FanHouse DavidSamson

Last year I attended the infamous "Wrestle FanFest" in San Francisco and somehow found a way to enjoy a warehouse full of crippled old men (and Nick Bockwinkel) peddling poorly stitched Mexican wrestling masks and printed out 8 x 10s of their glory days for ten dollars a pop. Even having done that, I could not stomach something called the "Marlins FanFest," even if I got to meet the players. If I wanted to hang out with a bunch of dirt poor 19 year-olds I'd go to community college.

But, well, Alex Rodriguez can't do steroids EVERY day, so here is a Dugout about the Marlins FanFest.

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

Salary Cap. There's not a more controversial phrase in baseball economics. The prospect of one hung over the strike of 1994 and 1995 before the owners and players managed to settle without implementing a true cap. Since then, baseball has instituted a luxury tax that acts as a sort of soft cap, but it's set high enough that it only really affects the Yankees annually, and they regard it in the same manner that a rhinoceros regards a mosquito.

For the most part, a salary cap hasn't been part of the conversation in baseball for several years. The Yankees ridiculous spending spree this winter, however, has changed things. In the days and weeks since their signings of CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio and Astros owner Drayton McLane have once again begun to call for a salary cap. They're the only two owners to have spoken directly on this issue, but it's hard to think they're alone.

A salary cap in baseball is not a simple thing. In most sports, there's only one line in labor negotiations: the line between the players and the owners. In baseball, there's actually a three-way divide between the players, the "big-market" owners (for lack of a better term), and the "small-market" owners. The MLBPA isn't the only thing that stands in the way of a cap. Some of the owners (think John Henry, the Steinbrenners, naturally, the Wilpons, Frank McCourt, Arte Moreno) would likely be opposed to one as well. After the jump, we'll look at all the obstacles and problems with implementing a cap.

Last month Marlins pitcher Logan Kensing ran into some trouble when he let reporters join him for a helicopter hunting trip on his Texas ranch. Video of the trip portrayed Kensing as a trigger happy, Lt. Col. Kilgore-type who loved nothing more than the smell of wild hogs in the morning. Animal activists got upset and demanded satisfaction.

Usually such trifling concerns die on the vine but Palm Beach Environmental Coalition head Barry Silver actually got a meeting with team President David Samson. It didn't really go his way, though.

The group asked Marlins officials to talk Kensing out of continuing the practice, which Silver called "unacceptable," but Samson declined to take it up with the player. "I was left with the impression that Mr. Samson isn't a fan of it, but he said there's nothing he could do," Silver says. He'll recommend that the group try to take another approach. Pickets are possible.

What's he supposed to do? Threaten to trade him? If Kensing continues to show the kind of stuff he did after returning from Tommy John surgery last September, he'll get too expensive and the Marlins will trade him anyway. Suspend him? Might as well suspend Hanley Ramirez for eating a BLT. It's just as cruel to animals and just as legal.

If Silver wants to so something, he should picket in honor of the sturdy Marlin. Such a proud fish deserves a team more willing to spend the money necessary to contend more than once a decade.

There are going to be a lot of questions swirling around the Florida Marlins after their season ends at Shea Stadium today. There will be no shortage of trade rumors involving Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis as the team continues its never-ending quest to save money at every available turn. There won't be any uncertainty about who will be fielding potential trade offers, though. The Marlins have resigned their top four front office executives until 2015.

Before Saturday's game the Marlins announced contract extensions for General Manager Larry Beinfest, Assistant General Manager Michael Hill, Vice President of Player Personnel Dan Jennings and Vice President of Player Development and Scouting Jim Fleming through the 2015 season.
"They're spectacular executives. We've had great success with them and I want to continue it," owner Jeffrey Loria said. "It's a commitment to excellence."

The Marlins are guaranteed a last place finish in the NL East this season despite going 81-81 last year and unanimous predictions of Washington's inferiority. That seems like an odd backdrop for statements like "spectacular executives" and "commitment to excellence" but Loria's group has done a fine job for the most part. Beinfest and his staff put together the 2003 World Champions and acquired players like Willis, Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla through savvy personnel moves.

And we're not talking about the guy who goes by "W" ... who can really be sure what he does. No, we're talking about Scott Olsen's vocational president: David Samson, who carries that title with Olsen's Marlins. Olsen, who may avoid a felony charge by entering a pretrial diversion program, says that he expects to return to the Marlins next season, no matter what Samson's stance on employing felons.

"Well, he really doesn't control who comes and who goes, does he?'' Olsen said of Samson on Sunday. "As far as I'm concerned it's the general manager, assistant general manager and owner who do that. "The team president, I don't know what the hell he does. He tries to find a stadium. I don't think he actually has a top hand in the on-field personnel. I think that's (GM Larry) Beinfest and (assistant GM Mike) Hill and (owner Jeffrey) Loria way before him.''

A few weeks after Olsen was arrested July 21 on charges including DUI and fighting with police, Samson said he would not want a convicted felon on the team. He added that Loria and Beinfest would be involved in any decision. Olsen late last month entered a six-month pretrial diversion program that, if successfully completed will give him a chance to have the felony charges dropped. He still faces the DUI charge.

Still, Olsen said he "wouldn't be surprised" if the Marlins traded him this winter. "Not at all, but at the same token, I expect to be back. I don't foresee anything happening,'' said Olsen, who starts tonight against the Nationals. "That's the way it works. If you still make league minimum, they're not going to trade you.'' Olsen, who is making $380,000 this year, isn't eligible for arbitration until after next season.

