The Florida Marlins are often a PR nightmare, but it is rare for their front office to make a blunder as big as the demotion of OF Logan Morrison for allegedly missing a photo session with season ticket holders on Saturday.
The team maintains that Morrison was sent to Triple-A New Orleans for his recent struggles at the plate, but according to the Palm Beach Post, Morrison's demotion was the result of some immature behavior on his part.
The straw that broke the camel's back came when Morrison skipped a Saturday afternoon photo session with season ticket holders, allegedly because he was upset that the team did not do enough to help him promote his charity bowling event, which was canceled due to lack of advanced sales.
That wouldn't be the first time he ran afoul of management for off-field reasons. In June the team reprimanded him for his criticism following the firing of hitting coach John Mallee.
Team president David Samson also publicly worried that Morrison's social media habits could end up hurting his reputation if he is not careful.
And Morrison has been at odds with teammate Hanley Ramirez for most of the season, publicly calling out the shortstop last week.
However, when asked about the reason for his demotion, Morrison said, "I asked for an explanation and the one I got was I was hitting .240."
But if the Marlins think their fans will accept their story, that Morrison was demoted for baseball reasons and not for some bad behavior and occasional social media outbursts, they are more delusional than we already thought.
Marlins fans have made one thing clear in the past decade: they do not trust owner Jeffrey Loria and his crew to tell the truth. And they have plenty of reasons to feel that way.
The team is acting like they can give any explanation they want for sending LoMo, a fan favorite, to Triple-A, and everyone will accept it.
Making it all the more confusing is that the fanbase, which has not shied away from criticizing the immaturity of Ramirez, might actually side with the front office if they came out and said LoMo's own immaturity was the reason for his punishment.
Perhaps the team wishes not to air its dirty laundry in public, but in harshly punishing one of their rising stars for a flimsy reason like a hitting slump, it is the team that looks like the party in the wrong, and not Morrison.
As usual, the only member of the Marlins giving what appears to be straight talk is manager Jack McKeon. He told the Miami Herald Sunday, "Too many young guys think they have it made, are darlings of the media, run their mouth. Tend to your business, get better at your craft. The record books are full of one- and two-year phenoms. Don’t believe me? Look it up."
David Hill is a Miami native and cofounder of Marlins Diehards, the only Florida Marlins blog with perspective on the eccentricities of Marlins fandom.
