Who Cares?

Today at Big League Stew, 'Duk asks why the Marlins are declining to honor longtime Braves manager Bobby Cox in his final appearance in South Florida before his retirement at the end of the season. The conventional wisdom seems to be that this snub is Jeffrey Loria's revenge for Cox's critical comments on the firing of Fredi Gonzalez. That could very well be true, but I am still left wondering why the Marlins are obligated to honor the retirement of someone else's manager. In other words, if Cox had not made any disparaging comments towards Loria earlier this summer, would the decision not to honor Cox be questioned so skeptically?

As this week's brawl with the Nationals showed us yet again, baseball is full of obscure and tricky unwritten rules that make little sense outside the context of baseball (I don't think we'll be seeing a Bobby Bowden tribute at Florida Field anytime soon). Bobby Cox should be proud of his illustrious tenure with the Braves, to be sure, but I don't think every team in the National League is required to shower him with praise on his way out (even if most chose to do it anyway). I hate to rain on a Loria-hating parade (I really do), but the only crime I see hear is Loria's apparent justification for "snubbing" Cox. He should snub because it's not the Marlins' responsibility to give a formal farewell to Cox, not because Loria is a petty jerk.