As part of our ongoing series of letters to various athletes and teams, I’ve written an article to the Florida Marlins. The Marlins, who have already won two World Series titles in their short existence, seem to be either great or god awful. It’s time to find the medium ground.

1. Build a new stadium. It’s harder than it sounds, I know. There’s a whole lot of people in South Florida who would rather sip Pina Coladas and play Shuffleboard instead of watching the Marlins play baseball every day. The new stadium is one of the main ways to change that. And besides, Joe Robbie Stadium Pro Player Park Pro Player Stadium Dolphin Stadium is a turquoise dump anyways. Among other reasons such as ad revenue and not having to share with a football team, a baseball only facility is much more attractive to the regular fan who wants to go to a nice atmosphere and watch a game. It doesn’t matter how good the team is; look at Pittsburgh. As long as the stadium is beautiful (which it undoubtedly would be in Miami) and the atmosphere is nice, more people will come to the game.

2. Trade Dontrelle Willis. No, don’t trade him for prospects. People will say “but hey, thats the Florida way!”. No, that’s a good way to build a bad team. Get guys who are proven at the major league level and who can come in and make an immediate impact. That doesn’t mean Joe Randa and it doesn’t mean Kip Wells. Dontrelle has struggled this year but he’s still young and his stock is still pretty high. If the Marlins don’t deal him, they’ll find themselves in the same situation that they will end up in with Miguel Cabrera, a free agent who brings the team nothing in return. That brings me to my next point…

3. Lock up Miguel Cabrera. I don’t care what you have to pay or who you have to whack, get him signed for the rest of his career. Cabrera might just be one of the best baseball players of this generation and he’s only 24. He’s a career .314 hitter and already has 127 career home runs. His weight is something that is becoming a minor issue, but in the whole scheme of things his talent is growing just as fast as the scale is. Just like Dontreezy, if Cabrera isn’t locked up by the time his contract runs out in 2009, he will walk and his annual salary will be more than most South Beach drug king pins.

4. Drop Jeffrey Loria like a bad habit. This one will probably be the toughest to do because he’s the owner but it’s the most important. Loria is the lynch pin to this whole disaster that is the Marlins franchise. Once he’s out and someone else can come in and run this team, the sky’s the limit. Loria was the reason 2006 NL Manager of the Year Joe Girardi was fired and he’s the reason that Florida won’t increase payroll. It’s not like he doesn’t have the cash; Loria just built a new building at Yale for the History of Art department. As an indication of how bad of an owner Loria is, his first move as chief of the Marlins was to fire 60 team employees and replace them with mostly former staff members of the Expos. The freaking Expos.

Well, there you have it Marlins fans. Four somewhat easy steps to reviving a franchise that has all sorts of potential. It took the Red Sox almost 100 years to win one World Series and it only took the Marlins four. With the core nucleus of young talent, it’s time to get it together and starting winning more.