Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria was emphatic that the trade sending starting pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle, shortstop Jose Reyes, infielder/outfielder Emilio Bonifacio and catcher John Buck to the Blue Jays was not a fire sale.
"We finished in last place. Figure it out," Loria told CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman on Wednesday while on his way to the baseball owners meetings in Chicago.
The Marlins went on a spending spree last winter ahead of the opening of their new ballpark. But attendance fell short of estimates and the Marlins struggled to a 69-93 record and a last-place finish in the NL East.
The team's poor play, along with some off-the-field controversy, led to the dismissal of manager Ozzie Guillen last month after one season. Former Marlins catcher Mike Redmond was recently named as his replacement.
"We have to get better," Loria told Heyman. "We can't finish in last place. We finished in last place. That's unacceptable. We have to take a new course."
Loria also said that he had no intention of selling the team.
Marlins team president David Samson discussed the trade on Miami radio station 790 AM The Ticket with Dan Le Batard.
“We sat down after the season and talked about the team and said we cannot keep finishing in last place," Samson said. "We lost 93 games and we entrusted all of our scouts and development people and upper-level baseball people and said, what can we do to possibly start this to turn around? What needs to happen? All sorts of plans were possible and it just so happens we found a way to possibly in one fell swoop get a whole lot better.
“I actually recognize that the names coming back in potential trade are not names people are familiar with, but in the baseball world people are familiar with them."
From the Blue Jays, the Marlins will receive shortstops Yunel Escobar and Adeiny Hechavarria, major-league right-hander Henderson Alvarez, minor-league left-hander Justin Nicolino, center fielder Jacob Marisnick, catcher Jeff Mathis and minor league right-hander Anthony DeSclafani.
Samson said he wasn't embarrassed by the trade nor does he think fans should feel betrayed.
"I would think they wouldn’t want us to stand pat and keep losing," Samson said. "We don’t want to be one of those teams that for 20 years doesn’t win 81 games or doesn’t make the playoffs. We’ve already gone 10 years without making the playoffs. That’s too much."
The trade left the Marlins with only two players from the lineup who opened their 2012 season -- Giancarlo Stanton and Logan Morrison.
