Here’s the latest out of Miami:
- With the team set to be sold at some point in the near future, the Marlins appear to be lining up for some significant moves at the deadline. As Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports, the Fish appear to be targeting a few organizations in particular as they look to shop their biggest contracts. Marlins scouts are taking a hard look at the systems of the Yankees, Red Sox, Brewers, Rockies, and Cubs, per the report. Whether that’s based upon demand coming from those organizations or instead Miami’s own interest in certain prospects isn’t entirely clear; obviously, plenty of other teams will likely end up engaging with the Marlins in what is shaping up to be an interesting deadline period.
- Miami is not concerned about righty Edinson Volquez, Spencer also notes. Though he experienced left-knee discomfort in his most recent start, skipper Don Mattingly suggested the veteran will be ready to go after the All-Star break. He could well be one of the players dangled in trade talks over the next few weeks.
- The less-than-straightforward Marlins sale process remains in flux as the organization prepares to host the All-Star Game. Bidding groups led by Tagg Romney, on the one hand, and Derek Jeter, on the other, have each run into issues, according to a report from Claire Atinson, Ken Davidoff, and Josh Kosman of the New York Post. In fact, the Romney group may even have pulled out of the process altogether, per the report. Jeter’s group, meanwhile, no longer has the backing of one key investor. That could place a third bidder, Jorge Mas, in position to make a deal. But it’s also possible that Jeter could try to “convince MLB to push back a decision date … possibly to the end of the season in October,” sources tell the Post.
- Mas has attempted to get the Marlins to agree to an exclusive negotiating window, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag, but that has yet to occur. Still, the report suggests, the process could be only weeks away from completion. While Mas is said to be in the driver’s seat, Heyman hears that the Romney-led group may still be involved.
The Romney group pulled out of the deal about 3 weeks ago.
I doubt Brewers will be willing to give up much in terms of prospects
Yeah our top prospects are off limits but our top 20-40 prospects still are better then some teams top 10. We’ll see.
Thats a bit of a stretch lol. Im actually not a very big fan of their farm outside of top top guys. Results have less than stellar, its all “potential” and most of the guys are already in their 20’s.
Well when the farm system has been consistently rated in the top 3 by numerous sources I don’t think it’s a stretch at all. Prospects are all potential, none of them are 100% guaranteed all-stars. With all that said, its highly doubtful the Brewers will be buyers at the trade deadline.
Jorge Mas is the only one with any cash anyways. Any other group would just be Loria 2nd edition.
Take heart, Marlins fans. It was a long, difficult, drawn-out process for the Dodger organization to exorcise itself of Frank McCourt. Once Loria is out of the picture and Mas establishes a system based on common sense and fundamentals, there will be much better days ahead.
It sounds like Jorge has más dinero than the rest. 😀
I’m still wondering how the hell Jeter thought he could be the controlling partner in a 1.3 B sale while only putting in 25 M. I find it hard to believe any billionaire is just giving him cash without demanding he pay some outrageous amount of interest if they aren’t getting control.
George Bush was controlling owner and only owned 1% of the Rangers.
The investor group that Bush helped cobble together paid $86 million for the Rangers. He was the general managing partner and he had 11.8% interest in the partnership after the deal was finalized.
publicintegrity.org/2000/01/18/3313/how-george-w-bush-scored-big-texas-rangers
A lot of the people who are interested in making money know they don’t know or care about actually running a sports team, and find someone interested in that to do it for them.
^
This exactly. Jeter has been around baseball his whole life and would be the common sense pick to be the controlling owner in most groups. Whether it translates to success or not would be a whole different thing, but if you’re going to have a baseball team, you go with the baseball guy if you have one.
JD is spit on. The investors just want the $$$$. They are more than happy to let the baseball man (Jeter) run things, all while sitting back and collecting a boatload of passive income.
***Spot on.
As a marlins fan, i think they should trade Volquez, Ramos, Phelps, Ozuna, Bour, Stanton and Gordon, and accumulate as much prospect depth, and salary relief (mainly from Stanton), as we can… Build around Yelich, Realmuto, Riddle, and keep Prado as a veteran influence for the young guys… and go from there.
What we REALLY need, is pitching, pitching and more elite pitching. and use the next 3-4 years to build through the draft and through trading these veterans with high value.
I tend to agree with most of that, stretch123……But I wouldn’t include Bour in the “trade away” list. He is already 29, but is an Arbitration control player until 2021. He’s certainly performing very well this season, and belongs in the “Build Around” group. Plus….They don’t have another 1B in the system to take his place.
Stanton will bring back salary relief, or some seriously good prospects, but not both. The Cardinals need him badly, and have the pieces to acquire him. They won’t like the salary commitment, so maybe the Marlins keep part of the money, but get better prospects in return. Weaver and Bader get the conversation going, with another pitching prospect added.
Ozuna is a bat that could bring back a #3 SP……they’ve tried to get a #1 or #2 and failed already. Maybe Ozuna’s production this season will change that.
Ramos to the Nats makes the most sense, but I’m just not sure what they’d give up to get him. You’re not getting a Robles or Fedde for him…….but you might pry away either Voth or Cole (but they are both back end starters at best)
Oddly, the biggest haul would come from Yelich, if they traded him away. I’m not suggesting that they do, just making a note on that.
didn’t I read somewhere the league would have to approve any trade involving the marlins?
Now that they have been able to see the books, investors are falling out of these groups bidding on the Marlins in droves. The Marlins will lose $200 million per year for the next 3 at least. Loria has alienated fans and signed the worst TV deal in baseball. The team can;t make any money before 2021 when they will have a new TV deal. That counts on a new ownership being able to reverse the fan apathy and downright disgust for Loria and the current management team and increase fan attendance to at least middle of the road numbers.
I speculate that the Royals will acquire Eddie V before the deadline.