Wednesday night’s fourth installment of Showtime’s reality series on the Marlins offered some insight into the week-old Hanley Ramirez trade, but not nearly enough.
Despite claiming that it has access to virtually everything the Marlins do behind closed doors, Showtime did not show Marlins officials discussing the trade offers for Ramirez, either with other teams or among themselves.
But Showtime rallied, somewhat, late in the episode by eavesdropping on behind-the-scenes deliberations before the Marlins completed the Edward Mujica trade with St. Louis.
Among the highlights:
### Marlins president David Samson, sitting alongside owner Jeffrey Loria at a game, said, “I can’t believe we haven’t made the playoffs in seven years. We’re really going to have to talk about trading Hanley.”
“I know,” Loria said.
### Loria told Showtime: “The team made the decision to let’s try something else. It’s a tough decision for me and all our baseball people. He has been an interesting and spectacular athlete to be around. My baseball people have come to me several times to say we’ve got to do something.
“We can’t continue like this. I’m not sure what’s happened with the chemistry in the clubhouse. It’s not as great as you would like to see it. We had a $95 million payroll and it hasn’t produced.”
### Showtime showed Marlins executives studying statistics for Triple A third baseman Zack Cox before acquiring him in the Mujica deal.
“You got potential for an everyday third baseman for a [bleeping] seventh inning guy?” said Marlins vice president/player personnel Dan Jennings, strongly endorsing the trade. Jennings added the Marlins weren’t going to bring back Mujica next season anyway.
### Heath Bell counted down the seconds before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline and said to Showtime cameras: “I’m still here. I’m happy. Before long, I’ll be closing games in Miami again.”
