fauowls44

Face it, the Nationals have more holes then a 1st round pick can plug. Lets ask 3 basic questions. 1) Do you think the Marlins can trade for the 1st overall pick? 2) Do you think the Marlins should look into attaining Startsburgs services? 3) What would be a fair deal, using current players in our organization> Let me know what you guys think. I personally think someone who can be a Ace like him should definatly be looked into. If only the Marlins were not afraid to meet his contract demands and the Nationals "Ransom of Happy Youngster proportions". You are not allowed to trade draft picks in MLB.

This is why I didn't get the outrage over not signing the guy. You can find Joe Nelsons every year in free agency(see Kiko Calero and Brian Sanches), there is no reason to spend over a million on a guy like that. Don't count you're chickens with Sanches just yet. He's way more Nelson than he is Calero. Also, unlike Nelson, Calero has been pretty good in his career. I agree with you on both accounts. I was just highlighting that you can find effective relievers and not spend millions keeping average(or below) guys.

This is why I didn't get the outrage over not signing the guy. You can find Joe Nelsons every year in free agency(see Kiko Calero and Brian Sanches), there is no reason to spend over a million on a guy like that.

http://www.reuters.com/article/innovationNews/idUSTRE5515WV20090602 Deal set to sell NHL Panthers for $240 million: source Tue Jun 2, 2009 1:56pm EDT Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page[-] Text [+] By Ben Klayman CHICAGO (Reuters) - A publicly held company formed last year to acquire sports properties has agreed to purchase the Florida Panthers hockey team for $240 million, a source familiar with the talks said on Tuesday. Sports Properties Acquisition Corp has agreed to buy the National Hockey League team; its home, BankAtlantic Center; an arena management company and some land surrounding the arena, said the source, who asked not to be identified because the deal has not been announced. Officials with Sports Properties were not immediately available, and the Panthers and the NHL declined to comment. The deal, which requires approval from 75 percent of the NHL's 30 owners, may also involve a merger in which current Panthers owner Alan Cohen receives stock in Sports Properties, the source said. While the NHL, in the midst of its championship series between the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins, is enjoying a strong season for revenue and attendance, individual teams have struggled. Last month, the Phoenix Coyotes filed for bankruptcy and James Balsillie, the co-chief executive of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd, has offered $212.5 million for the money-losing team. Meanwhile, Texas billionaire Tom Hicks is looking for a minority investor in the Dallas Stars team after defaulting on $525 million in loans. Separately, the storied Montreal Canadiens are for sale. NHL clubs in such nontraditional hockey markets as Atlanta; Raleigh, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee and Tampa, Florida, have been cited by sports bankers as clubs that also could change hands. A special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, is a shell organization that uses money raised in an initial public offering to buy another business. That business then becomes publicly traded through the SPAC once shareholders approve the deal. Sports Properties raised $215 million in January 2008 in its IPO to invest in the sports, leisure and entertainment sectors. It was one of the bidders for the Chicago Cubs baseball team and has looked at other sports properties. SPACs are also known as blank-check companies because they essentially ask investors to invest in a management team rather than a company itself. Sports Properties' management, according to its most recent SEC filing, includes Tony Tavares, the former president of the Washington Nationals baseball team and former CEO of Disney Sports Enterprises, which launched the Anaheim Ducks hockey team. The group also includes Andrew Murstein, a New York City taxi tycoon, Hall of Fame baseball player Hank Aaron, former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and Richard Mack, a senior partner at Apollo Real Estate Advisors. After an IPO, a SPAC typically has two years to make an acquisition, or it has to return money to investors. After a banner year in 2007, investor enthusiasm for SPACs cooled significantly last year, with SPAC investors voting down one acquisition proposal after another, preferring to get their cash back in an uncertain stock market. About 21 acquisition proposals were nixed by shareholders in 2008, while nine won approval. In 2007, 65 SPACs raised about $11.6 billion, but deal volume in dollar terms fell 70 percent the following year. No SPACs have filed for an IPO this year, according to Thomson Reuters. (Additional reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Phil Berlowitz) ? Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved Interesting. I'm totally in favor of getting Cohen away from this franchise, so I suppose this is positive news. Hopefully this group puts money into the on ice product and turns the team around.

