This Miami Marlins problem is an MLB problem and needs to be resolved

It's time for MLB to start caring more about markets and fanbases

Neil Raymond

Bruce Sherman / Mark Brown/GettyImages

The Texas Rangers signed SP Michael Lorenzen for 1 year/$4.5 million. This happened at the same time as the Miami Marlins are dealing with some significant pitching injuries. You'd think that Bruce Sherman would allow Peter Bendix to spend some money. Now to be fair, it's possible that Bendix didn't want Lorenzen and didn't even bother trying to sign him. It still plays into the bigger picture with the team.

MLB needs to start caring about their fanbases and markets a bit more.

I wrote about how it was insane that a team from San Diego was outspending a team from Miami. I want to revisit this topic as with all of the talk about changing the CBA, it seems this issue is being mostly ignored. For Major League Baseball to become more popular, there has to be more done when it comes to markets.

It's common sense to say that Miami is one of the biggest markets in the country. The Miami-Dade metropolitan area is actually the ninth biggest in fact. So why do the Miami Marlins have a payroll in the bottom three of the Majors? How does that make any sense at all?

The Fish never seem to be connected to the top free agents and have a reputation as a team that's for lack of a nice word: "cheap". The fix is very simple. It's not a payroll floor which the owners will reject, it's a committee. A financial committee that has no connection to either the owners or the players. This committee will look at the market, will be provided the team's operating finances, the revenue etc. The committee will then analyze all of the data and provide their conclusion.

Their conclusion will be based on how the team's payroll represents their market and revenue. This committee will ultimately decide whether a given team is doing enough to be competitive or not. This will obviously require a lot of details worked out, but in general the concept is to hold owners responsible to their customers: the fanbase.

If a team is not doing enough to be competitive in their market, MLB should immediately force the owner to sell the team to someone who does. The fans deserve it.

Neil Raymond

Neil Raymond has been a lifelong Miami Marlins fan, with the 2003 playoff run being one of his favorite childhood memories. Neil has been called a "walking encyclopedia" for his knowledge of MLB statistics and the sport's history. He follows every game and actually invented his own statistic for player value on his side project BaseballAnalyzed.com. Writing for Fansided's Marlin Maniac since 2022, he also loves Fantasy Baseball and as such is an FSWA member. Neil also loves to travel, read and follow "Futbol" teams: Germany, Argentina, Greece, Inter Miami, Bayern Munich and NYC FC.