Earlier this month, Florida signed the arbitration-eligible Mike Lowell to a four-year, $32M contract. The final two to three years of the contract are contingent upon the Marlins securing the remaining financing needed for a $325M retractable roof, $38,000-seat stadium to be built in downtown Miami prior to the opening of the 2007 season. Together the organization ($137M) and Miami-Dade County ($73M) have committed $210M towards the project, the Marlins hope the city of Miami and the state of Florida will volunteer to bankroll the remaining $115M. The Marlins have set March 15, 2004 as the deadline for finding the rest of the required funds, so we should know at that time whether Lowell's contract will go the full four-years, though his contract specifies November 1, 2004. If a stadium deal is not in place, the final two years of the contract are automatically voided and the second year converts to a player option. The first two seasons of the contract are reportedly worth $14M.

Lowell possesses solid plate discipline and considerable power skills, and we can expect the 29-year-old to maintain his current production levels over the length of the contract. Consequently, the Marlins don't appear to have overpaid. However, Lowell's absence over the final month of the season demonstrated that the team can function without him.

Meanwhile, I was disappointed to see the Marlins part ways with Ivan Rodriguez, who was the force that drove Florida to the World Series. Provided the club intends to remain a contender, as their other actions indicate, they should have taken the necessary steps to retain Rodriguez. If money was an issue, I would have foregone the Lowell deal, since Rodriguez will be much more difficult to replace. I certainly would have focused more directly on signing IRod, considering the provision in Rodriguez's contract that prevented the Marlins from offering him arbitration and thus put a deadline of December 7th on their negotiations. Communication between the two sides seemed infrequent and though they weren't particular close to a deal when time expired, there was some movement. I believe IRod may have forgiven Florida's attempts to have him accept a decrease in salary, if the Marlins had designated him as a priority instead of flaunting their negotiations with Lowell and Luis Castillo.

Castillo signed a three-year, $16M contract that includes a $500,000 buyout on a $5.75M option for 2007. In addition to a $2M signing bonus, he'll receive $4M in 2004, $4.5M in 2005, and $5M in 2006. Reportedly, the contract includes provisions that would allow Castillo to guaranteed the option with minimal effort.