In And Out

Here is a probably incomplete list of who joined and who left the Marlins club during the off-season...

Not with the Org.         Now with the Org.                   
--------------------------------------------                  
Ozzie Martinez            Ozzie Guillen                       
Jhan Marinez              Ricardo Andres                      
Brian Sanches             Joey Cora                           
Vinny Rottino             Gary Thurman                        
Perry Hill                Wade Le Blanc                       
Joe Thurston              Heath Bell                          
Brandon Hyde              Robert Ray                          
Darin Downs               Donnie Webb                         
John Baker                Jake Jeffries                       
Burke Badenhop            Aaron Rowand                        
Manatees                  Jose Reyes                          
Mermaids                  Mark Buehrle                        
Jose Lopez                Nick Green                          
Corey Hart                Bobby Ramos                         
Chris Volstad             Brendon Sagara                      
Elih Villanueva           Carlos Zambrano                     
Clay Hensley              Chad Gaudin                         
Brad Davis                Donovan Solano                      
                          Terry Tiffee                        
                          Gil Velasquez                       
                          Rob Delany                          
                          Austin Kearns                       
                          Gary Glover                         
                          J D Nartin                          
                          Beau Jones                          
                          Alberto Bastardo                    

In Other News...

We drove by the new stadium last week. On the outside there is still much construction equipment and scaffolding surrounding the project, with its first public event coming in two weeks. It was a weekday around 2:30PM - and traffic was a crowded, stop-and-go, lane-changing mess along 7th Street and 17th Avenue, two main arteries that lead into the park. Turning onto a side-road near the west side of the stadium we faced one of the guarded construction gates; turning left from there we immediately faced a chicken crossing the road.

Scott Cousins continues the team's numerological experiments.

Michael Jong "celebrates" ten years of Jeffrey.

A Met fan's perspective on Gary Carter.

And spring training gets going this week.

Stuff That Happened

More rumor talk goes for naught, as Cespedes takes one look at the new ballpark's home run celebration 'feature' and signs with an AL team that's 2500 miles from Miami.

Boni may still be smiling.

Carl Barger's family isn't smiling.

Josh says he's healthy.

Infante arrives at camp pre-injured.

More Notices

The auction for Reyes' hair ends today. (nbcmiami)

Jeffrey's probably looking for something to auction off for extra cash now that Anibal won in arbitration. (gmanetwork)

And the Marlins may need to have Oviedo pitch through Skype. (foxsportsflorida)

This Week's Stuff

The Marlins enforce their "strict grooming policy" on Jose Reyes...

...just as the newly-installed grass will be allowed to grow long and shaggy...

...which may allow LoMo to do some smooth LoMoing;....

...meanwhile Anibal finds out on Monday how much green he will be rolling around in.

End-of-January Notes

David Samson was projected to have a David Samsonish kind of a weekend. (sportsbusinessdaily)

Before that, Samson announced the stadium's name is "Marlins Park", up until some corporation coughs up continuous cash. (cbssports)

The stadium impresses fans on Saturday (with photos). (trb)

Buehrle and Mrs. Buehrle fight to let their pit bull live in Miami-Dade county... (sun-sentinel)

...as the state gets closer to rescinding the ban... (miaminewtimes)

...which would then make the only problem with living in Miami being the fact that you have to live with Miamians. (nbcmiami)

Prince Signs With (Surprise)

Wonder why I don't do much rumor talk here?....

http://eye-on-baseball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/34555236

Nooze

Ozzie may be peeved at Peavy. (espn)

There's 22 invites to the spring. (miamiherald)

And tickets for the spring start selling Saturday. (sun-sentinel)

The Final Fifty

Kevin Kraczkowski gives his list of the 50 all-time best Florida Marlins. (fishstripes)

Juan Dough

Oviedo signs with the Fish for $6 million - now if he could only get back in the US... (reuters)

Nothing For Free?

Hold on there... looks like the county still has to approve the trolley plan, the money still hasn't been issued, it will be inadequate anyway, and the Marlins still won't help out.

Something For Free?

It's been a while since the Marlins offered the fans something for free.

