The young and enthusiastic, NL Rookie of the Year Awardee and finished third in Cy Young Award balloting, Jose Fernadez, died in a boating accident on Sunday.
The NL Rookie will not be able to raise the baby girl he and his girlfriend Maria Arias are expecting. But his teammates pronounced to take it in lieu of the lost baseball pitcher. They are making it a priority that the legacy of the pitcher lives on with her. Several team members pledged to contribute to a trust fund being set up for the unborn baby. The funds will be placed under the child's name.
Jeff Franceour, the outfielder of the team said that they don't want that baby to be left behind. After all that little baby girl is going to be his one piece of blood and his legacy. If only Jose could tell something to us, we are pretty sure that it would be "Make sure my little girl is taken care of."
Martin Prado, the third baseman also seconded. He stated that he is 100 percent sure that Jose would do the same thing for them.
No matter how talented Fernandez was and despite of his contribution to Marlin's success as a baseball team, he was not making the hundreds of millions of dollars that baseball fanatics expected from a standout player like him. He is still on his rookie contract. The 24 -year old player was not scheduled to become a free agent until 2018. A $490,000 was made by Fernandez in his rookie year, according to the sports-contract database SporTrac. That salary rose incrementally until this year.
Scott Boras, Fernandez' agent said the Marlins did a great job, therefore they can build a memory for that child. When time comes that she is old enough to understand, then we can tell her how her father was in his days with us as a pitcher and how he was revered.
Along with their monetary donations, the Marlins have been honoring the Cuban-born right-hander since news broke Sunday of the star's death. Earlier in the week in which all the players wore no.16 jersey has been wearing uniforms integrating no.16 patch on the sleeves.
On the pitcher's mound other MLB teams, including Nationals, whom the Marlins will close out their season have also joined by imprinting the no. 16, in honor of Fernandez.
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