Blue Jays/Marlins Trade

The Marlins Blue Jays trade that just finalized yesterday November 19^th. It is a bad for baseball and the future of the Marlins, and the economic structure of baseball. A similar trade was completed by the Red Sox and Dodgers in late July, where a massive deal of back loaded contracts were traded away to another team. The difference here is Miami decided to pay for most of Jeffre Loria's new home, Marlins Park. The stadium was publicly financed by amount 70% of the cost or $525 million. Loria, asked for a new stadium because he could not compete in free agency and sign players because their old stadium was a giant football stadium, not a baseball stadium with superb amenities. So last winter he spent millions of dollars to buy former All-Star players. Fast forward a year later, Anibal Sanchez and then Hanley Ramirez along with smaller pieces were traded in season. Now, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, Emilio Bonifacio and John Buck are gone. Miami will continue to look like a bad baseball town because its new ballpark will have low attendance numbers and cities will stop approving publicly funded stadiums for professional teams. The danger of being burned by owners is too great and too painful.

JJ

Kin 577