Marlins offically put down roots in Miami

The Tulsa Sound Machine.

Spokane Vice.

The Miami Marlins?

Monday marked the day that the Florida Marlins signed off on a new home and a new-ish name, as the Miami city council approved a stadium deal to take the Marlins out of Dolphin Stadium and give them a home of their own. Who says the housing market is tanking?

According to the Palm Beach Post:

The financial breakdown on the $634 million stadium plan is top-heavy for the county. Miami-Dade is on the hook for $297 million from tourist taxes, another $50 million from a separate bond referendum, and $12 million for road and utility repairs.

Miami pledged last week to spend $94 million on the parking structures, $13 million toward stadium construction, and $12 million for other improvements.

Miami will also operate the garage and pay the yearly debt payment, though the Marlins have agreed to buy most of the expected 6,000 parking spaces at between $10 and $12 over the 35-year stadium contract. The Marlins keep any profits made from selling those spots.

The Marlins will spend $120 million in the later years of construction, and pay the county back another $35 million of borrowed money.

Additionally, the team is penalized if it backs out of the deal early, with the city and county splitting profits on a descending scale for the next decade. If the Marlins ownership should choose to sell the team in the first year of construction, the city and county would split 70 prcent of the profits. The team retains all profits beginning in 10 years.

Good for them.

Also, as NPR pointed out this morning, the team is backing away from the trend to market to a region (the Minnesota Twins, New England Patriots or Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) to try and snap up more merchandising revenue. The team will go from the Florida Marlins to the Miami Marlins, in a move that makes me like that team a little more, despite their participation in the 2003 post-season games that mentally crippled the city of Chicago for several years.

What really caught my eye was a throwaway line in the article, which read, "The Marlins, despite their winning ways, are consistently among the bottom in baseball in payroll and attendance."

While I guess all of those statements are true - counting two World Series titles as winning ways and not dwelling the low spots in between - it surprises me a bit that there's not a bigger fan following of the team. More than that, the Marlins seem to be caught in the middle ground after a series of fire sales following their championship runs that have to be damaging to the team.

While prior owners have cried poor (especially regarding the stadium issues) before selling off a winning team, hopefully this new deal helps to cut down on that. My only question is why south Florida needs a retractable roof, when Minnesota decided to pass on that option. Must be those balmy Minneapolis autumns I miss so dearly.

(Image from: Ballparks.com)

Cubs no longer "got wood"

Not quite a year after I wrote this, the Kerry Wood era has ended in Chicago. Well, on the North Side, at least. There's no telling what Kenny Williams will do next after trading last year's big signing. (More on that later.)

This morning, the Cubs made a move for Florida's Kevin Gregg for a minor leaguer and parted ways with Wood just after lunchtime. Presumably, this means Carlos Marmol becomes the closer and that Gregg becomes the setup man who can move to a closer role if Marmol stumbles.

All of this means that Wood will be pitching somewhere else next season.

While my man-love of Wood (wait, that sounds bad...) is well-documented here, he leaves on a high note after returning from his endless trip to the DL, an All-Star selection and finishing fourth in saves for National League pitchers last year.

"We’re just in a situation, as Kerry fully understands, that that length of deal, for the kind of salary he’d command right now, is not our first priority. We certainly have to finish our rotation, we have offensive situations to address, and by having the prominence that (Carlos) Marmol now brings to the table, it certainly doesn’t come before the other needs we have. We felt it was time Kerry goes out and does what’s best for him and his family, and gets a huge multi-year deal if possible."

On the South Side, the White Sox traded away Nick Swisher, the switch-hitting fountain of awesome that GM Kenny Williams had to have last year.

Wait, make that - Had. To. Have. (Last year.)

To the point that he pried him from Oakland for the most promising part of the Chicago farm system. Yeah, that guy? He's gone now.

The Yankees swapped Wilson Betemit and minor league pitchers Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez in exchange for Swisher and minor league pitcher Kanekoa Texeira.

(And what's up with another Jhonny in the majors? I thought Peralta was the only one ever. Now we have two in baseball?)

