Baseball Agent May Bid To Buy Marlins

July 12, 1998 / 12:16 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Sports agent Joe Cubas plans to meet with Florida Marlins owner H. Wayne Huizenga this week to make an offer to buy the baseball team, a spokesman said Saturday.

Cubas, whose clientele includes pitchers Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez of the New York Yankees and Rolando Arrojo of Tampa Bay, is finalizing an investor group to buy the Marlins and has spoken with city leaders about financing a new domed stadium in downtown Miami.

"Joe has been working for well over a month now to put together an investment group in an attempt to purchase the Marlins," Cubas spokesman Rene Guim said.

Guim would not name those willing to join Cubas in the venture, but said the list includes investors from Miami and elsewhere, including some Cuban-Americans. Cubas, born in the United States but of Cuban ancestry, represents several Cubans among his 24 baseball clients.

"It's now just a matter of us finalizing our paperwork," Guim said. "The moment that those legal papers are in place, we will meet with Mr. Huizenga to tender an offer."

Huizenga announced last November he had reached agreement to sell the club to a group headed by Marlins president Don Smiley. But eight months of wooing investors apparently has left Smiley still short of the $169 million price tag.

Smiley has little more than a week to meet a Huizenga-imposed deadline to complete the package. Other offers will be sought if financing is not in place by the week of July 20, Huizenga spokesman Stan Smith said last week.

"I don't really know what's going on with the Smiley deal," Guim said. "Mr. Huizenga, as of last Monday, gave him two more weeks to put it together. I would presume that is indicative of the fact that Mr. Smiley has not come up with the money that's needed to buy the team."

Guim would not say whether Cubas would meet Huizenga's asking price.

Cubas already has met with Miami Mayor Joe Carollo and other leaders to talk about building a domed stadium, Guim said. One potential site would be on vacant waterfront land near where American Airlines Arena is being built for the NBA's Miami Heat.

The group is discussing different scenarios to pay for the stadium, including combined state, federal and private funds, Guim said.

"Pro Player Stadium is not a baseball facility," Guim said of the Marlins' current home, which it shares with the NFL's Miami Dolphins.

If Cubas succeeds, he will have to give up his clients.

"Joe would resign and give up his certification as a baseball players agent," Guim said. "It will be once the deal is consummated. Until he actually does become a formal owner, it is assumed he has not really crossed over that threshold yet."

Smiley would not comment on Cubas' proposal, Marlins spokesman Ron Colangelo said. Neither Huizenga nor Smitwere immediately available for comment.

Huizenga announced his intention to sell the Marlins more than a year ago. Since winning the World Series, the club has purged its roster of nearly all its high-priced players, including five who were All-Stars this year with their new teams - Gary Sheffield, Moises Alou, Devon White, Kevin Brown and Robb Nen.