fauowls44

Why am I not surprised by this? Oh yeah, because Loria screwed our one chance to get him earlier this season. I'm pretty sure that if Loria had gotten his way, Valentine would have been hired last year. Either way, at this point I'd like to see Edwin get the chance to manage the team for a full season with a rebuilt bullpen.

The most memorable thing about the Marlins' Henry Era was him promising to build a stadium while negotiating to buy the team...then saying that he'd have to build a really small, scaled down stadium if he was going to build it with his own money....then crying poor when striking out trying to get state money....and finally somehow finding $700 million to buy the Red Sox when they became available. I know that he and his ownership group is generally well-liked in Boston, but he did the Marlins franchise no favors in his time here. Dombrowski did a great job during that time...Henry was a weasel. He came in saying he was going to save the franchise and then bolted when a more attractive situation came along. While we may not like the way Loria has operated the team, at least he and Samson stuck it out, fought a long, tough battle, and saved the future of baseball in Miami. The same can't be said for John Henry.

I disagree. A couple of reasons...First, I think both teams have been victims of bad stadium situations. The Marlins play in a football stadium and have always needed stadium with protection from the elements. Thankfully, we only have one season left at Sun Life. Most fans down here have never been to a game at a real MLB Ballpark. That really does make the experience so much better. The Rays at least have assurance their games will be played on time and in comfort, but the stadium is in the wrong part of town. As a result of these poor stadium situations, the teams have operated on shoe-string budgets, and that will certainly never endear the teams to the fans. Also, both teams play in areas of the country with a lot of transplants from other places. There are just too many Mets/Yankee/Phillies/Red Sox fans living in this state. Those people aren't just going to give up being fans of their teams....it will be their children and grandchildren that grow up here that will become the fanbase. It will take a generation or two of fans growing up with these teams for them to take hold. In our case though, we will soon have a final answer to this question. I personally think the stadium will go a long way toward fixing our problems. It will add the stability that the Marlins have never had. It's hard to root for a team that lives under the constant threat of potentially leaving the state. That threat is gone. The rain and heat will no longer be an issue. With the increased revenue streams, the payroll should no longer be an issue. Miami will be out of excuses not to support this team. I'm hopeful that we will.

This is more about 2011 college football, but FAU's new on campus stadium was finally approved today. Construction starts in October and will take about 12 months. This project has taken almost as long as the Marlins stadium to get done, so it's very good news for the Owls, who have been playing in the absolute worst FBS stadium in the country in Lockhart. It's 30,000 seats and has a view of the ocean from the suite level.

I don't really have a problem with it, for the record. I don't think giving him $1M is going to handcuff us, I don't think him having 1 of the 4 bench positions will handcuff us. It doesn't make me jump for joy but I don't really care. He's having a down year but whatever. Agreed....and for as much as it's made fun of on this board, he is one of the real "leaders" on this team . With a lot of young guys like Morrison and Stanton playing big roles next year, and Cogz moving to 3rd, it makes sense to keep Wes around. As long as Uggla gets his money and we spend some on a real bullpen, I have zero problem with Wes getting rewarded. Besides, I think this is probably close to what he would have been able to get on the open market.

I approve.

That terrible place shouldn't receive a shred of commemoration from the Marlins. Once the Marlins are done there, I'll be so glad to never step foot in it again. I disagree. The Marlins should absolutely honor their time there. It was the team's first home and 2 World Series were played in that stadium. There are all sorts of great moments there that have an important place in team history. Also, it won't be the final number, but I'm betting that one of the last numbers to be pulled down goes to the grounds crew.

Bobby V probably asked what happens if they are 10+ games out in the next few weeks and was likely told they'd trade Uggla, Cantu, etc. He likely didn't want to deal with that scenerio in his first few weeks back in the majors so the deal fell apart. My guess is he's probably still a top candidate in the offseason.

We were reading all the threads, why don't their bring up Stanton, calling him all the great names and the team will start winning when he comes up, like i say before, ripping up minor league pitching is far from major league pitching, newsflash...Jason Heyward is batting .251 Only a select few expected Stanton to come up and completely demolish the ball. The consensus was he would finish the season batting around .230-.240 with a lot of K's and around 15 home runs. That can still happen. Remember, HE'S A ROOKIE! 99.9999999999% of rookies struggle when they first enter the major leagues! Exactly. Mike is not going through anything that Heyward isn't dealing with. Look at Heyward's June numbers....they aren't pretty. Stanton's track record at every level has been he struggles at first, K's a ton and hits for a low average, but eventually he figures it out. This team's struggles aren't due to Stanton. He's doing just what could be expected right now. Give him some time. He is a very big part of the solution here.

Tommy made a great point about how flawed this team, and more specifically this lineup, really is. The all right handed lineup makes it extremely easy for the opposition to match up with us, especially late in games. It was the same last season, but it is even more pronounced because there is no Ross Gload to plug in every now and then. You can't even spot start Lamb anywhere because he is so terrible. LoMo should get a chance soon, but as was mentioned, his promotion would have to follow a trade since we aren't sitting Cantu, Ross, or Uggla. This long road trip will make or break the season, so we'll definately know over the next 10-14 days where this team is going. Right now, it doesn't look promising. Also, can we just hire Valentine already?!? I get that Edwin managing in PR is a nice story and all, but come on. If you are going to make a change, just do it. Watching Rodriguez manage is like watching Fredi. Can someone explain why Tank was removed for Sanchez with Venable coming up? He just got a righty out, may as well let him try to finish the inning.

