Marlins fans protest owner after trading 2-time batting champion amid putrid start to season
After making the postseason last year, the Miami Marlins seem to be rebuilding, again.
The Fish traded back-to-back reigning batting champion Luis Arraez after getting off to a 9-24 start – they are now 11-32.
It's hardly the first time the Marlins have been rebuilding in their brief history (since 1993), but now, it seems like fans have really had enough.
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Protesters demonstrate outside LoanDepot Park before the start of a game between the Marlins and the Philadelphia Phillies, Friday, May 10, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
A group of fans protested against team owner Bruce Sherman and what seemingly is the direction of the franchise.
"We are only a few here but the majority of fans are disgusted," said Luis De Armas, a decades-long Marlins fan and the organizer of Friday's protest. "We want to continue coming to the games, but not when it remains a losing club. All because of an owner who promised us one thing and did something else."
Arraez hit an MLB-leading .354 last season during his first year with the Marlins, helping them to an 84-win season.
In recent years, they traded Giancarlo Stanton (who had just won the NL MVP), Christian Yelich (who then won back-to-back MVPs), Marcell Ozuna, Pablo Lopez (ironically, for Arraez), J.T. Realmuto, and other stars.
Marlins fans demonstrate outside LoanDepot Park before the Philadelphia Phillies game, Friday, May 10, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
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Rafael Benitez, a season ticket holder since Miami's inaugural 1993 season, nodded in agreement Friday as De Armas ripped up Marlins tickets.
"They make all these trades and we still have one of the worst farm systems in the major leagues. The scouting is awful," Benitez said. "You never make trades in early May. That tells you everything."
This year, they got off to the worst start in their 33-year history by going 0-9, becoming the first major league club to ever begin a season with that many losses the year after a playoff appearance.
The Marlins take on the Atlanta Braves at LoanDepot park on April 14, 2024, in Miami. (Brennan Asplen/Getty Images)
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However, it seems to not necessarily matter who the owner is. Before the current owners took over, Marlins fans already had a long history of watching star players depart. It began with the dismantling of the 1997 World Series-winning club the following season. The core of the Marlins’ second world championship team in 2003 also was traded in subsequent years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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