MLB Gives Blessing To Marlins Fire Sale
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig shocked no one Monday when his office approved the massive fire sale trade of Miami Marlins stars to the Toronto Blue Jays.
"After a thorough examination of this information, it is my conclusion that this transaction, involving established Major Leaguers and highly regarded young players and prospects, represents the exercise of plausible baseball judgment on the part of both Clubs, does not violate any express rule of Major League Baseball and does not otherwise warrant the exercise of any of my powers to prevent its completion," Selig said in a statement.
The trade was consummated last week, but Selig's office promised to review the trade and said it understood the fan anger over the trade.
Officially, the trade sends Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, John Buck, Emilio Bonifacio and cash considerations to the Blue Jays for Adeiny Hechavarria, Justin Nicolino, Jake Marisnick, Henderson Alvarez, Anthony DeSclafani, Jeff Mathis, and Yunel Escobar.
"We want to get back to our winning way, and we want a winning baseball team for our fans," Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said. "It's incumbent on us to make the changes necessary to make us a winner again."
Loria was apparently serious when he made the above statement that was released by the team.
The trade may turn out one day to be a good baseball trade, but currently, it will go down as one of the worst trades in recent memory and completely destroyed any good will the Miami fans had for Loria and the Marlins.
The Marlins promised to spend big on the roster and did, only to trade away all of those players less than a year after they were acquired. The only big name left on the Marlins roster is Giancarlo Stanton and he's angry over the massive fire sale of talent.
Reyes was due $96 million over the next five years; Buehrle was set to get $52 million over the next three years; and Josh Johnson was set to make $13.75 million in 2013, the final year of his deal. All total, including John Buck's $6 million contract for 2013, the Marlins traded away more than $130 million in contracts to the Blue Jays.
The completion of the trade will be the final act of owner Jeffrey Loria getting a new stadium. The team sold itself as a completely new franchise in 2012 while opening the state-0f-the-art Marlins Park and spending more than a hundred million dollars on free agents.
The team also hired World Series winning manager Ozzie Guillen to take the team to the next level.
Yet roughly a year later, the Marlins have reverted to the same old team that baseball fans in Miami have come to loathe.
In 1997, the Marlins held a fire sale and traded away every good player the team had and then repeated the process again over the two years after winning the World Series in 2003. This will be the third time the Marlins have blown up the team since 1997.
