MIAMI _ The Marlins have set up a trust fund to cover the education and financial future of the daughter of late pitcher Jose Fernandez.
Fernandez's girlfriend Maria Arias gave birth to Penelope in February, five months after Fernandez was killed in a boat crash in Miami.
Marlins president David Samson said Thursday that the fund will ensure Penelope will be able to finish all schooling debt-free and will receive a distribution of remaining money into adulthood. In addition, Fernandez's mother, Maritza, will receive an annual sum under the trust.
Samson declined to confirm a Miami Herald report that money from the trust totals $700,000 and comes from an insurance policy the team received from Major League Baseball.
"I'm not going to talk about the amounts. There have been reports of amounts, and I guess you could take that for what it is," Samson said. "I just think it's enough to make sure that education will be paid for in addition to a yearly amount to his mom every single year.
"It's a substantial amount for a 3-month-old baby. ... Whatever she wants to do, she has an opportunity to go to school and graduate debt-free."
Samson said Fernandez's family was informed of the trust fund last weekend. He said Fernandez's daughter "looks like Jose."
"She's a happy, great kid," Samson said. "It doesn't take away any of the hurt or any of the emotions that she'll go through as she gets older and realizes that she doesn't have a father that's alive and starts to learn about Jose."
According to the Herald report, MLB's insurance policy normally pays $1 million to a team when a player dies, but the insurance company balked at paying that amount after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission concluded that Fernandez was driving the boat at the time of the crash and had traces of cocaine in his system and a blood-alcohol level of nearly twice the legal limit.
Two other Miami men, Emilio Macias and Eduardo Rivero, were also killed in the crash on the jetty at Government Cut on Sept. 25.
