HawkFan

Access to the seats around the dugout prior to the game for autographs, though lookign at the renderings and reading the stadium description in the agreement, fans will no longer be able to do that.

I am so excited. Hopefully the ticket prices are low . Unfortunately, don't expect that. 1) The cheapest tickets now are $9, so new tickets are showing roughly a 67% increase; there's no telling what kind of increases we can expect on more prime seats. 2) In the agreement, the city will lease out the parking spaces at $10-15, with the Marlins receving all profits made from then re-selling the spaces. Obviously, it will be $15-20 to park at a game. I think the residents of the area won't have trouble selling their lawns even wit hthe parking garage. 3) If the food court is going to have "sushi and stone crabs" don't expect $3-4 hot dogs. Clearly, they're going to be going for a higher-end vendor. All in all, once the stadium opens, the MArlins will cease to be affordable family entertainment, which is quite ironic as that was one of the arguments Samson constantly used to justify the deal.

Because of MLBPA and broadcasting rules, all uniform and logo changes have to be submitted a year in advance. While I could see them wanting to phase in the new logo and name to help drive merchandise sales, if the whole point of a new name is to "start with a clean slate," then it really only makes sense to do that once they have moved into their new home.

I'm also with some on this posting, I mourn the loss of the Florida Marlins. While I was born in Miami and am a Dolphins fan, I did not become a Marlins fan 6/10/91 because they would be playing in Miami, but because they would FLORIDA'S TEAM. This whole state was excited about the Marlins at one point, Sirspud, and there are many more of us still outside S. FL then many of you think. You used to see Teal hats all the time in the mid-90's. It was crazy up here in Orlando in 97 and 03 with watch parties and the like. I still remember working Halloween Horror Nights at IOA in 03 and hearing people chear "Let's Go Marlins" all over the park, then the whole park steadily erupting in applause like a wave after Josh Beckett got the final out. I honestly blame the overall declining support of the team wholely on the Marlins. In 97, they moved television coverage to Sports Channel Florida, which pretty much was only available in South Florida. Then, coupled with the firesale and subsequent losing seasons, they slipped into obscurity. You can't even blame that on the Rays, because until this past season, they have never drawn the attention around the state the Marlins did in their prime, evevn during the Rays' innagural season. They stopped renewing radio contracts around the state (including Orlando), and then the final nail in the coffin was moving Spring Training from Central Florida (Viera) to S. FL. No, the striking down in this situation is to the Marlins fan living outside of the Miami area, not the state snubbing the team. The state legislature was so close to passing the sales tax exemption for the team last time, it just ran out of time on the House Floor after the Senate passed it. In the end, I can't blame the team for wanting to start anew in the new stadium. I can't blame them for wanting to focus on the core population that will drive their revenue for 30+ years. And I can't blame the S. FL fan who has new enthusiasm and support for the team because it is "theirs" (instead of having to "share" with the rest of the state). But hopefully, you all can understand it from our perspective, and can understand while I will continue to root for the Marlins, I won't be throwing away my classic "Florida" away jersey anytime soon. I probably won't be purchasing near as much merchandise as I do now (easily 200-300 a year, currently), especially if it is plastered with "Miami." I also want to point out, technically, the balance of the stadium costs will not be paid by you the S. FL taxpayer, but by me and everyone else that visits city of Miami and Miami/Dade county. Every time I go down there to watch a game going forward, I'm going to help keep them here in Florida at the expense of the name I honestly hold dear: FLORIDA Marlins. Kind of ironic and depressing, actually.

All I know is I picked the right game to attend my only game this spring! What's not mentioned in box scores were the hordes of snowbirds who fell silent by the third inning, who then started asking who this Nolasco kid was. I happily answered them, and then the conversation turned to the rest of the team. I especially loved the guy sitting in front of me. He asked "Hey, isn't that Uggla the guy that had three errors in the All-Star game?" I told him he was, but that wasn't representative of his defense, that while he didn't have the best range, he was still a quality 2B. No sooner did I say that, but he helped turn a real nice double play in the 1st inning. Another thing I don't see mentioned in any of the articles was the bomb Raynor hit to LF. It almost cleared the berm and stadium.

