If Instagram is any indication, it appears the Marlins have recalled once-starter and center fielder Marcell Ozuna from Triple-A New Orleans. The team has yet to announce Big Bear's return, but it doesn't take a report from MLB.com to confirm.
Ozuna is outwardly celebrating the Marlins' move. And not exactly with the best choice of words — be they English or Spanish. While the Zephyrs' website features an article declaring, "Ozuna finds his footing in New Orleans," it seems Ozuna, himself, isn't so fond of the city of fleur-de-lis.
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As the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, sensitivity radars will resound at the site of "the jail New Orleans" — repeated twice for good measure in Ozuna's Instagram post. But considering context, Ozuna may not mean to criticize the city so much as the situation. You see, Ozuna being sent to New Orleans may have seemed like a jail sentence in the sense that the Marlins made sure it'd mean he'd make less money.
The Marlins can use stats to substantiate the transaction, sure. In 79 games with the big-league club, Ozuna was batting .249/.301/.337 with just four home runs before the demotion. And Triple-A New Orleans gave him reason to remember he possesses some power, as Ozuna has hit .317/.379/.558 with five home runs in just 33 games as a breath of fresh air for the Zephyrs (sorry).
But that storyline belies the financial reality Ozuna left behind in Miami — a reality recently spelled out by Hardball Talk's Matthew Pouliot:
See, Ozuna entered the 2015 season with one year and 153 days of service time, practically assuring that he would be super-two arbitration eligible if he remained in the majors. That’s not going to happen now.
The move could save the Marlins and owner Jeffrey Loria millions of dollars in fourth-year arbitration costs. And that hasn't sat well with Marlins players, according to a Miami Herald report and Ozuna's agent Scott Boras.
"I don’t think anyone would look at the talent with the Marlins and suggest he’s not one of the top 25 players in that organization," Boras told the Herald. “Major league players on the club are very upset about this issue. They’ve approached the manager on several occasions. The organization is not applying its best talent to try to win.”
The move must seem rich to Miami residents and fans. After a preseason of promises and potential, the Marlins sit at fourth place in the NL East with a 46-69 record. Even worse, it appears they've returned to the time-honored tradition of pinching pennies in South Beach, despite the fact that the brand-spanking-new Marlins Park will eventually cost the Miami-Dade County public $1.2 billion, according to Miami Herald research.
So while Ozuna definitely could have chosen a more gracious metaphor for Triple-A New Orleans than jail, he's probably not the one committing moral crimes, here.