Holy fuck yes they did.
I feel so very bad poor Stanton. The Marlins are going to make one GM a very happy man when they trade him.

Damn, I loved those Jays. Robby Alomar was a delight to watch.

In other news, the Mets won't finish last this year. Happy day

@Santa, take solace in the fact that you live in a city full of decent sports teams. Hell, the Mets even win sometimes.

I guess now we can stop pretending about Canadian football and be happy we might have a real playoff team for once.

MEEEEELLLLKKKYYYYYY

The AL East is stupid.

And I thought the Mets ownership was a bunch of crooks...

And they are.

But still, damn...

The 5 Marlins fans are outraged. I can't believe the city agreed to pay for that ridiculous stadium. What chumps.

The Marlins need to be contracted.

If it weren't for the scummyness that is Loria, the move would be that terrible. From a strictly baseball point of view it's defensible.

@Putin:

If they can't be salvaged in Miami, just move the team somewhere else...contraction brings the league down to 29, which is an awkward number (besides, they just moved the Astros to the AL to give both leagues an even 15, so no way will they contract a team and lose revenue and undue that balance they've attempted to strike.)

It'd be nice to see the Expos back in the league...
Portland's long wanted a team...
Charlotte's long wanted one as well...
A team in a major Latin American city might be interesting.

But contraction? No way.

@Yonni:

How do you defend trading all those stars for nothing even close in return...after signing them all just last year?

That's just ridiculous.

We should go back to 28 teams. Get rid of the Oakland As & Tampa Bay Rays, since nobody ever shows up to their games even if they make the playoffs, particularly the Rays.
Florida should be a sports-free state. They don't believe in sports so stop giving them teams. That state is just a giant testicular tumor on America.

I don't think moving to other locations helps matters. The new places never seem to get people to turn out to games and plus, just putting more teams with no history in the league ruins baseball. The glory days of baseball were the late 1980s early 1990s before the strike, when they had 28 teams. We need to go back to that era.

Er 26 rather.

Putin, go run that one by Bud Selig and see if his old joints can still punch someone in the face or not.

My thing is that the Marlins cleared out in 2003 after winning the World Series complaining that they couldn't keep up with their payroll if they didn't have the fan support that would come from a new stadium. Now they have a new stadium and they clear out, using taxpayers as their headrests. It's a good trade for the Jays and a good trade for the Marlins if you're looking at nothing more than the rosters, but when it comes to money, the Marlins screwed their fans big time. If they come back and do something in the next few offseasons, that's cool, but as of now they don't look to want that.

Loria is the same douche who destroyed the Expos. In fact he got a loan from the MLB in order to buy the Marlins, and then proceeded to destroy them. He's a one man wrecking crew.

Obi, they definitely did not get nothing in return. We gave up a nice little package for them. The burhle and Reyes contracts were pretty universally panned when they signed them AND they were easily backloaded. Johnson only has one year of control and buck fucking sucks.
They gave up some overpayed players to get quite a nice package of prospects/Escobar.

It made sense for the Jays because I feel like they'd have to overpay to get them to Toronto if they were willing to come here at all. Now, we're a more attractive place and could sign someone like Melky.

I like the deal but it wasn't the swindle people make it out to be.

Move a team to Cuba.

The move made sense for the Marlins future, but they opted to focus on now and I'm surprised that they ditched that philosophy so quickly. Hire some better coaches and personnel and things change quickly… baseball is all mental, it really can be that simple.

Most trades for "prospects" result in absolutely nothing. See: Cleveland Indians.

No doubt there Putin, but all the best players were prospects at one point.

And, alongside Cleveland, check in Pittsburgh. Triple-A affiliate is here in Indy; I see all of their prospects that aren't good enough. You know, those guys they traded for in the Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, etc. deals…

Amazing.

Yes, Pittsburgh is probably even worse about that. Although the Cliff Lee trade is fresh in my memory.

"We should go back to 28 teams. Get rid of the Oakland As & Tampa Bay Rays, since nobody ever shows up to their games even if they make the playoffs, particularly the Rays."

Right, get rid of the A's, an Original 16 team with multiple World Series championships...

Yeah--no. Keep them in Oakland or move them (plenty of cities want a team) but yeah, no, the A's don't get contracted in any baseball universe.

(As for the Rays...eh, they have a decent team...again, I'm more one for relocation than contraction, especially with the A's.)

"Florida should be a sports-free state. They don't believe in sports so stop giving them teams."

That may well be one of the dumber non-Stalin comments you've ever made.
Right, Florida doesn't believe in sports.
That's why they have 2 World Series titles...
A 3rd trip in the Rays' WS run...
3 Super Bowls between the Dolphins and Buccaneers...
A Super Team in the Miami Heat that just won the NBA Finals...
A Stanley Cup (the Lightning can stay, the Panthers should be relocated NOW)...
College Football programs with huge backings and multiple titles...
Hall of Famers, the former Orange Bowl, multiple Super Bowls hosted there...

Oh yes, Florida doesn't believe or care about sports at all, that's why it has teams in all 4 Major North American sporting leagues with multiple teams in 3/4 leagues and huge college football programs.

"I don't think moving to other locations helps matters. The new places never seem to get people to turn out to games"

Yeah, those ballclubs in New York and Brooklyn really went South and attracted no fans once they became the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers...

And moving the Atlanta Thrashers to become the new Winnipeg Jets, yeah, no attendance spike or improvement there at all...

And Nationals Park is just completely empty, moving the Expos to D.C. was a mistake.

(Well...it was, but not because D.C. doesn't draw fans and because relocation doesn't work because...it can and does...unless you're the Phoenix Coyotes.)

