Miami Marlins appear sold, but curb your excitement a little longer

After months of rumors and false reporting, the Miami Marlins appear to have been sold. Your excitement should proceed with caution, though.

It goes without say that Miami Marlins fans have been anxious to get the team out of Jeffery Loria’s hands for years. The curmudgeonly miser has repeatedly hosed supporters of the Marlins franchise at every opportunity.

On Friday, the Miami Herald reported that the Derek Jeter led group to purchase the team. The news comes shortly after the Bush-Rothbaum group dropped out of the bidding. It appears Derek Jeter has won again.

But this isn’t the first time the team was reportedly sold. Fans would be wise to hold off on their excitement until everything is signed.

You’ll recall reports that Derek Jeter already bought this team four months ago. And then he didn’t. Then Forbes reported that Jorge Mas had reached an agreement to purchase the team. That too turned out to be false.

The point being, this is one of the hottest non-baseball baseball stories this year. Teams don’t get sold very often, so being the first to get the scoop would be a big deal. Reporters have jumped the gun a few times already, so best to be cautious.

What’s that saying? Fool me once, shame on… shame on you. Fool me… you can’t get fooled again.

In all fairness, these reports are as legitimate as any others that have come out. With ESPN widely reporting on the sale, and numerous local outlets saying an agreement has been reached, it looks real. This time, it isn’t just fly by night Forbes reporting the team is out of Loria’s hands.

If the team has indeed been sold, there is obvious reason to celebrate. I’ve advocated for Derek Jeter to own the team throughout the entire ordeal.

Derek Jeter absolutely ‘moves the needle’

A by-product of the access everyone has to voicing their opinion now is that it is harder to stand out. Nothing can be a consensus anymore, otherwise it gets lost in the fray. Without the almighty page view or link-click, you lose out on the almightier dollar.

To that end, it’s easy to understand why SVP thinks Derek Jeter will do little for baseball in Miami. While everyone is busy doing back flips, the well-spoken and articulate ESPN fixture is flea-flicking everybody with a steaming hot take.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even when it’s totally wrong.

Ownership change will inject a boost of interest, but ultimately winning is the only thing that will sustain it. Throughout an illustrious, fairytale career in Major League Baseball, nobody was more committed to winning than Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees.

If you’re a Miami Marlins fan, you can’t help but say: “I’ll have some of that”.

Winning wins fans. The Miami Dolphins and the Miami Heat have done it. The Miami Hurricanes have certainly done it. The Marlins have done it too, but have followed it up by betraying the fanbase rather than building on their success.

That won’t happen under a Derek Jeter led ownership.

Next: Miami Marlins wise to be careful with Peters

But again, lets not get ahead of ourselves. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen reports like these. We all want to believe it’s true. But wanting to believe something is true is different from it being true. Keep the cork in that champagne a little longer.