The Associated Press reports that the Florida Marlins have reached an agreement with the MLB Players Union to increase spending after complaints were filed that the Marlins payroll has been so small that it violated baseball’s revenue sharing provisions.
The deal was announced today in a joint statement by the Marlins, the players union and Major League Baseball. Beyond the statement made, the parties did not comment on the matter. It is currently unclear how much the Marlins’ payroll might increase.
The agreement runs through 2012, when the Marlins’ new ballpark is scheduled to open.
“In response to our concerns that revenue sharing proceeds have not been used as required, the Marlins have assured the union and the commissioner’s office that they plan to use such proceeds to increase player payroll annually as they move toward the opening of their new ballpark,” said Michael Weiner, executive director of the players’ association.
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According to Mark Miller from Yahoo! Sports, the Los Angeles Dodgers are close to a two-year deal with outfielder Matt Kemp.
You can be sure that the Dodgers want to lock up Kemp for a reasonable amount of time. He won both a Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove award after he batted .297 with 26 homeruns and 101 runs batted in. The 25-year-old Kemp is likely to be signed by the beginning of next week.
“The negotiations are going smoothly,” says Kemp’s agent.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers are apparently competing with the New York Mets for free agent pitcher Joel Pineiro, who I reported about earlier in the week. Although, sources say that the Dodgers have a backup plan of bringing back Vincente Padilla if they can not acquire Pineiro.
At the moment it looks like the Dodgers will miss out on Pineiro due to the pending divorce of team owner Frank McCourt which is still causing major financial issues for the club.
