Forbes takes LaVar Ball approach to Miami Marlins sale: ‘Speak it into existence’

Apparently Forbes loves the Miami Marlins franchise like a talented, basketball playing son. Moments before the Home Run Derby on Monday, Forbes reported a deal had been struck.

Forbes is taking the LaVar Ball approach to getting the Miami Marlins sold. Speak it into existence, and the universe will take care of the rest. On Monday, they reported the Miami Marlins had reached an agreement to make Jorge Mas their new owner.

Mas is one of the leading candidates to purchase the team. Flanked by a super-group led by Wayne Rothbaum, Tagg Romney, and Jeb Bush, and a competing group led by Derek Jeter, Mas has emerged as the favorite lately.

Either Forbes knows something way before everyone else does, or they got some bad intel.

This could be another case of an outlet jumping the gun to try to be the first to break the story. The sale of the Miami Marlins has been teased for several months. Being the first to tell the world the news has become the golden snitch story of the Marlins season.

The report says the Mas has agreed to buy the Miami Marlins for a total sum of $1.17 billion. Loria has been asking for $1.3 billion after coming down from his initial request of $1.6 billion. Reports have been all over the board, but Loria has apparently been unwilling to come down any further.

And there we have it. That’s all of the new, verifiable information that is available. It appears that nothing has changed, despite regular reports to the contrary.

What Marlins brass says

An annoyed David Samson felt the need to address the issue directly. Multiple times over the course of the mid-summer festivities, Samson has declined to talk about the sale of the Marlins. This time he felt as if he had no other choice.

If you’ll recall, the team was “sold” to Derek Jeter and Jeb Bush over two months ago. That report over-hyped the importance of what turned out to be a minor agreement. Fast-forward to the present, and the bidding group that once seemed destined to own the team isn’t even together anymore.

The one, seemingly verifiable constant has come from the commissioner Rob Manfred. The head honcho has regularly expressed his belief that a sale will take place before the trading deadline. Now that the home run derby is out of the way, and with the All-Star Game on Tuesday, a deal should come any day.

Of course, that’s been the narrative for many, many days now.

Next: Marlins home run sculpture preparing whole life for derby

Have the Miami Marlins been sold or not? It’s impossible to tell when the bulk of the importance is breaking a story, not forwarding important information. For all intents and purposes, it appears that Forbes jumped the gun in saying that Jorge Mas had completed his purchase of the team.

A sale will come eventually, and that’s when Miami baseball fans can uncork the champagne. But for now, it’s business as usual.