fanfish

I voted this morning and was approached by the Katy Sorenson supporters so I at least had the pleasure of telling them exactly why I would not vote for her. They seemed to think baseball was an amusing reason not to vote for someone. I told them why it is important and explained that if they check the TV ratings they will see that it's important to a lot of people. Good for you!!!!

I'd like to see this lineup: SS Ramirez 2B Uggla 3B Cabrera LF Willlingham 1B Jacobs RF Helms C Olivo CF Ross pitcher. that's a pretty good lineup I would like to see: Ramirez Uggla Cabrera Willingham Helms 1B Ross RF Olivo Amezaga CF

Judging by what has been happening in the last few weeks, Jacobs and especially Hermida need to step aside and let Ross and Helms be in the daily starting line up. Yes, I know that Jacobs and Hermida have great futures, but for now they need to be the bench guys with an occasional start to keep them from getting too rusty and not the other way around. They will have plenty of time to mature into fantastic players........later.

OK, we vote for Randy Johnson for Chief financial officer Who else?

I need help in determining who to vote for in the coming elections. I am sure someone on this board knows who was willing to help the Marlins get the illusive $60 million from the State Legislature in the past and who worked against it. Let us know so we can now do our part when they come asking for our help.

#1. Uggla bunting in the 1st inning with Ramirez at second with no outs was NOT a good move. Yes, he ended up scoring but we gave away an out. The runner is already at second so there is no possible grounding into a DP. Going to the opposite field is what should be done. If the batter can't get the ball out of the infield, the runner at second still goes to third but at least you give the batter a chance to get a hit and an RBI while not giving away an out. #2. With a runner at third with one out and the pitcher at the plate, a squeeze is a good play. Nolasco has a greater chance of striking out or grounding out than a regular position player. Might as well make the pitcher bunt and have a run score. Perhaps a safety squeeze would have been a better call, but I have no problem with a squeeze in that scenario.

Fire-sale # 1 in 1997 did a lot of damage. Fire-sale # 2 in 2005 did even more damage. Flirting with San Antonio and other cities almost put the nail in the coffin. For hardcore fans like us on this forum the reasons above do not necessarily turn us against the team, but for the average fans, IT IS MORE THAN ENOUGH. Matt should understand what has happened here before he runs his mouth again.

Today is a big day for the Marlins even though they are not on the field. Did whatever was supposed to happen to make this a big day happen? Was it going to be something that wasn't public? Day is almost over. Yes and yes gobuck, your are driving me nuts!!!! Don't get me wrong, I am very happy and greatful for the info that you have posted and realize that you can't fill in all the blanks because you can't reveal your sources.............. but the "yes and yes" answer above is a tease like teenage girls were in the 60's !!!!! You seem to be the number one "inside" member of this board when it comes to the new stadium news. Without going too far, can you please spill a little more of the beans?

No one cares if Joe from Palm Beach wants the stadium in Hialeah, or if Moe from Kendal wants it in Miami, or Admin prefers it elsewhere. I don't care about traffic patterns at 6 pm. I don't give a darn about how long it takes anybody to go anywhere, or how far is this place from that place. No ranting or raving will change the minds of the powers-to-be about where the new stadium will be built or if it will have a roof, an umbrella or a huge hat. The only thing I want to read here is information regarding the progress of any deals from the people that actually have some kind of actual knowledge about the subject. I think I speak for most of the members of this board. That is why I started this thread Thanks

Olivo has been a tremendous addition to this team. He has proven that he deserves to play every day. Olivo, Dan Uggla and the rookie starters ( Johnson, Olsen, Nolasco and Sanchez) are the reasons why the Marlins have surprised so many this year. I have no doubts that they will try hard to re-sign him for next year.