My guess is he gets a full year in Jupiter. Next year he begins the season in AA but finishes in the bigs.

Let's not forget about Rick VandenHurk. He pitched in AAA tonight. He earned the win, went 5 innings, 3 hits, 1 ER(2 runs overall), 0 BB, 8 K. I love that our starting pitching depth is returning. Please no more spot starts by the likes of John Koronka and Graham Taylor! I'd actually prefer to forget him if you don't mind. He doesn't belong in the rotation over anyone else thats in it right now, including Badenhop. He's done nothing in several major league chances. I'm well aware that we are going to see bad starts out of West and Hopper (and likely everyone else) but pitch them until they get them and then see where that leaves you. Depth is always a good thing and I'd still rather see RVH over Koronka (I'd actually rather see Billy the Marlin start). Well you may be ready to give up on a 24 year old pitcher with 102 Ks in 95.2 career innings, but I'm not going to write him off just yet. He was called up as a 21 or 22 year old a few years back when he clearly was not ready for the Majors. He's still got a great arm with plus stuff. IMO, he has a big league future, either in the rotation or the back of a bullpen.

Let's not forget about Rick VandenHurk. He pitched in AAA tonight. He earned the win, went 5 innings, 3 hits, 1 ER(2 runs overall), 0 BB, 8 K. I love that our starting pitching depth is returning. Please no more spot starts by the likes of John Koronka and Graham Taylor!

Sure, why not? It's not as if we'd be plugging him into our rotation right away. Obviously, he'd be signing a minor league deal and pitching in AAA for the time being. He could be a steal if they can get his mechanics worked out. I say take the chance, it's a no risk, high reward move.

Here is a link to the memo that County Manager Burgess sent to the commissioners updating the progress on the stadium bonds: http://www.miamidade.gov/manager/library/update_stadium_project_financing.pdf

I'm by no means an expert on this subject, but I think you are wrong about attendance impacting the bond ratings. These bonds are tied to the Miami-Dade tourism industry, not attendance at the stadium. Revenue generated by tourist taxes pay off these bonds, not revenue generated from the stadium or the team. Investors would have no reason to be concerned about the Marlins or their attendance problems since 1993, so long as tourism in Miami recovers as the economy does. You're right. And that's an important point. Now, how often do you see a straight acceptance of a mistake....and good karma immediately returns as UGGLA hits a HOME RUN! LOL. Thanks. If only Fredi and the front office would admit mistakes as easily and get Bonifacio out of the leadoff spot(or out of the lineup altogether)...but that is an issue for another thread. OK...back to the stadium bonds topic....

I'm by no means an expert on this subject, but I think you are wrong about attendance impacting the bond ratings. These bonds are tied to the Miami-Dade tourism industry, not attendance at the stadium. Revenue generated by tourist taxes pay off these bonds, not revenue generated from the stadium or the team. Investors would have no reason to be concerned about the Marlins or their attendance problems since 1993, so long as tourism in Miami recovers as the economy does.

