Massive Marlins Firesale & Rays Impact - Part 4

Day Four of the South Florida firesale fallout, and there's no shortage of frustrations toward not just Jeffrey Loria, but all baseball owners.

The Times' Gary Shelton echoes what I wrote Tuesday - that business comes before baseball for many owners, and the reminder will continue to hamper the Rays in the Stadium Saga:

To get a new stadium, the team will have to survive a border war between St. Petersburg and Tampa. It will have to overcome the general disinterest that comes when someone wants to talk about a new stadium. Someone will have to come up with creative financing. And, yes, there is a lease and the possibility of lawyers.

Now there is the legacy of Loria's lunacy.

Good luck with that one.

Shelton goes on to write how he "understands" Mayor Bill Foster's position, but speculates St. Pete may not even want the Rays because their residents are against building a new stadium.  Except the residents are against building a new stadium not because they don't want the team, but because THEY ALREADY HAVE A STADIUM AND THE TEAM IS STUCK THERE!

More interesting reaction to the Marlins' mess from Brian Frederick with the Huffington Post:

What’s happened in Miami is just the latest (and most gaudy) example of how pro sports owners fleece the public. But it ought to be the last.

Whether it’s cities cutting social services to pay off stadium debt (Cincinnati), cities building new stadiums for teams they don’t have (Kansas City), cities breaking leases to tear down beloved stadiums for owners demanding new ones (Denver), cities tearing down historic ballparks (Detroit, St. Louis and many others) or cities funding stadiums because politicians voted against the will of the public (countless cities), the public always ends up paying more than it receives. And, as the case of Miami illustrates, pro sports owners couldn’t care less.

We all must agree to never, ever finance a pro sports stadium again.

Neil deMaus of Field of Schemes calls Frederick's post a "fine argument," but not one that "changes things all that much," given:

1) plenty of other teams have gotten new stadiums and then continued to pinch pennies on payroll (Pittsburgh Pirates, anyone?), and 2) other owners can legitimately utilize the “Unlike Jeffrey Loria, I am not Satan incarnate” defense. Still, if you’re Stuart Sternberg or Lew Wolff, today probably isn’t the best day to call your local legislator and complain about how your team can’t win ballgames because it doesn’t have a new ballpark.

And to top it all off, Deadspin recaps Marlins' president David Samson's interview with The Dan Le Batard Show in Miami.  Good reading/listening.