Hialeah's Mayor Robaina statements suggest that the stadium deal in his city is almost a done deal. A downtown Miami stadium may more attractive to MLB and others but it appears to still be in the relatively early planning stages. Many of the City of Miami officials had not heard about it before the Herald article and one is even suggesting reviving the Orange Bowl site. There seems to be no definite plan to bridge the funding gap and I have heard no talk of a special taxing district similar to the one Hialeah has planned. We need a stadium built SOMEWHERE. I have no problems with a downtown stadium, I actually prefer it. However, my fear is that throwing a Miami stadium into the mix right now may delay and possibly jeopardize what appears to be a sure thing in Hialeah. If the Hialeah commissioners feel that all their hard work for the past 5 or 6 months have been in vain and think that they are being used " a la San Antonio" they may bolt the negotiations and we will be left with only the City of Miami once again. Granted that the city has a new city manager (abrasive, egomaniacal, non-compromising Arriola won't be there), but is that is a risk we are willing to take?

I have season tickets. I'm not sure what I'll do next year. What would sway me to renew: - New stadium deal - No more fire sales or dumping of salaries - getting a decent center fielder and solid additions to the bullpen Even then I will probably get a smaller "package" of tickets and buy additional single game tickets on a game by game basis. The general idea of getting season tickets (for an individual fan not a business) is to guarantee good seats for all the games. If the stadium is going to be as empty as it was this year, there is no incentive to buy tickets up-front especially since there are always several tickets that go unused. However, in future years, with a smaller stadium and a better team season tickets sales will probably soar. Or so I hope.

On a recent show he was very adamant in saying that if he were Giardi he never would have apologized to Loria in front of the team. I wonder if this had anything to do with his dismissal?

Loria conned S. Florida fans into buying season tickets for one product then offered another....and then refused to give refunds. He has totally gutted a team....to the point that he is making a good bit of money off revenue sharing. He has dangled the franchise to any city that is willing to make an offer. Through his actions he basically has given a big middle finger to all the remaining South Florida fans. He has acted like a man who is trying to extract every bit of value from a business venue before washing his hands of it. All this, and yet some on this board will defend him to his grave. There should be no debate that this man is a terrible owner. Under probably any other ownership we would have had our stadium by now. Well put. It is mindblowing to think that he will probably EARN $60 million over the next two years if payroll is not increased significantly, which amounts to the supposed stadium funding gap...yet, hell wll freeze over before a stadium gets built in Miami. You are clueless. Let me remind you that we had two other owners that were unable to get a stadium built and hopefully we will have an announcement later this year that the Hialeah stadium will get done.

Giardi did not want to start Jonhson and Nolasco. Giardi didn't want to play Olivo very often. These were the suggestions of the front office. I think this young team would have done just as well without Giardi's influence. If I were his boss and Giardi barks at me in public I would also consider fireing him.

The silence about the new stadium deal is killing me! There are rumors that "some" are trying to get the City of Miami back into the picture now that Mr. Arriola is out of the picture as city manager. Is this the reason why there hasn't been any further progress on the Hialeah Heights site deal? If anyone has any information, even if it is not confirmed....please share it with us.

Hermida has been a disappointment so far. We must remember however, that he was hurt for about a month and his HR and RBI numbers reflect this. I also expected more from Jacobs. Ramirez and Willingham started hot but have come down to earth May I ask what you expected from him? All hes had is a bad first month. Hes hitting .310 with 12 Hr 33 RBI in the last 3 months. Seriously he isnt Carlos Delgado YET. Plus hes doing all this with a messed up toe. I am actually very pleased wth his performance whoever isnt must have some sort of personal vendetta against him. Unfortunately the first month of the season counts. And Beastie, there is no personal vendetta, so please take a Valium.

