Jeffrey Loria is Selling the Marlins

In a move that should surprise no one, Jeffrey Loria has reached a handshake deal to sell the Miami Marlins.

Early reports have the team being sold for $1.6 Billion to a New York businessman who is married to Ivanka Trump. I spent a decent part of my day dreaming of ways to rob armored trucks and buying the team myself. What it would be like to be a baseball owner, and not do what I do every day to make a living.

We called this one in December once he lost out on his prized piece of artwork at the time, Kenley Jansen.

The move shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. It will close the chapter of one of the weirdest owners in sports, and without a doubt the oddest man to own a team in baseball history. The guy will pocket over a billion dollar profit and run into the sunset after having that stadium built by taxpayers dollars; and return to art dealing where he belongs.

Sadly, the wheels probably began in motion when Jose Fernandez died. That’s probably when Loria decided that the franchise was unlikely to ever reach a zenith, and that he would move on from baseball ownership.

Further – you should need to pass certain types of checks and balances to own a baseball team. Loria would have never passed those checks and balances if a system was in place. He wasn’t a baseball man, and he did little to further Miami as a baseball town. Sure, he had some bad breaks; but bad luck was sure to find the Marlins because he was a poor owner at the top and it showed down to the product level on the field.