Still Waiting For an MVP

In the short history of the Florida Marlins, the team has already accumulated not one, but two World Series victories. The organization has boasted many great players who have come and gone, and a few that are still with the team. What the Marlins cannot boast, however, is an MVP award.

Granted, Livan Hernandez and Josh Beckett have both won the World Series MVP honors, yet no Marlin has taken home the regular season trophy. The list of former players who spent parts of their careers in Florida makes the fact even more surprising. With the likes of Miguel Cabrera, Derrek Lee, Andre Dawson, Gary Sheffield, and Mike Piazza all donning a black and teal jersey at one time in their careers, you would think the Fightin’ Fish would come across the coveted award at least once. That, however, is not the case.

The closest a Marlin has come so far is a second-place finish in 2009 by Hanley Ramirez. And two years ago, it was an accepted fact that Hanley would win one, if not more, for the soon-to-be Miami Marlins. Instead, what we have is a seemingly endless saga of drama, accompanied by dissapointing and sub-par performances. Don’t get me wrong, Hanley is a rare talent, and he may come out of this slump better than ever. I would be happy to have him prove me wrong, but at this point I just can’t see him being the MVP anytime soon.

With Hanley out of the equation, the other obvious candidate for a Marlins MVP is Mike Stanton. The outfielder is currently crushing National League pitching, and doing so at age 21. While he is far from polished, posting a 6.9 fWAR before your 22nd birthday is something special.

Until one of the possibly aforementioned players gets crowned MVP, or even someone else for that matter, Marlins fans will continue to wait.