Idont Havaname

I saw Marcos pitch against Bowie about a month ago. He has a good, live arm and topped out at 96 mph in that start. He only gave up a single in the first 3 innings, but then the Baysox tagged him for 6 runs over the next 2. My impression overall is that he's better suited for the bullpen. I think his stats this season were hurt by the fact that he was starting. I'd try him at Albuquerque next year. He and Harvey Garcia would be good arms to have in the Marlins' bullpen in the second half of next year.

Here's a little bit of information about him that I found. "Las Vegas Review-Journal "Even though Carlyle registered a healthy number of strikeouts, he doesn't dominate hitters, instead relying more on his curveball and changeup. His fastball usually reaches the high 80s."" link

Could give Walter Young a try at 1B... he was released by the Padres a couple weeks ago because they were already starting Adrian Gonzalez at first in the majors and Paul McAnulty at first in AAA, plus they had Ryan Klesko on the DL... so no spot for Walter. He started the year in a slump but was snapping out of it before he got released; he hit two home runs in his last game with the AAA Portland Beavers. He's 26 years old, 6-5 and 305-322 lbs; and he hits very impressive home runs (he has been compared to Cecil Fielder in that way). How about Felix Pie for CF? Josh Anderson has a teammate in Corpus Christi, Hunter Pence, who's doing a great job there (.345 BA, 1.032 OPS, 6 HR, 24 RBI). Both Anderson and Pence are 23.

Sounds good to me... Tampa Bay, send Gathright right over! Come on, position players!

I'm not too sure why we'd want him. He'll probably be eligible for arbitration soon (looks like he's played at least half of each of the last three seasons in the bigs), and his numbers went down from '04 to 05. He strikes out a lot too, and his numbers in '05 look Preston Wilsonesque (.254, 19 HR, 51 RBI, 116 K in 311 AB, 99 games). Maybe over a whole season he's a 30-40 homer guy, but he looks like he's had some problems staying healthy. So if the Fish were to get him, I hope they wouldn't give up much... and keep Aguila and Eric Reed around in case of injuries.

So we have about $12-13 million to play with. I don't know why, but I laughed at that. Girardi (who - I agree with the previous poster - seems like he really rocks) will probably have to use it to bribe Cabrera into not complaining. That, and of course, Jeff and David have to buy their houses in Vegas, Portland, San Antonio, Raleigh, Monterrey, Paris, the Moon, and whichever other "candidate cities" are out there.

Should be ranked last in loyalty. I agree with you, but the ones ranked below the Marlins do have a point... The Rockies, Raptors, Devil Rays, Pirates, Royals, and Clippers have spent a lot of their time in the last few years in last place or at least nowhere near playoff contention, with little if any hope of changing that. (Further, in the case of the Devil Rays, that team has never even had a winning record for a full season in the whole history of their team.) AZ Cardinals, I wouldn't know, because I don't follow football. The Saints are ranked last because... well, they're obviously not playing in New Orleans this season, and their owner is basically using the disaster caused by a major hurricane to shop around for a new city to plant his team. The Twins are ranked low because they have an owner who's made of money that he's not particularly interested in spending. The Nationals don't have an owner. The Nets are thinking about packing up and moving to Brooklyn. The Dodgers are the only ones ranked low that puzzle me in particular.

A few weeks ago, Joe was telling us on MLB.com that the Marlins were taking their payroll down from $65 million to 40. That was before Beckett and Lowell left town. Then his estimate became $30 million. Now that Pierre is gone too, he recently said "possibly under $20 million". That's what, 50% less than the Devil Rays were paid this year?! Do I hear $10 million, or maybe everyone playing for league minimum or else being traded? I know there's all this talk about a youth movement (and only 10 players on the 40-man roster right now are older than 25 - only two are in our pile of pitchers!), but this figure is still crazy. Here's the link: Girardi prepared for underdog role

The Fish have tons of pitching prospects who are better than these guys. To say that Sean Henn stinks worse than the worst of all manure is an understatement. I never want to hear "Marlins trade" and "pitching prospect" in the same sentence again unless King Felix Himself is coming to the Fish.

