After an underwhelming season, the Miami Marlins traded all the stars they acquired just one offseason ago. Â The Marlins were moving into a new ballpark and wanted the baseball world to take them seriously again. Â The franchise had not been competitive in almost a decade, when in 2003 they won the World Series. Â Owner Jeffrey Loria decided the best way to get noticed was to spend a whole lot of money on every top free agent in the winter including batting champion Jose Reyes, pitcher Mark Buerhle, and closer Heath Bell. Â Bell had a horrible season and was traded to Arizona at the end of the zone. Midseason, the Marlins started to unravel and traded away Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, and Omar Infante. Â However, the shocking trade was the one that sent Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, and pitching ace Josh Johnson. Â In return, the Blue Jays sent troubled shortstop Yunel Escobar, Adeiny Hechavarria, Henderson Alvarez, and other prospects. Â However, at the Winter Meetings Escobar was traded to cross town rivals Tampa Bay Rays. Â It doesn’t sound like the Marlins will even have a full team for the 2013 season.
