As I watched the Giancarlo Stanton news conference on television Wednesday, it wasn’t talk of Stanton’s new, historic $325 million contract that stood out for me. It was the appearance of Jeffrey Loria that struck me.
The owner of the Miami Marlins seems to have aged badly since the last time I saw him. It’s not that he looks older than his age – he turned 74 the day after the news conference – but he used to look much younger than his age.
Loria’s appearance reminded me of a 1945 film, “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” in which a portrait of Gray changes, becoming more severe, as he becomes a more sinful character.
There might be a few baseball owners today who view Loria as sinful because he has raised the salary bar with his 13-year deal for his superstar outfielder.
I have always believed that players should get as much money as they can because if they don’t get it the owners will have more for themselves. This contract, though, only raises championship skepticism.
Given Loria’s payroll history in his 13-year ownership of the Marlins, the Stanton contract makes one wonder what devious plot Loria might have in mind this time.
In 2003 the Marlins won the World Series, and after giving the team a chance to repeat in 2004 Loria dismantled the roster. His act copied the move made by a predecessor owner, H. Wayne Huizenga, after the Marlins won the 1997 World Series.
The Marlins’ new park was scheduled to open in 2012, and Loria wanted to be prepared with a team good enough to attract fans so he signed a collection of free agents, including Jose Reyes for $106 million and Mark Buehrle for $58 million.
The new park was pretty, but the team was pretty ugly, winning 69 games and losing 93. What did Loria do next? He dismantled the team again, slashing the payroll from $112 million at the start of the 2012 season to $45 million a year later. The Marlins ended this past season with a $52 million payroll, lowest in the major leagues.
Loria has been the majors’ most notorious owner for his manipulation of his roster and its payroll. He remains the only owner who was reprimanded jointly by Major League Baseball and the Players Association.
Occurring in January 2010, it involved the Marlins’ “compliance with revenue sharing provisions” of the labor agreement. MLB pressured the Marlins into accepting the joint reprimand rather than face a union grievance that might have included other teams.
Commenting on the matter, Michael Weiner, head of the union (who died a year ago Nov. 21) said in a statement:
“In response to our concerns that revenue sharing proceeds have not been used as required, the Marlins have assured the Union and the Commissioner’s Office that they plan to use such proceeds to increase player payroll annually as they move toward the opening of their new ballpark. Today’s agreement, which covers the period 2010 through 2012, calls for ongoing communication among the Marlins, the Commissioner’s Office and the Union as the Marlins proceed with that plan.”
To Loria’s credit, he adhered to the agreement, raising the payroll and its standing from $37 million (30th) in 2009 to $47 million (28th) to $62 million (25th) to $90 million (18th) in 2012.
With the agreement ended, however, Loria reverted to form, finishing the 2013 season at $42 million (29th) and $52 million this year (30th.)
Now, out of nowhere, comes Stanton and $325 million.
The Marlins did not have to sign Stanton now. He could not have been a free agent until after the 2016 season.
They didn’t have to give him a complete no-trade clause. After the sixth year, he will have 10 years of major league service and thus will be a 10-and-5 player, meaning he will have 10 years in the majors, the last 5 with the same team and cannot be traded without his permission.
Interestingly, it is after six years of the contract (2020) that Stanton can opt out of it. If he opts out, he will be relinquishing $218 million for the last seven years, or slightly more than $31 million a year.
By 2020, if the Marlins haven’t won anything, they might be happy to have Stanton opt out, but by backloading the deal so heavily, the Marlins are basically insuring that he won’t want to leave and give up all of that money.
There’s another element that could be involved in that timing. “It helps his TV negotiations,” a baseball executive said. “His TV contract is up in three years. He might sell after he gets a new TV deal. A TV deal would increase the value of the team.”
The executive cited the Los Angeles Dodgers as an example of the effect a big television deal can have on the sale of a team. The Dodgers negotiated a 25-year deal with Time Warner reported to be worth $8.35 billion. The Dodgers were sold for $2 billion.
Under the Marlins’ current TV deal, they get no more than a reported $18 million a year. Last year Loria told the Sun Sentinel, a Florida newspaper, “We have the worst TV revenue in baseball, and we have another two or three years to go before we can negotiate that.”
A former baseball official said the Marlins are stuck with a poor deal because Loria negotiated it without knowing that part of the baseball business.
How well Loria knows the player contract business remains to be seen. Stanton’s contract will pay him only $30 million in the first three years, giving the Marlins flexibility to sign and/or pay other players. Loria has been in baseball long enough to know that one player, even Stanton, cannot win a championship himself.
Will the Marlins have enough money after paying Stanton to pay 24 other players? No one asked Loria that question at the news conference. I would like to have asked him, but he didn’t return telephone calls. Neither did David Samson, the Marlins’ president.
Based on experiences other teams have had with expensive long-term contracts, this one was very likely a bad idea. The Marlins are counting on Stanton’s youth – he just turned 25 – but other factors can affect a player in a contract of that length.
Stanton was hit in the face by a pitch in a September game and was lucky the ball hit his jaw and not an eye.
Ryan Howard got a 5-year, $125 million contract from 
Philadelphia, and with one year left hasn’t been the same productive player he was before the contract took effect. In years two and three of the contract, at the ages of 33 and 34, injuries limited him to a total of 151 games.
Howard was older than Stanton is now, but Stanton will be those ages during his $325 million contract.
Colorado signed 26-year-old Troy Tulowitzki to a 10-year, $157.75 contract before the 2011 season, and he has missed 241 games in four seasons and had hip labrum surgery.
In his first season of a 10-year, $225 million contract, Cincinnati’s Joey Votto played in 62 games this year. Joe Mauer of Minnesota signed an 8-year, $184 million extension at the age of 27 and has missed 29 percent of the Twins’ games in the first four years. He missed 18 percent of the games in the previous four seasons.
Alex Rodriguez signed two 10-year contracts, with Texas for $252 million and with the New York Yankees for $275 million. Like Stanton, he was 25 years old when he signed the first one, and on the day he signed he talked about how prior to choosing the Rangers he studied their entire system and was certain they would win a championship during his tenure with them.
The Rangers, however, finished in last place each of his three years with them.
In his comments at the news conference, Stanton sounded a lot like Rodriguez 14 years ago.
“This is one building block toward a brighter future,” Stanton said, adding, “We’re going to add pieces around me. We’re all in it to win it.” Speaking of the contract, he said, “That’s why it’s structured that way.”
“The road pushing forward looks bright,” he said. “We have the talent and the pieces to do so. The tough part of my decision was the uncertainty of the past. But you can’t always think about the past. You’ve got to look at what’s with you and what can be ahead of you. It looks good from my eyes.”
The Marlins feel they have a lot of good young talent, players who have played in the majors and players who are on their way. However, if those players produce as the Marlins expect, by the time they are ready to win, they will be at the threshold of earning big salaries in salary arbitration and nearing free agency.
That could be around the same time Stanton’s contract escalates into significantly higher salaries, and that could also be the time when Loria, if he still owns the team, will look really old.