There was the fire sale of 1997, 2003, and now 2012. But this time, the fire sale started during the season. Not after a World Series title.
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2012 was supposed to a big season for the Marlins. They had just moved into a brand new ballpark (we’ll get to that later) and signed free agent shortstop Jose Reyes, starting pitcher Mark Buehrle, closer Heath Bell, and Manager Ozzie Guillen. This was going to be the Marlins year. After all, Showtime was going to be there along the way to document the whole thing for their “Hard Knocks” type show, The Franchise.
What could go wrong?
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How about everything? Within the first week of the season in a Time interview, Manager Ozzie Guillen said, “I love Fidel Castro … I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that motherfucker is still here.” Sounds like the right type of thing to say when your brand new ball park is in the heart of the area known as “Little Havana”.
Despite getting off to a pretty good start with a franchise record 21 wins in May, the Marlins were dreadful and lifeless for most of the season. Closer Heath Bell, had blown saves by the boat load and lost his job only two months in, slugger Giancarlo Stanton got hurt, and Jose Reyes wasn’t doing much of anything.
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By the July 31st trading deadline, the “MarLOLins” as they have been referred to on Twitter, raised the white flag. They traded the face of the franchise. The annual headache known as Hanley Ramirez, was shipped to the Dodgers. Along with Ramirez, starting pitcher Annibal Sanchez and second baseman Omar Infante were sent to the Detroit Tigers. Manager Ozzie Guillen summed it up perfectly. “I looked at my lineup yesterday, and there was only one guy that was in the same position (from opening day),” Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen said. “It was (shortstop Jose) Reyes. Everyone else was different. It’s embarrassing for me because we never thought we would go through that situation, not even close to being a scenario this year. No way. But you cannot blame anybody. You’ve got to blame us.”
That’s right Ozzie, blame “us”. But don’t worry, you got blamed alright. On October 23, 2012, Guillen was dismissed as manager of the Marlins, despite three years remaining on his contract.
Oh yeah. Remember that “closer” Heath Bell…On October 20, 2012, Bell was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-team trade in which the Marlins acquired minor leaguer Yordy Cabrera. The Marlins agreed to pay $8 million of the remaining $21 million still owed Bell over the subsequent two years. Here we go again. the $100 million payroll is now dwindling down to minimum wage. Again.
But wait. It gets better.
Yesterday, the Marlins executed probably the biggest salary dump in the history of American sports. This wasn’t like the Dodgers/RedSox trade at all. Because let’s face it, the Dodgers just got new owners and wanted to make a splash. The RedSox had just dropped a quarter of a billion dollars on older players and actually found a trade partner dumb enough to take on all of them.
The MarLOLins send newly signed Jose Reyes (six years, $106 million last off-season) Mark Buehrle (four years, $58 million last off season), staff ACE Josh Johnson ($13.75 milion next year), catcher John Buck ($6 million next year), and CF Emilio Bonifacio (arbitration eligible after making $2.2 million last season) to the Toronto Blue Jays for shortstop Yunel Escobar, right-hander Henderson Alvarez, catcher Jeff Mathis and prospects Jake Marisnick (OF), Adeiny Hechavarria (SS), Justin Nicolino (LHP) and Anthony DeSclafani (RHP) to the Marlins, sources told ESPN.
So the Marlins essentially dumped
$160 million in future money. But hey, look at that sick fish tank behind home plate!
Marlins Traded Since July
The Marlins’ 2013 Opening Day roster will look much different from the 2012 version. When the blockbuster with Toronto is complete, Miami will have traded 12 major leaguers since July.
| POS | Player | Traded to |
|---|---|---|
| 3B | Hanley Ramirez | Dodgers |
| RP | Randy Choate | Dodgers |
| RP | Edward Mujica | Cardinals |
| 1B | Gaby Sanchez | Pirates |
| SP | Anibal Sanchez | Tigers |
| 2B | Omar Infante | Tigers |
| RP | Heath Bell | Diamondbacks |
| SS | Jose Reyes | Blue Jays<< |
| SP | Josh Johnson | Blue Jays<< |
| SP | Mark Buehrle | Blue Jays<< |
| C | John Buck | Blue Jays<< |
| CF | Emilio Bonifacio | Blue Jays<< |
| >>Trade according to sources– ESPN Stats & Information | ||
But the story doesn’t end there. The story actually begins with the MLB revenue sharing program and scumbag owners who do nothing but pocket that money and then cry poverty.
