January 7
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
columnist Mike Berardino
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Mike Lowell regularly used to slam his batting helmet to the ground on close calls at first base. Josh Beckett fired his glove off the dugout wall plenty of times. Kevin Brown and Alex Fernandez did their share of bat-wielding damage to the clubhouse televisions. I mean, come on, it's not like this Marlins franchise has been populated by Boy Scouts these past two decades. It's not like angry baseball "snaps" haven't been part of the equation during those two championship runs. "Ultracompetitiveness," Marlins baseball czar Larry Beinfest calls it. It's the same sort of thing that makes Brandon Marshall fire a football at the sidelines or sets off Ed Jovanovski until he's barking two inches"
January 6
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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New manager Ozzie Guillen wasn't in the fold long before dropping a note in Larry Beinfest's suggestion box: Get Carlos Zambrano. The club's president of Baseball Operations, Beinfest did just that. Thursday, the Marlins announced the acquisition of Zambrano and cash from the Chicago Cubs for Chris Volstad. Zambrano waived his no-trade clause, as well as the $19.25 million option for 2013 that would have triggered if he finished among the top four in next season's National League Cy Young balloting. Asked multiple times about Zambrano's history of on- and off-field outbursts, Beinfest kept referring to the pitcher's long-standing relationship with Guillen."
January 5
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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The Marlins have landed the additional starter they sought, and it didn't cost them a big piece off their major league roster or a top prospect. According to multiple sources, the Marlins have agreed to acquire temperamental right-hander Carlos Zambrano and a wheelbarrow full of cash from the Cubs for Palm Beach Gardens native Chris Volstad. The deal is pending approval from the Commissioner's Office since more than $1 million is being exchanged as part of the transaction. The Cubs remain on the hook for all but $2.5 million of the $18 million owed Zambrano, who is entering the final season of a five-year, $91.5 million extension. The Marlins will pay Zambrano, 30, roughly the same salary"