The Marlins on Thursday gave a media tour of their under-construction ballpark, offering “a glimpse into a future very different for fans and players than in the team's first 19 seasons at Sun Life Stadium,” according to Craig Davis of the South Florida SUN-SENTINEL. Marlins Exec VP/Ballpark Development Claude Delorme said that construction is 72% complete and “could beat the March 31 target date.” The 8,300-ton retractable roof, which “peaks at 216 feet above the field, is nearing completion,” and “some 28,000 of the 36,000 blue seats have been installed.” Although the ballpark “appears massive, the intended intimate feel is evident inside.” The foul poles “are up and provide a reference point on how close fans will be to the game.” There is “less than 10 feet between the poles and walls leading to each corner.” With open concourses, the field “is in view while walking around the park or standing in line at a concession stand.” The outside west pavilion, the “size of 3½ football fields, will have music and entertainment and a giant video screen.” Inside, the “view of the Miami skyline is dramatic, especially when six glass panels, each 60 feet high by 40 feet wide, are opened.” Marlins President David Samson said that “more full season tickets have been sold for next season than in franchise history.” All 379 Diamond Club seats “have sold, as have all but 10 of the 39 suites on annual contracts” (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 6/17). In Miami, Greg Cote writes the Marlins’ future “seems fairly solid despite the current woes, a future enhanced by the stadium and by a young, ascending roster.” The “onus is on” Owner Jeffrey Loria to “continue to expand the player payroll, as he promised he would with a new stadium, and for fans to embrace the new ballpark in a way that gives the team a home-field advantage now largely missing” (MIAMI HERALD, 6/17).
HUSH HUSH: YAHOO SPORTS’ Jeff Passan noted the Marlins last week fired hitting coach John Mallee, and LF Logan Morrison indicated that Loria “personally called for” Mallee’s firing. Loria called Morrison into his office and "essentially told him to shut up." Morrison: “I was asked a question, I told the truth. But I guess I don’t do that anymore.” This is the “second time in two weeks” the Marlins “were playing censor on Morrison.” The first “regarded his Twitter account, a rollicking, bawdy and hilariously forthright look at a ballplayer with actual personality.” Passan wrote Loria’s “baseball compass always has lived in the gutter with his moral one, and trying to play censor with Morrison is only the latest example in an ignominious tenure of ownership.” A source said that Samson “would approach struggling young players and threaten a trip to the minor leagues if they didn’t start playing better” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/16).
