1998 Florida Marlins season

1998 Florida Marlins
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1993)
Eastern Division (since 1993)
Location
Pro Player Stadium (since 1993)
Miami Gardens, Florida (since 1993)
Results
Record	54–108 (.333)
Divisional place	5th
Other information
Owner(s)	Wayne Huizenga
General manager(s)	Dave Dombrowski
Manager(s)	Jim Leyland
Local television	Sports Channel Florida WBFS-TV (Joe Angel, Dave O'Brien, Tommy Hutton, Jay Randolph)
Local radio	WQAM (Joe Angel, Dave O'Brien, Jon Sciambi) WQBA (Spanish) (Felo Ramírez, Manolo Alvarez)
< Previous season     Next season  >

The 1998 Florida Marlins season started off with the team trying to repeat as World Series Champions, having won the title in 1997. Their manager was Jim Leyland. They played home games at Pro Player Stadium. They finished with a record of 54–108, dead last in the NL East. The team is notable for having arguably the biggest fire sale in sports history, auctioning off nearly all of their most notable players. The 1998 Marlins were the first defending World Series champions to finish last in their division.

Offseason

• November 18, 1997: Devon White was traded by the Florida Marlins to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Jesus Martinez (minors).^[1]
• December 15, 1997: Scott Podsednik was drafted by the Texas Rangers from the Florida Marlins in the 1997 rule 5 draft.^[2]
• December 15, 1997: Derrek Lee was traded by the San Diego Padres with Steve Hoff (minors) and Rafael Medina to the Florida Marlins for Kevin Brown.^[3]
• December 21, 1997: Kevin Millar was signed as a Free Agent with the Florida Marlins.^[4]

Regular season

• June 22, 1998 – The first interleague game between the Florida Marlins and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays took place at Tropicana Field. The rivalry would be known as the Citrus Series. The Marlins won the game in twelve innings by a score of 3-2.^[5]

Season standings

NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Atlanta Braves	106	56	0.654	—	56–25	50–31
New York Mets	88	74	0.543	18	47–34	41–40
Philadelphia Phillies	75	87	0.463	31	40–41	35–46
Montreal Expos	65	97	0.401	41	39–42	26–55
Florida Marlins	54	108	0.333	52	31–50	23–58

Record vs. opponents

1998 National League Records Sources:
Team	ARI	ATL	CHC	CIN	COL	FLA	HOU	LAD	MIL	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL	AL
Arizona	—	1–8	5–7	4–5	6–6	6–2	4–5	4–8	6–3	2–7	4–5	2–7	6–3	3–9	5–7	2–7	5–8
Atlanta	8–1	—	3–6	7–2	5–3	7–5	4–5	8–1	7–2	6–6	9–3	8–4	7–2	5–4	7–2	6–3	9–7
Chicago	7–5	6–3	—	6–5	7–2	7–2	4–7	4–5	6–6	7–2	4–5	3–6	8–3	5–4	7–3	4–7	5–8
Cincinnati	5–4	2–7	5–6	—	4–5	9–0	3–8	5–4	6–5	8–1	3–6	4–5	5–7	1–11	2–7	8–3	7-6
Colorado	6–6	3–5	2–7	5–4	—	6–3	6–5	6–6	4–7	7–2	3–6	5–4	5–4	5–7	7–5	3–6	4–8
Florida	2–6	5–7	2–7	0–9	3–6	—	3–6	4–5	0–9	5–7	5–7	6–6	3–6	4–5	0–9	4–5	8–8
Houston	5–4	5–4	7–4	8–3	5–6	6-3	—	3–6	9–2	7–2	5–4	7–2	9–2	5–4	6–3	5–7	10–4
Los Angeles	8–4	1–8	5–4	4–5	6–6	5–4	6–3	—	5–4	5–4	3–5	5–4	7–5	5–7	6–6	4–5	8–5
Milwaukee	3–6	2–7	6–6	5–6	7–4	9–0	2–9	4–5	—	6–3	1–8	4–5	6–5	3–6	5–4	3–8	8–6
Montreal	7–2	6–6	2–7	1–8	2–7	7–5	2–7	4–5	3–6	—	8–4	5–7	2–7	4–4	3–6	3–6	6–10
New York	5–4	3–9	5–4	6–3	6–3	7–5	4–5	5–3	8–1	4–8	—	8–4	4–5	4–5	4–5	6–3	9–7
Philadelphia	7-2	4–8	6–3	5–4	4–5	6–6	2–7	4–5	5–4	7–5	4–8	—	8–1	1–8	2–6	3–6	7–9
Pittsburgh	3–6	2–7	3–8	7–5	4–5	6–3	2–9	5–7	5–6	7–2	5–4	1–8	—	5–4	2–7	6–5	6–7
San Diego	9–3	4–5	4–5	11–1	7–5	5–4	4–5	7–5	6–3	4–4	5–4	8–1	4–5	—	8–4	6–3	6–7
San Francisco	7–5	2–7	3–7	7–2	5–7	9–0	3–6	6–6	4–5	6–3	5–4	6–2	7–2	4–8	—	7–5	8–5
St. Louis	7–2	3–6	7–4	3–8	6–3	5-4	7–5	5–4	8–3	6–3	3–6	6–3	5–6	3–6	5–7	—	4–9

