From where Don Mattingly sat on Monday, it was a short walk to the hotel casino at the Mandalay Bay, where the blinking lights of the slots aroused the get-rich-quick hopes of Midwestern farmers and Southern housewives and anyone else with a quarter to burn.
For Mattingly and the Marlins, though, their chances of hitting the jackpot at these baseball Winter Meetings and turning a last place club into a World Series champion with a trade here or free agent signing there are beyond astronomical.
The Mandalay has the Marlins at 125-1 to win it all in 2019.