© ALLEN EYESTONE/palmbeachpost.com/The Palm Beach Post, Fla./TNS Miami Marlins owner Bruce Sherman answers questions from the media before first full workout of spring training at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter on Feb. 17, 2019. [ALLEN EYESTONE/palmbeachpost.com]

JUPITER – Don Mattingly now has the toughest job in baseball.

The pressure on the Miami Marlins' manager just reached unrealistic expectations, even without the franchise planning to stick a camera in center field and bang on a barrel in the dugout.

"We expect substantial improvement on the field," majority owner Bruce Sherman said. "We have tremendous athletes. We acquired significant free agents this year.

"We're going to put a championship-type quality team on the field."

Said president of baseball operations Michael Hill: "There's a ton of talent in this camp. A ton of talent that's going to be running around on the field. A ton of talent that's going to take the mound every day.

"There's no limitations when you have that kind of talent what the future may hold."

That a pretty high bar for a franchise that lost 105 games a year ago, has gone 16 seasons since it last postseason appearance and whose most significant offseason acquisitions were Corey Dickerson (who played in 78 game with two teams in 2019) and Jonathan Villar (who was going to be designated for release by the Orioles).

Give Sherman and Hill, and even Mattingly — who has repeated its time for Miami to "make measurable strides" — credit for attempting to inject some hope into an embattled fan base (CEO Derek Jeter, who was not available Monday, likely is on board with the same message). But nobody's fans will roll their eyes more than this one when they hear things like:

"All we want to build is a very sustainable championship team that competes at the highest level. We know it's been tough. We know it's been difficult. We know we have to earn the fans' support. We will do whatever's necessary to win," from Sherman.

Or

"The thing that you can say when you look in that clubhouse is there's a lot more talent and there's a lot more upper-level talent, there's a lot more veteran talent. You can look at a deeper pitching staff, a better bullpen, a deeper lineup. When you start to put all those pieces together the expectation to win more games come with that," from Hill.

Marlins majority owner Bruce Sherman: 'We're going to put a championship-type quality team on the field'Marlins president of bb ops Michael Hill: 'There's a ton of talent in this camp.'Prayers to Don Mattingly

— Tom D'Angelo (@tomdangelo44) February 17, 2020 Those promises have been made before only to result in one disappointment after another.

Mattingly, though, is playing along. He really has no other choice. But the manager, in his fifth year in Miami, also attempted to pump the brakes just a little.

"You got to have 'X' talent to win and I think we got to get to 'X,'" he said.

Mattingly added that he will not hide from the responsibility of the team showing improvement on the field.

The central theme of Mattingly's message Monday before the team's first full-squad workout on the backfields of Roger Dean Stadium: "It's time for us to move forward."

>>RELATED: Astros owner Jim Crane: 'I don't think I should be held accountable' for sign-stealing scandal

The Sherman-Jeter regime is in its third year. All the moves that had to be made early on were with the shedding of bad contracts and unhappy players, and the restocking the farm system.

Now, those young players who were either drafted or acquired for the likes of Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich are on the clock.

And Sherman and Hill are setting the bar high.

"You have talented young players who are continuing to get better and that's how we get better, that's how we win more games and that's how we make it to October and that's ultimately how we are going to win championships," Hill said.

And if they do, it will then be up to Sherman to do something that has never been done in the history of this franchise: Spend money wisely to retain any young talent that has been developed.

"We will try to sign all the players on this team to contracts when it's appropriate and we will continue to do that," Sherman said. "The unpopular trades that the media made as unpopular, you're going to see why those trades are going to work out.

"Yes, we haven't signed big free agents. But we will spend that money at the free agent deadline to have a sustainable winning culture."

Sherman then took a subtle swipe at previous ownership:

"I don't want to have ups and down, ups and downs, that's a silly way to run a baseball club."

The only way Marlins fans know.

tom_dangelo@pbpost.com

@tomdangelo44

———

©2020 The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Fla.)

Visit The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Fla.) at www.palmbeachpost.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.