Announcement

I've begun doing some freelance work for NBCMiami, blogging about the local sports teams. This means I'll be dividing my Marlins energy between here and NBCMiami, I will be posting a lot of click-throughs on Marlins Diehards in the coming months. I promise to keep up the usual contributions (and Ted is still here, so it's not like we don't have a capable crew onboard), and besides, my assignments for NBC are with a different audience in mind than you guys, the good-looking, witty, savvy Marlins fans (the ones constantly having to prove your existence: the dyed-in-the-wool/polyester blend Marlins fans). I think we've got our own thing here that can't be duplicated elsewhere, and we'll keep that going.

But sometimes, I'll pull a Tyler Cowen and link to something I've written elsewhere, but you'll get the bonus commentary. Because I like you guys. Here's the first one...

The Marlins held their annual media luncheon yesterday, expressing their usual preseason confidence:

With pitchers and catchers set to report to Spring Training on Friday, the Florida Marlins are busy reminding South Florida of their existence. The team held its annual media luncheon in Miami on Monday, where team owner Jeffrey Loria pronounced with his usual confidence, "I'll match my guys up with anybody."

Hopefully for Marlins fans, this year's team will live up to his high hopes.

I'm pretty sure we're all used to this by now. Loria always thinks his team can contend, it's how he's justified low player payrolls. "I don't need to spend more on player salaries, we have a perfectly good team as is." Last year's team was just perfectly mediocre, finishing 80-82 with a Pythagorean record (based off run differential) of 81-81. That team couldn't be any more middle of the road, and Loria thought it could make the playoffs a year ago.

The worst part? It was plausible at the time, just as it is now. But that doesn't make it any more likely.