Jeffrey Loria Sells Painting For $32 Million, Only $7 Million Less than Marlins' 2013 Payroll

Jeffrey Loria is an art dealer by trade. He also happens to own the Miami Marlins and, in turn, is one of the most loathed people in North American sports.

This week Loria sold Alberto Giacometti’s portrait of his brother Diego, a 1954 painting, for roughly $32.6 million at a Christies Art Auction in New York. The painting was valued as highly as $50 million.

The Marlins 2013 payroll? Roughly $39 million after they sent their highest-paid player — Ricky Nolasco ($11.25 milion) — to the Dodgers in a mid-season trade. Let’s go out on a limb and assume Loria isn’t going to use that money on veteran free agents this winter.

Via MLB Trade Rumors, the Marlins only have around $8 million committed to players for 2014, including $4 million to Heath Bell (!!!), $1.7 million to Greg Dobbs and $1.4 million to Jeff Mathis. That number will rise when players like trade-candidate Giancarlo Stanton go to salary arbitration, but the Miami payroll will be one of the two or three lowest in the Majors next year. That said, with young players like Jose Fernandez under team control for the next couple seasons the situation isn’t as bleak as it sounds … that is until Loria’s next fire sale.

Here’s the painting if you’re curious:

Let this go down as reason No. 4,302 why people hate Jeffrey Loria. [H/T Broward Palm Beach NewTimes]