Dan LeBatard’s Feelings on the Sale of the Marlins and Giancarlo Stanton

[fish16]

Not to mention, Volquez, Ziegler, and Tazawa (29M) come off the books after the 2018 season, and another 15 for prado after 2019.



But he's "cleaning it up" the same exact way as Loria.......cut payroll, ship away all the high-paid players, get nothing (light packages) in return just to clear payroll.

I get finances are terrible, and that that needs to be rectified for the organization to be healthy long-term. But they shipped out players just to clear payroll, not to put the club in a better position to win. Had they included more money in order to get back top top prospects and/or held their ground to get top prospects instead of caving (as always) in all of the deals thus far, we wouldn't be complaining (or at least it'd be different complaining).......why that's hard to understand, I don't know.

No, the entire point is he's saying that he's not going to clean it up "just like loria." If he pockets the money and doesnt spend on IFA or the draft, then he's doing it like loria. But loria cheaped out on everything that it takes to make an organization consistent and sustainable while foolishly trying to make big splashy and stupid moves, and as of now Jeter's group hasnt shown that they are going to do that. Based on everything they've said, they plan to rebuild this organization in a consistent and sustainable way so as a small market they can theoretically compete year in and year out.

You can have an opinion on what he's going to do in that regard, and like he said the other night I understand if you dont trust him yet because you dont know him, but to say he's "just like Loria" simply because he is making payroll cuts in an effort to rebuild is just wrong and it shows a complete lack of understanding as to why Loria was such a terrible owner. He wasnt a bad owner because he had a less than average payroll, although he did have that. He was a terrible owner because he lacked any sort of baseball knowledge and ran the team as if he did and consistently made short sighted moves while also not investing in the sustainability of his team through the draft and international free agency. This current ownership group while cutting payroll is acknowledging that this team needs to be run completely differently in order to compete year in and year out, and that is completely different than simply "cutting payroll."

I understand the optics of a new owner coming in and slashing payroll and why it looks bad based on what previous ownership groups have done to this fanbase down here, but to blame Jeter for rebuilding the smart way simply because previous ownership groups have slashed payroll as well is not fair to the new ownership group. Again, im not saying this new ownership group is going to be great and make this into a contender, im just saying that as of now and given the moves theyve made and the direction theyve indicated they want to go to build this team, it's not fair to call them "just like Loria" simply because they trade away great players in an effort to rebuild the organization from top to bottom on a thoroughly mediocre team with a terrible minor league system.

[Namaste]

TL/DR: Jeter isn’t Loria because he hasn’t pocketed the cash saved from the FIRE SALE

[fish16]

TL/DR: Jeter isn’t Loria because he hasn’t pocketed the cash saved from the FIRE SALE

You should probably take the minute and read 3 not that long paragraphs rather than summarizing my post incorrectly or partially

[Party]

This interview only further cements my belief that LeBatard knows very little about baseball. Manfred made great points about baseball being a cyclical business. However, it's bullshit that he didn't know what was going to happen.

[rmc523]

No, the entire point is he's saying that he's not going to clean it up "just like loria." If he pockets the money and doesnt spend on IFA or the draft, then he's doing it like loria. But loria cheaped out on everything that it takes to make an organization consistent and sustainable while foolishly trying to make big splashy and stupid moves, and as of now Jeter's group hasnt shown that they are going to do that. Based on everything they've said, they plan to rebuild this organization in a consistent and sustainable way so as a small market they can theoretically compete year in and year out.

You can have an opinion on what he's going to do in that regard, and like he said the other night I understand if you dont trust him yet because you dont know him, but to say he's "just like Loria" simply because he is making payroll cuts in an effort to rebuild is just wrong and it shows a complete lack of understanding as to why Loria was such a terrible owner. He wasnt a bad owner because he had a less than average payroll, although he did have that. He was a terrible owner because he lacked any sort of baseball knowledge and ran the team as if he did and consistently made short sighted moves while also not investing in the sustainability of his team through the draft and international free agency. This current ownership group while cutting payroll is acknowledging that this team needs to be run completely differently in order to compete year in and year out, and that is completely different than simply "cutting payroll."

I understand the optics of a new owner coming in and slashing payroll and why it looks bad based on what previous ownership groups have done to this fanbase down here, but to blame Jeter for rebuilding the smart way simply because previous ownership groups have slashed payroll as well is not fair to the new ownership group. Again, im not saying this new ownership group is going to be great and make this into a contender, im just saying that as of now and given the moves theyve made and the direction theyve indicated they want to go to build this team, it's not fair to call them "just like Loria" simply because they trade away great players in an effort to rebuild the organization from top to bottom on a thoroughly mediocre team with a terrible minor league system.

And in all of your response, you missed my entire point. I never said anything about the draft or IFA. I will agree, we can't know what they'll do with those yet, and they may do it "right," so the jury is still out on those points. I was specifically discussing the trades/payroll.