Fredi's a smart guy, and after what happened to Pinto down the stretch (and the rest of the bullpen), I think he'll do a better job. I'd like to see him a little more firey at times, but that has never been his style; I suppose that's what the players respond to. I'm just concerned Hanley's (and possibly now Dan's) egos will grow with their salaries and visibility, and they might need a kick in the pants every once in a while to keep them on the straight and narrow. All in all, I think it's a clear indication of how much the organization as a whole respects the job he's been doing, as this extension will make him the longest-tenured manager in our history. Pretty poignent accomplishment for one of the whole organization's first employees and its first manager (Eerie).

Anibal & Conine are sharing No. 19? Since Andre, Tony and Niner are only special assistants/on field helpers, they can wear their old numbers even though they conflict w/ current players. If they were official members of the coaching staff, it'd be different.

He was wrong to bring it up the day of. He had two weeks since the city released the design schematics. He had several months during Braman's lawsuit. He had a full year since the working agreements were adopted. And also there was absolutely no sense trying to drop a tax on Loria if he sold the team, or if the team sold in the event of his death, on the day of. It was unnecessary with the no-relocation clause in place. Emphasis on WAS, since it's now back on the table no thanks to that jackass. Actually, the "Sales Kicker" clause where the city and county would receive a portion of the proceeds if he team were to be sold, already is in the agreement. I believe Sarnoff just wants a bigger piece of the (potential) pie. And to look good.

We've discussed the much-maligned apparant conditioning towards orange alot. I think it's horrendous. Where on a marlin is there orange? A little yellow, but no bright orange that's been plastered all over the marketing the past couple of years. Loria's on record saying he didn't like the teal because it was an 80's color; how is neon orange not? While the early years had too much teal, the new uni's don't have enough (I don't even think the thin outline around the script even counts because it's only visible up close). Loria wants to pay homage to the Marlins heritage and bring in something new, instead we look like the Yankees or White Sox, and probably will end up looking like the O's or Giants. Actually, now that I think of it, putting all of his comments together w/ the orange marketing and the blue seats in he renderings, I bet you they're going the route of the minor league Miami Marlins color scheme. Nothing like looking precisely like your divisional rivals.

Amen brother, on those 4 wonderful words! Glad you and your family had a great day! Lil' Hawkfan and I are looking forward to seeing the Fish play the Tigers in Lakeland. I miss those days of walking amongt the players around the Carl Barger complex. I've yet to mke it down there for training camp prior to ST.

Ugghh, I too thought this was going to be a new program by MLB Network, possibly featuring new retrospective interviews by the players. Instead, it was the same lame program that was released on VHS following the series, and was given out on DVD at a game 2 yrs ago. I can't stand all of the ""in crowd" shots (ie Alouser).

You can't do that because of the high population of Ray fans around there. I want to end this talk of a great bastion of support for the Rays in Orlando. There are easily double or tripple the Marlins fans up here than Rays fans. There is more interest in them lately than ever before, but it's only 4-6 months old and will only last as long as the Rays win. This whole Orlando/Rays connection is based on the relative proximity to Tampa/St. Pete. However, it takes about an hour and a half to get to the Trop from Downtown Orlando; factor in rush hour traffic, it takes over 2 hours to get there. For that reason, you're not getting that much Orlando support on any given weeknight w/ 7:05 start times. They moved their AA team to Montgomery, AL, and only just recently brought a TV presence to most of Central FL w/ Brighthouse Networks FINALLY getting FSN (though, the Marlins happily come along for the ride to cancel them out). They held 3 game series the past two years here (Wide World of Sports @ Disney, the Braves Spring Training home), which did well. However, judging by the mix of people and lack of Rays hats and shirts, that is more an indication of the pent up demand for MLB in Orlando than support for the Rays. Orlando is the 19th largest TV market in the US, and currently the largest w/o an MLB team. Tampa is only 400k more, and Miami is actually olnly 100k ahead of Orlando, believe it or not. Forbes ranked us as the 5th best city ripe for sports growth, with the population expected to grow 60% over the next 20 years. I believe there's plenty population here to support its own team, even with the Rays still in St. Pete. That being said, as much as I would L-O-V-E my Fish up here, it's not possible at the moment should the should the Miami stadium fall short. We've got over a billion in tourist tx $'s earmarked for the Magic's new arena, a performing arts center and Citrus Bowl rennovations; currently, they're trying to put the axe on the Cirus Bowl and Performing Arts center because of shrinking tax revenues (See, it's a universal problem, not endemic to So.FL). So, unless a stadium were to be financed almost entirely privately, there's no way one's getting built here within the next 5 or 10 years. I believe it's in everyone's best interests for the Marlins to stay in South Florida, and I think in the end it will happen.