I think that the Swisher experiment - which according to the sidebar on ESPN says that he had the lowest batting average of any player with a qualifying number of at bats (502... uh why is that the number?) - is the equivalent of losing your shirt while flipping a house.

You bought the house because you could, but never really kept it long enough to turn any sort of profit.

Note: While I don't share the sentiment on Wood's long-term prospects as the answer to the closer problem for the Cubs put forth by Steve Rosenbloom, I do share this view:

I’ll miss the guy. I’ll miss his story. I’ll miss the big sound of Wrigley when he entered a game and the bigger one when he ended it.

(Image taken for Siberian Baseball)

The plot thickens

For those watching the Johan Santana trade with nervous/gleeful/heartbroken anticipation (that would be Red Sox fans/AL Central fans/Twins fans) the Boston Globe is doing a phenomenal job with the updates.

That link is here.

As of a half hour ago, the Angels seem to be making a strong play to close a deal immediately and the Twins are rumored to want the whole thing wrapped up today.

From the site:

From the Globe's Nick Cafardo (3:37 p.m.): "We've said here all along that the Los Angeles Angels have the ability to make any deal they desire because they have the chips to make it happen. If they have jumped into the Johan Santana hunt, they pose a real threat to the Red Sox and Yankees for Santana's services.

The Angels have extra pitching, so they're able to offer a major league-ready starting pitcher like Ervin Santanta or Jered Weaver as well as a host of positional players - anyone from Howie Kendrick to catcher Jeff Mathis, infielder Brandon Wood, outfielder Reggie Willits, and even Gary Mathews Jr."

"I do not believe the Yankees are out of the Santana hunt yet."

Well, OK, then.

Actually that makes perfect sense. The Angels have a recent history of sniping players at the last second, usually with half of America unaware that they were even in the market - this includes their recent signing of Torii Hunter.

No word yet on which fast food restaurant will host the signing if the deal goes through.

Also worth keeping an eye on is this new rumor that sends Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit for pitching and prospects.

Update: That last deal appears to be final with Detroit capturing both Marlins stars in exchange for outfielder Cameron Maybin, pitcher Andrew Miller, catcher Mike Rabelo and three other minor league pitchers.

(Image from Angels in the Outfield)

Willis re-sings for one more year in Florida

Dontrelle Willis signed a one-year, $6.45 million contract Monday according to ESPN.com and it just keeps me scratching my head to watch the Marlins go on-again, off-again with contracts and fire sales after two (two!) World Series wins in their short history.

I'm not quite sure how I'd feel as a Marlins fan with that type of history - I can only imagine how much that will screw with a kid's head. It's devastating to watch your favorite player leave town (Thank God Ryne Sandberg never left or I'd be a borderline lunatic today) but wholesale cuts like the Marlins are prone to must be enough to turn young fans off to baseball forever.

Then, they go and award this contract for Willis to play with a bunch of Who-dats to those who aren't obsesive fantasy players or living in the Miami area.

Signing Willis is a no-brainer for any team - why the Marlins continue to pick and choose while offloading entire rosters leaves me puzzled. I'm wondering how much of a fight they'll put up for him when this contract expires.

From ESPN:
"I'm very happy," Willis told The Associated Press on Monday night. "How can you not be? I'm very appreciative to go out and have the opportunity to play baseball."

No kidding - you think, Doctor?

The quick rundown

Two off-the-field stories today - Dontrelle Willis was reportedly stopped for a DWI and Ken Griffey Jr. has a broken hand.

The 24-year-old Willis was stopped for allegedly urinating in the middle of the street while he left the Bently running. The kicker is that the police first started paying attention to him when he double-parked the car in Miami Beach.

Bummer, but not a huge deal, especially if he keeps his nose clean in the future, eight?

Griffey will be in a cast for three weeks after breaking is hrowing hand at home, but the team is staying quiet on the details until Junior gives them the OK to release those.

For now, I think Reds fans are just happy it's a hand and not another leg problem.

On a personal note, I hope there's some crazy story behind this.

Ballplayers never seem to be injured in any normal way. If I had to pick, I'd like to see a Wii-related injury.

(Photo from Encarta.MSN.com)