In a move that surprises absolutely no one, the Marlins have
decided to make personnel moves that will save them money at the expense of
winning games. In a reported trade
that has not been finalized yet the Marlins would send Jose Reyes, John Buck,
Mark Buehrle, Emilio Bonifacio and Josh Johnson to the Blue Jays. The Marlins receive a handful of
players back, among them Yunel Escobar and some prospects. However the real treat for Jeffrey Loria,
the kicker that makes his socks roll up and down is the tens of millions of
dollars he cut from payroll. A
year after making a big push to move into their new stadium, the Marlins have
done a complete 180. Or, as it’s
known around the major leagues, they pulled a Loria. Lie to about 100 people’s faces in one year, then turn
around and do the exact opposite of what you promised. It’s not a huge surprise, but it’s
gotta be a record for the earliest that a team has punted on a season. It’s November of 2012, they’ve given up
on 2013, conceivably 2014, and pretty much the rest of the foreseeable future
with this trade.
Remember last year, when the Marlins swore they turned over
a new leaf? They said, “Look at
us! We have this expensive eyesore
of a new stadium, vomit inducing new uniforms and some bright shiny players who
will not at all help us improve as a ballclub but will hopefully sell
tickets. And don’t worry Hispanic
citizens of Miami Dade County, we got a Hispanic manager to come in and take
your mind off the fact that we just screwed you and the rest of the taxpayers
into paying for an expensive new stadium to support a team that will continue
to yank you around, claiming to be too poor to win, while really just pocketing
the revenue sharing money and putting a subpar product on the field!” Maybe they didn’t say all of that, but
it’s clearly what they meant.
After signing Jose Reyes, Heath Bell and Mark Buehrle as free agents,
they said they were ready to contend.
They made ovations towards Albert Pujols. They pointed to all the money they just spent and said they
had changed. But only the most
gullible amongst us believed them.
The contracts to which they signed their new players were back loaded
with cash as a trapdoor for them to cut and run with relatively little owed to
anyone. And that’s what they’ve
done. Here’s a list of the players
that the Marlins have parted ways with since the beginning of last season:
Heath Bell (traded to the Diamondbacks this offseason)
Mark Buehrle (traded to the Blue Jays today)
Josh Johnson (traded to Blue Jays today)
Anibal Sanchez (traded to Tigers last year)
John Buck (traded to Blue Jays today)
Omar Infante (traded to Tigers last year)
Hanley Ramirez (traded to Dodgers last year)
Jose Reyes (traded to Blue Jays today)
Gaby Sanchez (traded to Pirates last year)
Emilio Bonifacio (traded to Blue Jays today)
Randy Choate (traded to Dodgers last year)
Chad Gaudin (became a free agent)
Edward Mujica (traded to Cardinals last year)
Sandy Rosario (claimed off of waivers by the Red Sox last
year)
Carlos Zambrano (became free agent this offseason)
Brett Hayes (claimed off waivers by the Royals last year)
Donnie Murphy (became free agent)
Gil Velazquez (became free agent)
Scott Cousins (claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays and then
the Mariners)
Austin Kearns (became free agent)
Carlos Lee (became free agent)
Adam Greenburg (retired)
So that’s the entire list. Obviously not all of those guys were part of a fire
sale. The ones claimed off waivers
didn’t make the cut in Miami because the Marlins didn’t think they were good
enough. The guys who became free
agents, for the most part, probably weren’t worth re-signing. And Adam Greenburg is a special
case. But between last year and
today the Marlins traded 12 different players to other teams in an effort to
cut salary. And at this point the
only surprising part is that the racket going on in Miami can still surprise
us.
I first heard of the trade from the blog Big League
Stew. Their post can be read here,
but my favorite part was the Twitter quote from Giancarlo Stanton that they posted
which said, “Alright, I’m pissed off!!!
Plain & Simple”. Better
be careful, Giancarlo. The Marlins
don’t do well with players sounding off on Twitter. Just ask Logan Morrison. I would also recommend reading Tim Brown’s column about the
unmitigated gall of Jeffrey Loria here.
And you can check out my previous rants about this club, here and here.
What the Marlins brass is doing is disgraceful. Even after a season where the Marlins
failed to meet expectations, (although a lot of people, me included, didn’t see
them as too improved) the complete destruction of this team is still mind
blowing. They have some talented
young players (Stanton, Morrison).
They had some exciting, All Star Talent (Hanley, Reyes, Johnson) and
enough veterans (Bell, Buehrle) to build around. But by back loading the contracts and refusing no trade
clauses to any of the new players, you have to wonder if this was their out the
entire time. They say Ozzie
Guillen was to blame. He was fired
and they brought in Mike Redmond, a manager at the A-ball level last year. But everyone knows that this team is in
the basement due to the ownership.
Players didn’t want to go to Miami. A few took a chance when they were told things would be
different. Now they are all
gone. As is any hope the Marlins have
of attracting new players now. The
city paid for a $515 million dollar new stadium. It was empty by the halfway point of its inaugural
season. And that likely won’t
change. My only hope is that Bud
Selig and major league baseball become as embarrassed by this spectacle as the
city of Miami should be and steps in a la Frank McCourt. It’s too late to save the
taxpayers. It’s too late to save
this season. But it can’t be
undone. Baseball can be great in
Miami again. There can be 5 major
league teams in the NL East instead of 4 and the shell of the Marlins. The
only impediment is Jeffrey Loria and the sham of a franchise he’s running in
south Florida.
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