Stag5

1. You don't let a hot Howard beat you. 2. As has been said, Amezaga is not a CF'er. He twists and turns on flyballs and has turned quite a few doubled into triples because he takes a bad angle on the ball. Not a knock on him, it's a new position...but he should hardly ever be in CF and NEVER as a right handed batter. 3. Close & Late: Helms 44ABs .432 2HR 11rbi, Jacons 57AB .281 1HR 11rbi I give Joe a ton of credit for his ability to keep the teams positive through the growing pains and the knack for sticking with players when it looked bleak...only to see them turn it around. But all in all he is a dreadful gameday manager. And finally Hutton spent more time discussing the game and Joe's mistakes rather than attendance.

The article is not off-target. Sure, on the field the team has had success but if you truly embrace what we have now as the best scenerio, the best path to take then you would support trading Willis and Cabrera before their contracts get out of hand. You would also throw water on the idea of acquiring a current ML CF'er instead of trying out the Amezaga's, Eric Reeds and Cody Ross' of the world. While teams should look at the Marlins and see that their path should be a part of theirs we must understand that to keep the franchise competitive the path others teams take is also vital. How many fans did we lose by trading off players we are familiar with? How many fans did we lose by with the initial growing pains? How many fans would we have lost if the initial growing pains lasted 1, 2 or 3 seasons? I can tell you...look at 1998...not everyone has returned even to this day. If next season our CF'er is Torii Hunter or Mike Cameron (free agents) or Coco Crisp(because Boston signs Hunter and deals Crisp) you will applaude the move. I will too. But that is step one on the path other teams take. Btw, I think the reason we didn't deal a prospect for a CF to this point is Loria will surprise us again and we will have a somewhat big-name CF'er next season.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/printart...eatest-monster/ Is Admin Beinfest History?s Greatest Monster? by John Brattain September 01, 2006 Is Admin Beinfest History?s Greatest Monster? I guess that depends on whom you ask. To begin with, I?d like to hearken back to something we discussed last November: Despite the fire sale, general manager Admin Beinfest has done his usual outstanding job in the Delgado/Beckett/Lowell deals and gotten some nice young talent. Remember, he got you a year?s worth of Carlos Delgado for just $4 million (plus what he sent to the Mets), and as long as he is in charge the team will always have a bright future. It?s not often the word ?outstanding? can be an understatement. The red-hot Marlins, fresh off a nine-game winning streak, have closed within 2.5 games of a playoff berth in the NL. In fact, of their final 30 games, one-third are against their fellow Wild Card contenders Philadelphia Phillies. Suffice it to say the Padres, Reds and possibly the Dodgers and Cardinals are praying for a 5-5 split which would probably eliminate both clubs from the mix. I?m guessing that the Fish/Phillies need to win seven of their head-to-head to have a really viable shot at significant October baseball. Regardless, if the Fish do reach the postseason it just opens up several cans of worms that make me wonder if Bud Selig, Jeffrey Loria and David Samson might just consider attempting to do to Beinfest what they did to the Montreal Expos. Why? Well, as you all know the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires at the end of the year. Further, as has been discussed here more times than most care to recall, Selig and the Marlins have been whining lying asserting that the only way the Marlins can be competitive is for somebody to build them a Taj Majal mallpark on the public dime. So thanks to the hard work of Admin Beinfest and his staff, the Florida Marlins, with an opening day payroll of less than 50% of their revenue-sharing subsidies and an admittedly crummy ballpark lease, might end up in the postseason. Let?s assume the Marlins win the Wild Card. How can David Samson with a straight face go to any South Florida politician, look him straight in the kneecap, and say that the two-time World Champion and 2006 Wild Card-winning Florida Marlins need a new stadium to compete and if they don?t, they?ll? Um?have another fire sale and cut payroll? I guess they could trade Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis (might I suggest Toronto?); they?d have to fire Beinfest first, however, lest he get even more good young cheap players and win the NL East. And that just wouldn?t do. Of course in the meantime Selig will be trying to discover ways to use the word aberration as a noun, verb, adverb, pronoun, adjective, conjunction, and colloquialism since he has to sell the idea that salary restrictions (to the Major League Baseball Players Association) and enhanced revenue sharing (to large market/revenue teams) are required so teams like Florida can compete with big money teams like the Red Sox, Cubs and Angels. I?m guessing that there are a number of revenue-sharing contributors who aren?t too thrilled with the idea that the Marlins took their $31 million welfare check, spent $15 million of it on payroll and made it to the postseason while they?re staying home. If the Marlins do win the NL Wild Card Bud Selig, Jeffrey Loria and David Samson may well conclude that Admin Beinfest is history?s greatest monster. After all Selig is undoubtedly aghast at any idea that even hints at making huge profits without substantial contributions from taxpayers, large-revenue teams and baseball players. Earning money from hard work is for peons like us.

