Loria Refusing Overtures to Buy Team from Big Names, Including Jeb Bush

[oakelmpine]

And you're just as bad as Erick.

Is that what we're going to do? Call each other names?

But isn't it a shame that because of the owner, that's what we spend our time doing ?

Instead of discussing the team, what can happen this season, who could we pick up to make the team better, what we are looking forward to seeing this season, we have to be wasting time on this crappy thread ?

[Erick]

And I don't get that people don't understand my hate for Loria. Some here seem to just want to shrug their shoulders at what he has done.

Just to let you all know, I am pissed at him, and I will not let it go. Not today, not tomorrow, and not even if they win a championship in the next 4 or 5 years (yeah like that will happen). He needs to go, and that is the bottom line.

Everybody gets why you don't like him. It's just that you dislike him so much that it makes it impossible to have a conversation about anything else on here. You want us to accept your point of view, yet you're completely close-minded to the opposing point of view. Which is funny because there's not even an opposing point of view. No one really likes Loria, but your hatred just so happens to reach comedic levels. Like that one day you said Loria was going to be sued for libel. I actually think it all pretty much began that day to be honest.
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I think its the fact that while yes they went into last season as legit competitors and the team underperformed, Loria got rid of almost everyone in one fell swoop...jettisoning guys like Reyes and Bonifacio who had performed exactly like you would want them to along with the bad contracts like Hanley and Buck.

Perform, dont perform, completely average...it didnt really matter. It made it appear as if it was pre-meditated and that Loria only made the splash to temporarily placate the locals and MLB and had no intention of following through with anything long term outside of collecting an enormous profit for himself.

Probably traded Bonifacio because he sucks. At the very best, he's pretty irrelevant.

Bonifacio wasn't even traded for financial reasons, so yeah.

[Fish Tank Frenzy]

This ownership group has never put the product on the field first. If they did they wouldn't of gotten rid of D Lee after 2003, when he hit his prime, gotten rid of Pudge after 2003. yes, you can say the team was competitive in 04 and 05 but they would've actually competed for a championship if the FO actually cared. I'd forsake one guaranteed championship for a stable ownership group that can actually put money in their product and care about their fans. I feel that with quality ownership this franchise has a chance at a lot more championships than what this ownership can provide. They ran into a championship in 2003 with dumb luck, it's not happening again boys. The sooner Loria either dies or sells the team the better off we all are as a franchise and fan base.

[Todd]

The vague predictions of Loria owning the team until he passes and then it passing into the hands of Samson, I will admit...I find utterly terrifying.

[Bobbob1313]

Pardon me for doing the noob thing and not researching it myself, but how much similarity is there between the situation we now understand we have (potentially big name suitors, new revenue streams that aren't being taken very seriously, etc) with the Dodgers?

For the record, I'm not presuming that we're anything close to the franchise that brought Jackie Robinson to the show. But, with the emergence of potential buyers, is there enough there to maybe tip Selig's hands?

Isn't the biggest difference that the Dodgers were in huge amounts of debt to the league and the Marlins do not appear to be?

Weren't the Dodgers taking out loans from the league just to meet payroll obligations? Between that and the McCourt's divorce proceedings, I don't think there are many parallels.

[CrimsonCane]

It won't Todd. They are not related anymore.

[Erick]

This ownership group has never put the product on the field first. If they did they wouldn't of gotten rid of D Lee after 2003, when he hit his prime, gotten rid of Pudge after 2003. yes, you can say the team was competitive in 04 and 05 but they would've actually competed for a championship if the FO actually cared. I'd forsake one guaranteed championship for a stable ownership group that can actually put money in their product and care about their fans. I feel that with quality ownership this franchise has a chance at a lot more championships than what this ownership can provide. They ran into a championship in 2003 with dumb luck, it's not happening again boys. The sooner Loria either dies or sells the team the better off we all are as a franchise and fan base.

NOT THAT I LIKE HIM...

But people were not saying this last offseason.

Is it possible that he got rid of the team because the team he paid for sucked and he felt like this is the better route to go with at the moment? Sometimes not spending in free agency is best for a franchise. Especially a franchise that has been terrible the past couple of years.

Is it possible to not write an anti-Loria post and not love Loria at the same time?

[Bobbob1313]

But isn't it a shame that because of the owner, that's what we spend our time doing ?

