Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Baseball’s a welcome sight
Saga of Marlins’ season runs parallel with progress of sale
Miami Marlins fans spot their favorite players before the team’s home opener against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night. Firstnight festivities included notable guests from the 1997 World Series team. The Marlins also plan to honor late pitcher Jose Fernandez.
It was a hello with a hovering cloud of goodbye. It was a good luck with a background thought of good riddance.
The Marlins gave a proper introduction in their home opener Tuesday night as Marcell Ozuna had two home runs and Dan Straily pitched a decent five innings against Atlanta. Just as the first-game script ordered.
But the accompanying story to this home opener was the closing day coming to team owner Jeffrey Loria.
“Ongoing” Marlins President David Samson called the franchise’s sale negotiations. Outstanding. “The fourth inning,” Samson framed the timeline of the talks, reportedly with groups headed by Hall of Famer Derek Jeter and former Florida governor Jeb Bush.
Can we move this game along? Can Loria be hustled out of the game like Atlanta pitcher Bartolo Colon was in Tuesday’s fifth inning?
Because this season is about these two linked storylines that already move in lockstep. The first is the Marlins on the field needing to win, and win notably, which means their starting pitching must be better than advertised and they need to stay healthier than this first week when the left side of the infield is out.
All that’s because of the second storyline involving the sale of the team. Some believe this idea came recently to Loria. There has even been talk he was so heartbroken over pitcher Jose Fernandez’s death that it shifted his mindset to sell the team.
Even Samson wouldn’t bite at that, beyond saying, “Everything that goes on such as having a losing season, losing your best pitcher, the emotional aftermath of it. Those things hurt and take a toll.”
The more transparent truth is this
was Loria’s time to sell all along. He’s been in baseball 18 years (since 2002 owning the Marlins). He’s 76, a time some consider getting their financial affairs in order. This summer’s All-Star Game gives him one final stage inside the game.
But the most obvious reason he set up this as the summer to sell is the financial structure of this team. Loria is king of the backloaded contract, often paying players the cheaper, opening stanzas of a deal before trading them when the numbers grow larger.
Loria wants to win on his way out and so bumped the Marlins payroll to a record $115 million this year. But next year as contracts bump up even more. Giancarlo Stanton alone goes from $14.5 million to $25 million.
Nine players are already signed up for $98 million. Those nine represent the third-highest payroll in franchise history by themselves. No wonder manager Don Mattingly insisted this spring this team’s “window of opportunity to win is now.”
That’s a little motivational talk from Mattingly. The loss of Fernandez is a crippling one. But the payroll idea holds: If this team can’t win, can it realistically expect even a new, happy-to-make-friends owner to raise the payroll significantly?
There’s always a tenuous line between baseball and business with the Marlins. But it’s added a new dimension with the sales negotiations. For instance, Samson said the stadium naming rights aren’t up for sale right now.
You could say that’s not a big deal, that the Marlins have had six years to sell Marlins Park’s name to a company. It’s Marlins Park. But the point is they’re suspending some normal business operations until the sale is complete.
“It’s hard to know what the timing is, but it would not shock me,” Samson said when asked whether the sale would come this season. “It feels different this time.”
In their first home game following a week on the road, the Marlins showed the kind of productive lineup and goodenough pitching they’ll need. But it’s the other storyline that will consume South Florida more this summer.
The home opener is always a fun day on the calendar and doubly fun when the team has an easy win.
But closing day is the biggest game on the schedule this year.