Miami Marlins’ Makeover Mind-Boggling — and The Dealing’s Not Yet Done
Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, right, and Jose Reyes share a laugh after a news conference at the Major League Baseball 2011 Winter Meetings in Dallas, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011. The Marlins unveiled the newly signed free-agent shortstop Reyes.
By Greg Cote
What a remarkable time for South Florida’s major professional sports teams. It is Christmas season, and everywhere you look: Gifts!
The Heat is favored to win the NBA championship in Year 2 of the Big 3. The long-downtrodden Panthers are in first place in the NHL’s Southeast Division. The surging Dolphins have won four of their past five games. And yet all anybody can seem to talk about is the Marlins.
Our baseball club is redefining “extreme makeover” with one of the most astounding metamorphoses in the history of pro sports, and the name change from Florida to Miami, the new ballpark, new manager, new colors, new uniforms and new logo — those are just the window dressing.
It is the new spending, the voracious aggressiveness of it, that has made this club the talk of South Florida, and of baseball.
The Marlins’ Jeffrey Loria inside of two years has gone from being a notoriously penurious owner publicly scolded by Major League Baseball for egregiously under-spending on player payrolls to being an owner figuratively standing on a couch in a nightclub tossing fistfuls of money into the air.
Making it rain.
Millions.
The pursuit of superstar Albert Pujols that ended Wednesday without getting him?
No problem.
Miami is the biggest player in baseball free agency even without him. And the Marlins are showing no signs of ending their shopping spree.
Fans beleaguered by years of shoestring payrolls surely must feel the swoon of lottery winners. So must new manager Ozzie Guillen. Turns out that multicolored ‘M’ in the new logo mustn’t stand for Miami, after all. Must stand for Money.
The week’s chronology has been stunning:
On Monday the club formally introduced newly signed closer Heath Bell, the pitcher with more saves than anybody in the sport over the past three years. On Tuesday the club introduced its new $106 million man, Jose Reyes, the free-agent star shortstop from the New York Mets. Wednesday, Miami agreed to terms with veteran starting pitcher Mark Buerhle, reuniting him with Guillen, his longtime former Chicago White Six manager. Any of those three signings, in a normal year, would have legitimately topped the marquee on this team’s offseason shopping. The idea of Loria increasing the payroll sufficient to land all three of them is mind-boggling.
But not so much as the notion more big moves might be ahead.
Won’t the alarm clock go off any second and we’ll all awaken to find out the best available players have gone to Yankees or Red Sox as usual? And that the Marlins are shopping the customary bargain bins?
No more.
The Marlins’ run at Pujols, the future Hall of Fame slugger still in his prime at 31 and THE prize in free agency, was proof of Miami’s new mindset. The Marlins’ reported 10-year offer worth more than $200 million was commensurate with Pujols’ talent. The offer was legitimately competitive.
The offer to Pujols was withdrawn Wednesday after the deal with Buerhle was struck, but the very notion of the Marlins bidding for the biggest prize in baseball was a statement in itself.
Landing Pujols would have been comparable to the baseball equivalent of the Heat getting LeBron James. Adding Pujols to Reyes would have been roughly as astounding as the Heat adding James and Chris Bosh. It would have put the Marlins squarely in the fight with the star-studded Heat and historically entrenched Dolphins over who “owns” this town in terms of broad interest and excitement. Again, though, the dealing isn’t done. Like the Heat, the Marlins’ intentions are plain. As president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest puts it, “The vision here is: Win the World Series.”
That’s why the Marlins move on undeterred from not getting Pujols. There is reported interest in perhaps turning sights now to power-hitting first baseman Prince Fielder, the free agent from Milwaukee. Miami also has made a firm offer and is a finalist to sign lefthanded starting pitcher C.J. Wilson, another prized free agent.
Then there is the Hanley Ramirez situation.
ESPN Deportes reported that the Marlins’ incumbent star shortstop wants to remain at that position and would balk at moving to third base to accommodate Reyes. Ramirez’s agent now represents that his client seeks a “restructured” contract — agent-speak for a sizable raise — to go peaceably to third base.
Doesn’t it stretch credulity to think the Marlins would not have OK’d such a move with the high-maintenance Ramirez prior to acquiring Reyes? And yet the pique of Ramirez is now in play.
The Marlins are understandably upset with Ramirez trying to ply leverage for more money and reportedly are exploring trade options.
Enticing possibilities — such as Ramirez to the Washington Nationals for all-star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman — have been floated.
Ramirez is blowing an opportunity here to remake his image with Marlins fans and be seen as magnanimous, a team-first guy willing to switch positions for the better of the club. Instead his reputation for petulance and a me-first attitude is underlined.
Brokering peace and keeping him is ideal, but Ramirez would bring enough in trade that the alternative is not altogether bad, either.
This massive Marlins’ makeover will not be without its yeah-buts and complications. Not everything can be neat or tranquil on all fronts.
Even if Miami HAD signed Pujols debate would have raged over the fiscal sanity of the contract. A 10-year deal to a player 31 would have been seen as lunacy to some.
Mollifying Ramirez and making him co-exist with Reyes always loomed as a potential headache.
You also wonder how the personal and managerial style of the brash, outspoken Guillen will jibe with an ownership that has shown impatience with managers. Even the new stadium itself is the focal point of a Security and Exchange Commission probe into the club’s financing deal with the city and county. And, of course, this being sports, the Marlins assembling what they hope some might end up calling a super-team would come with zero guarantees. The Heat learned last season that championships as a foregone conclusion are risky things.
Ah, but enough with reality!
