The Marlins, after trading away Hanley Ramirez and others before last week's non-waiver trade deadline, will build around Jose Reyes and Giancarlo Stanton, and be active in free agency and the trade market during the offsesaon, wrote Joe Capozzi in the Palm Beach Post.
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The Marlins won't be active as they were last winter, when they spent $190 million on Jose Reyes, Heath Bell, and Mark Buehrle.
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Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is "angry" with Miami's giant step backwards, and when the front office meets in October to assess the season, it won't be business as usual.
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Team president David Samson said none of the trades the Marlins made last month -- Hanley Ramirez to the Dodgers the headliner -- were motivated by payroll. "It was chemistry-motivated, it was winning motivated," Samson said.
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In another interesting quote, Samson said:
"This was an all-in season, there’s no doubt about that. The moves we made were an effort to win and they have not panned out."
Also on the Marlins, the makeover certainly hasn't gone as planned, and attendance at the Marlins' new ballpark is 25 percent below expectations, wrote ESPN.com's Buster Olney, in his latest insider-only missive.
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As reported by CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman on August 3, the Marlins tried to turn a quick profit on Carlos Lee, asking for cash in exchange for his services, and that may be "a sign of larger concerns," Olney wrote.
- Olney presumes that Lee and Carlos Zambrano will head to free agency in the offseason and won't be back with Miami in 2013.
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The Marlins backloaded the contracts of Reyes, Bell, and Buehrle when they were signed as free agents, and the club is eventually going to have to consider unloading them, added Olney, in his piece. It could be this winter, or years down the road, but because of the salaries involved -- Reyes will earn $22 million a season in 2015, 2016, and 2017; Buehrle will earn $19 million in 2014, and $20 million in 2015 -- Olney can't foresee the Marlins getting much of anything in return. It's a lot easier to add payroll than shed it.
