MIAMI -- Before the Marlins opened a three-game series with the Pirates at Marlins Park on Friday, CEO Derek Jeter gave a brief state of the organization to reporters.
Here are the highlights from the media session:
Will you be going to New York when the Marlins play the Yankees next week at Yankee Stadium?
Jeter: I'm not going. I just want to let everybody know, I'm not going to New York. I went to the Spring Training game when we played New York. But it would be an awkward situation for me to actually go to Yankee Stadium. I'm just being honest with you guys. That's why I'm not going. I knew it was going to be a story, one way or the other. So, I might as well get out in front of it and say, I'm not going. So, I will not be there.
Thoughts on the team?
Jeter: I like the grit, the fight the team has shown. We've tied or had the lead in 10 of the 12 games. We're developing a winning culture. Sometimes it takes a little time. I like how the guys are at least going about their business. No one is happy with the results. But it's a long season and we need to try to get a win tonight.

How is the organization going about being patient with young players who are struggling?
Jeter: It's still early. We've played 12 games. I don't think you ever try to judge a start or judge a player over a 12-game stretch. You at least let it go three or four weeks before you start passing judgment. I like the approach. Guys are battling, playing hard, but we've got to find ways to win more games.
How are you announcing your attendance figures?
Jeter: I've seen that's gotten a lot of attention. Put it this way, one of the qualities of running a first-class organization is honesty. We have been and we will continue to run this organization, we're going to be transparent, we're going to be honest about it. Reporting paid attendance as the number of tickets sold is the way we are going to report it. Our focus will continue to be on increasing the turnstile numbers here at Marlins Park.
After the first homestand, our turnstile numbers were higher this year than they were last year. We're on pace after the second homestand to have our turnstile numbers higher this year than they were last year.
Update on the corporate side?
Jeter: We have 24 corporate partners. We've spent quite a lot of time over the past seven months listening, telling our story, what our plans are as an organization moving forward. We've got a lot of buy-in from our corporate partners, a lot of season ticket holders.
People vent their frustrations, that's what fans do. But we have people that believe in what we're doing as an organization, the number of new partners that we have is an example.
Some questions have been shortened or paraphrased.