Miami Marlins Holding Another Fire Sale, the Blue Jays will reap the benefits...
Ah, business has really picked up in the Hot Stove portion of the baseball off-season.
It looks like the Blue Jays perhaps are on their way to tipping the balance of power in the American League East.
For past decade or so, the Blue Jays have been an also-ran in the AL East. They from time-to-time in that period have put a competitive team on the field; however, they could never get over the hump thanks to dominance of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and also the rise of the Tampa Bay Rays along with our surprising Baltimore Orioles.
Last night, the Jays decided they wanted in on the party, and their dance partners are the Miami Marlins. The two teams are working on an insane trade and if it is finalized, it could probably be the biggest in the history of the sport.
From FoxSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi: The Toronto Blue Jays and Miami Marlins consummated one of the largest trades in baseball history Tuesday, in what amounted to an epic backpedal from the Marlins’ aggressive spending less than one year ago.
The Blue Jays are set to acquire starters Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle, shortstop Jose Reyes, infielder/outfielder Emilio Bonifacio and catcher John Buck from the Marlins, sources told FOXSports.com.
The Marlins will receive a package that includes shortstops Yunel Escobar and Adeiny Hechavarria, major-league right-hander Henderson Alvarez, minor-league left-hander Justin Nicolino, center fielder Jacob Marisnick, catcher Jeff Mathis and minor league right-hander Anthony DeSclafani.
For the Marlins, the salary purge is shocking (based on their Opening Day payroll of roughly $100 million this year) but also predictable, when considering their organizational history of fire sales. After the trade, the club has roughly $16 million on the books for 2013, not including arbitration-eligible players. One source said starter Ricky Nolasco could be the next Marlins player dealt.
The blockbuster was made possible by the fact that the Marlins, as a club policy, do not award no-trade clauses. Thus, the Blue Jays were able to obtain veterans such as Buehrle and Reyes who did not seriously consider Toronto during free agency. In the past, Buehrle spoke about a desire to pitch near his home in Missouri.
I guess Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson were beyond brilliant for not taking a bill of sale from the Marlins.
The Jays want a winner now; meanwhile, the Marlins are holding yet another freakin’ fire sale, this time dumping anyone not named Giancarlo Stanton who makes any sort of money.
If you’re a Jays fan, you have to be beyond happy assuming this trade goes through. Assuming all goes well with this trade, the Jays are going to be sick and any team in the sport would have to be afraid to face them. The Toronto organization went bold and their aggressiveness may pay off.
As well, the Toronto managerial job – currently vacated by John Farrell going to Boston – has to be one now that’s desired.
As for the Marlins, I’m going to go on a rant. I am a fan of neither the Jays nor Marlins, obviously; however, as a fan of the sport, this is disgusting.
If I were a Miami fan, I would start burning all my memorabilia. Obviously, being an Oriole fan, I knew suffering, but at least they tried to improve situation, and their work paid off in 2012.
What the Miami brain trust is doing will kill the long-term future of the franchise. They got a sweetheart stadium deal, signed some of the sexier free agents in the previous offseason and now are pissing it all away. Fans should have known that something was up with the Marlins based on their history and they all of a sudden spent money like a sixteen-year-old with a credit with no limit.
Now the bill is due.
And they don’t want to pay it.
Bud Selig and the MLB trust have to see if they can kill this deal. Miami’s owner, Jeffrey Loria, has used the current revenue sharing system to his advantage and he’s now abusing it.
The Marlins’ brass is killing the long term viability of baseball in South Florida. They are now going to destroy any trust that the fans have had in the franchise. If I were a Marlins fan – even if I loved baseball in general – why would I even buy a ticket to see them? The fans seemed to be promised something, and now that was all built perhaps on fraud.
It may be a long time – if ever – that the trust can be restored. Their fans must feel duped and cheated.
The Orioles struggled for the last 14 years, and we all saw what happened at the box office, in the seats and general interest in the team. At least they didn’t try to intentionally sabotage the franchise.
The Miami Marlins do not want to enter that type of wilderness and they will kill their franchise by their own doing. In the end, the prospects they may get from the Jays may work out and they might be proven right with this deal; however, what's going on right now stinks.
