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Disappointing Marlins revert to their cost-cutting ways at trade deadline

Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria (AP)
Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria (AP)

You know the old adage: When the going gets tough, the Marlins start shredding. Money, that is.

The Miami Marlins, the team that many around baseball were hoping wouldn't disappoint us again this season, confirmed Wednesday their status as disappointments.

They've reportedly traded Mat Latos and Michael Morse to the Los Angeles Dodgers, getting a still unnamed prospect in return and also sending L.A. one of its competitive balance draft picks.

UPDATE: Not so fast. The trade might be falling apart due to player medicals.

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Selling isn't wrong when you're the Marlins — a team that had playoff expectations, but is 42-58 at the moment and without face-of-the-franchise slugger Giancarlo Stanton. All-Star Dee Gordon just returned from a stint on the DL. Selling can be savvy this time of year. But everybody just had higher hopes for the Marlins this season.

Let's recall that they signed Stanton to that monster contract and promised to build an All-Star team around him. The Marlins didn't win the offseason, but they did enough to have fans thinking about the postseason, with the additions of Latos, Morse, Gordon and the return of ace Jose Fernandez. The team fizzled early. The front office placed the blame on manager Mike Redmond and fired him. In a puzzling move, they made GM Dan Jennings the field manager, because nothing ever goes as it should in owner Jeffrey Loria's house.

You can't entirely blame the Marlins for giving up on 2015. Latos is a free agent to be, so get what you can for him. Morse, who has been underwhelming, is owed the rest of his $7 million for this season and $8 million next season. So get rid of the bad contract, fine. The thorn that sticks out the most, though, is the draft pick.

It's a good bet that the deep-pocketed Dodgers are getting the draft pick for paying Morse's contract, so this tells us all we need to know about the Marlins' front office: They'd rather save money right now than set the team up for the future. It's a competitive balance draft pick, the ones given to teams in smaller markets or with smaller revenues. Those occur between the first and second rounds of the draft, so a team will probably get a good player if they're smart.

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But these Marlins, their instinct is to save money before being smart about fielding a baseball team. This is the Marlins' way, always has been. It was the same story when owner Jeffrey Loria dismantled a World Series winner and when he destroyed a team of high-profile acquisitions after a disappointing start. Now, they're trading a draft pick intended to help them compete with the big boys — to the big boys — to save some money. Brilliant!

We know this story by now. The Marlins give their fans just enough to inspire hope. Then they turn into a flea market when it best suits their needs.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!