The Forbes MLB Franchise Valuations are out. Only two teams, the Yankees and Tigers showed operating losses in 2008. That, and a small increase in the over value of all franchises was the good news. Ten franchises, however, saw their value decline.

Maury Brown takes an in depth look at the report at The Biz of Baseball. The Marlins are doing quite well, thank you:

With a slap to the face of the revenue-sharing system, and a clear sign that Jeffery Loria loves living on welfare, he has now officially gotten the Marlins for free. As noted by Ozanian and Badenhausen:

Before the 2002 season Loria, who then owned the Montreal Expos, bought the Marlins for $158 million while MLB paid $120 million to take ownership of the Expos. The Marlins price was later reduced to $143 million, as stipulated in the purchase agreement, when the Marlins did not get a new stadium within five years. But during his seven years of owning the Marlins, Loria has received more money from baseball’s revenue redistribution system than the amount he paid for the team. Now that is real money ball.

Something is wrong with the system when a franchise gets paid for not drawing fans. It’s sad, too, because this is a team that gets a lot of a small salary. If they’d take a little of that money and buy a superstar or two, they might dominate the NL East.

Maybe they should use all that money to pay for their own stadium, instead.