Marlins Stadium Hunt: Light At the End of the Tunnel?

Or is that Selig holding the match?

Well, as we have been following this story for the better part of 7 years now, this could be the best news yet. In fact, it could be the most pivotal moment.

Bud Selig has come to town to meet with officials about the possibilities of a new stadium for the Marlins. With UM bolting the Orange Bowl after this season for the updated Dolphin Stadium, the door has swung wide open for the Marlins to fall upon the OB and develop a project for a home.

Further Reading (and listening)
Selig's press conference
Miami Herald: Selig Visits South Florida
SI: Selig Lobbies for South Florida

Ultimately, this deal should get done. The Miami-Dade metropolitan area has one of the largest TV markets in the country - more so than any other alternative site being used as a "threat" to move the Marlins to. Selig knows this, and also is relying a bit on Jeffrey Loria to get a stadium because MLB put up a loan that made Loria ultimately the Marlins owner.

"I believe in this market," Selig told the press today. But he also stated that this market needs a roof on its stadium, indicating that he is in line with the thinking around the Marlins front office and even Bob DuPuy about what approach the Marlins should take to their design.

With the demographics of South Florida, Selig agrees that the South Florida market would be competitive with the rest of MLB - provided they get the right stadium facilities in place.

Selig also was reluctant to stamp a deadline on the project, but recognizes there is a practical concern over getting it done within a certain time period.

UM Leaves OB; Marlins Moving In?

The Hurricanes are finally done with delaying the inevitable and are giving in to Wayne Huizenga's desires and moving out of the Orange Bowl and into the faux OB, Dolphin Stadium (which will forever be known as Joe Robbie Stadium to this humble writer).

Not a shock at all. But Cane fans will be debating this move for some time, talking about the tradition of the dingy Orange Bowl and all its history. They have one final season to soak it up.

Yet, what will the city of Miami now do with this increasingly outdated structure? They had promised to put over $200M in improvements into the renovation project - should the University of Miami committed to staying.

Further Reading
UM Leaves OB
Shalala Didn't Want to Do It
A Sad Day When Tradition Loses

But now, it is time for the Marlins to explore this situation very carefully. There were plans, how serious is debatable, to see the OB turned into a sports complex with the Marlins attaching their new stadium to the side of the Orange Bowl. That vision never fully materialized due to funding and other concerns, but now that the city is losing its only tenant of the Orange Bowl, they may be pressed to strike a deal with the Marlins. The city is faced with not only missing out on the promise of their major college football tenant but could also lose out on their MLB franchise which is looking to plant roots somewhere in South Florida.

And that will mean major bucks and a lucrative tourist attraction. For the area around the Orange Bowl, it would be a needed boost.

Marlins On Two Game Win Streak

One against the Phillies and now another against the Mets. The Marlins are, dare I say, rolling. Frank the Tank would be proud:



Ok, so I shouldn't get too excited. After all, it is just two games. Yet, this is a sign of hope as the Marlins have been able to come together against two division rivals and with another chance tonight against the Mets, who knows? It is a little late to crash the Wild Card party, but it isn't too late to crash someone else's season.

Marlins Dead in the Water?

Seems like it is over too quickly for the Marlins this season.

Suffering injuries to 3/5ths of their stellar starting staff from last season hasn't been kind either. Then again, neither has this coaching staff.

Incidentally, they may all get an incomplete considering the injuries to this team but make no mistake, the Marlins have taken a big step backwards this season. There was a lot of hope and expectation for this young team coming into the season, building on the rookie seasons of Josh Johnson, Scott Olsen, Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Mike Jacobs and even Anibal Sanchez and Ricky Nolasco. Olsen has turned into a headcase; Jacobs, Johnson, Sanchez and Nolasco have all been injured while only Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla have been able to consistently get into the starting lineup each day.

And it shows.

On top of this struggle, the Marlins made changes to their coaching staff and it doesn't seem to have paid off at all. Girardi left, mostly because he blew out the starters and didn't play the right personnel - and the fruits of that destruction have come to bear as we see Josh Johnson is now out for the rest of this season and possibly next. Yet the hiring of Fredi Gonzalez, met with some fanfare since he is a local kid, has turned out to be a quagmire.

Gonzalez has yet to show any kind of leadership abilities, instead deferring mostly to bench coach Carlos Tosca. The lack of direction shows on the field as these young players tend to go up and down like elevators but never seem to find ways to get out of funks or focus on being professionals day to day. That is not to say that the Marlins have huge problems with their personnel, yet only to say that the challenge of great players is their potential and developing it to its fullest. Miguel Cabrera was battling a big weight issue and the Marlins seemed to lack any courage in addressing it and challenging Cabrera. Dan Uggla went through a big slump and very little got better for him as did Jeremy Hermida. These young players need to have a plan in order to get out these slumps or spells where they just play bad and the Marlins staff seems to side-step the opportunity to hold them accountable as professionals.

It just seems that there is too much focus on personal feelings with this group and a fear to do what is necessary to win.

