The Marlins’ fire sale continues. Yesterday they unloaded franchise jewel, Hanley
Ramirez. Ramirez has been
essentially untouchable for the last few seasons as he was one of the only
players on the club to get a long-term deal (before this offseason’s crop of
free agents). Ramirez was actually
paid due to the hand of the MLB Commissioner’s office, which stepped in and
insisted that the Marlins give him a long-term deal for big money. Had that not happened, he likely would
have been out the door years ago as part of another dose of “market
correcting.” With this trade to
the Dodgers, we see that nothing is off limits for this team.
The main reason Hanley was sent off is because the Dodgers
were willing to take on his salary.
And it’s a risk for the Dodgers too. Hanley is one of the most entitled players in the game, and
was handled like a fragile Faberge egg by the Marlins administration. But even they tired of his antics, and
that’s really saying something.
Don Mattingly has done a tremendous job in L.A. of getting heady young
stars (Matt Kemp) to get their act together and act like a team. Hanley could ruin all that good work
fairly easily, especially if he’s not happy (which he often isn’t). However it’s a great trade for the
Dodgers as he can replace Dee Gordon at shortstop until he comes back in a few
weeks, and then become the full time third baseman. The former batting champ has shown great power and speed,
but has struggled the last few years.
His weight and whining are the only aspects of his game that have
climbed while his AVG and OBP have dropped at an alarming rate. It’s hard to know what’s going on in
that mind, but if he can begin to recover his former skills, which were at a
near MVP level, this will be a great deal for the Dodgers as they look to add
offense to back up Kemp and Andre Ethier.
As for the Marlins, it’s no surprise what’s happening
there. The only thing that
surprises me is that they had the gall to begin their fire sale in the same season
that they opened their new stadium.
There was never any doubt that the Marlins wouldn’t change. And despite the promises they made to
the fans, a new stadium wasn’t the cure-all to the way they do business. The way they make money is to run out a
team on a shoestring budget, and use the revenue sharing to pay bills and line
their pockets. Jeff Passan goes
into great detail in this article, which I suggest everyone read. It’s tremendous, and an indictment of
what this administration thinks about baseball.
Miami baseball fans are craving meaningful September
games. But they won’t even see
meaningful August baseball this year.
They’ve unloaded two talented players before they hit free agency, and
one mega-star that was owed mega-bucks.
They are fielding offers for ace Josh Johnson, who is also due quite a
bit of money. All indications are
that he’ll be gone before the trade deadline on Monday. This new stadium has not been the
answer, despite the Jekyll and Hyde claims of strong attendance from the
Marlins top brass. There has been
only one sellout, and they are still in line to finish near the bottom in MLB
ticket sales for an 8th straight season. And while one month they trumpet their new stadium’s
success, the next they use the low ticket sales as a scapegoat in their broken
promises to fans as they ship off all the expensive, but talented pieces of
their team. They continue to build
for a metaphorical future, which will never take hold while this ownership runs
things. The brazen disregard this
team has for building a champion is an insult to the city of Miami, and the
baseball world. And regardless of
the new team name, or what this team does on the field, the citizens of
Miami-Dade County have over $2 billion due on a stadium that will house a team
made up of young prospects who won’t sell tickets. The executives will continue to cash in on revenue sharing,
and this team will do what it does best…lose. It’s like a baseball version of The Producers, make a team bad enough, and you will actually make
money, not lose it. It’d be funny
if it weren’t so sad. But that’s
Miami, where baseball goes to die.
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