Here are some other articles on this topic: http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/05/25/daily22.html Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 11:15am EDT Stadium bonds maintain high ratingSouth Florida Business Journal Miami-Dade County's general obligation bonds kept their rating at the bottom of the high-grade investment category in advance of construction of the new Florida Marlins stadium. Ratings for other tax streams associated with the $640 million stadium were in the next tier down, upper-medium investment grade. The county plans to begin sales of bonds associated with the Professional Sports Franchise Tax, Tourist Development Tax and Convention Development Tax in early June. Solid ratings are important to get construction of the 37,000-seat retractable-roof stadium accomplished because higher ratings come with lower interest rates. Backers of the stadium have promoted it as a local stimulus for jobs, especially in the hard-hit construction sector. ?We are pleased with the outcome,? Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez said in a news release. ?The ratings are solid and demonstrate the county?s financial strength." Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess said: ?The favorable ratings reinforce our commitment to acting responsibly and conservatively every step of the way as we push forward with a Marlins stadium paid for by tourist tax dollars.? Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's affirmed the county's general obligation bond rating unchanged at AA-. This is significant, because bond ratings are under scrutiny because of global economic weakness. S&P assigned an A+ to the sports tax, while Fitch gave it an A and Moody's Investors Services assigned it an A2, which is similar. All are in the upper-medium investment grade category. S&P and Fitch gave the convention tax an A, which is also upper-medium investment grade. http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/090528/story2.shtml Trio of ratings signals favorable Marlins stadium interest rate By Risa Polansky Newly announced bond ratings could set Miami-Dade up to score in the bond markets early next month when officials set out to finance a Marlins ballpark, Finance Director Carter Hammer says. Ratings from major agencies "would place those particular financings well within" the 7.5% interest rate cap set by commissioners, he said Tuesday. There's no way to predict a rate until the county attempts to sell the bonds June 9 and June 10, he noted, but he called the ratings positive signs. Moody's Tuesday announced an "A2" rating for the county's planned stadium bond issues backed by professional sports franchise tax revenue and has yet to issue one for bonds backed by convention development taxes. A2 is the sixth highest of the agency's 21 ratings. Fitch announced Friday an A rating, the third highest on the agency's 11-rating scale. A memo from County Manager George Burgess late Tuesday indicates Standard & Poor's, the third major rating agency, issued an A+ rating to bonds backed by professional sports tax revenue and an A to those backed by convention development taxes. The agency itself had yet to announce the ratings Tuesday, but Mr. Hammer said that in general an A+ is higher than the ratings from the other agencies. To assign bond ratings, the agencies considered the funding stream for the $633 million-plus stadium project ? mainly tourism tax revenues ? and the ballpark deal itself. Though sports and tourist tax collections are down 17.6% from this time last year, with a 26% decline in May alone, Fitch says, "Fitch believes the medium- to long-term prospects for the county's tourism sector are sound and expects tourism-related revenues to stabilize in the next several years." Moody's pointed out that drops in tourist tax collections now and during past economic crises are "indicative of the vulnerability and narrow pledge of this revenue source." As far as the ballpark deal itself, "Fitch reviewed the key stadium agreements and generally views them as adequate, and risks associated with the project are viewed as equitably shared between the parties." Both agencies note ratings are based in part on the county's pledge of non-ad valorem revenue as a backup funding source. The agencies point out also that the financing plan is "heavily back loaded" to allow the county to cover payments with tourism revenues. In general, the market now is good for municipal bond issuers, said Thomas Doe, CEO of Concord, MA-based Municipal Market Advisors. But it's tough to predict the interest rate an A rated bond might yield, he said Tuesday, before Moody's announced its rating and the county revealed Standard & Poor's. Mr. Doe said he's seen some "A" bonds clinch favorable interest rates, but others end up with "higher than expected interest rates because the deal itself had questions, or financing for the deal was not sound." It depends on the deal, he said, but predicted the county's 7.5% cap "should be" achievable in today's market. Manager Mr. Burgess cautions in his memo that "certain hurdles remain," including a bond insurance commitment for the sports tax-backed financing and a letter of credit related to a portion of the sports tax financing that's variable rate ? "anticipated late this week."

Wall St. endorses ballpark bonds On Tuesday, the answer became clearer: All three Wall Street credit rating agencies announced favorable assessments of the county's plan to sell more than $300 million in bonds -- which will be repaid with tourist taxes -- before groundbreaking on the former Orange Bowl site in July. The bonds received ratings ranging from ''A+'' from Standard & Poor's to an ''A'' grade from Fitch Ratings and ''A2'' from Moody's Investor Services. All of the ratings put the bonds in the middle of the pack for investment-grade bonds. ''That should be enough to get it done,'' said Leo Guzman, president of securities firm Guzman & Co. in Coral Gables. ``The county should be pleased.'' http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1066916.html Nice! Thanks for posting this update.

Bonifacio is what he is....a not very good player. But he'd be much better off the bench, much like Amezaga. Off the bench he can play multiple positions and we wouldn't have to see him get 400 AB's. The fact that he is playing everyday AND leading off at this point in the year is absurd. The sample size is large enough now to at least say that he is not a Major League leadoff hitter at this point in his development (not that I think he's suddenly going to develop all that much more).

