6) Avoid big free agent signings.

Big free agent signings are, almost always, a bad move. Lets look at the recent history of big free agent signings. Since 2006, there has only been one free agent signing that has lived up to the money that was given to him, his name is OF Matt Holliday. In 2009, Matt Holliday signed the highest free agent contract with the St. Louis Cardinals for $120 million, which happens to be lower than any of the other highest signings from any other between 2006 and 2012. His slash line since signing that contract (2010-2013) has been an impressive .303/.387/.514 with an 8^th best (16.5) WAR in that span.  On the other hand, since 2007 (when Alfonso Soriano signed his 8 year, $136 million contract) Alfonso Soriano has only been able to compile a 17.9 WAR. Considering that Soriano had three years of baseball ahead of Holliday, it is rather an unimpressive WAR for such a big contract. But, it doesn’t just stop here. Alex Rodriguez signed a contract for 10 years and $275 million in 2007, which was after his 2007 MVP season. In that span (2008-2013), Rodriguez WAR is a 29^th best 19.8. For someone to be making nearly $30 million/ year and to be producing a slash line of .282/.370/.503, it is just embarrassing. Not to say Rodriguez was the worst player in the league, but when you make that much money a year, you might as well wear a paper bag over your head.

The best way to help a team improve is by making key moves by trade or in-house extensions, as opposed to big spending free agent signing. For example, in 2012 Brian Sabean traded for SS Marco Scutaro and OF Hunter Pence in order to add more depth to a team that just needed a few more pieces to become a World Series contending team.

 

7) Have separation between the Front Office and Coaching Staff when it comes to the team on the field.

In my opinion, the Front Office should be responsible for finding players to be put on the field and the Coaching Staff should determine where these players should play on the field. The point of hiring a coaching staff is for them to be involved with the day-to-day operations of the team. They know the team better than anyone else and they know the players inside and out.

 

8) Attempt to trade Ricky Nolasco before offseason.

Not to say that Ricky Nolasco is a bad pitcher and that he wouldn’t be able help this team if he stayed, but he would help the team much more (potentially) if he were traded away.  The free agency market has grown, in terms of salary money issued, every year over the past five years or so. A pitcher like Nolasco hasn’t necessarily been the best pitcher in the league, but could possibly demand a fairly decent contract when hitting the open market. Some teams are so desperate for pitching that they will ignore the fact that his ERA over the past five years is a 4.66 (especially in the National League). Teams will look more at his low walk ratio and think that he is a much better pitcher than he seems to be. Nolasco has not been injured much in that span and can be seen as a reliable 4^th or 5^th starter for a team making a playoff push. This would be the best-case scenario for the Marlins, because a team would be willing to give up a younger prospect or older veteran for a not-so-consistent Nolasco. Let’s look at what could be called a lop-sided trade in history; Scott Kazmir was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2004. In that trade, the Mets received Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato. Needless to say, Kazmir would end pitching four great seasons for the Tampa Bay Rays and was at the forefront of their World Series run in 2008. While, Zambrano would only end up pitching one full season for the Mets and Fortunato would only pitch a total of 17 games for them in relief.

The moral of the story is that pitching always has value in the league, and trading Nolasco can help bring a great player to the Marlins for a lower cost.

 

9) Strengthen the bullpen.

This does not necessarily mean bringing in a shut down closer, but it means having a bullpen that has depth and strength to help keep teams in the ballgame or hold a lead. The bullpen is often one of the most undermined parts of a team. That is because there is never a lot of media attention that is given to the bullpen. The only players on the team, from the bullpen, that are known are the closer and, maybe, the set-up man. Dating back to 2007, there has been a positive correlation between the ERA and WAR of a bullpen and the number of wins a team has in a season. Since 2007, the Red Sox, Phillies, and Giants have all ranked in the top ten in both bullpen WAR and ERA for the season and have gone on to win the World Series. The Yankees and Giants (2012 World Series) have ranked in the top ten in either one of the two categories; while, the Cardinals had, surprisingly, never ranked in either of those two categories in their 2011 World Series run.  Let’s go a little more in depth. Since 2007, at least four teams per year ranked in the top ten in bullpen WAR and made the playoffs. In that same time period, at least six teams per year ranked in the top ten in bullpen WAR and were competing for a playoff spot.

The point is that the bullpen is a very important part of the team. Right now the best relievers on the Miami Marlins team are Mike Dunn and Ryan Webb. Steve Cishek has struggled somewhat this year but is still a great young reliever. Over the next few years, it would be one of my top priorities to bring in older experienced arms to help out the younger rotation over the course of the season. As far as the closer role, it would be determined based on the best pitcher out of the bullpen. It is often rare to have a closer who is dominant for many years, so there would be no set closer from year to year on the team. But if our team were to find such a closer (like Mariano Rivera, Jim Johnson, or Johnathan Papelbon), we would be very lucky.

10) Pray and have a little bit of luck.

Let’s make it simple, winning a championship is not as simple as putting the best team out on the field. It is a combination of great talent, shifting momentum, and a little bit of luck. It’s also not as simple as winning a division title, since you can make the playoffs as a wild card and still have as much of a chance of winning as anyone else. The Marlins playoff history reinforces this idea, since they have only made the playoffs twice as a wild card team and have won two World Series in those runs. But, this doesn’t make being a wildcard team desirable. Every team should aim to win their division as it provides some type of home field advantage (depending on your overall seed) for the first two rounds of the playoffs. Home field advantage means more games with your home crowd, which helps factor in momentum and excitement.

As the owner of the team, I can only pray that I have the best team on the field for 162 games or more, and I can hope that luck and momentum is on my side when comes to gaining a World Series title.

 

*all statistics were found using fangraphs.com and baseballreference.com*