"just putting more teams with no history in the league ruins baseball."

In principle I'd agree, but at this point...well...

The youngest franchises--the Marlins, Rays, Diamondbacks and Rockies--have all been to World Series by now and have 10+ years of history...and the most recently moved team, the Nats, just made the playoffs and have a bright future, so as it stands, all existing teams have at least some history to be proud of.

"The glory days of baseball were the late 1980s early 1990s before the strike, when they had 28 teams. We need to go back to that era."

Baseball's had several glory years--

1920s to 30s...

Post-WWII to, say, 1969, when the Miracle Mets won the world series...

The 1970s and 80s saw football leap ahead, but also saw some really great teams and WS...

And so on.

Baseball's not back to pre-Steroid era popularity, but it's doing a lot better since the dog days of Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and their ilk.

2011 was a good postseason for baseball, capped by a great 7-game WS, including an historic night for Albert Pujos and one for the ages (and "Greatest Games" DVD collection) with the back-and-forth, extra-innings, Game 6 walk-off HR by David Freese.

2012 was...OK, not as good, but not bad, either, it was good to see the Orioles win again after so many losing seasons, and the Giants were a fun team to watch.

Baseball's doing alright.

Yeah, the only prospect that worked out for Pittsburgh has been McCutchen. You can make an argument for Neil Walker, and you'd have been able to make an argument for Ryan Doumit too. Evan Meek had a moment but not much since then.

I remember when I was in fourth grade and we went to an Indians game as a school. We'd sit in the center field grass. Nyjer Morgan (T-Plush?) was playing center and a double got over his head and he yelled, right in front of an entire elementary school, "SHHIITTTTT" … we made fun of him the rest of that game and he was really cool about it. Threw us baseballs whenever he could and I've still got one from him. Awesome guy.

Obi.. throw in Seattle Supersonics to OKC Thunder. That's a relocation that turned out brilliantly.

Only because OKC has talent. Watch attendance collapse as soon as they fall on hard times. I"m not arguing Florida teams haven't been successful - that's not the point. That makes it worse, actually, since despite the success, people don't turn out to the games. Look at the Rays attendance figures when they've been good. Look at the As attendance figures this year. Look at the Florida Panthers in hockey and their attendance figures. Look how many people turned out for the Tampa Bay Lightning's victory "parade" when they won the cup. It's pathetic, really. Look at Miami Hurricane attendance, despite the hype of "The U" every year.

Florida fans are fair weather fans.

I'm not even sure if Jacksonville knows they have an NFL team, to add to the "Florida should be revoked" argument.

"And moving the Atlanta Thrashers to become the new Winnipeg Jets, yeah, no attendance spike or improvement there at all..."

Doesn't this example prove my point? They tried to bring hockey to a city with no hockey tradition whatsoever and it failed miserably. In the Jets case, they tried to relocate a franchise from a city with a strong hockey tradition to Phoenix, AZ, which was a complete failure as the latter have been under NHL administration for several years now.

"Florida fans are fair weather fans."

If that's your problem than half the California teams need to be nixed (already happened with our NFL teams...Jacksonville has a team, but not LA--madness, THAT'S a Florida franchise that needs to be moved, Jacksonville to LA and the NFL will be perfect, most every city that deserves a team will have one.)

"Doesn't this example prove my point?"

...No...

The WPF-to-PHX one is a +1 to your point, but you're citing the ATL-to-WPG as making your point...and it doesn't, that'd be a case FOR relocation in cases like that, as it takes it from an ill market (Atlanta) and gives the team to a good one (Winnipeg.)

Winnipeg is more like re-re-location. Calling Winnipeg relocation is like calling a Chinese takeover of Taiwan a foreign invasion.

On California teams, yes, that's probably true.

Sunny climes are no place for sports teams. Just too many other things for people to do.

From what I've heard, San Diego doesn't care much about the Chargers or Padres, even when they're good. The Dodgers and Lakers seem to perennially have some level of support, but I know the Kings were practically giving Stanley Cup tickets away to try to get asses in seats, and that's pathetic.

"And Nationals Park is just completely empty, moving the Expos to D.C. was a mistake."

Ermm, obi? Nationals Park *is* completely empty. I went to a game there when they played the Mets last year and it was *maybe* half full. Tickets? Five bucks. So yeah, not exactly success. Sports should stay to the cold northern states where they're actually appreciated. Southern states care too much about college sports.

1. Reyes
2. Cabrera
3. Joey Bats
4. Encarnacion
5. Lawrie
6. Lind
7. Arencibia
8. Rasmus
9. Izturis

Cabrera's nothing without his roids.

@mapleleaf I would probably have Bonafacio play second instead of Izitrius. And probably not have Lind bat sixth.

Bo Sox, you're an idiot. I suppose Braun would fall of a cliff too... I'd be more concerned that more than a 3rd of his batted balls have fallen for hits. We're only paying as a league average hitter and I'd be shocked if he's not at least a 3 WAR LF this year.

And, yeah, we don't need Bonifacio and Davis coming off the bench although, holy shit, that'd be a fast bench.

And we need a platoon for Lind. We can't possibly have him hitting 6th against lefties.

Braun didn't do steroids.. that's why they overturned it. Cabrera did, as did many players I hate and many I like, and until told otherwise, they're all equally guilty.

Braun got off on a technicality.

Yeah, everything's a technicality to lawyers anymore.

I think I like the idea of platooning Lind and Davis since Davis is good against Lefties.

And Bosox, which part of Cabrera's HR outburst did I miss?
There is little proof showing the ability for steroids to acutely affect the performance over a season or two during the players prime ages.