It's sad how the hobby of autograph collecting many of us grew up w/ as kids has devolved in a dog-eat-dog free for all because of the dealers. When big money starteed creaping in, and these slime balls became dependent on obtaining a signature to pay their next month's rent, it ruined a lot of the fun for us true hobbyists. It's horrible to see grown men knock down a kid to get an autograph; I remember when I was that kid in the 80's, adults would take my ball to get it signed and help out. Now, I've seen adults take a ball if it had some signatures and run off with it. They push, swear and will not help if they're in front of a "pile" and someone else is in the back. They don't give up their space to someone else after they've obtained a player because they would then lose that spot for the next player that might come along. Common courtesy and decency that used to be prevelant is almost non-existent these days. Someone mentioned try to protect a kid from getting smooshed against the stage when Hanley came out; that happened to me in Wintere Haven in David Justice's last Spring Training w/ the Indians. I had to use all of my might to protect a 7 year old girl in front of me from getting plastered into the chain link fence; my hands were bleeding from the pressure being pushed on my back. All of this for a washed-up, former ROY. These losers don't realize they increase their own chances (and everyone else's) to get an autograph if they're patient, calm, orderly and respectful. As much as I want to get my boy into autograph collecting as a daddy-son activity, I honestly fear for his safety. As big a Marlins fan as I am and as much as happy as I would have been just to get a couple of fish auto's, from the sounds of it I'm much happier we chose to have my son's birthday party Saturday instead of yesterday.

I love how the tank (or whatever it is) in CF creates a curved/wavy version of the Triangle. Loria was true to his word that they would incorporate that into the field dimensions (just not quite as severe). As far as the tank itself, I'm pretty positive they said they had looked into adding a Marlin tank in CF, but that the size required to adequately (and safely) accomodate a Marlin was unfeasible. Perhaps a robotic one? Finally, it looks as if the players will park in the parking grages w/ the rest of us shmoes; there doesn't appear to be any auxillary parking lots or structures attached to the stadium.

While I personally wish they would sign him to a 2 or 3 yr deal similar to Hanley since I think they're the heart of the team, it's not fair to completely hate on the F.O. for this. First, everyone I think can universally agree that Dan isn't the long-term solution at second (F.O., Dan and his agent and even most on this board) with C.C. waiting in the wings, and even Bonifacio a capable replacement. From a business perspective, if he's not our LT 2nd basebman, it makes no sense to sign him to a LT deal. by going year-to-year in arbitration, it makes him more attractive for trade suitors (so they can then sign him to a LT deal through their free agent years ala Miguel Cabrera). In addition, if he has down years through arbitration, we would save $ over a LT deal which could then be used to sign additional FA's or invest in other arbitration-eligible players. Second, the 950k differential in offer vs. asking places in the mid-to-higher range of differentials, so we weren't exactly low-balling him. There are several teams whose differnetials for their arbitration players are much higher. Even the differentials for our former players come out slightly higher: Jacobs (1.05 MM diff), Willingham (1.05 MM) and Olsen (1 MM). Considering the SO's and LOW OBP, I would put Dan's salary more in the 4.5-5 MM range, so I think the Marlins were slightly undervaluing and Dan was slightly overvaluing, his value (which makes sense). Finally, we signed all but one of our arbitration eligible players that were left after the trades. Anyone else see this as a positive step in the right direction in retainign our players and breaking the trade-when-they-get-too-expensive mentality? I for one certainly do.

Josh Friedman tonight said what I've been saying for awhile. If you're going to give Jay Gibbons a chance...why not Barry Bonds? I think it's a joke that one of the best hitters of all-time isn't even getting a chance, when he's willing to play for the minimum. I heard that too. But there is a huge difference between a nobody like Gibbons and Barry Bonds when it comes to steroids backlash. That said, as a noted Bonds hater, I'd take him on my team in a heartbeat. And where would he play, Rab? Certainly not in the Outfield. With the talk of Griffey not being able to play OF on a regular basis any more, well Bonds is even more of a liability out there. If he plays again, which I doubt he will, it will be as a DH in the AL. Even though he's willing to take a minimum deal, I don't see as how the Player's Union will let him.

