The Mess in Miami

Oh how quick things can turn. The Miami Marlins finally got out from under the tumultuous Loria regime, something that should bring nothing but joy to the fans in Miami, but the more things change the more they stay the same for Marlins fans. The new head of baseball in Miami is this guy named Derek Jeter (maybe you've heard of him) and he's only brought the same kind of bad news that Loria had going throughout his ownership. Jeter is planning to trim payroll down to about 90 million and start a rebuilding process like that of the Astros and Cubs. While Jeter has dug a hole by firing some of the popular faces of the franchise like Jack McKeon, Andre Dawson, Tony Perez, and Mr. Marlin himself Jeff Conine. Jeter has quickly found himself on the wrong side of fans in Miami almost as fast as he was gifted the team. Jeter was recently booed while he was in attendance at a Miami Heats game and put on the jumbo-tron.

The latest public relations fiasco that has fallen "Mr. November" involves the recently crowned MVP Giancarlo Stanton. Before Jeter took the helm of the Marlins Loria signed Stanton to a huge deal, 10 years 325 million dollar to be exact, but the problem for Jeter is that Stanton's deal is heavily backloaded with 218 million being owed during the last 7 years of the contract and Loria granted Stanton a no trade clause. The no trade clause has become the biggest thorn in Jeter's side since he can't just send Stanton to whichever team has the best offer. Stanton does have an opt out clause in his contract that allows him to become a free agent in the year 2020. That's also the year that Mike Trout becomes a free agent (more on that for a later post). Jeter's rebuild has no place for the heavy anchor that is Stanton's contract and it has come to light that at some point an ultimatum was laid out to Stanton to either accept a deal or be left on a team where he's the only player of value. The question I have is what's the point of the ultimatum if either which way the Marlins are going to be a bunch of rookies learning things the hard way while their owner gets booed even when he's not at work.