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Marlins Finally Open Their Wallet
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Written by Andrew Stempel, Print Sports Editor
Another off-season for the Florida Marlins is passing by and it seems there has been some hope and change in the front office. The Marlins reached an agreement to allow the MLB to monitor their spending for the next three years. This will run until the open up their new $645 million dollar stadium in the heart of Miami. The Marlins, who have had the lowest payroll in baseball for the past several years, still are a force in the MLB. Last year with the lowest payroll in the majors, they won 87 games, the tenth most in the league.
The Marlins wasted no time in spending the money they were forced to spend this past week. They started resigning players by giving young ace Josh Johnson, a 4 year, $39 million dollar contract. Johnson is excited to be staying in South Florida and ready to lead the Marlins out on the mound. A few days after keeping Johnson, the Marlins locked down their star second baseman, Dan Uggla, for at least another year paying him $7.8 million for next season. Keeping these two players mixed with one of the best players in baseball, Hanley Ramirez, the Marlins seem they plan on contending this year. In addition, they resigned Jorge Cantu and Leo Nunez to one year deals worth $6 and $2 million respectively. Ever player that the Marlins have resigned will make more money than they did last year.
This many off-season resigning comes as a relief to many Marlin fans, who are used to the organization dismantling their team after each season. After finishing only six games behind the eventual NL Champion, Philadelphia Phillies, the Marlins are close to making the playoffs for the first time since they won the World Series in 2003. The expected payroll for the Phish is expected to be around $45 million, the highest in five years. The odd thing though is that the Marlins aren’t used to spending in order to win. They have been near the bottom of the league in lowest payroll, yet always finish the season a couple games out of the postseason. Maybe after spending some money this off-season, the team will be able to experience the postseason for the third time in franchise history. And the two other times the Marlins made the playoffs, they won the World Series.
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