And now we can announce to the world that they still haven't - the city has once again recognized a necessity, and stepped into it.

Miami commissioners have decided to dish out the dough to provide 'free' 'trolley' service between the (unnamed) stadium and Metrorail, Downtown, Overtown and Brickell.

Outside of game days this should make getting around town easier. But for game days all they will need to do is figure out a way for these vehicles to actually reach the ballpark through the jammed lines of expensive gas-guzzlers wrapped in layers around the stadium trying to squeeze into the garages by way of the tiny neighborhood access roads.

Goodbye Volstad, Hello Volatile

The Cubs have acquired Chris Volstad for the opportunity to pay $15.5 million to Carlos Zambrano to pitch for the Marlins.

MORE: Chad Gaudin gets a Fish invite to spring training.

FOLLOWUP: Chris gets the news from a reporter.

Greg Returns

Dobbs re-signs with the Fish (si.com)

Dobbs gets 3 mil for 2 years. (sun-sentinel)

Just don't have him bat in August. (baseball-reference)

News to Peruse

Michael Jong gives a quick projection of the 2012 Marlins. (fishstripes)

The new Marlins are also considered to be 'most interesting'. (sbnation)

The Marlins go to Maui to get a pitching coach for the Jammers. (mauinews)

(FIX) Jeffrey's past actions gets someone so enraged that he ends up apologizing for an intemperate comparison. (deadspin)

The Panthers want to play hockey outdoors in the new stadium. (sbnation)

And it looks as though the best (and quietest) seats in the park will be occupied by schools of fish. (mlb)

Old Vs. New, Part Two

Nathaniel Rakich analyses how new ballparks affect attendance, and zeroes in on a factor that promises continued good attendance. (baseballot)

Old Vs. New

What happens to major-league teams' win-loss records when they abandon old ballparks for new?

With the help of Baseball-Reference.com, I made a list of the win-loss records, both overall (home and away) and just home records, of every team (I hope) since 1961 that moved to a new stadium within the same home market.

I listed the stats of the last season in the old stadium and the first year in the new. In cases where a team switched stadiums during the middle of a season, I split that season's records between the two venues (an exception being the '66 Cards, who, since they played only 10 games in their old park that year, I added the '65 results to those early games). I counted the away games played after the last home game at the old ballpark but before the first home game in the new park as part of the old stadiums' overall stats.

I'm not including temporary moves, like when the Yanks played in Shea in 1974, but only moves to new 'permanent' home parks.

Here's the data...

