Chum Bucket

by craig on Mar 2, 2009 2:22 PM EST in News and Rumors

Talk about setting a new low in getting stuff out, but I did it. Yay me.

Also for some reason my type as you go spell checker decided to take the day off, so today's post will make me look dumber than normal. Which I grant you, is a hard thing to do.

Enough about that crap. The Marlins are taking a few days off from playing other major league clubs in the longest spring training ever. Today was a couple of intrasquad scrimmages and the next two days they will be playing against a couple of WBC teams.

Be that as it may, much like the white rabbit, I'm late.

Have a Great Day!

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Toxic politics and the stadium

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/2009-03-02-1541558418_x.htm

http://cbs4.com/sports/Marlins.stadium.orange.2.948378.html

by jrhana on Mar 2, 2009 5:48 PM EST reply actions

watching cbs4 news at 11

Carlos Alvarez trashed the city commission and politicking. No mention of Sarnoff, but obviously talking about him. Even Spence-Jones seems to be against it now, and Sampson looks like an idiot at the meeting wearing some red and black striped socks with his suit. Let’s go San Antonia Marlins!

by jrsyeagle on Mar 2, 2009 11:09 PM EST reply actions

Orange Bowl site looks grim to me.

Realistically the Marlins better focus on possible strategies

1) Continue to let both the city and the county play games and hold the franchise hostage to political grandstanding for another 10 years. Don’t laugh because this has indeed been going on for years and years and years and years and years. John Henry, a very bright guy with very deep pockets, made a quick and prescient judgement that Dade and Miami politicians were simply impossible to deal with.

Personally I think this has now become the worst strategy for the Marlins. They have expended a huge amount of time and energy in this deal only to be treated like garbage by these City of Miami politicians.

2) Find another site in South Florida. To my knowledge, Broward and Palm Beach and points north have shown zero interest. That leaves us with Dade. So they could go back to the site in NW Dade-Hialeah-Ugly area but convenient to the turnpike so it is definitely a possibility. The Orange Bowl site is aesthetically superior, but the process of dealing with two groups of out of control politicians is just too much. For the Hialeah spot, Dade County would be the only political body to contend with. I doubt if the city of Hialeah would object-they would be crazy not to welcome the opportunity.

3) Do nothing (ie just stay where they are). Maybe Ross would renegotiate the horrible lease and let the Marlins stay. They have even talked about putting a roof on Dolphin Stadium. The problem is that the Hurricanes have a clause in their contract saying there will be no more baseball in Dolphin Stadium. Ross however seems like a smart guy and an excellent business man. Maybe he could partner with the Marlins and do some intelligent promotion for the team. Sounds like he has great ideas for promoting the Dolphins and he could use these skills to promote the Marlins. They could make the lease payments proportional to the attendance and give the Marlins a share of the concessions and parking.It could turn into a win win situation for both teams managements.

This is now my favorite idea, but Ross and the Hurricanes would need to cooperate. It’s a 35 mile drive for me, but I’ve gotten so I can do it in my sleep. And the parking is convenient (as I refrain from thinking about all those ugly Mets fans ).

4) Move to Texas or the West Coast or even Brooklyn. Hard to do with this economy, but maybe some community would be willing to take them in. Maybe I’ll follow them to wherever they go (as long as it’s not the NYC area). Actually NYC could support another team IMO, but the Yankees and the Mets have no intention of sharing their riches with the Marlins.

Maybe if the Marlins started working on all these possibilities the City of Miami politicians would wake up suddenly as they face the possibility of choking on their Orange Bowl site. That’s sure going to attract a lot of tourists with money: a beautiful parking lot in the heart of down town little Havana. Geez.

5) Of course maybe it could be done with private money. But where is this guy with such deep pockets. Maybe Univision would be interested.