That's easy, Mike Jacobs.

Wes Helms is old? He is 30 years old. What does that make last year's team?

I believe something will cross the wire(just not announced yet)....Come on Beinfest, Brian Meadows is our man! "We have to have a right-hander do the job for us in the eighth inning," Girardi said. "It was a choice I made. It didn't work out tonight."

...Should win Cabrera the MVP. Could you imagine how awful we would be without him ? He is far and away the most valuable player to one team. Would Cabrera have come in the pitch the 8th? We lost 2 of 3 to the Cards in STL...lets not make this out to be a meltdown.

I would say that come spring training he'd need to win his job or spend some time at AAA, not a horrible thing. Hello Regie Sanders?

Maddog has come around but he is yet another that rode the 'what an embarrasment", 'they stink' and 'minor-league team' train so many were on. He wants to say we are a tough team now? Go back to ya Giants Chris and keep thinking you only lost to the Marlins in 2003 because it was a 5 game series instead of 7.

Career years? The team is still under .500. Let's not make it sounds like they have done the impossible never to be coming close every again....sheesh.

Yup. We'd see him in 2008 I guess

Logan Kensing (elbow) is likely done for the season. Kensing felt pain in his elbow while playing catch on Monday and immediately booked an appointment to visit orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews. Tommy John surgery is a distinct possibility for the reliever. Source: Miami Herald

Im glad we're able to hear from the players themselves saying Girardi has made a difference, contrary to the comments made by some of you, deeming him irrelevant to this year's success. Name me one Marlin, former or current, who has ever said negative things about his coach during the season while the player was still playing for the manager. I can think of only one - Dan Miceli ripped John Boles for being incompetent and for poor player positioning, and he was promptly traded for next to nothing. Oh, and before anyone brings up Beckett/McKeon, to the best of my recollection, any bashing of McKeon done during the season was that McKeon didn't really have a personal relationship with many members of the team. Rather, he was simply the coach. This article is meaningless. If you think Girardi is doing a great job and should be kept, then that's fine. But, it is flawed reasoning to base your opinion on what the current roster publicly states during the season. What else would they say (or could they say)? Agreed 100%. You think the players respected Girardi grabbing Olsen by the shirt? Its one thing for Messenger to give him a fistful...but the manager? That's intimidation, not respect. Girardi wants the players to fear him and the owner to let him be. How would Joe be if the owner grabbed him by the shirt collar and the players treated Joe with the same sort of lack of class he showed his boss (even if it IS Loria)? I think Girardi was out of line with the shirt grabbing but if players didn't support him they could say something along the lines of what DTrain said or they could bash him through the unnamed source route or they could give a no comment. If they didn't support him then they wouldn't support him on the record. Of course we don't know if Capozzi went to all 25 players and got only 3 to backup Girardi. I don't think there are many guys on the team that feel THAT secure with their jobs that they would be vocal against anyone. I mean, I also didnt hear anyone come out against Loria...should we read into that too? I would guess Dontrelle and Cabrera and maybe even Loria, Beinfest and Girardi have told the kids...look this is internal...no one should be taking sides. Loria and and Joe are big boys and it's their fight. It's not High School where ya either with us or against us. If in the end Joe and Loria come together do you wanna be the rookie that spoke out against Joe? Or what if later on in your career you land on Joe's team?

Im glad we're able to hear from the players themselves saying Girardi has made a difference, contrary to the comments made by some of you, deeming him irrelevant to this year's success. Name me one Marlin, former or current, who has ever said negative things about his coach during the season while the player was still playing for the manager. I can think of only one - Dan Miceli ripped John Boles for being incompetent and for poor player positioning, and he was promptly traded for next to nothing. Oh, and before anyone brings up Beckett/McKeon, to the best of my recollection, any bashing of McKeon done during the season was that McKeon didn't really have a personal relationship with many members of the team. Rather, he was simply the coach. This article is meaningless. If you think Girardi is doing a great job and should be kept, then that's fine. But, it is flawed reasoning to base your opinion on what the current roster publicly states during the season. What else would they say (or could they say)? Agreed 100%. You think the players respected Girardi grabbing Olsen by the shirt? Its one thing for Messenger to give him a fistful...but the manager? That's intimidation, not respect. Girardi wants the players to fear him and the owner to let him be. How would Joe be if the owner grabbed him by the shirt collar and the players treated Joe with the same sort of lack of class he showed his boss (even if it IS Loria)?

I have said to my family for a long time...talk to me when they are within 4 games come September 1st. Well, here we are... Will our pitching likely tire? yes. Will 'someone' if not many players fold under the pressure of September? Probably. But in the end....we are 3 games out and tomorrow's game is still 0-0. I'll take it

Brian Meadows is a free agent at season's end.