                        Wins-Losses
Team            Old Ballpark    New Ballpark
Year Ballpark   Overall- Home   Overall- Home
---- -------- - ------------------------------
Senators
1961 Griffith - 61-100- 33-46
1962 DC Stdim - - - - - - - - - 60-101- 27-53
Dodgers
1961 LAMemCol - 89-65 - 45-32
1962 Dodger S - - - - - - - - -102-63 - 54-29
Mets
1963 Polo Grs - 51-111- 34-47
1964 Shea Std - - - - - - - - - 53-109- 33-48
Colt 45s/Astros
1964 Colt Std - 66-96 - 41-40
1965 Astrodme - - - - - - - - - 65-97 - 36-45
Cardinals
1965 Busch I  - 80-81 - 42-39
1966 Busch I  -  9-14 -  3- 7
1966 Busch II - - - - - - - - - 74-65 - 40-31
Pirates
1970 Forbes F - 50-39 - 26-16
1970 3 Rivers - - - - - - - - - 39-34 - 24-16
Reds
1970 CroslyFi - 52-21 - 28- 8
1970 RvrfrtSt - - - - - - - - - 50-39 - 29-16
Phillies
1970 ConnMacS - 73-88 - 40-40
1971 VeteranS - - - - - - - - - 67-95 - 34-47
Royals
1972 Municipl - 76-78 - 44-33
1973 Kauffman - - - - - - - - - 88-74 - 48-33
Expos
1976 PrcJarry - 55-107- 27-53
1977 StOlmpiq - - - - - - - - - 75-87 - 38-43
Twins
1981 Metro St - 41-68 - 24-36
1982 Mtrodome - - - - - - - - - 60-102- 37-44
Blue Jays
1989 Exhib St - 23-31 - 12-14
1989 SkyDome  - - - - - - - - - 66-42 - 34-21
White Sox
1990 Comiskey - 94-68 - 49-31
1991 CmiskyII - - - - - - - - - 87-75 - 46-35
Orioles
1991 Memorial - 67-95 - 33-48
1992 Camden Y - - - - - - - - - 89-73 - 43-38
Indians
1993 ClvlndSt - 76-86 - 46-35
1994 JacobsFl - - - - - - - - - 66-47 - 35-16
Rangers
1993 ArlgtnSt - 86-76 - 50-31
1994 BllpkArl - - - - - - - - - 52-62 - 31-32
Rockies
1994 MileHgSt - 53-64 - 25-32
1995 Coors Fi - - - - - - - - - 77-67 - 44-28
Braves
1996 FultonCS - 96-66 - 56-25
1997 Turner F - - - - - - - - -101-61 - 50-31
Mariners
1999 Kingdome - 42-45 - 20-19
1999 Safeco F - - - - - - - - - 37-38 - 23-19
Astros
1999 Astrodme - 97-65 - 50-32
2000 Enron Fl - - - - - - - - - 72-90 - 39-42
Giants
1999 Candlstk - 86-76 - 49-32
2000 Pac Bell - - - - - - - - - 97-65 - 55-26
Tigers
1999 Tiger St - 69-92 - 38-43
2000 Comerica - - - - - - - - - 79-83 - 43-38
Brewers
2000 CountySt - 73-89 - 42-39
2001 MillerPk - - - - - - - - - 68-94 - 36-45
Pirates
2000 3 Rivers - 69-93 - 37-44
2001 PNC Park - - - - - - - - - 62-100- 38-43
Reds
2002 CinergyF - 78-84 - 38-43
2003 GrAmerBP - - - - - - - - - 69-93 - 35-46
Phillies
2003 VeteranS - 86-76 - 49-32
2004 CitiznBP - - - - - - - - - 86-76 - 42-39
San Diego
2003 Qualcomm - 64-98 - 35-46
2004 Petco Pk - - - - - - - - - 87-75 - 42-39
Cardinals
2005 Busch II -100-62 - 50-31
2006 BuschIII - - - - - - - - - 83-78 - 49-31
Nationals
2007 RFK Stad - 73-89 - 40-41
2008 Nats Prk - - - - - - - - - 59-102- 34-46
Mets
2008 Shea Std - 89-73 - 48-33
2009 Citi Fld - - - - - - - - - 70-92 - 41-40
Yankees
2008 YnkeeSt2 - 89-73 - 48-33
2009 YnkeeSt3 - - - - - - - - -103-59 - 57-24 
Twins
2009 Mtrodome - 87-76 - 49-33
2010 Target F - - - - - - - - - 94-68 - 53-28

____________________________________________________
Totals
     |     OLD STADIUM             NEW STADIUM
     |  Overall     At Home     Overall     At Home
----------------------------------------------------
W/L  | 2300-2445   1251-1114   2337-2406   1270-1112
Win% |  .4847       .5290       .4927       .5332

'Occupy the Marlins'

Patrick Hruby gathers together the mightly-familiar litany of supposed abuses against the public perpetrated by the world of sports in general and Jeffrey and his minions in particular, and decides the time has come. (thepostgame.com)

Squished News

While John Buck was out protecting the citizenry, the Marlins decided to disband the Manatees and also possibly the Mermaids most likely for their own safety, as it seemed that the new stadium's retractable roof could collapse at any moment.

Now that new inspectors pronounce that the roof is safe,the confident Marlins tendered contracts to Boni, Mujica, Anibal, Volstad and Whats-His-Name, and signed Nick Green. But still no Manatees, who are fighting back (they want some of the new ballpark grub).

Bye Bye Hopper

The Fish trade Burke to TB for minor-league catcher Jake Jefferies,
sign Aaron Rowand to a minor-league deal, and re-signed Donnie Murphy.

http://tinyurl.com/795pemu