Man I am p.o.’d at these stupid politicians. I thought the stadium was a done deal. Naive on my part that.

by jrhana on Mar 3, 2009 9:01 AM EST reply actions

of note

1) Agreed to a point. The question becomes whether or not the Marlins can find anyone out there willing to deal with them now. I doubt it. This may be their only choice.

2) I believe the Hialeah site was contingent on Jorge Perez putting up money for a new development surrounding the stadium. He’s having money problems of his own.

3) I wouldn’t mind seeing something built next to JRS. But for any significant upgrades, Ross will want a part of the Marlins and Loria seems bent on keeping it all for himself.

4) I personally feel that another NY team would probably be the best thing for baseball. With the Mets and Yankees getting deals from the city I doubt they’re willing to shell out any more. The Marlins already flirted with San Antonio and Portland and came up empty. I really don’t think anybody else wants them. Things would change if Loria were to sell the team…

5) Loria… selling… not going to happen any time soon. We can dream though.

I know I’m in the minority here, but I feel that the Marlins and Sampson are just as much to blame for this mess as the politicians are. They’ve played hard ball from the beginning and constantly whined about not getting enough public money. Getting a giant chunk of land in the middle of Miami isn’t enough for them? If I were in charge I would have wished them well years ago and ended it there. There will be MLB in Miami one way or the other. It’s just too big of a market to ignore.

by brickell on Mar 3, 2009 10:35 AM EST up reply actions

Where do they go?

The economy is so bad right now i can’t see anyone forking up the money to land the Fish. It seems like they are stuck here, whether Loria likes it or not. A huge part of my wanting the stadium is so that the OB doesn’t die in vain. If the stadium doesn’t go there, what does? A wal-mart? A courthouse with a massive parking lot? 100 football sized fields? I still have faith that these ass-tards will come to their senses and realize how nonsensical all their bickering and posturing is. The city and county politicians have never ceased to amaze me. I just cannot comprehend how they get into office and that we continue to have these problems year after year.

by GMFB on Mar 3, 2009 10:43 AM EST reply actions

someone will always fork over the money.

No matter how grim the economic times, some city out there will want a team. For places like Portland, Nashville, etc., it’s a status thing, proof that they’re a “big-league town” and not some second-rater. They can sell it to their communities the same way everyone else does: “Bringing a team to our city will create a huge number of jobs! There’ll be construction jobs, and new jobs as businesses and nightlife spring up all around the new stadium! Within a year, our downtown will be one of the busiest, most popular and profitable downtowns in the nation!”

Even in bad economic times, people love their sports.

by Fishcrazy on Mar 3, 2009 9:22 PM EST up reply actions

New Locations

I think it’s either got to be Portland, San Antonio, or Nashville. I’d love to see them got o NJ, and God knows the Meadowlands would take them with open arms since the Nets will/should be leaving within 3 years and the devils are gone, but it won’t happen. Nashville could support a team and is a decent market, and allows for no realigning of divisions. I don’t know if San Antonio would want us back after we gave them the run around last time. Portland has always been clammering for a team, this would be their chance.

Of course there is always the possibility of contraction in the league…

by jrsyeagle on Mar 3, 2009 12:21 PM EST reply actions

I know I've posted this before, but...

Back in 2007, Nate Silver did a study on potential markets for MLB expansion and concluded thusly:

There is, to my mind, exactly one place that would clearly be viable for the 31st major league franchise, and that place is Charlotte, North Carolina. The South as a whole is underrepresented in the major leagues, which is what enables the Braves to control such a substantial TV audience. Charlotte is no metropolis, but it is conveniently located at the center of several mid-size markets, including the Winston-Salem/Greensboro/Raleigh-Durham corridor along I-40, and Columbia, South Carolina. What’s more, the area is growing rapidly, and would give both the Braves and the Nationals a natural rival in the NL East.

And for the Marlins it only makes more sense, staying in the NL East and potentially starting with a leg-up in terms of both fans and operations from all the years with the Mudcats.

by dan 2.0 on Mar 3, 2009 12:54 PM EST reply actions