Gimme Brian Meadows. Control pitcher coming from the AL East...would be a nice addition to the pen and move a slumping Messenger back a slot. In CF.....I still don't count out Juan Pierre. His bat has picked up. His glove will be solid and the chemistry that he and Willis have will definitly give this very hot team a jolt!! Juan Pierre and Brian Meadows.

I'll say it again and again and again.... It is not the fans obligation to go to a game. It is the teams obligation to give fans a reason to go there. It is not for MLB to decide what value is, it is for the fans to decide. I don't hear the owners of restaurants, roller skating rinks and clothing stores that are slumping with sales blaming the consumer. They blame themselves because they have not succeeded in giving the fans what they want. What is it that the fans wants down here? What would it take to get more people out to the stadium? That's for management to figure out but a clue might be the word 'trust'. Attendance was once huge and then the strike. Attendance was coming back and then Wayne broke the team down. Attendance was again rising every season (granted, slowly) and then Loria broke the team down. You can't tell fans one day to come out and see Carlos Delgado, Josh Beckett and Luis Castillo and the next day tell them it's the name on the front of the jersey that matters, not the back. You can't one day tell fans that the experience at Dolphins stadium sucks (John Henry) and the next expect them to arrive in droves. Trust. Trust that an owner is making additions to the team to help win games and not simply a stadium. Trust that when we invest our time and money in your product you don't then rip it away not for baseball reasons but for financial reasons. We have seen a lot of teams with new stadiums build up the payroll to sell long term seat licenses only to thne see payroll shrink soon after. Is there any reson to believe that Loria will be any different? So Matt Treanor...stick to catching and keep cashing your check. Leave the job of being a fan to us.

You would think the name of the stadium and references to Dolphins players around the stadium would have clued them in before wondering why the bar was there.

Anyone else notice that Loria has yet to sit by the dugout this entire home-stand, which is also the first homestand since he allegedly fired Girardi? Loria not being there speaks volumes about the rift, at least to me. :mischief2 It's obvious that I have a better chance of being Marlins manager next season than Girardi. I have only good things to say about the job Joe has done but he will need to chalk this up as a learning experience. We heard that he fought to keep JJ and Nolasco out of the rotation even though people in the organization with much more experience thought otherwise. He didn't have any respect for those who's job it is to evaluate talent. Then we heard that Joe made many comments about how things were done with the Yankees. This can easily come off as having no respect for the Marlins organization and thinking he was above everyone else....because George spends $200+MM to keep the team competitive...he thinks that makes him a winner.

Good points Del. Here is another...Joe wants to manage in Chicago or one day for the Yankees? Joe, I realize this has become a national story but in general this is the very soft S. Fla media market in an area where only the hard core fans care. Go to Chicago or NY and this is front page news for two weeks (ask Paul LoDuca) and nort backpage news for 2 days.

This all goes back to certain writers in this area not liking Loria/Samson. I don't know of anyone that can tell their boss (that they are on thin ice with to begin with) to shut up and not have to deal with consequences. To turn this around and say Loria needs to apologize? For what? For yelling at the ump? For being a fan? For getting upset with Joe when he he was told to shut up? I believe Joe should have come out early and said "In the heat of battle Mr. Loria was vocal, I was vocal and I stepped over the line and spoke to my boss in an inappropriate way. If my players spoke to me like that there would be an issue and I should be held to the same standard. I apologize to Mr. Loria for my actions." Loria should apologize? Ha! I wonder how often Greg Cote's employer has apologized to him? My guess is Greg never told his employee to shut up in a meeting or at a public event.

My point that a Marlins won't win it was proven right here where even Marlins fans cannot decide between Uggla and JJ. These two(and others) will split Marlins votes while the middle of the country has seen lots of Fielder and the east has seen as much of Zimmerman as our guys. Based on today's stats... My Prediction: 1. Zimmerman - name, stats, no local competition 2. Johnson - loses votes to other Marlins 3. Fielder - name and the fact that Uggla and JJ split many votes gets Prince # 3 4. Uggla What I think it should be: 1. Johnson - If he has a top 5 ERA he is ROY in my book 2. Zimmerman - Bottom line - I'd rather have Zimmerman than Uggla. 3. Uggla - Has shown to be as a good a slugger as Prince and drives in more runs. 4. Fielder -

Supposedly before the non-waiver deadline the Nationals wanted SOME of the following in a package: Vargas Pinto Mitre I would have done that in a HEARTBEAT. Hell, I'd give up all three for him. I had heard it was Petit, Pinto and Vargas.

I doubt a Marlin wins it simply because too many will split the vote. IMO tho it's Josh Johnson. As many wins or more than Schmidt, Carpenter and Oswalt and a lower ERA than everyone except Webb. Uggla is having a great season for a rookie. Josh Johnson is having a great season, period.