Hermida has been a disappointment so far. We must remember however, that he was hurt for about a month and his HR and RBI numbers reflect this. I also expected more from Jacobs. Ramirez and Willingham started hot but have come down to earth lately. Ramirez's defense and base-running have also disappointed. The revolving door at CF has still not stopped. For a while Ross seemed to be the answer, but not really. I am very pleased with Uggla and lately Olivo has really impressed me. Cabrera' s offense has been rock solid as expected and his defense at third has improved dramatically since April. Willis has not been sharp. Having an occasional fine game does not make up for the horrible starts he has also had. Johnson and Olsen show a lot of promise. Nolasco and Sanchez can be brilliant some starts and look like the rookies that they are the next. Borowski has done a fine job. Kensing ( now hurt) has been inconsistent in the 8th inning, giving up too many HR. Messenger and Herges have their good and bad days. Moehler is a very good long or middle reliever, not a good starter any more. Pinto has looked good lately. Tankersley is a keeper. Mitre will be back soon and will probably have a chance to start down the stretch run. Amezaga, Borchard and Helms are good bench players. Treanor I guess is OK for a back-up. Abercrombie should be in the minors or retire. For next year (assuming we still have a limited budget) I would suggest: KEEP INFIELDERS: Jacobs, Uggla, Cabrera,Olivo. Give Ramirez time to improve KEEP OUTFIELDERS: Hermida, Willingham KEEP STARTERS: Willis, Johnson, Olsen, Nolasco, Sanches, Mitre KEEP RELIEVERS: Moehler, Tankersley, Borowski KEEP BENCH: Amezaga, Borchard, Helms Trade to try to improve over: Ross, Abercrombie, Treanor, Kensing, Messenger, Herges, In other words, we need what everyone knows. A center fielder with power and a better bullpen, while hoping that our young players mature.

The NL wild card leading Reds are only 5 games over .500 but all the "experts" are saying that traditionally, to win the wild card will probably take about 86 wins ( ten games over .500). For the Marlins that would be a gargantuan task. We are 49-56 with 57 games left to play, we would have to win 37 more games. That translates into a .649 winning percentage that we would need to have for the rest of the year to be 10 games over .500 at the end of the season. That, to me, is not very realistic. To be 5 games over .500 at the end of the season we would have to have a winning percentage of .596 the rest of the way. To be at .500 we would need a .561 clip. There you have it. Doesn't look too pretty but it doesn't hurt to hope. Who knows? A good 6-7 game winning streak will certainly help! Whatever happens, I could not be happier with our team this year. I never thought for a moment that I would be writing "wild card" and "Marlins" in the same post this late into the season! Lets savor the moment and hopefully with a new stadium deal done soon, we will be mentioning "Florida Marlins" and "playoff" in many Octobers in the near future.

The Miami Dade county commissioners were supposed to meet today to make further decisions about the UDB expansion which was approved in the past. The State had a problem with the potable water that would be available for the area, etc. Does anyone know if they met, and if they did, what was the decision?

There is "good news" written all over this article!!!!!!! MARLINS NOTEBOOK Stadium talks persist BY KEVIN BAXTER kbaxter@MiamiHerald.com Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball's president and COO, met with Marlins president David Samson and local politicians for the second time in two weeks Tuesday in an effort to accelerate negotiations for a new retractable-roof ballpark in South Florida. DuPuy met for nearly two hours Tuesday afternoon with Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina then had dinner with county manager George Burgess and county tax collector Ian Yorty, terming the conversations ``pleasant.'' DuPuy said land-use issues related to a lack of potable water to support growth near the proposed stadium site were discussed, and he is ``guardly optimistic that those issues can be resolved.'' DuPuy also believes the $100 million-plus funding gap that has derailed plans for the $420 million ballpark can be solved. ''There are different approaches that would reduce that. And we explored some of those tonight,'' said DuPuy, who declined to provide details. ``In any stadium negotiation there are gaps that need to get filled. And we talked about ways of filling those gaps.'' DuPuy said commissioner Bud Selig is intent on keeping baseball in Miami. ''We've now had 18 new or completely renovated ballparks since [Chicago's] U.S Cellular,'' DuPuy said. ``The commissioner believes that South Florida has to be the next. This is a good young team, and we'd like to see baseball thrive here and it's not going to thrive in this ballpark.'' DuPuy said conversations between the Marlins, local politicians and Major League Baseball will continue.

There may be a lot of valid reasons for poor attendance as mentioned in the above posts but he main reasons are and always will be: 1) FIRE SALES (that's TWO) 2) THREATS OF RELOCATION/CONTRACTION Nothing puts off a fan more than these two reasons. No team in history has had to put up with what we have had to endure the past 10 years.

How much better than our Ross/ Amezaga combination does the potential center fielder have to be, how much is Loria willing to spend, and who would we have to give up? I think these are the key questions. Ross is hitting very well. He can play RF and Hermida can play CF. When Uggla comes back, Amezaga can play CF when a left handed bat is needed. Would we be better off getting more help for the bullpen? ( although lately they have been impressive) I have a feeling that there will be NO moves unless we get ridiculously close to the wild card lead by the trading deadline. If this is the case, who knows what will happen then! This season is turning out to be much more enjoyable than anyone had ever imagined!