We haven't heard any more on the Catching front, but we have to figure Pudge is still on our radar if he takes a discount to return. MY question is, if we can't get Pudge, what about Greg Zaun? What about Greg Zaun? He made 3.8 million last year w/ the Jays, but I doubt he'll get too much more than that since he's only a solid backup on most teams. While his hitting was never up to snuff, I liked him when he was with us in the late 90's. He really knows how to handle a staff and call a game. Could be the strong veteran presence behind the plate to help along our young guns on the mound, and probably will be cheaper than Pudge.

While the Marlins said it was because of his injury and upcoming arbitration, I'm wondering if this was the real reason the Marlins cut him.

I woke up to this wonderful New Year's present yesterday morning, though I didn't post about it because I didn't think anyone really cared about the plight of the Orlando-area Marlins fan. With all of the letters I've written to MLB, Marlins and Bright House through the years, it certainly seemed like they didn't. When Wayne H. moved the Marlins broadcasts to his new Sports Channel Florida from Sunshine before the 97 season, Brighthouse (at the time Time Warner) said there wasn't demand in the Orlando market for two regional sports channels. When the assets were purchased by Fox Sports, Brighthouse contended there still wasn't demand for two RS channels, despite FSN and Sun Sports being in the Tampa and Melbourne markets. Also in that time frame, Orlando lost it's radio affiliate following the 03 Championship, so we've been on blackout far too long. It's sad, but in the end it wasn't the lure of young franchise w/ two WS titles that got the deal done, but the Magic moving half of their broadcasts to FSN that finally forced Brighthouse's hand.

Waechter going to the Royals and Rhodes to the Reds. While we all pretty much expected Rhodes not to be back, they got him for a relatively cheap 2 yr/4 million deal (which I think he deserved based on his shut-down numbers w/ the Marlins last year). I knew Doug filed for FA, but I thought I read the Marlins had every intention of re-signing him. Looks like they got him for 1 yr/640k. Once again, totally affordable for arguably our most consistent bullpen arm last year. I'm not sure what we were doing letting them both go.

I'm bummed that Matty's gone simply because of his tenure with the organization, and because he was such a great guy (he lead the clubhouse prayer two years ago whn Juan Encarnacion was struck in the eye while w/ the Reds). However, the injuries were starting to pile up and there really wasn't a place for him w/ the Fish anymore w/ the emergance of Baker. I think he'll catch on w/ someone fairly quickly, as he's a solidd backup and handles a pitching staff well. Saying he will end up in AAA is a discredit. I'm terrified at the prospect of Rabelo getting the backup job, but seeing as how we've had no luck so far finding another backstop through trades (and because he's on the 40 man roster), I believe the article when it syas the Marlins are prepared to go with him as the backup. He showed me no upside what-so-ever last year, poor defense and offense. I'd much rather go w/ Paul Hoover if we're looking at internal candidates (though he did declare for FA).

