Florida Marlins

[Born in Detroit]

They aren't too bad. The stadium is bad, and nobody goes to games unless a New York team is in town (although there was a huge walkup crowd when we went to see Randy Johnson pitch on a Friday night), but the team is pretty good. I think they're a year ahead of Detroit. Unfortunately, they'll probably end up losing guys like Cliff Floyd, Charles Johnson, and Preston Wilson, who are established stars. They say it's part of the game, you have to trade higher-priced talent for lower-priced talent when you can't afford the higher prices, but it is still annoying.

These owners are so rich, I don't see why they don't suck it up and spend the extra $20 M or so to keep the guys who are already performing, and build the revenues by winning. Hell, some of them spend $20 M on a yacht or a house. In sports, you don't make money first and then spend it, you spend it and then make it back. Besides, you got into ownership because you were rich and wanted the prestige, so get the prestige by paying for wins instead of getting the ridicule and hatred by being a penny pincher.

P.S. South Florida deserves a real baseball stadium, and I believe they'd have good attendance if they got one in Broward County. (Miami is a bad idea, but I'd still go.) It isn't fair to compare us to places like Boston or Chicago, because we don't have generations of fans rooted in the history of the franchise. But we have the population and the love of baseball to support a team if it's stable and the park is not a brutal place to spend a day.

[Oblong]

Would you need a dome because of the heat and storms?

I think AZ and FL can both support teams because many of the people are transplanted from other parts of the country. It's not that Florida can't support a team, it's the ownership.

Your comments about the owners and the reason they buy teams points to the different dynamics in the business of sports vs. other business. In general business, the more profitable you are, the more successful you are in your business. There's more of a direct relationship. In baseball they aren't directly related. Sucess as a team (in terms of winning/losing) doesn't directly affect the bottom line. There doesn't have to be a relationship. Yes it can have an affect because theoretically that should spur interest in the team and increase attendace but it's not a fact and does not have to occur. You could win 162 games a year and have nobody show up, there's nothing preventing that from happening. Conversly you could lose 162 and have a sellout for every game and make a ton of money.

So what's the owner's goal? Is it to drive up the value of the team so that he can sell it fora huge profit? Is it to garner prestige and be branded a winner with no regard to $$ since he has other businesses to keep him wealthy? Is it to generate cash for himself through low payroll, higher revenue sharing etc.?

[Born in Detroit]

A retractable roof would make a lot of sense here, but I think you could design and position the stadium so that the sun isn't as much of a problem as it is at Pro Player. But besides the sun and rain (I don't think the rain is as big a problem here as it is in central Florida), you just need a better configuration. There is no coziness to the field, the seats don't face home plate, it's set up for a rectangular footballl field. It's far too big, it's ugly, and even when there's a good crowd it feels empty.

Of course, when I went there to see Michigan beat Alabama in the Orange Bowl, it was packed and rocking. There's a huge difference between football and baseball.

[Evenings with Ernie]

Nobody has better young arms than the Marlins. It would be a shame if they became like Montreal, in which all their top players leave. That might be the case for some of them, but I would think the Miami area would be a draw for free agents.

[qsilvr2531]

Charles Johnson was a FA signing by the Marlins. I don't really think it makes much sense to talk about losing him as losing an established star. They signed him as an established star, after trading him for Mike Piaza. Ramon Castro is better than a good portion of the starting catchers today, and if/when Johnson leaves, his loss won't be felt all that much. Losing Floyd will be a bigger loss. I thought they signed Wilson to a long term contract before this or last season, and I thought it was way more than he deserved (as an average offensive and defensive CF at best). But I could be thinking of someon else.

The reason no one goes to marlins games is Wayne Huzienga ripped them off and ran away with a bunch of cash. Cash he is still making since he has part ownership of the stadium revenues. The Marlins lease is terrible (which didn't hurt Huzienga since he was paying himself), and allowed Wayne to claim huge losses even though his team made him millions of dollars. And now Florida fans are stuck with Jeff (I killed baseball in Montreal and I can damn well kill it in Florida if Bud Selig lets me) Loria, who has no business even being allowed to own another team after what he did in Montreal. Anyone who wants to know what is wrong with baseball take a good long look at Jeff Loria's practices in Montreal.