Best of my knowledge: Loria and Beinfest don't necessarily have an anti-felon stance. But with the ultimate say in who stays and who goes, it would be more likely that they have a policy about not having players who go 1-5 with a 7.77 ERA since getting arrested ... or before getting arrested ... or without getting arrested at all.

Previously on FanHouse:
The Marlins Will Not Employ Felons
Scott Olsen May Not Be a Felon When It's Said and Done

Marlins owner David Samson likes to talk big when it comes to critiquing the decisions of other teams, but right now it's his team's lack of a decision that makes his franchise look like an enabling laughingstock. Instead of immediately disciplining and/or giving Scott Olsen a leave of absence to deal with an apparent alcohol problem, the team has apparently decided to sit on their hands. From the Miami Herald:

''The plan is for him to start Wednesday,'' Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. ``We're going to have to let the legal process take it's course.''

The Marlins have taken no action toward Olsen, who was arrested early Saturday morning in Aventura and charged with driving under the influence, resisting arrest with violence and eluding a police officer.

Gonzalez did make comments later in the article that left the door open for the team to change their minds, which I hope they do, but in my mind they'll have missed their best opportunity to send a message, both to their fans and their players. By waiting, they're allowing the perception to exist that the true decision wasn't made by what the team actually considers important but rather any potential backlash of sweeping this incident under the rug.

Am I being rash to compare Olsen with Josh Hancock? I don't think so. Most people will remember this incident as "that one time the Marlins pitcher fought the police and got Tasered," but the fact that Olsen drove while intoxicated (including running stop signs after the police signaled for him to stop) was by far his most risky act of the night. Like Hancock, Olsen's poor decision put the lives of others in danger, he was just lucky enough to make it to his driveway.

(via Sports Frog)

For those of us who were shocked and appalled by the 5-year $90 million deal the Mariners gave Ichiro last week, I'm looking at you David Samson, it turns out the deal isn't so crazy. In fact, it's not even really a 5-year deal. It's a 25-year deal.

The All-Star outfielder's new contract extension calls for the team to defer $25 million of the $90 million he is owed, money that the team will not have to fully pay until at least 2032.

Suzuki, MVP of last week's All-Star Game, gets a $5 million signing bonus and annual salaries of $17 million from 2008-12 under the terms of last Friday's deal.

Seattle will pay $12 million in salary each year and defer $5 million per season at 5.5 percent interest. Suzuki, who turns 33 in October, will receive the money in annual installments each Jan. 30 starting with the year after his retirement from the major leagues.

That's one hell of a pension plan.

Also in the deal, Ichiro receives a housing allowance of $32,000. It will increase by $1,000 every year. The Mariners also have to buy him a new jeep or Mercedes SUV. Then there are the four first class round trip tickets to Japan for Ichiro and his family each season. Throw on a personal trainer and interpreter for flavor, and Ichiro's got himself one sweet ass deal.

Previously at FanHouse:
Ichiro Signs His Extension
Will Ichiro's New Contract Ruin Baseball?

You may remember that after the new contract extension Ichiro Suzuki just signed was announced, that Marlins president David Samson wasn't too shy about his feelings towards it. If you need a reminder what it was that Samson said, well, here it is.

I would say it's the end of the world as we know it. If Ichiro's worth 20 million a year, I am speechless by that contract, I'm hoping that that report is false. Because there's no chance that a top of the lineup, forget that, there's no chance anybody's worth that. And Ichiro, who's led his team to zero? Nothing? I hope you're wrong, Dan.

Dan being Dan LeBatard who asked him his opinion of the deal. Well obviously the Mariners have heard about Samson's comments, with Mariners president Chuck Armstrong openly questioning why Samson felt a need to make those statements publicly.

Seattle General Manager Bill Bavasi is none too happy with Samson as well, and it's safe to say the two probably won't be eating dinner together anytime soon.

"My mother always taught me that if the only thing you have to say is `[expletive] David Samson,' you shouldn't say anything at all. So I'm not going to say anything at all.''

I know that a lot of Mariners fans arent' exactly big fans of Bavasi, and I myself have openly questioned some of his moves, but that quote just gave me a new found respect for the man and his mother. That's some good parenting right there.

Previously at FanHouse:
Ichiro Signs His Extension
Will Ichiro's New Contract Ruin Baseball?

Jerry Krause had a lot of hecklers. But one particular heckler from New York who used to heckle the former Bulls GM at Knicks games actually made something of himself. And guess who grew up to work in the front office of a professional sports franchise just like Krause? Why it's David Samson, the current president of the Florida Marlins:

He was never profane, this young heckler who preferred to think of himself as a "participating fan." He wasn't insane, like Robin Ficker at Bullets games, but the ever-clever kid never let up either. "It made [Krause] crazy," the heckler says. "I mean crazy."

Oh, how Krause wanted to turn around and tell off the heckler. Maybe he could point at the scoreboard after yet another Bulls victory. Maybe he could hold up a meaty hand and flash one of his eight NBA championship rings – six with the Bulls and two more from his days as a Bullets scout in the '70s.

Somehow, Krause managed to keep his cool. He never did turn around. Nor did Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Then, one day, Reinsdorf and the MSG heckler finally came face to face. It was in the fall of 1999 at a Major League Baseball owners meeting, of all places. Spotting new Expos owner Jeffrey Loria and his stepson David Samson in the lobby, Reinsdorf, who also owns the White Sox, extended a hand of welcome.

"So," Reinsdorf said to Samson, "you still going to heckle Krause?"

"Yeah", said Samson. "And you tell him that when I become president of a major league baseball team, I'm never going to preside over a fire sale the way you did when you got rid of everyone and hired Tim Floyd!"

At least, I wish that's how he would have responded. Because irony is cool. Samson's actual words towards Krause comes after the jump: