DALLAS • It is without any whiff of irony that Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria can claim it took a new ballpark with a roof on it for his club to finally have a sunny outlook.
"It's obvious. It creates new opportunities and new opportunities create the ability to seek the players that you can dream (of)," Loria said. "It's going to change the image immensely."
More than just a new home, a new name and a new look is afoot in Miami.
Baseball has a new big spender.
After years of being baseball's pre-Christmas miser, Loria's Marlins are the talk of the winter meetings with their aggressive and free-spending pursuit of the game's bigger names. Hours after arriving at the Hilton Anatole for this year's meetings, the Marlins formally introduced new closer Heath Bell and his three-year, $27-million contract. They are in the process of finalizing a six-year, $106 million deal for shortstop Jose Reyes, who will be introduced as a Marlin on Wednesday. And at the same time, Loria and his front office continued to court three-time MVP Albert Pujols.
The Marlins have committed $133 million in salary to free agents so far this offseason. The other 29 teams have spent about $170 million.
"When we talk to clubs and we talk to free agents, it's a different day for us because we're able to explore things that we haven't been able to explore in the past," said Miami general manager Larry Beinfest. "What we're able to do now is we're able to look in areas that we haven't been able to look into in the past, an All-Star free agent closer, for example. And we're going to enjoy the revenues in the new ballpark that we haven't been able to in our current situation."
The Cardinals, who share a spring training facility with the Marlins in Jupiter, Fla., will open that new (and unnamed) ballpark April 4, the 2012 season's opening night.
When the shovel broke ground on their $634 million stadium in Miami, they struck gold, figuratively. As a result of one of baseball's most unfriendly leases, the Marlins had revenue trickles from Sun Life Stadium. The new ballpark, which is awaiting a corporate sponsor to buy its naming rights, opens up additional revenue streams for the club, Loria said repeatedly Monday.
He said it also redefines the culture of the ballclub. Located on the former site of the Orange Bowl, the ballpark is no longer a hike from downtown Miami. A retractable roof means the daily threat of a rainout is a thing of the past. And by slicing the capacity down to 37,000, the Marlins hope to create what Loria described as increased demand instead of the football stadium's abundant supply of seats. Loria said the team targets 2.8 million in attendance.
"There's no question the payroll is going up or else we would not be here today," Beinfest said. "We have been revenue-challenged in the past and that's translated into payroll and the payroll is going up. Where that lands is ultimately up to Jeffrey, but we're interested in securing good players, great players in some instances, to help us win our division and hopefully get to October. That's our goal."
The Marlins are two years removed from Major League Baseball and the players' union imposing a deal on the club to spend more money on player development and acquisition. The Marlins were accused of pocketing part of their revenue-sharing purse instead of re-investing it in their product. The Marlins' payroll had sunk to $15 million in 2006.
It inched forward all the way to $57 million in 2011.
Including Reyes' pending deal, the Marlins have already spent more than $75 million on eight players. Five arbitration-eligible players could rocket that total past $85 million.
And the Marlins remain engaged in talks for Pujols and two of the top starters available in the market, lefties C. J. Wilson and Mark Buehrle.
The free agents the team has targeted "are very smart," Loria said. "They know. When one piece is added or subtracted, they have a sense of where you're going very quickly."
Said Bell: "There's just a lot of buzz about the Miami Marlins. ... (Loria) really wants to win and he knows exactly what he wants and he's not just going with marquee names. He has a plan, and it just seemed like he was going to be aggressive and he was going to go after his plan."
Part of that aggressive approach -- which also included the hiring of colorful and chatty manager Ozzie Guillen -- was brought in to manage the team. has been using the new ballpark and Miami's vibrant city life as a draw for free agents. Loria and his staff have hosted Buehrle, Wilson, Reyes and Pujols on recruiting trips that all featured a tour of the new ballpark. It is the centerpiece of the Marlins' revival.
They hope it quite literally changes their fortunes.
"It is a lot of fun. It's just part of the whole energy behind the organization right now," Beinfest said. "This winter meetings is different for us. We've very excited. We're kicking it off. ... It is different than it has been in past years, but our goal is the same — to put the best team on the field and (get) to October. It doesn't matter if we were running a lower payroll or a higher payroll, our goal remains the same, and that's to get to the playoffs.
"Hopefully we're heading down that road."
