For the Marlins, Is It Time to Pony Up?

    The Marlins might now have extra incentive to keep Dan Uggla next season, or offer Josh Johnson that four-year contract his agent has been demanding. The reason: a one-page joint statement released Tuesday in which the Marlins are being told, in effect, that they must comply with the Basic Agreement and channel the revenue sharing money the club receives each year toward player salaries.

    The Marlins say they've been complying all along, that they've done nothing wrong. And yet, isn't it strange that they've bowed, after "extensive discussions" with the union and the league, to an agreement that calls for their "continued compliance"? Tuesday's carefully worded announcement was, for lack of a better term, a public flogging. It was also a signal to the other suspected under-spenders -- are you listening in Pittsburgh? -- to abide by the rules. Pay up, or else. 

    What this means, I suspect, is that the Marlins will be required to spend more than the reported $40 million on next season's payroll. The carefully-worded agreement with the Marlins, union and league doesn't specify a figure, but it's fair to guess that it will be somewhere in the $40 million to $50 million range -- or at least something markedly greater than last year's major league-low $36 million figure. In other words, the union isn't about to let the team get away with a miniscule increase.

   And that could mean that Uggla, who stands to receive between $7 million and $8 million through salary arbitration, could end up staying just to satisy the Marlins' end of the agreement. Or that the Marlins will go out and spend at least a little something on free agents, something they haven't done in years. Or maybe the Marlins will open the vault on Johnson, giving him four years guaranteed.

   All we know for sure, at this point, is that they've been put on notice. The spotlight is on.

   .

Comments

[thejuandiggler]

You cheap turd Loria ! Your being called out by the MLB and eventually no fans will support your new stadium if you dont pony up.
Your a thief and a disgrace !

[K-man]

Wow I hate loria

[j money]

it about time they tell him something

[HENRY]

Said it all along, all Loria wants is more Art Pieces, they gave him this franchise and he has done nothing to take it to the next level. with the players we have and the minor league system we are lucky to have, we should be winning the division every year, IF WE GO AFTER THE ONE OR TWO PLAYERS WE NEED. Maybe now we keep Ugla, get a catcher(Molina), a bat(Nady-1base)plus a closer and look out Phillies. GO FISH....

[Allan was wrong again]

For five years, after refusing to sign World Series hero Pudge Rodriguez, after the trades of franchise players like Beckett and Cabrera and Lee, after becoming the DEFINITION of firesale on multiple dictionaries, this team laughed all the way to the bank.

Yes, Hanley was the ONE nice pickup in return for Pudge, Beckett, Lowell, Cabrera, Willis, Pierre, etc. But nobody would say that Choi was better than Lee, Maybin better than Cabrera, Castro better than Pudge, Hermida better than Pierre, Bonifacio better than Lowell, or even Miller better than Willis (before Detroit screwed him up), but they sure were CHEAPER.

This team won 87 games. Had they added Holliday or Cliff Lee, kept Cabrera or Beckett, or tried to retain stars instead of trade them away, they would have won 10-15 more, and made the playoffs. Heck, had they signed a REAL manager instead of this bootlicker, or given Joe Girardi the team they PROMISED him, they would have been a playoff team. They traded a playoff run and fan loyalty for dollars in the their pocket, and only the Loria/Samson apologists think that was the right move.

Thank you MLB and the Players Union, for calling out these parasites. Firesale Round 4 or 5 (Hanley, Uggla, Nolasco, Johnson, and Cantu) has been delayed for one year at least.

[James]

wow, way too intense of hate for loria...baseball is a business and business decisions were made on personal that for factors including money were sent elsewhere...thats part of the game...very rarely does any player stay in one uni for his whole career and thats been true throughout baseball history

give loria and samson a break, the new stadium will be here soon enough and we will have an uber good team playing in it with a payroll in the mid-range

also...just to point out...miami tax payers arent paying for the new stadium...tourists and cheaters in hotels are...give that argument a rest

[the frito bandido]

The Marlins are running first a business and then a sports. I do not blame them for keeping the revenue sharing money . I blame MLB and The Player's Union for allowing the Marlins to do what they did for so long. Everyone knew that this was happening and Bud and the union looked the other way.
Now they have a new stadium paid with tourist tax money, and not the tax payers money, and they will bring the payroll to a level that will make the team more competitive.
Let's play ball !!!

