Why the Marlins stadium is not sold out night after night is beyond me. Florida weather and a team that is loaded with great young talent is a recipe for a great time. Instead of waiting until the end of the season, fans would do well to get out and support this team from day one because they are sure to be in the race for the NL East from the moment the first pitch goes out.
It is an exciting time in Miami with this new ball club and it all starts with the news about the new stadium. The city has allowed the sale of bonds to cover the costs of the parking sites for the new digs and it is now full steam ahead. However, the new ballpark will not be ready until 2012, so there is still a lot more baseball for this young club to play before the new house can get broken in.
While the Marlins have been known to pinch pennies in the past, this new team seems to be ready to open the purse strings up just a bit. Whether it is the looming new stadium or the base of talent that they have makes no difference, it is finally about putting a quality product on the field, regardless of the cost. After all, that new stadium won’t get filled if the team that is playing in it can’t win a game.
The first clue to the new attitude that the Marlins are taking is the signing of Josh Johnson to a 4-year, ,000,000 contract. While Marlins fans were rolling their eyes less than a week ago as it looked like history was going to repeat itself and a hot talent would go to a team offering a better deal yet again, team and player put ink to paper to make sure that Johnson stays put. This is one arm that they could ill afford to lose.
Johnson broke into the majors in 2005 for a quick cup of coffee and his brief 12 innings was enough to get the teams brass excited about this young man. After a stellar 2006 season where he went 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA, injuries held him back to a 0-3 record with a 7.47 ERA in only 15.2 innings pitched in 2007. He was quick to bounce back in 2008 with a 7-1 record and a 3.61 ERA and broke out last season posting a 15-5 win/loss record and a stellar 3.23 ERA. Just as important as his 15 wins and low ERA were the 200 innings that he ate up as a starter.
Johnson made it fairly clear right from the beginning that he wanted to stay in Florida as long as they could get a deal done. The witching hour negotiations ended up being fruitful as Florida is finally building a roster of talent that they can build a present and a future around. Fans have every reason to run to the ticket windows this season as Florida will give Philadelphia everything that they can handle in the NL East.
By Matt Ryan, sponsored by StubPass.com. StubPass.com sells Florida Marlins Tickets, MLB Tickets, Sports Tickets and more to just about any event in the world.
Article from articlesbase.com
