had one marketable figure during Jeter’s time and Jeter never wanted to be front-and-center in that manner.
He arrived an outsider. He leaves as one, too. Again, that’s a Manfred issue, because the New York commissioner wanted a New York legend and Palm Beach businessman to own the team instead of a respected local name in Jorge Mas.
Jeter goes out the door as the Marlins’ latest failure.
The issue now is if Sherman can do any better.
