Miami Marlins

For Miami Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson, what may ultimately prove to be an innocuous situation doesn't erase the abuse he encounters elsewhere away from the diamond.

The Colorado Rockies announced Sunday they were investigating what was initially believed to be a fan using the N-word while Brinson was at the plate. The Rockies followed up to say the fan in question had been calling toward their mascot, Dinger.

Brinson told reporters that he still finds himself hearing a slur when re-watching the video, though that's not what he wants to hear.

"I personally keep hearing the N-word," Brinson said Monday. "It's not that I want to hear it."

He did say that if the fan truly was calling for Dinger, he's "sorry for the backlash and unnecessary attention [the fan is] getting right now." However, he added that seeing the N-word directed toward him is a very real occurrence:

They don't show their face and don't tag themselves on their posts or the DM they send me, but I do get it, once a month, twice a month. I know other Black players get it more. We do get called the n-word on social media. It's disgusting. We see it and try to block it out, but it's a disgusting, degrading word that brings nothing but hate and cowardliness.

There's no place for it. It does happen and I don't want to just throw that under the rug. I want everybody to know that it does happen to Black players, quite often, way too often.

The lack of diversity across all levels in MLB has been a pressing issue for years.

One consequence of that is Black players feeling isolated on matters relating to racial or social injustice.

Six-time All-Star CC Sabathia reflected in his memoir, Till the End, on how Black players across baseball often hang out or message one another as a means of "self-defense, self-preservation" because of their relatively small number:

There were plenty of years in Cleveland when I was the only Black player on the roster; New York was better, but even with the Yankees, most seasons I was one of a maximum of four or five Black players on the 24-man roster. That's a lonely place to be at any point in your career, but especially if you're a younger guy trying to prove yourself in the game. You want to hold onto your job and you want to feel like you're part of the team, not an outcast, not the 'angry Black guy.'

MLB's problems with diversity can also create issues at the top.

Amid the nationwide protests against systemic racism and police brutality during the summer of 2020, some questioned the length of time the league waited to post an official statement condemning "racism and racial injustice."

Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts told reporters at the time he didn't think "baseball has done enough" for the wider Black Lives Matter movement.

Brinson said that what shouldn't get lost in the fallout from Sunday is that racist taunts directed at MLB stars aren't an anomaly.

"And a lot of Black players can attest to that," he said. "It’s forgotten about way too much and needs to be stopped."

The Colorado Rockies have determined that an alleged racial slur heard in Sunday's game against the Miami Marlins was instead a fan calling out to the team's mascot, according to Steve Staeger of 9News.

The team provided an official statement on the matter Monday:

Microphones picked up what sounded like a fan yelling the N-word while Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson, who is Black, was at the plate. The team said in a statement after the game that it was investigating the incident:

The team spoke to the fan in the question and determined the fan was yelling "Dinger," referring to the Rockies mascot.

While the Bally Sports Florida broadcast picked up the fan's yelling, none of the players heard it.

"Neither Lewis, nor any other Marlins on the field or in the dugout, heard what was shouted," Marlins spokesperson Jason Latimer told the Associated Press.

The Rockies condemned the apparent slur and noted that any use of derogatory language would result in ejection and a ban. MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark also released a statement:

The Rockies have identified the fan and believe the situation was a misunderstanding.

Dinger has been the club's mascot since 1994, Colorado's second year in the majors.

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly will miss the remainder of this weekend's series against the New York Yankees. 

The Marlins announced Saturday that Mattingly tested positive for COVID-19. Bench coach James Rowson will serve as interim manager for the time being. 

Miami's statement did note that Mattingly has been vaccinated, and no one else with the team has tested positive to this point after undergoing rapid PCR tests. 

The Marlins host the Yankees on Saturday and Sunday. They will play the New York Mets in a four-game series starting Monday before going on a six-game road trip to Colorado and San Diego. 

Per Mike Axisa of CBS Sports, Major League Baseball has announced that 23 teams have reached the 85 percent vaccine threshold required to have COVID-19 restrictions lifted. 

It's unclear if the Marlins are among that group of 23 teams. 

Mattingly is in his sixth season as Miami's manager. The 60-year-old has a 351-458 record with one playoff appearance last year with the team.    

Miami Marlins outfielders Monte Harrison and Starling Marte were reportedly involved in a clubhouse altercation during the team's series against the Washington Nationals.

