After 4 years, Jeter still believes Marlins can be a winner

MIAMI (AP) — Derek Jeter put the finishing touches on his Hall of Fame speech as the plane that carried him to the enshrinement ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, was landing.

It was supposed to be done much earlier. Sometimes, things take longer than anticipated.

That’s a lesson Jeter is still learning as CEO of the Miami Marlins, his job for the last four years. The Marlins still aren’t winning at anywhere near the rate Jeter wants, and he said Saturday that he’ll personally be busy this offseason trying to help the team get better through free agency or trades.

“I expect this offseason to be active for us, whether that’s talking with free agents or exploring some other moves,” Jeter said. “But for the first time, really since we’ve been here as an ownership group, I expect to be pretty active — or I should say, have active conversations. There’s two sides to it.”

But even Jeter isn’t sure what that means. The Marlins’ revenue streams have improved over the last year with a new local television deal and a new naming rights agreement for the team’s ballpark, but Jeter didn’t reveal if Miami — which has ranked near the bottom of the MLB payroll lists for years — plans to spend more in 2022.

“We’ll see,” Jeter said. “Conversations.”

The rebuild under Jeter has not gone quickly nor easily.

Miami made the playoffs last season — when teams were playing only 60 games because of the pandemic — to officially end what was a 17-year postseason drought. The Marlins' Don Mattingly was the overwhelming choice as the National League's best manager in response to that playoff run and Miami entered this season with much optimism.

It'll finish this season somewhere around 30 games under .500, and in Jeter’s four seasons — even with...

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