[POed]

Luria = scumbag

Manager = bootlicker

[HENRY]

JAMES AND THE FRITO BANDITO are ignorant and typical south florida residents who cannt seem to get their heads out of their ass to see reality.
Tax Tourists dollars are to lure tourist to the area, bring up the economy, relief for local tax burden not to build private stadium to carperbagger owner. How many toursits are going to visit Miami Stadium to see a ballgame?? How many will travel from Europe, South America to see a ballgame?? Do you really think Soccer will play there or at Dolphin Stadium?? How many concerts??

He was given the Marlins for a ridiculous price from MLB with a promise to grow the franchise. WHAT HAS HE DONE???

Dealt ALL STARS players for 2nd tier players, run fans away from the park, decided to build a stadium where half of the team base will not attend (TERRIBLE LOCATION-NO PARKING-NO ACCESS)

Wonder how much money he made in the deal???

Finally MLB decided to act, only 4 yrs to late, but act they must. Heres a prediction, they will sign Ugla and Johnson to long term deals to quiet the chatter. But come trading deadline, they are gone for PROMISING PROSPECTS and MLB wont say a thing about it.

Love the players, hate the manager and organization. Wonder is HIPINGA and LORIA are related???

[James]

henry, first of all...remove your head from your back side

second of all, i live in massachusetts

third of all, baseball is a business, if you dont like it then i suggest playing more video games or doing more research

the stadium being built with tax money from tourists and loria himself...the tax payers of miami are off the hook and have ZERO reason to complain...and in the contracts between the team, city and county that other events(whether it be concerts or other sports will HAVE to be at the new stadium...and like it or not...but loria is the best owner the marlins have ever had...and its not even really a debatable point

oh...and the plan was never to keep uggla anyways as the team is looking to get better defensively...and IMO, jj will be a marlin for at least the next 4 years

seems to me you are talking head complaining just to complain

[Jerry B]

David Samson, the only member of management to speak publicly on the matter, has said repeatedly that much of the money the Marlins receive in luxury taxes goes to marketing; but as the late Oakland A's owner Charlie Finley said years ago, you can't ballyhoo a funeral. The Mets and Cubs will always be a draw here, but even a reincarnated Elvis in a Comeback Concert of the Century couldn't draw fans to a Saturday night matchup in August against the likes of the San Diego Padres or Houston Astros. It seems like the only way to get the Marlins (and other chronic underspenders, like the Pirates) to ante up is to put a minimum player payroll into the next Collective Bargaining Agreement, something the owners absolutely have refused to address in the past.

[george]

according to ESPN, Josh Johnson has agreed to a 4-yr $39 million with the Marlins!!!How about that !!!

[psl bill]

LORIA SUCKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JJ for 10 million a year, how much will that bring at the trading deadline. hanley for 8 or 10 million a year how much will that bring at the trading deadline. it is only 6 months till the marlins go shopping, i just wish someone would buy the whole team from CHEAP LORIA before the new stadium opens in 2012 and no one shows up at the games, then south florida will be screwed.

[MarlinMyopia]

First, I said all along, the Uggla would be staying because no one wanted him. I'm always right about this Front Office. It is so predictable. Like the way you spun it a different way, Clark. What a joke.

[James]

marlinmyopia...there are plenty of suitors for uggla...just not ones who want to pay him what his arbitration results and pending free agency will be...the recession hit all of baseball except for the yanks and they dont need a 2nd baseman...and the marlins arent simply going to give uggla away...why dont you go play in traffic or would that be too constructive for you?