Craig Mish of Sports Grid reported Harrison instigated the incident. The Marlins are planning to handle the matter internally.

Harrison was demoted from the MLB club Wednesday. 

No further details were reported on the altercation.

Harrison, 25, has hit .200/.200/.300 with no home runs or RBI in nine appearance with the Marlins this season. He's spent most of the year playing in Triple-A Jacksonville.

Marte has been one of the best players on the Marlins roster this season, hitting .293/.390/.451 with seven home runs and 22 runs batted in. 

Jared Pettitte, who is the son of former New York Yankees and Houston Astros starting pitcher Andy Pettitte, has agreed to sign with the Miami Marlins as an undrafted free agent, per ESPN News Services.

Pettitte made 13 appearances for DBU, posting a 5.81 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 26.1 innings. His best outing was against Illinois State, when he threw 4.1 hitless innings and struck out four on May 8.

He began his collegiate career with the University of Houston in 2017, when he redshirted because of a season-ending injury. Pettitte made 11 appearances for the Cougars over the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

Pettitte played high school ball at Deer Park High School and Second Baptist School. He shone at Second Baptist, earning First Team All-State honors by going 12-1 with a 1.20 ERA and 130 strikeouts. He added four home runs and a .385 batting average at the dish.

Pettitte appeared at the MLB Draft Combine, and he spoke with YES Network's Nancy Newman afterward:

He was not selected in the MLB draft, but Pettitte has now landed with the Marlins.

Their CEO, Derek Jeter, was Pettitte's teammate with the Yankees. The two helped bring four World Series championships to the Bronx.

Starling Marte may be on the move prior to the July 30 MLB trade deadline.

According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees and Houston Astros are interested in the Miami Marlins outfielder "who seems likely to be traded." Heyman noted that Miami is willing to offer Marte more than the three-year, $30 million contract numbers that have circulated, but added there is still a "sizable gap" in contract discussions.

Craig Mish of the Miami Herald reported Marte and the Marlins are no longer engaged in contract talks.

Marte, 32, is a free agent following this season, and moving him would help the Marlins get something in return before he could sign elsewhere.

Still, he is a productive piece in the team's lineup who brings the ability to hit for average and power, as well as speed and an impressive glove. He is slashing .285/.387/.444 with seven home runs, 22 RBI and 19 stolen bases for a Marlins squad that is in last place in the National League East.

Marte, who played the first eight years of his career on the Pittsburgh Pirates before splitting the 2020 campaign with the Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks, was a 2016 All-Star and has two Gold Gloves on his resume.

At his best, he launched 23 home runs in 2019 and stole 47 bases in 2016. He has five seasons of 30 or more steals and may add a sixth this year if he continues at his current pace.

New York is trying to remain afloat in the American League East at 47-44 and eight games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox. Adding someone like Marte would help it do just that, although the Astros (first place in the AL West) and Phillies (two games back of the New York Mets in the National League East) are in better position.

A potential bidding war is the best the Marlins can hope for if they aren't going to re-sign Marte, with multiple contenders potentially driving the cost up as the deadline approaches.

The Miami Marlins and Don Mattingly are each exercising the manager's mutual contract option for the 2022 season, general manager Kim Ng told reporters on Thursday. 

"We've exercised our portion [of the contract], and Donnie has said that he wants to be back for 2022," she said. "So we're pretty excited about that one."

The 60-year-old Mattingly is in his sixth season as the team's manager, going 345-446 in that time. He led the young Marlins to a 31-29 record last season and a playoff berth, where they were swept in three games by the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. 

The team's breakthrough year earned Mattingly the Manager of the Year award. It was Miami's only winning season under the manager's tutelage, though the team has been in a state of perpetual rebuilding for much of its existence, outside of World Series titles in 1997 and 2003. 

"Donnie has been steady at the helm, and I think that's one of his greatest attributes," Ng told reporters. "He's incredibly patient. I think he's got a great way with the young players. He's very positive with them."

Miami hasn't matched last year's surprising level of play in 2021, going 38-47 (last in the crowded NL East), though injuries to players like Starling Marte, Sixto Sanchez and Brian Anderson haven't helped. 

And young starting pitchers like Sanchez, Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez and rookies Trevor Rogers and Zach Thompson and have developed nicely under Mattingly, giving the Marlins one of the best and most promising rotations in baseball. 

