The Dominican Republic beat Puerto Rico 3-0 last night, to become the first non-Japanese team to win the World Baseball Classic. That's great for them (these fans sure were pleased), but the regular season is 11 days away, and yet another MLB star could find himself on the shelf come the games that matter.

Having now traded away infielder and former franchise cornerstone Hanley Ramirez, second baseman Omar Infante, and starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez, it appears that the Miami Marlins are in full fire-sale mode. This impression is further compounded by Josh Johnson's rumored residence on the trading block.

According to Baseball Prospectus, which is home to the wonderful Tater Trot Tracker, Marlins third baseman Hanley Ramirez—no stranger to taking his time on the diamond—took one of the longest home run trots in history on July 1st. It took Ramirez 30.3 seconds to make it around the bases, which is only the second…

There's a numbers-heavy post up on Fish Stripes today suggesting that the 8-14 Marlins are due for a regression and an improvement. Let me make this counterargument: they're not. They might just suck.

Lots of us have probably taunted Hanley Ramirez. He ruined fantasy teams (and, to some extent, the Marlins) in 2011, he porked up, he bungled balls in the field. But like any vengeful young man, he has waited six months and found revenge in a Spanish-language advertisement for a slightly downmarket sports drink.

Your roundup of all the hottest hot-stove items of the day (and whatever shit Ken Rosenthal is throwing against the wall). This is ... HOT FUCKING STOVE!!

Reader Adam sent us this photo of him and Hanley Ramirez. They met at a Filene's Basement in Washington, D.C. last year. This is, of course, a perk of being in this line of work. You get to see photos people took with athletes they bumped into at discount department stores a year ago. Awesome.

And it was a thing of beauty to watch, for fans who view coaches as interesting or influential as any athlete. Even if they're 80 years old and are baseball's Winston Wolf, just waiting for the call to clean up someone else's mess.

Because the specials at the Bob Evans in Hialeah end at 4:30, and, well, you know. [Palm Beach Post]

Tim Kurkjian, Baseball Tonight's creaky-voiced elder statesman, started a Twitter a couple weeks ago. He might not be getting the hang of it.