Notable transactions

• April 15, 1998: Jacob Brumfield was signed as a Free Agent with the Florida Marlins.^[6]

The Mike Piazza trades

• May 14, 1998: Mike Piazza was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with Todd Zeile to the Florida Marlins for Manuel Barrios, Bobby Bonilla, Jim Eisenreich, Charles Johnson, and Gary Sheffield.^[7]
• May 22, 1998: Mike Piazza was traded by the Florida Marlins to the New York Mets for Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall, and Geoff Goetz (minors).

Roster

1998 Florida Marlins
Roster
Pitchers 57 Antonio Alfonseca 48 Manuel Barrios 20,40 Vic Darensbourg 50 Ryan Dempster 20 Brian Edmondson 54 Joe Fontenot 46,60 Gabe González 40 Chris Hammond 41 Oscar Henríquez 49 Félix Heredia 61 Liván Hernández 36 Andy Larkin 43 Eric Ludwick 33 Matt Mantei 34 Brian Meadows 47 Rafael Medina 24 Kirt Ojala 44 Donn Pall 39 Jay Powell 21 Jesus Sánchez 51 Justin Speier 38 Rob Stanifer		Catchers 23 Charles Johnson  4 Randy Knorr 31 Mike Piazza 52 Mike Redmond  9 Gregg Zaun Infielders 13,58 Dave Berg 25 Bobby Bonilla  2 Josh Booty  1 Luis Castillo 30 Craig Counsell 39 Brian Daubach  8 Jim Eisenreich 22 Álex González  3 Ryan Jackson 27,25 Derrek Lee 18 Kevin Millar 27 Kevin Orie 16 Édgar Rentería 19 John Roskos 25,27 Todd Zeile		Outfielders 28 John Cangelosi 17 Todd Dunwoody 15 Cliff Floyd 4,7 Mark Kotsay 10 Gary Sheffield 14 John Wehner  8 Preston Wilson		Manager 11 Jim Leyland Coaches  6 Lorenzo Bundy (Bench) 45 Rich Donnelly (3rd Base) 31 Rich Dubee (Pitching) 12 Bruce Kimm (Bullpen) 29 Milt May (Hitting) 37 Tommy Sandt (1st Base)

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	SB
C	Gregg Zaun	106	298	19	56	5	29	.188	5
1B	Derrek Lee	141	454	62	106	17	74	.233	5
2B	Craig Counsell	107	335	43	84	4	40	.251	3
3B	Todd Zeile	66	234	37	68	6	39	.291	2
SS	Édgar Rentería	133	517	79	146	3	31	.282	41
LF	Cliff Floyd	153	588	85	166	22	90	.282	27
CF	Todd Dunwoody	116	434	53	109	5	28	.251	5
RF	Mark Kotsay	154	578	72	161	11	68	.279	10

^[8]

Other batters

Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	SB
Dave Berg	81	182	18	57	2	21	.313	3
Bobby Bonilla	28	97	11	27	4	15	.278	0
Josh Booty	7	19	0	3	0	3	.158	0
John Cangelosi	104	171	19	43	1	10	.251	2
Luis Castillo	44	153	21	31	1	10	.203	3
Brian Daubach	10	15	0	3	0	3	.200	0
Jim Eisenreich	30	64	9	16	1	7	.250	2
González, ÁlexÁlex González	25	86	11	13	3	7	.151	0
Ryan Jackson	111	260	26	65	5	31	.250	1
Johnson, CharlesCharles Johnson	31	113	13	25	7	23	.221	0
Randy Knorr	15	49	4	10	2	11	.204	0
Kevin Orie	48	175	23	46	6	17	.263	1
Mike Piazza	5	18	1	5	0	5	.278	0
Mike Redmond	37	118	10	39	2	12	.331	0
Gary Sheffield	40	136	21	37	6	28	.272	4
John Wehner	53	88	10	20	0	5	.227	1
Preston Wilson	14	31	4	2	1	1	.065	0

^[8]

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO	BB

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO	BB

Relief pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO	BB

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Charlotte Knights	International League	Fredi González
AA	Portland Sea Dogs	Eastern League	Lynn Jones
A	Brevard County Manatees	Florida State League	Rick Renteria
A	Kane County Cougars	Midwest League	Juan Bustabad
A-Short Season	Utica Blue Sox	New York–Penn League	Ken Joyce
Rookie	GCL Marlins	Gulf Coast League	Jon Deeble

^[9]

References

1. Devon White Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
2. Scott Podsednik Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
3. http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/leede02.shtml
4. http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/millake01.shtml
5. http://baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=199806220TBA
6. Jacob Brumfield Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
7. Bobby Bonilla Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
8. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/FLA/1998.shtml
9. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

• 1998 Marlins
• 1998 Florida Marlins at Baseball Almanac