“[Jeffrey Loria] has been losing money like crazy.” — Marlins president David Samson, Miami Herald, December 11, 2004.
That’s funny. You know why? Because sports website Deadspin, got their hands on a bunch of Major League Baseball teams official financial statements and exposed these teams for what they are. LIARS. And the #1 culprit? The Florida/Miami Marlins. For years, Loria would cry poverty and tell everyone who was within an earshot that the Marlins could not survive without a new, retractable roof stadium. If you want to check out the documents because you have a fetish for numbers or just have a LOT of free time, you can see them here.
Here is an excerpt from an article written in the Miami New Times News: In 2008, Forbes reported the Marlins had made $35.6 million in profit during the prior year, the second-most in the Bigs. Marlins president Samson responded to the Sun-Sentinel: “Every year I continue to be surprised at the absolute inaccuracy that a so-called reputable magazine is willing to print. It’s just a shame their readership is forced to read numbers that aren’t true. I know the number they have for the Marlins is simply wrong.”
Total scumbags. This article is spot on and gives you countless facts about how Loria schemed his way into a new stadium. It’s a great article. A must read after what happened with this trade, and what it has done to the people of Miami.
For a quick synopsis here’s the Cliffs Notes story…
-Loria has lied for YEARS about the team’s financial status.
–“The construction of a new $515 million Marlins ballpark will create enormous economic opportunity through the creation of thousands of construction jobs.” — Claude DeLorme, Marlins vice president of ballpark construction
The companies used to build the park are not only not local, but have an incredible about of lawsuits against them for a multitude of things including firing an employee because she got pregnant. That’s right, a woman got pregnant and hence, fired.
-”A new stadium will increase attendance ” Yeah right. Does this look like a jump in attendance?
Loria has been in the business of being a scumbag since his days of owning the Expos. If you don’t know the story, he basically told the people of Montreal to build him a stadium (when he damn well knew he wasn’t going to get one), and then told them he was going to move the team. Instead of moving the team, he “sold” the team to Major League Baseball for a $100 million profit, then turned that into buying the Marlins. Then spent on free agents a few times, won two world series, then traded all of his players that made money both times. But when your team has no money and has a $17 million payroll, you get a free $35 million in revenue sharing from the other teams in baseball. It’s an easy way to make money!
Loria is a huge scumbag, but the truth is that he’s REALLY smart. If you can do the same thing over and over and over again, and no one has a problem with it, why not keep doing it? First he did it to Montreal, then to Miami. Who’s next?
We leave you with a bunch of awesome tweets from the only two Marlins who weren’t traded yesterday:
Haha, I thought I got traded RT @toycannon91 @lomomarlins I wouldn’t mind seeing this in my life. #phillies #marlins twitter.com/toycannon91/st…
— Logan Morrison (@LoMoMarlins) November 12, 2012
Who would have thought that this tweet, only a few hours before the fire sale happened, that LoMo ALMOST was right!!
I’m not gonna do whatever body thinks I’m gonna do and freak out! Ugh, I need a bath.
— Logan Morrison (@LoMoMarlins) November 14, 2012
Ur not getting a rt for no reason RT @baseballmonster I’ve bet you’ve said “What the fuck?” more than once this evening. #marlins
— Logan Morrison (@LoMoMarlins) November 14, 2012
I bet Canadians are feeling a little better about NAFTA tonight…
— Logan Morrison (@LoMoMarlins) November 14, 2012
hey @jonheymancbs I just read that we got mathematically eliminated from the 2013 playoffs. Is that true?
— Logan Morrison (@LoMoMarlins) November 14, 2012
