Since the new ownership group -- with Derek Jeter as the face -- has taken over the Miami Marlins, there's been a budding feud between the front office and its orange-wearing, most well-known fan: Laurence Leavy, aka "Marlins Man." He's publicly abandoned the team, declared himself a free agent and seems interested in becoming "Tigers Man." 

(This is very dumb, right?)

Anyway, the latest involvement here comes through a lawsuit, but it's actually against the Loria ownership group, not Jeter's new clan. Still, Jeter's group did something in particular that doesn't cover itself in glory. Let's try to lay things out. Here are some of the main points summed up from a lengthy Miami Herald article. 

  • The Marlins have been using an address in the British Virgin Islands, allegedly for the Jeffrey Loria ownership group to circumvent having to share some of the $1.2 billion purchase price from the new ownership group. 
  • Leavy, along with Miami radio host Andy Slater, went on a fact-finding mission to the British Virgin Islands. 
  • The current Marlins front office was angry about this and revoked Slater's Marlins Park credentials. 
  • The lawsuit is against Loria, not the current owners, because there was a profit-sharing deal with the county after government agreed to fund most of the new ballpark. 

Leavy's role here comes into play due to the trip to the British Virgin Islands. He was deposed and offered up the following (miamiherald.com): 

"Inside the Post Office, there were no Miami Marlins signs or logos anywhere, the employees in the Post Office were not wearing Miami Marlins clothes, and the employees stated they had no Miami Marlins forms or stationery." 

To reiterate, this lawsuit involves the former ownership group, headed up by Loria. If they're found needing to pay back some money to the county, it doesn't have anything to do with the current Marlins or their financial situation. It would come from Loria's end. 

The dumbest thing here, however, is Jeter's group revoking the credentials of the radio host. It's just a terrible look, and there's no reason to do that. Jeter's group has been unbelievably bad when it comes to the PR department, and that should be the thing they do best during a rebuild.