Marlins will make profit in 2018 says Derek Jeter

Marlins new CEO Jeter
By Gary Is
January 20 2018

Derek Jeter, the new CEO and part owner of the Miami Marlins, says the organisation will make a tidy profit in 2018 according to documents obtained by the Miami Herald.

The former Yankees captain said that Project Wolverine, named in tribute to his home state of Michigan, will decrease the Marlins payroll and increase revenue from TV rights, ticket sales and corporate sponsorships. The Marlins will also receive a $50 million payment from Major League Baseball, a one-off payment given to all teams in 2018, after MLB sold their stake in digital media company BAMTech to Disney for $1.58 billion.

The Marlins are already well on their way to completing the first phase of the Wolverine plans by shedding $36 million from their payroll. Allstars Dee Gordon, Marcell Ozuna and Giancarlo Stanton were traded to the Seattle Mariners, St Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees respectively.

However these trades have done nothing to instil the fans’ trust in the new owners of the Florida franchise.

“I can’t sit here and say trust me,” Jeter told fans in a town hall meeting in December. “You don’t know me. You earn trust over time. I know how organizations are sustainable over time. I know you have been through a lot. I can’t relate to it. It’s going to be a tough road. It’s going to take time and effort.”

The Florida Marlins joined Major League Baseball as an expansion team in 1993 and won the World Series in both 1997 and 2003, the only times they’ve ever reached the postseason. They’ve not had a winning season since 2009.

“We are going to invest in building this organization the right way so we can, year in and year out, be able to compete,” Jeter said, “We are trying to fix something that is broken.”