Instead of discussing the team, what can happen this season, who could we pick up to make the team better, what we are looking forward to seeing this season, we have to be wasting time on this crappy thread ?

Shit, we could have concurrent conversations -- one about the actual, you know, team; and then one about how much everyone hates Loria. Is that impossible?

Instead, every discussion about anything turns into a Loria bitch-fest.
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There's been a few posts that at least obliquely mention Loria dying as a positive, and that kind of weird's me out. That makes me think maybe you guys like sports too much.

[oakelmpine]

Could is the key word.

You also COULD have great owners, terrific players, and fall short every year. Cubs have gone over 100 years without a World Series victory.

I'll take the could because it invokes a positive feeling. Since I won't know they won't win, it doesn't matter, at least I get to feel hope, some happiness and a few times of being in the playoffs. I get to look forward to that feeling every spring, even if it is in vain, I will at least derive some happiness from my fandom.

With the way it is now, the only way they win a championship is by pure luck or all the other teams players somehow develop the plague. We know that Stanton is not in our future, and the way they have operated so far makes you feel even if they get someone of value, especially if they are of value, to not get to attached to them. How can running your organization that way induce and invoke any fan base to get excited about the future ?

In many ways, had I know this is the way it would turn out, I wish that Huizenga would have never been awarded a franchise. Because other than 4 or 5 seasons its been nothing but a huge disappointment.

[Swifty]

If going into the season the teams looks like a legit competitor, you will not be able to root for them/enjoy/be excited because of a lack of trust?
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I can understand the lurking feeling of worry.

Not that he'd trade everyone away because they won

I no longer care for the Miami Marlins. I am done with that franchise. When Loria sells, I'll probably care a little bit more, but to me, the organization might as well be dead.

I think if an organization cannot be trusted, they have no longer earned the financial commitment (and time investment) necessary to be a fan. I like baseball, that won't go away, but I don't care about the Marlins.

EDIT: So, no, no matter what they look like going into a season (as long as Loria's the owner) I will not be excited.

[Fish Tank Frenzy]

I'm not even mentioning what he did this off-season or last off-season. It's a totality of his ownership and it is pure garbage from a fan's standpoint. Ok, lets correct the horrendous contracts we gave out season by getting rid of everyone at below market value, only so we do not have to pay as much of their exiting salaries. Loria meddles way too much into baseball decisions and does not let his guys do their jobs. My opinion has a lot more to do with the guy being just a tremendous jerk off of an owner than getting rid of over paid non performing players.

Bobbob, pragmatically speaking, Loria dying is a positive for this franchise, would I prefer him to sell the team, yes, do I wish him death, no, but the fact remains, the only ways he is not owner of this team is either dying or selling.

[Bobbob1313]

Yeah, that's gross.
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Justify it however you want, but you definitely take your sports too seriously.

[Todd]

It would be possible if he didnt get rid of the guys who performed up to their contracts as well.

[oakelmpine]

If going into the season the teams looks like a legit competitor, you will not be able to root for them/enjoy/be excited because of a lack of trust?
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I can understand the lurking feeling of worry.

Not that he'd trade everyone away because they won

I think you misunderstand - I don't hate the team, and will be THRILLED if they win. I will probably watch all of every single televised game (since I work at home I get to watch every game).

I despise the owner, and wish the fleas of a thousand camels to invade his armpits.

[Erick]

I'll take the could because it invokes a positive feeling. Since I won't know they won't win, it doesn't matter, at least I get to feel hope, some happiness and a few times of being in the playoffs. I get to look forward to that feeling every spring, even if it is in vain, I will at least derive some happiness from my fandom.

With the way it is now, the only way they win a championship is by pure luck or all the other teams players somehow develop the plague. We know that Stanton is not in our future, and the way they have operated so far makes you feel even if they get someone of value, especially if they are of value, to not get to attached to them. How can running your organization that way induce and invoke any fan base to get excited about the future ?

In many ways, had I know this is the way it would turn out, I wish that Huizenga would have never been awarded a franchise. Because other than 4 or 5 seasons its been nothing but a huge disappointment.

You already know what's going to happen this season?

The team has won 2 World Series titles in 2 decades. Do you know how many fanbases do not feel sorry for you right now?

I like that every time the team wins now, it's lucky; however, the history of losses has nothing to do with bad luck of course. You're really not biased.