I don't mind flying. If you want to do any traveling, it's just something that you have to do. The concept of being 35,000 feet in the air in a flying in a metal tube at 600 mph is frightening, but you just have to remember that it is a extremely safe form of transportation. You are more likely to go outside today and get hit by a bus then die in a plane crash. My theory is if it's your time to go, it's your time to go...so you may as well get on the plane, enjoy the flight, and have a great trip.

I agree with everyone about Bonifacio. The guy is not a starting MLB 3rd basemen, and he is certainly not a leadoff hitter. His future is as a 2nd baseman, hitting 8th in a good lineup or an Amezaga-type utility player. But for this team, the time has come to end this experiement.

Why is everyone blaming Wiley and not a single word is said about the hitting coach? I know Nolasco blew up yesterday, but to me, the awful hitting is just as much to blame for this 8-23 streak as the pitching...maybe moreso. All I see are players not making any adjustments and striking out waaay too much. I'm not a big believer in putting a ton of blame on coaches, but someone has to take the fall for this team's awful play...the hitting coach seems like a good place to start.

I agree with 2003. I'm not against Maybin returning, but I just don't know how helpful 28 AAA at bats are for him. I thought the idea was for him to go down and get his swing worked out. Is 28 at bats enough to do that? Perhaps. I don't know. I just want for them to make sure that the next time he is called up, he's up for good.

Even though it hasn't been 10 days since he was sent down, can't they bring back Carlos Martinez since they would be DL-ing a player?