Fantastic column by Mike Berardino in the Sun Sentinel Marlins deserve shot at upgrades Will Loria help young club as it makes run at improbable wild card? Published June 27, 2006 MIAMI GARDENS ? Now that South Florida is slowly emerging from its White Hot haze, now that the last piece of confetti has been swept up along Biscayne Boulevard, we interrupt your basking for a bulletin. The Marlins are pretty good. No, really. They are. What Joe Girardi's boys have done over the past five weeks has been nothing short of remarkable. They have taken a Green Day season -- Wake Me Up When September Ends -- and turned it into an old-school U2 summer (Wide Awake and Not Sleeping.) There's no other way to describe this stretch that has seen the Marlins win 22 of 31 games -- including Monday's 8-5 comeback against Tampa Bay -- and claw their way back from an 11-31 start to the fringe of the National League wild-card race. Now the question becomes what is Marlins management going to do about it? "They're in the hardest position to be in: limbo," an American League team official said Monday. "They have gone from being a no-chance team to a team that's in dangerous territory if they choose to play it that way." Should the Marlins continue to ride the kids as long as they can and see just how many games a $15 million collection of scrappers can win? Or should Jeffrey Loria follow his own playbook and not only hold Dontrelle Willis but add a piece or two to the mix, even if it costs a couple of prospects and boosts the payroll? An established center fielder would be nice. So would another reliable arm in the bullpen. Think I'm talking crazy here? Maybe, but consider the facts. Despite using 20 rookies, these Marlins have pulled within 6? games of the wild card. By comparison, the 2003 Marlins were 4? games from the wild card when they made the epic July trade for Ugie Urbina. I'm not saying they are one deal away from winning their third World Series. But it is intriguing to consider what they might be able to accomplish with a few choice additions to an impressive young core. Of the eight teams ahead of the Marlins in the wild-card standings, just two have better run differentials. And the Padres (plus-9) and Giants (plus-5) were hardly blowing away the Marlins (plus-3). America hasn't seen this much mediocrity under one heading since the Backstreet Boys' farewell tour. This is also the first year of testing for amphetamines, which means youth should be served even more than usual once the dog days arrive. There's also the Marlins' farm system, which is rolling out top arms the way Honda does hybrids. Yankee-killer Anibal Sanchez is the latest, and more are on the way. But first, the Marlins should step up their search for an upgrade in center field, where their production ranks 13th in the league and they recently passed on Joey Gathright after an earlier flirtation. So far the Marlins have used rookies Reggie Abercrombie and Eric Reed out there. They have used utility infielder Alfredo Amezaga, bless his heart. For some reason they have not used slugging Joe Borchard, who came up through the White Sox system as a center fielder and said Monday he is "very comfortable" at the position. Lately, they have started throwing Jeremy Hermida, a natural right fielder, into the mix. On Monday's second pitch, Hermida and right fielder Cody Ross let a Julio Lugo fly ball drop between them for a double. You know who might have caught that ball? Juan Pierre, that's who. Yeah, I know, he's having a horrible season for the Cubs. And, yes, he is making $5.75 million as he straggles toward free agency. But once the Cubs decide to pack it in, the Marlins should consider taking Pierre off their hands. They won't have to give back Ricky Nolasco, and they might even get the Cubs to pay the bulk of the remaining money. The Astros may be souring on Willy Tavares. Luis Matos is buried on the Orioles bench. And if Choo Freeman keeps improving in Colorado, maybe the Rockies would talk about speedy Cory Sullivan. The price has to be right, of course. No vital pieces should be sacrificed to feed what might be a short-term monster. But after the way this season started, it sure is fun to consider. Mike Berardino can be reached at mberardino@sun-sentinel.com.

For all of you who are still holding back, who are still hesitating, who are watching and waiting to see happens next before you put your heart and soul into the wild card race Please take notice that we are only 5 games behind the Reds in the wild card standings.