by Sweetbob

Created on: March 15, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

I am just like any normal Marlins fan. I am scared of success.

The Florida Marlins have won two championships in their short tenure as a professional baseball team. After each championship, the owner dismantled the team and lowered payroll, in hopes of selling the team. The Marlins still has the lowest payroll in the majors, but this team is full of blue-chip prospects.

The Florida Marlins won championships in 1997 and 2003. The 1997 team that won the title had players like Gary Sheffield, Darren Daulton, Moises Alou, and Bobby Bonilla. This team was built to win championships and they were successful. The fans of the Marlins were crushed when owner Wayne Huizenga traded away all their talent after the World Series. Marlins fans were hopeless until they realized that the young talent that they got in return was pretty good, but it took another off-season of big acquisitions to make the team elite. They signed or traded for Juan Pierre, Ivan Rodriguez, Dontrelle Willis, and Ugueth Urbina and solidified their roster after signing Jack McKeon as their skipper. They beat the Giants and Cubs in the playoffs and met the Yankees in the World Series. They won the World Series in six games, beating the favored Yankees. The fans were in for another implosion, the Marlins traded away their talent for prospects in efforts to reduce payroll.

Going into the 2006 baseball season, the Marlins had the lowest payroll and filled their lineup with AA and AAA talent. Joe Girardi, the Marlins manager, was a rookie himself. The Marlins overachieved and was one of the biggest surprises of last season. They fought for the Wild Card spot and were in contention until the final week of the season. The Marlins had a successful season, so of course, they fired Joe Girardi. It didn't make sense until the behind-the-scenes stories came out. Girardi and the team owner Jeffrey Loria did not like each other and had their own thoughts of how the team should be managed. Girardi is the only manager to be fired after winning National League Manager of the Year in their first season.

Being a Marlins fan is difficult. You want the best for your team, but you fear the consequences that occur after your success. The Marlins have a young team, it should be a few years until they win another championship and we can start this all over again.

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