There seems to be three arguments going on in this thread right now, and I would like to weigh in on all: stats v. perception, Cantu v. Hermida and whether the Stark proposed Marlins-Rays trade would be a good one or not. As far as statistics, one thing everyone forgets about statistics and their application to baseball is that a sandalone season for an individual player doesn't necessarily mean much because there's not a large enough sample size to establish much credibility for those results. Perhaps someone with more knowledge of Sabremetrics might know the approx. statisical signifigcance of a normal MLB season for a player, but I doubt it's large enough to say with any certainty those results are typical for a player and not an outlier (chance). Break that out into situational stats (ie- stats against lefties, or late ingames with close scores), and you further dilute the power those stats have to project future performance of a player. That's why it's much better to look at trends (say over 3 yrs) or complete career #'s. Don't get me wrong, I'm a numbers person myself; I have an Economics degree and am an Large Group Underwriter for a major insurance company. However, there are intangibles that are difficult to quantify in sats: leadership, dedication, reputation, etc. They all have varying level of impacts on a player and team's results, and often the only way to identify these intangibles is by wathcing the game (perception). Perception can be just as faulty as the numbers, of course, for one's analysis of Canu's clutch abilities might be colored by the games you watched where he knocked in the tieing or go-ahead runs, and not by the ones you missed where he struck out w/RISP. It's important to balance the two to get a better idea of "the truth." As far as Cantu vs. Hermida, I think many people's opinions are influenced by the generally-squandered potential of Hermida and the outperformance of expectations for Cantu. Hermida has shown flashes of what made him a 1st round pick (contrary to our established propensity to go piching inthe first couple of rounds), but hasn't shown the progression or consistency the other players from outside of the organization of similar age and experience have been able to show in the same time span (Hanley, Dan, even Jacobs). As far as Cantu, the Marlins were universally picked to be the worst team in the NL, if not MLB because of the void from Miggy's departure. Jorge was brought in as a non-roster invitee with a chance to compete for a job. No one expected much from him, esp after his 07 season- all he did was fill that void more than adequately. He exceeded most expectations, and though not the reason, a part of why the Marlins were in contention until July. If we are to trade one, I say Hermida. 1) I feel he'd get the highest return value (more team's are looking for power hiting RF's than 3B's, thus we'd be able to choose the best deals and leverage the teams against eachother), 2) Our OF talent is closer to bigleague ready than Matt Dominguez and 3) We desperately need consistency with this franchise. While no one is going to confuse him with the long-term answer at third, he's a solid player capable of posting good offensive numbers and adequate defense. With Hanley, Dan and (hopefully) Maybin, that's all we need. I don't see how anyone could argue a rotation at third is better thanone player getting the majority of the AB's reps. I don't want to see both corner IF spos new and/or rotation players. As far as the proposed Rays trade, that is the sorriest package involving the Marlins I've seen proposed yet. While Bartlett is arguably the best defensive SS in baseball, his offensive ability is anemic at best; we already have our SS and there's no guarantee he could take to another position with the same kind of ability as SS. I think his return value is minimal. Jackson is a scrub; I believe his W-L record is a product of the Ray's surprising offense, not his pitching prowess. His ERA and WHIP is consistantly poor, and besides, we have plenty of power pitchers of the roster. In the NL east, we need more control and finesse. Maybe if we get JAckson, we should convert him back to OF to replace Hermida (Jackson's orignal position with the Dodgers in the minors) Andy could fill that role, but as far as ptiching from that franchise, I'd rather get Jeff Niemann.

Also, it's worth mentioning that Jackson has been playing pro-ball for 7 years, as opposed to Miller's 3. which would make Jackson a more experienced pitcher for us next year and less prone to nerves getting to him. Jackson is similar to Miller except that he has a fastball that, while very fast, is also very straight. So in addition to him having poor control, he is still very hittable as well despite the manager strikeouts. Personally, I think that Miller stinks and has been horribly mishandled by both teams he has been with. But he is a different animal than Jackson, with the only similarity being that (despite Jackson's seemingly good numbers) they both don't have adequate command and get knocked out of starts way too early. That and Miller's a lefty and Jackson is a righty.

Anyone know if the ticket and/or parking prices have chnaged for next year? Just curious, because the Rays have boosted their ticket prices on the back of their WS appearance. Parking there is now $15, unless you have more than 4 people in the car (in which case i's free). Clearly, Sternberg doesn't have a strong understanding of Economics, because sports tickets are one of those ultimate discretionary expenditures. Sporting event demand is highly elastic (sensitive to changes in price), and for highly elastic goods, one lowers prices to maximize revenue (bc you will sell more units, or tickets in this case). For all people make about our attendance woes, the Rays haven't done much better (with the exception of this year); over the past 8 years, we're actually averaging 800 more per game. I just find it funny that for a team w/ no tradition for winning or fan support, they expect the fans to come out even more when they're charging more? Not in that market; Tampa's even more badwagon hat So.Flo.

He has the arm to play on the warning track in the bermuda triangle. It's epic. ...and the speed. He's off to a fast start in the DWL but not enough at bats yet to be meaningful. I thought I read he was injured. Broken wrist because of HBP. Raynor also injured HBP, broken hand. Did I misread or was that a bad report? Man, if that's the case, the guy just can't catch a, er, break.