They traded the guys to dump salary. They traded the guys to clear the books of those future commitments. PERIOD. They did not trade the guys because someone offered some monster package of prospects that blew us away, and you'd be stupid not to accept. They did not wait teams out and use their leverage to get better packages (more with Ozuna than Dee or Stanton). They asked for the moon (as they should), and then caved, taking whatever was offered as long as we got the money off the books. That's what I have a problem with. If we got consensus great returns in each of the deals, I'd be less upset - still wouldn't be thrilled, but at least I could feel better about the moves that were made. But when virtually the entire baseball community says "that's all they got?" in these deals, you know something's not right, and that the priority was not to get back the best prospects, but rather it was just to get rid of the money, and THAT is a Loria-esque move.

I'll be thrilled IF/when they re-allocate the money saved into the draft/IFAs, and that would certainly be different than Loria, but to this point, even Jeter himself (to my knowledge) has never said that they will do that when asked. I'm probably just jaded by Loria into expecting the worst, but the moves thus far haven't left me hopeful.

[Namaste]

You will swallow your FIRE SALE pill and LIKE IT, sir!

[MiamiHomer]

This interview only further cements my belief that LeBatard knows very little about baseball. Manfred made great points about baseball being a cyclical business. However, it's bullshit that he didn't know what was going to happen.

It's especially cyclical when the commissioner allows the sale price of a team in presumed huge debt go for 1.2 billion dollars. MLB screwed this up royally and whats left of Marlins baseball fans have to suffer once again. I'm pretty much done giving a crap about anything that occurs with this team anymore. I have no reason to.

[Namaste]

We forgot to commemorate MiamiHomer on 25,000 posts.

[Party]

What was Manfred supposed to do? Tell them to sell the team for less? We would have been fired at the next owner’s meeting. That’s not his job. His job is to make sure franchise values continue to grow. The Jeter Group met all the requirements for financing MLB set after the Mets/Dodgers fiasco years ago. I’m pretty sure the sale price included some debt being retired by Loria on his way out.

[sports24/7]

What was Manfred supposed to do? Tell them to sell the team for less? We would have been fired at the next owner’s meeting. That’s not his job. His job is to make sure franchise values continue to grow. The Jeter Group met all the requirements for financing MLB set after the Mets/Dodgers fiasco years ago. I’m pretty sure the sale price included some debt being retired by Loria on his way out.

MLB has to approve the sale. Approving the sale to a team that can't actually afford buying them is reckless, and other owners would understand that. This group had to borrow $400M just to make the purchase and is still looking for investors. That's pathetic. They can't force Loria to sell to someone else for less (well, they could, but they wouldn't), but they could have (wisely) nixed this deal to this group. Then they could have negotiated a fair deal with Mas.

FWIW, Barry Jackson is reporting this today:

Miami businessman Jorge Mas conveyed to me this month that if his Marlins offer had been accepted, he would have had a $130 million payroll in 2018, retained Giancarlo Stanton and hired a new general manager.

Wayne Rothbaum, who had a good chance to buy the team before one of his $200 million investors dropped out late, did not return phone calls regarding what he would have done as Marlins owner.

But a Major League Baseball source said his understanding was that the deep-pocked Rothbaum hadn’t planned to slash payroll in 2018 and was prepared to absorb substantial losses initially.

He intended to reduce executive salaries – among the highest in MLB under Jeffrey Loria – and cut what he considered to be wasteful non-player spending.

That extra money would have been used on player payroll, with the goal of rebuilding the farm system while the team was still contending.

Under Rothbaum, you likely would not have seen the big executive salaries such as the $5 million annually that Jeter reportedly is paying himself as CEO.

The Jeter/Sherman group had no choice but to cut payroll because Jeter – trying to lure investors to cover the bid beyond his modest $25 million investment and Sherman’s $390 million - assured them that there would not be cash calls to cover losses, according to a wealthy businessman approached by Jeter earlier this year.

Beyond borrowing $400 million to complete the sale (which Jeter said last week was not unusual), the Marlins owners are still trying to raise $200 million to cover debt and other expenses.

[Nick]

Miami businessman Jorge Mas conveyed to me this month that if his Marlins offer had been accepted, he would have had a $130 million payroll in 2018, retained Giancarlo Stanton and hired a new general manager.

Imagine that.

[fish16]

Mas might have done that, but him now after the fact saying he would have a $130 million payroll and kept stanton seems like pandering to an angry fan base.

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Also, a $130 payroll still means a cut in payroll on a team that was bad to begin with.

[rmc523]

And those two viewpoints are what I wanted for the team.

Yes it would've meant a reduction - but a reduction in areas that aren't the top core of the team - meaning jettisoning players like Tazawa and Ziegler and Prado.

[fish16]

And those two viewpoints are what I wanted for the team.

Yes it would've meant a reduction - but a reduction in areas that aren't the top core of the team - meaning jettisoning players like Tazawa and Ziegler and Prado.

First, no one is taking tazawa or Prado and no one is taking Ziegler without us eating probably half his contract. Second, you’re still just cutting 3 players on a team that won 77 games and still has no farm system. And that’s being hailed as preferable today?

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Some of you are really content with clear mediocrity

[Ralph]

I hope this shit fails so hard. I don’t care anymore. Hope none of these prospects pan out. Hope they don’t make enough money to repay Michael Dell. Hope this ownership group goes bankrupt. And I hope this here’s ingested parasite gets fired within a year. Goodbye. Merry Christmas.

And the only person content with mediocrity is fish16.