Jeter: Marlins' young players must improve in 2019

Derek Jeter wants to see the Miami Marlins get better this season.

The club CEO met with the media Monday and told reporters the Marlins will be depending on their young players to take a step forward.

"We need to see improvement," the future Hall of Famer told The Associated Press. "We need to see improvement from some of our younger guys that got an opportunity to play last year.

"That's how you get better. We can sit and talk about minor-league systems all you want, but it gets to a point when you're in Miami that you have to develop and improve year in and year out. That's how you become a great team."

Jeter is entering his second full season with the Marlins organization and is encountering challenges he never faced during his playing days with the consistently competitive New York Yankees.

The Marlins finished 2018 with a 63-98 record - fourth-worst in the majors - and failed to make the playoffs for a 15th straight season.

"Look, I never shied away from the fact that there's a complicated history here with the fan base," Jeter said. "I get it. We weren't here for that. We're taking over an organization that hadn't had much success at all for the last 15, 16 years. So in order to change that, we had to make changes."

Miami traded All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto to the Philadelphia Phillies for Jorge Alfaro and prospects last week. Last offseason, the team sent 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich to the Milwaukee Brewers, slugger Marcell Ozuna to the St. Louis Cardinals, and 2017 NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees.

The team signed free-agent utility man Neil Walker to a one-year contract and inked veterans Curtis Granderson and Pedro Alvarez to minor-league deals so far this winter.