Following Jose Fernandez’s death last September in a boating accident, Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria announced plans to erect a statue of Fernandez outside of Marlins Park.
The statue has still not been completed, and following the sale of the Marlins (yet to be officially approved by MLB) to a group led by Derek Jeter and Bruce Sherman, the plans for a statue could simply be scrapped.
Via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald:
The planned statue to honor Jose Fernandez, which was departing owner Jeffrey Loria’s idea, is now very much in question because it will not be erected before Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter take over, and it will ultimately be the new owners’ call.
That matter has not yet been discussed, with the sale agreed to only in the past few days.
Jackson also noted in his column that Jeter and Sherman’s rumored plans to eliminate the Marlins’ center field dinger machine could run into some opposition from Miami-Dade County.
Despite suggestions that Sherman and Jeter might remove the Marlins’ home-run sculpture, it’s apparently not entirely the new owners’ call. The sculpture is part of Miami-Dade County’s art-in-public-places installation.
So this is not as simple as the owners unilaterally deciding to remove it, even if they want to.
Even with Loria stepping out of the spotlight, it doesn’t look like the Marlins are going to suddenly becoming a boring, drama-free franchise.
