News that LeBron James would join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat hit shortly before one of Miami’s other teams — the Florida Marlins — took the field in Arizona.  Some Marlins, long used to being the superstars in Miami, were understandably nervous about sharing the stage with a mildly successful trio of basketball stars.

The only Marlin who really seemed to embrace the announcement was all-star shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who spent a long time working on a handmade sign reading “Welcome Lebron [sic]” to show TV cameras from the Marlins dugout. Ramirez was filled with pride to show his welcome sign, giving a huge smile and thumbs up to the camera, and it no doubt means a lot to James, who is facing a lot of hate from Clevelanders still bittter about losing the 1997 World Series to the Marlins. Ramirez, who makes only $7 million this year, will almost certainly leave Miami for a big free-agent contract sometime soon, so he can certainly sympathize with LeBron’s plight in Cleveland.

However, Marlins outfielder Cody Ross pointed out that he had gone to a Miami Heat game once, but that he had never seen Dwayne Wade at a Marlins game.  New Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez was also low key about the announcement saying, “I’m not a big NBA fan.”

Marlins reliever Burke Badenhop said as a native Ohioan that he had wished James would have stayed put in Cleveland.

Perhaps distracted by the Lebron drama, the Marlins fell 10-4 to the Diamondbacks, dropping five games out of .500 and seven games out of the NL Wild Card.