The Miami Marlins have tabled a multiyear extension to center fielder Starling Marte, according to Jordan McPherson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald.

McPherson and Mish wrote the Marlins are "hopeful" of getting a deal worked out by the July 30 trade deadline. Should the negotiations reach a stalemate, Miami might move Marte, who's in the final year of his six-year, $31 million contract.

The report said Marte is looking to sign for three or four years "in the $50 million range." Under either scenario, that's a fairly reasonable total for a player with his age or profile. The four-year pact would provide a lower average salary but mean the Marlins or another team would be paying for his age-36 season, so a three-year deal has some benefits.

The 2016 All-Star has been one of Miami's best players in 2021, putting up six home runs, 18 RBI and a .296/.403/.456 slash line through 46 appearances.

His .859 OPS is up noticeably from his career average (.794), but that's attributable mostly to the fact he's drawing more walks than ever.

Marte's walk percentage (13.4) is a career high and more than double his career average (5.3 percent), per FanGraphs. His improved eye at the plate is presumably something he can carry over into 2022 and beyond.

If the Marlins can't work something out with Marte by the end of the month, trading him would make sense. Miami could probably get more value than the compensation pick it would receive by extending him the qualifying offer and having him turn it down in the offseason.

But losing Marte wouldn't exactly send a great message for an ownership group that's mostly associated with keeping payroll well below league average.  

According to Cot's Baseball Contracts, the Marlins had the 23rd-highest Opening Day payroll in MLB for 2018, the first season in which Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter were in charge. They subsequently ranked 29th, 27th and 28th over the next three years.

Failing to re-sign Marte might have some fans asking when the organization is planning to turn the money it has saved into tangible investments.

Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sixto Sanchez will undergo season-ending surgery after an MRI revealed a small tear in the posterior capsule of his right shoulder, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald, who also noted that the team hopes the 22-year-old will be good to go for spring training next year.

Sanchez went 3-2 with a 3.46 ERA in seven starts during his rookie season last year. He struck out 33 batters in 39 innings.

The right-hander did not pitch this year, with Christina De Nicola of MLB.com explaining some reasons:

But a couple of delays—a visa issue, then a COVID-19 false positive—pushed back his arrival to camp. Sanchez played catchup during Spring Training, and it was during a simulated game on March 31 to build up his pitch count in preparation of joining the ballclub that he experienced right shoulder inflammation.

Per De Nicola, the Marlins shut Sanchez down down in early June due to "slight discomfort during his throwing program in between bullpen sessions." 

Good news appeared to emerge on June 29 when Craig Mish of SportsGrid reported that Sanchez was throwing at 120 feet, but MLB Pipeline's No. 11 overall prospect will now be out until 2022.

The Philadelphia Phillies initially signed the 6'0", 234-pound Sanchez as a free agent in 2015. He stayed in the organization's minor league system until Feb. 2019, when Philadelphia traded him to Miami in a package for catcher J.T. Realmuto.

New York Yankees legend and Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter has sold his massive Tampa mansion for a record sum.

According to TMZ Sports, Jeter and his wife, Hannah Jeter, sold the 22,000-square-foot home for $22.5 million after initially listing it for $29 million in September. Real estate company Smith & Associates said the $22.5 million purchase price was the highest ever for a home in Tampa.

Jeter rented the home to Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and his wife, Gisele Bundchen, after Brady left the New England Patriots to sign with the Bucs last year.

It is not publicly known who purchased Jeter's home, but it wasn't Brady and Bundchen, as they are having a home built in Miami.

Jeter, who lives in Miami, purchased the Tampa home in 2005.

Per TMZ Sports, the mansion features eight bathrooms, eight half-baths and seven bedrooms as well as an 80-foot pool, a gym, a wine cellar, a movie theater and a private dock.

The 46-year-old Jeter is one of the greatest players in MLB history, as he was a 14-time All-Star, five-time World Series champion and one-time World Series MVP during his 20-year career with the Yankees from 1995 to 2014.

Mr. November finished his career with a .310 batting average, 3,465 hits, 1,923 runs, 260 home runs, 1,311 RBI and 358 stolen bases. He was also a near-unanimous inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020.

Per Spotrac, Jeter earned over $266 million in salary during his MLB career.