By: Trent Strafaci
Miami has a sports community that takes a lot in pride in teams with a long tradition of winning. The Miami Heat brought in three championships in 2006, 2012, and 2013, and the Florida Marlins, now the Miami Marlins, won two World Series in 1997 and 2003, during their first 10 years of existence. However, the Marlins’ success did not last long because Jeffery Loria did not want to pay to keep the team together. The Miami Marlins will be better after Loria sells the Marlins.
Since winning the World Series in 2003, the Miami Marlins have failed to make it to the playoffs. Loria bought the team in 2003 and promised fans he would keep the Marlins relevant. In fact, the Miami Marlins have only managed to be over the five hundred mark four times. Now, Loria is on the verge on selling Marlins to Charles Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s father-in-law, for $1.6 billion. Loria would make a big profit, and Marlins fans would have a chance at a new start. Granted, no one can look into a crystal ball and see the future, but we sure know the past and we, as Marlins fans, know the past has been unbearable.
Loria has sold off some young players that could have added excitement and wins to a franchise that desperately needed it, and yet he traded anyone who even acted like a real ball player. Loria is an owner who is sometimes willing to spend money on players, but at a first sign of a player’s struggling, Loria dumps them. This happened with the signings of Mark Burehle, Jose Reyes and Heath Bell in 2012, the first year with the new Marlins Park. When the team was not meeting Loria’s expectations, he traded these players off in the middle of the season when the team and fans needed them most. The Toronto Blue Jays were the lucky recipients.
Not only has he gotten rid of players, he’s also gotten rid of Marlins managers when they don’t agreed with him. In 2006 Loria fired Joe Girardi after Girardi won the Manager of the Year Award, and the Marlins only finished a couple games out of playoff contention with the lowest payroll in MLB at $15 million. Loria is a cheapskate who is only in it for himself and he does not care about the fans.
Loria has paid a price. Marlins attendance ranks among the lowest in the league because fans haven’t had much to root for. The Miami Marlins will definitely be better without Jeffery Loria. Maybe Kushner can make the Miami Marlins great again.