Found this press release online. I assume this is good news and that they are going to start selling these on June 9th bodes well for a July groundbreaking. Perhaps someone who understands this better then me can explain this and how the bond market is looking these days. http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090520006338&newsLang=en Fitch Rates Miami-Dade County, Florida $99.3MM Subordinate Special Obligation Bonds 'A' TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings assigns an 'A' rating to Miami-Dade County, FL's $99.3 million in subordinate special obligation bonds, series 2009. The bonds are scheduled to be sold via negotiation on June 9, 2009. Bond proceeds will be used to finance a portion of a new baseball stadium to be constructed in the county for the Florida Marlins. The Rating Outlook is Stable. In addition, Fitch has affirmed the following ratings: --Outstanding subordinate special obligation and refunding bonds at 'A'; --General obligation (GO) bonds at 'AA-'; --Public service tax revenue bonds at 'AA-'; --Special obligation and refunding bonds at 'A'; --Special obligation bonds (courthouse center project) at 'A+'. The Rating Outlook on all bonds listed is Stable. The 'A' rating on the subordinate special obligation bonds is based on satisfactory coverage of annual debt service provided by pledged convention development taxes (CDTs) and, if needed, the county's share of the local government one-half-cent sales tax. The rating also considers the characteristics of the county's mature tourism sector including its favorable climate, facilities and amenities. Although the rating relies on the secondary pledge of the half-cent sales tax, the county expects the debt to be repaid from CDT revenues, and the debt is heavily backloaded to make this possible. CDT revenues are subject to fluctuation and are down 10.7% year-to-date for fiscal (FY) 2009 relative to FY 2008 with a 21% decline in April 2009 from April 2008, the most recent monthly data available. CDT revenues must stabilize over the next several years to keep pace with ascending debt service payments. The city maintains a surplus of approximately $26 million in CDT revenues that it would use to support debt service before utilizing the secondary sales tax source. The CDT is levied at a rate of 3% on rentals of transient facilities for a term of six months or less. It is collected throughout Miami-Dade County, except in Bal Harbour and Surfside. Over the last 10 fiscal years through FY 2008, CDT revenues have grown at the annual average rate of 7.4% which includes a 17.3% decline in FY 2002. Going back 20 years, the only other decline was in FY 1994, following Hurricane Andrew and a number of highly publicized attacks on tourists. In both cases, recovery occurred within three years. Fitch believes that the recent deterioration in revenue will continue through at least the current fiscal year. Sales tax growth has been less volatile but slower; in the last five fiscal years it grew at an annual average of 4.2%. Year-to-date receipts for FY 2009 are down approximately 8.5% relative to FY 2008. Fiscal 2008 pledged revenues, including sales taxes, cover maximum annual debt service (MADS) on prior payments made from pledged revenues, parity and senior lien series 1996 bonds (also rated 'A' by Fitch), which occurs in 2037, by 1.5 times (x). If the CDT revenue declines accelerate or fail to stabilize over the next three to four years, that source is unlikely to yield sufficient revenues to pay debt service without the sales tax, which the county uses for operations. The sales tax made up 8.6% of FY 2008 general fund revenues. Fitch believes the medium- to long-term prospects for the county's tourism sector are sound and expects tourism-related revenues to stabilize in the next several years. Miami-Dade County's general credit characteristics include a broad, internationally focused economy, adequate financial flexibility and moderate debt levels. The county faces many pressures as it finances its large capital improvement plan which includes a significant portion of the capital costs to construct the new stadium for the Florida Marlins. The weakening economy, reflective of the greater global recession, is evidenced by growing unemployment (which remains below state and national levels) and slowing taxable assessed value (TAV) growth. TAV grew at an average annual rate of 13.3% from FY 2003 through FY 2008 but slowed to just 0.1% for FY 2009. Officials expect TAV to decline by approximately 13% for FY 2010 and Fitch believes that declines may occur over several years despite some ongoing development. Housing data obtained by Fitch suggests that the region's residential real estate market is heavily exposed to non-traditional mortgage products, and that the foreclosure problem is more serious in Miami-Dade County than in other regions of the country. With an adequate financial position the county faces limited financial flexibility resulting from a slow-down in economically sensitive revenue streams as well as greater state-imposed restrictions on ad valorem revenue-raising capabilities. A sizeable $41 million net deficit at the close of FY 2008 (unaudited) reduced the unreserved general fund balance to $125 million, equal to 5.7% of expenditures and other uses. The county maintains an emergency reserve within its general fund which was approximately $71 million of the $125 million in FY 2008. Year-to-date performance in the general fund for FY 2009 indicates that the county will add several million to the emergency reserve but reduce the unreserved general fund balance by approximately $25 million. County officials will be challenged to meet all financial obligations in FY 2010 given the expectation that economically sensitive revenues, such as sales taxes, will decline further and that TAV will likely decline. Fitch views favorably that county officials were able to generate additional ad valorem revenue for operations with a super majority vote of the commission to raise the ad valorem millage rate beyond the roll-back rate for FY 2009. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, 'www.fitchratings.com'. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.

Clippers get the #1 overall pick. Scary to think a team with Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman and Zach Randolph could add Blake Griffin to their roster. because they were so great last season? LOL...That team isn't really that scary. Griffin and Gordon could one day be a nice 1-2 combo, but next year, the Clippers are likely to be right back in the lottery.

Breaking ground would be a ceremony followed up by construction starting shortly after that.

Lol @ Hayden Penn going to the rotation. What is wrong with starting Penn? At least he has Major League stuff unlike the last 2 clowns that were brought up. Unless you can name a better option, I don't see why you wouldn't want him to get his shot.

Why exactly was Penn brought in to pitch to the left handed hitting Pierre? I mean, Karonka's spot in the lineup is coming up this inning, so you get one more out out of him and the pinch hit, giving Penn a clean inning to start with. I hate blaming managers for games, but this was a pretty moronic move.

Fredi said he wanted 13 pitchers, which means a hitter would go down. And the only hitters we could send down are Emilio and CC. So, doubting De Aza has been called up until something is reported. Can't see why they would demote a guy that has an 8 game hit streak going and has a hand in about 25% of the team's scoring during that time. On the other hand, Chris hasn't been showing much in his call up aside from that initial game. Of course, aside from Boni and Hanley, neither has anyone else with anything remotely like consistency. But I do agree that I'm doubting the call up. Still nothing at he Marlins web site this morning. I doubt that they would send Coghlan down after making him switch positions and a handful of at bats...what would have been the point? The only reason I could see for calling up De Aza would be if Amezaga is going to miss time with his injury.