Im really worried about the chemistry of the team now that the stability Edwin has brought to the table is gone. Edwin gave this team its identity back He did? You could tell that from 2 games against the O's??

But I think the important part is that the perception of Loria, if its out there like this, will it hurt our chances of luring free agents in the future and also top managerial candidates ? If history repeats itself, then Valentine, if he is the man, won't probably be here long because of Loria. I don't think so, no. In general I really don't think players pick one franchise over another because of the owner. It's dollars first, and a winning team. Every coach thinks he can win. Do you really think some coach out there is thinking "gosh I'd really love to coach that team but I'm terrified that if we're not winning after 3 years the owner might replace me"? If you aren't winning you're going to get replaced sooner or later. No one wants to get fired, but in retrospect I'm sure Freddi's thankful that Loria gave him his first head coaching job. Now he'll be able to slide right into the Braves job and he'll have already gotten his feet wet. Plus, there are only 30 of these jobs. They are never going to have a hard time finding qualified and willing applicants. No matter who the owner is, people will be lining up to work for him. Look at the coaches who have interviewed to work for Peter Angelos.

Only one word can truly describe this move if it actually happens. Legit. Nope. The one word would be "illegal". For obvious dumb-ass reasons they have to at least interview minority candidates or all hell will be released. Gonna take at least a week, maybe two. Is Edwin Rodriguez not considered a minority candidate?

you douche. haha Wierd timing and i didnt like fredi but if presley is gone too then i am completely ok with this. I wonder the wierd timing is because they have found someone else already. huge news. New Orleans manager Edwin Rodriguez is the interim manager. Presley is gone too.

2 coaches too. Via Twitter.

So basically, we're rebuilding. Not so bad, I guess. Is our new GM an established GM, or is this is his first time? He built the Blackhawks, so he knows what he is doing. Hopefully the Horton trade is just the start because now we are woefully thing up front. We just traded two forwards and we already couldn't score. We need to find at least 2 or 3 top 6 forwards this offseason.

Just because the roof is open does it mean the AC will be off in the field area I suppose, but that wouldn't be energy efficient. Do the other retractable roof staduims do that? Yes. In Arizona (at least at the game I was at), they closed the roof a few hours before the game letting the building cool down, then before the first pitch, they open the roof and the AC remains on. It's over 100 degrees outside, but a very comfortable 75 inside during the game. It was awesome. Not sure how well that would work down here though. You don't want to have to open and close the roof during the game and with our rain, you'd likely have to do that. I know I've been at many games here where it's perfectly dry at 7pm and then it's pouring at 8:30. In Arizona you know that once you open it, it's not going to rain later in the game. Not sure what they do at Miller Park. The one game I saw there it rained so the roof was closed the whole time. But regardless, having the retractable roof was great. You drive to the stadium and even if it's thundering and lightning, you know the game will be played on time and you are going to sit and watch it comfortably. It's going to change the whole baseball experience here in Miami.

That is awesome!

Not sure how Maybin benefits from becoming the 4th OF. I suppose he can still go down after the TB series.

The middle part of the bullpen is horrendous. We need at least one more good arm there. This is a game we shouldn't have lost. I have a feeling Wood is going to be sent down after this game. I'm still waiting for a good explanation as to why Tank was warming up in the 7th inning and yet Fredi stuck with Wood when the Mets 1 lefty bat in the lineup was leading off the inning.

Well I wont lie, I like the retro trend in ballpark architecture(but I am from the midwest, what is aesthetically pleasing differs greatly from region to region). The stadium just looks like it will focus too much on art deco and not enough of just being a place to see baseball. They should be ashamed of themselves for even devising that home run feature. The exterior curves and angles looks like they are going for fung suay. I have said it all along, letting Jeffrey Loria in on the design process is a mistake(look at renderings for the ballpark the Expos were going to build...it was horrendous). I think the finished product will be very unappealing to the eyes in just about every way. I think the best thing about the new stadium is that it is NOT going to be one of the "retro style" parks. That design has been so overused in the past decade that all of the new ballparks have started to look too similar to eachother. Retro has become the new cookie-cutter. Besides, dropping a retro park onto the OB site just would look out of place with the rest of the area. Our park will be unique. Like Target Field, it won't look like any other park in the majors, and that is cool with me. I would at least wait until you see the finished product before proclaiming it "fugly". So far from the renderings and from what you can tell from the webcams, the ballpark looks like it will be pretty awesome. You may not trust Loria's style, but you have to trust that Populous (HOK) is not going to build an "unappealing" ballpark.

Does the webcam go down on weekends? Right now it shows for me friday at 11:45pm. I never get to check it during the week and now its down Must be your computer because I just checked and it shows today at 3:30pm.

The Herald has a good video from the press tour. http://www.miamiherald.com/video/index.html?media_id=11666335

I've never used them during rush hour as my work allows me to stay away from it. But there have been times where I'm going almost 90 in the fast lanes while everyone else is going around 50. I have used them during rush hour and they are awesome. Definately worth the extra toll to cut a half hour off a commute. They will come in very hand in 2012 going to the new park.

Kinda a dud. Lots of stuff for kids, though not much else. What did you expect it to be? It's pretty much the same every year. How many times can you see the clubhouse or press box? It's cool if you've never seen it, but there is not much else they can add to Fan Fest at this point. I agree though, Fan Fest 2012 will be awesome.