Dream big, Miami. It feels good. Let Marlins fans frustrated by years of owner frugality look up at the money suddenly falling from the sky and simply enjoy the view.
The Heat is favored to win the NBA championship in Year 2 of the Big 3. The long-downtrodden Panthers are in first place in the NHL’s Southeast Division. The surging Dolphins have won four of their past five games. And yet all anybody can seem to talk about is the Marlins.
Our baseball club is redefining “extreme makeover” with one of the most astounding metamorphoses in the history of pro sports, and the name change from Florida to Miami, the new ballpark, new manager, new colors, new uniforms and new logo — those are just the window dressing.
It is the new spending, the voracious aggressiveness of it, that has made this club the talk of South Florida, and of baseball.
The Marlins’ Jeffrey Loria inside of two years has gone from being a notoriously penurious owner publicly scolded by Major League Baseball for egregiously under-spending on player payrolls to being an owner figuratively standing on a couch in a nightclub tossing fistfuls of money into the air.
Making it rain.
Millions.
The pursuit of superstar Albert Pujols that ended Wednesday without getting him?
No problem.
Miami is the biggest player in baseball free agency even without him. And the Marlins are showing no signs of ending their shopping spree.
Fans beleaguered by years of shoestring payrolls surely must feel the swoon of lottery winners. So must new manager Ozzie Guillen. Turns out that multicolored ‘M’ in the new logo mustn’t stand for Miami, after all. Must stand for Money.
The week’s chronology has been stunning:
On Monday the club formally introduced newly signed closer Heath Bell, the pitcher with more saves than anybody in the sport over the past three years. On Tuesday the club introduced its new $106 million man, Jose Reyes, the free-agent star shortstop from the New York Mets. Wednesday, Miami agreed to terms with veteran starting pitcher Mark Buerhle, reuniting him with Guillen, his longtime former Chicago White Six manager. Any of those three signings, in a normal year, would have legitimately topped the marquee on this team’s offseason shopping. The idea of Loria increasing the payroll sufficient to land all three of them is mind-boggling.
But not so much as the notion more big moves might be ahead.
Won’t the alarm clock go off any second and we’ll all awaken to find out the best available players have gone to Yankees or Red Sox as usual? And that the Marlins are shopping the customary bargain bins?
No more.
The Marlins’ run at Pujols, the future Hall of Fame slugger still in his prime at 31 and THE prize in free agency, was proof of Miami’s new mindset. The Marlins’ reported 10-year offer worth more than $200 million was commensurate with Pujols’ talent. The offer was legitimately competitive.
The offer to Pujols was withdrawn Wednesday after the deal with Buerhle was struck, but the very notion of the Marlins bidding for the biggest prize in baseball was a statement in itself.
Landing Pujols would have been comparable to the baseball equivalent of the Heat getting LeBron James. Adding Pujols to Reyes would have been roughly as astounding as the Heat adding James and Chris Bosh. It would have put the Marlins squarely in the fight with the star-studded Heat and historically entrenched Dolphins over who “owns” this town in terms of broad interest and excitement. Again, though, the dealing isn’t done. Like the Heat, the Marlins’ intentions are plain. As president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest puts it, “The vision here is: Win the World Series.”
That’s why the Marlins move on undeterred from not getting Pujols. There is reported interest in perhaps turning sights now to power-hitting first baseman Prince Fielder, the free agent from Milwaukee. Miami also has made a firm offer and is a finalist to sign lefthanded starting pitcher C.J. Wilson, another prized free agent.
Then there is the Hanley Ramirez situation.
ESPN Deportes reported that the Marlins’ incumbent star shortstop wants to remain at that position and would balk at moving to third base to accommodate Reyes. Ramirez’s agent now represents that his client seeks a “restructured” contract — agent-speak for a sizable raise — to go peaceably to third base.
Doesn’t it stretch credulity to think the Marlins would not have OK’d such a move with the high-maintenance Ramirez prior to acquiring Reyes? And yet the pique of Ramirez is now in play.
The Marlins are understandably upset with Ramirez trying to ply leverage for more money and reportedly are exploring trade options.
Enticing possibilities — such as Ramirez to the Washington Nationals for all-star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman — have been floated.
Ramirez is blowing an opportunity here to remake his image with Marlins fans and be seen as magnanimous, a team-first guy willing to switch positions for the better of the club. Instead his reputation for petulance and a me-first attitude is underlined.
Brokering peace and keeping him is ideal, but Ramirez would bring enough in trade that the alternative is not altogether bad, either.
This massive Marlins’ makeover will not be without its yeah-buts and complications. Not everything can be neat or tranquil on all fronts.
Even if Miami HAD signed Pujols debate would have raged over the fiscal sanity of the contract. A 10-year deal to a player 31 would have been seen as lunacy to some.
Mollifying Ramirez and making him co-exist with Reyes always loomed as a potential headache.
You also wonder how the personal and managerial style of the brash, outspoken Guillen will jibe with an ownership that has shown impatience with managers. Even the new stadium itself is the focal point of a Security and Exchange Commission probe into the club’s financing deal with the city and county. And, of course, this being sports, the Marlins assembling what they hope some might end up calling a super-team would come with zero guarantees. The Heat learned last season that championships as a foregone conclusion are risky things.
Ah, but enough with reality!
Dream big, Miami. It feels good. Let Marlins fans frustrated by years of owner frugality look up at the money suddenly falling from the sky and simply enjoy the view.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/08/v-fullstory/2536522/miami-marlins-makeover-mind-boggling.html#ixzz1gBibgr6F
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