Say what we want about Girardi, but his crew cut no-nonsense approach made him the focus of the team from the players and no one questioned who was in charge in that dugout. In fact, that may have been what got him fired in the end - he couldn't stop himself. Fredi seems to be the opposite - he doesn't know where he should begin.

As a result, the Marlins have performed worse despite their strong offensive numbers and their talent. Mistakes like letting Armando Benitez even set foot on the field continue, while former problems - Randy Messenger and Jorge Julio, for example - continue to improve.

Byung-Hyun Kim was a shrewd move for Julio, but now he has been placed on waivers and picked up by Arizona. A payroll move and a signal that the Marlins brass is waiving the white flag for the remainder of this season. They might as well get rid of the coaching staff too since they have seemed to all but run the Marlins into the ground now.

There is little to watch for right now other than the development of young talents like Jeremy Hermida and Rick Vanden Hurk. Of course Miguel Cabrera and Hanley Ramirez are having fine seasons and are worth the price of the ticket alone to watch each night. In fact, that is the problem - these young guys have talent and deserve to put it on display and win. For some reason, it isn't working out right now.

Nolesmarlins' Power Rankings

Imagine how good the Marlins rotation would be if we still had Penny and Beckett.

1. Detroit: Just disgusting. Kicking a$$ and taking names. The Tigers are a winning machine. Start printing those playoff tickets.

2. Los Angeles of Anaheim: Almost up there with the Tigers, but they need to improve their offense, especially in the power department. If they don't solve that problem by the deadline, they will in the off season when they inevitably get Arod.

3. Boston: I would question whether Josh Beckett has the makeup and the experience to lead a pitching staff in the playoffs, but then I remember how sick he was in 2003 for the Fish.

4. Los Angeles: Brad Penny is pitching the lights out, and they might have found something special in James Loney.

5. Cleveland: I think they should try to make a deal for Livan Hernandez. How ironic would that be... and he would really help this team. They really could use another innings eating starter. Imagine Livan coming to Cleveland and leading them to the title ten seasons after he helped beat them.

6. Seattle: They need to pull off some sort of trade deadline coup if they expect to take the Angels for the division, but they still have the talent right now to sneak past the Indians for the wild card.

7. New York Mets: Lastings Milledge might be of some use after all. This team has really no need to trade for another starter, remember they have Pedro coming back.

8. Chicago Cubs: They have definitely turned around their season, but as it stands now they won't catch Milwaukee.

9. San Diego: Need a hitter even worse than the Angels. It would be a shame if this team doesn't make the playoffs, they have the pitching staff to go very deep into October.

10. Milwaukee: Losing Ben Sheets to the DL doesn't help one bit, but he will be back. Look on the bright side, he will be fresher by the time the playoffs come around.

11. Atlanta: Chipper Jones just caught on fire.

12. New York Yankees: They aren't winning with him having the best season of his year, so they don't need to pay him $25 million a year to lose. It makes sense for everyone for Arod to leave.

13. Minnesota: I wonder how long this team will keep Maurer and Morneau together...

14. Colorado: The most schizophrenic team ever. They have a lot of young stars on this team, they just need to find some pitching that works for their environment.

15. Arizona: They were bound to fall off. Unfortunately for them, I think they may have shot themselves in the foot with this latest swoon, especially when you consider the talent in this division. Only San Francisco is a pushover. They should see what they can get for Byrnes and Hernandez.

16. Philadelphia: I hope Scotty O gets to start in the upcoming Phils-Fish series. There is no difference at all between this year's Phillies and any Philly team over the last five years. Either get Arod and Santana or something, or trade off the high priced guys vets to build a young team around Howard, Utley, Hamels, and maybe Rowand. Why spend $100 million in payroll on a team that can't even make the playoffs?

17. Florida: Well at least their rotation leads the league in something: DUIs. They have been quietly playing pretty well since the all star break, but have no illusions, they'll be very lucky to finish above .500.

18. Toronto: Why do they have Astroturf in the Skydome... oops, the Rogers Center? Its a retractable roof, they can open the thing for sunlight to shine in... Just never made any sense to me.

19. St. Louis: They should have a better second half, but losing Carpenter for a year to Tommy John surgery has pretty much screwed them over for the next two seasons. At least they won one in '06, that might have to satisfy birds fans for a while.

20. Kansas City: They WILL win at least a playoff spot within the next three seasons, I guarantee it. They just need to develop their pitching.

21. Oakland: Talk about your all time stumbles out of the gate...

22. Chicago White Sox: The unluckiest team in the game. They might even finish in fifth place.

23. Cincinnati: Have been playing slightly better under their new manager, although they just got bitch-slapped by the Marlins over the weekend.

24. Washington: Is it 2008 yet?

25. Texas: Texeria would definitely help the Yankees, but they probably won't trade for him. The problem is nobody really matches up well with Texas.

26. Houston: Maybe they should try to see if they can rob some desperate contenders (the Mets maybe) farm system by trading Oswalt.

27. Baltimore: they suck

28. San Francisco: See above. I somehow don't see Barry leaving San Fran after this year.

29. Tampa Bay: B.J. Upton has been playing pretty well fresh off the DL.

30. Pittsburgh: Have been absolutely atrocious after the ASB.