The Marlins and Tigers have been baseball's most aggressive teams so far this offseason. The Fish made their biggest free agent signing since 2005 in John Buck, and also traded away Dan Uggla, Cameron Maybin, and Andrew Miller. Owner Jeffrey Loria held court at the GM Meetings today, and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has details.
Loria says to "stay tuned" for further activity, specifically involving the bullpen. One source tells Rosenthal the Marlins have only about $3-4MM left to spend. If the team is to make additional splashes, it'll have to be in the trade market. I wouldn't be surprised to see Leo Nunez dealt, and the team could use a starting pitcher as well. Indeed, Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel hears the Marlins are turning their attention to the rotation now.
Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald has quotes from Loria on Uggla. The Marlins' owner remarked, "Dan is a wonderful kid, but I can't speak for the advice he gets." Uggla was dead-set on a five-year contract, but the Marlins wouldn't go past four.
Loria also commented on Hanley Ramirez, telling WEEI's Rob Bradford he expects the shortstop to retire a Marlin.
How about trading the ball boys to the bigger franchises for fans? In this way, the Marlins will dump salary and add fans and money to their ballpark. Solves both problems.
I would like to see Nunez in the Red Sox pen next season.
Ha! You will come to regret that trust me.
Nunez is great in any role besides closing. He tries to overthrow and winds up hanging pitches that end up in the stands, but if a team were able to reinstall some confidence in him, he would be a lights out setup man.
Stanton and Nunez for John Mcdonald and Cito Gaston?
I look forward to Loria’s next move, but only for the LULZ
“Loria might be a great human but i cant speak fos the advice he gets as a gm” this kind of talk is exactly why loria should not be allowed to own a team after what was it 2 years ago when he was refusing to pay his players after the arbitrator said he had to he still fought it….im really really surprised bud has not done anything about this guy. their attendance is consistently one of the worst they have not had a true competitive team since the WS team..the fact of the matter is bud needs to actually do something good for baseball step in and force loria to sell the team, sell them to some one like mark cuban(i dont care if bud does not like him he would be good for baseball) and allow him to move the team….worst case scenario with cuban owning a team is there is actually a team that can have the payroll to compete with the yankees…
IF Cuban owned the team, that’d be alright with me. But, MLB is not going to move the team. They JUST got a stadium approved. Hello?!? Plus, MLB is enamored with the idea of making a team in South Florida work. But, if Cuban wanted to own the team, that’d be good with me.
First move, sign dirk to a 3 year deal and put him in centerfield!
Bud and Loria are good friends. Loria was the one who helped Bud get baseball out of Montreal by running the Expos’ franchise into the ground. I believe that in return, Selig looks the other way when Loria lines his pockets with MLB and fans money, as well as the citizens of Miami-Dade County who are paying for his new stadium. Bud tried to contract Minnesota but lost the lawsuit and paid out a settlement that included that the content of trial remain secret. Nothing suspicious about that :)
I believe that Loria and his front office along with Bud Selig and his office were charged with 7 counts, mostly consisting of fraud under the RICO act.
If you really want to do something to help baseball. Send these crooks to jail by writing a letter to Miami-Dade government officials demanding that they pursue a criminal and civil lawsuit for defrauding the county into financing a stadium by purposefully misrepresenting their income. Instead of just complaining about it. Do something to benefit baseball. Write a letter or send an email. Even if you don’t live in the county, let your voice be heard.
I can tell you what’s next for Loria.
He’s going to trade Hanley Ramirez for a bag of gum and a prostitute.