Updating what I said about Gathright... MLB.com says that the Padres are interested in getting him, according to the Hot Stove report today.

Everyone repeat after me: "Small sample size!" This kid was 25 years old and he couldn't make AAA. That's all you need to know. You talking about Jacobs? He just kinda was The Mets? minor league player of the year in 2003. And was the Eastern League MVP this year. And is rated higher than Humber in the Mets top 10. If you are talking about Jacobs you dont deserve to talk. Seriously Idiot. Humber before or after he had Tommy John surgery? The whole trio from Rice hasn't done too well with their arms lately... Niemann needed shoulder surgery after about 8 games in professional ball (he was supposed to be in the majors by the end of this season), and Humber and Townsend both had TJ surgery...

Probably better than JP's. I've been watching the Rays video highlights from this season, and he made some pretty impressive plays in the field too. He seems like a very, very fun player to watch. (Go on the Devil Rays website, and look in their video archives for August 2005. There are some nice highlights of Joey there.) Of course, remember, it's the Devil Rays. They want, need, and crave good young pitching. This means that if Joey were on the trading block, they'd seek Vargas or Olsen, maybe both of them.

ESPN has a similar article talking about how a proven guy is always better than an unproven guy with lots of talent http://www.marlinbaseball.com/forums/index...showtopic=53559 Yeah, remember all the "stud" players we got from the 1998-99 fire sale? Let's review. Livan traded to SF for Jason Grilli and Nate Bump Renteria traded to STL for Pablo Ozuna (the key to the deal), Braden Looper, and Armando Almanza Robb Nen traded to SF for Ps Mike Villano, Joe Fontenot and Mick Pageler (WHO COULD FORGET?) Moises Alou traded to HOU for P Oscar Henriquez, P Manuel Barrios and P Mark Johnson Jeff Conine traded to KC for Blaine Mull I could go on. The point is that we for every Leiter we flip for an A.J. and every Kevin Brown we flip for a Derrek Lee, we make two or three trades for highly touted prospects who never do anything. That's just what I thought when I saw the topic... Remember the Fontenot!

The way that BJ played this year, he'll only have a job in the majors if he stays in the American League. If he's anything other than a DH, then it will be a very long season for his team. He can hit fine, but his 53 errors in AAA last year were mindnumbingly awful. Most Little League players can do better than that. Maybe Joey Gathright would be a good bet? He's very fast (some would say the fastest player in baseball), he can hit for average, and he won't be anything better than a fourth outfielder for the Rays next season since they have Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli, Delmon Young, and Jonny Gomes... a very talented group of young outfielders.

I just hope that he can go back to being mikey next year. If he hits 20 hrs and 80 rbis at the least, there is no stopping the fish. And where are we going to put him? Cabrera has made a few stellar plays at 3B over the past week. The one play he made on the line last night with just an arrow to 1B was impressive. I'll go as far as saying I think Cabrera gets to the ball that Giles hit past Lowell last night to start the 8th inning rally. Had Cabrera stayed at 3B the inning could have been much different. Cabrera appears to have better range, and definitely has a better arm than Lowell. We are gonna put him where he has always played, 3rd base. He is a much more experienced player at that position than Cabs, even if the latter has a better arm and range, and I have my doubts about him having more range than Mike. A few spectacular plays do not make him a GG candidate, not saying that he might not become a very good 3rd baseman. But if Mike goes back to his old form, the marlins better find a spot for him cuz they will need his production. So Cabs back in left, and right field will be taken over by either Niner or Hermida. From what he's shown us, I believe Cabrera is ready to take over at 3B. No doubt we can find another LFer for less than the $9M Lowell is due next year who would give us equal production. Well unless we can find that allusive Left fielder who will produce, we'll have to keep Lowell. I do know that we can't go with two rookies in the outfield (Hermida/Willingham), but perhaps we oughta give them a shot if Niner retires or whatnot. What about Lowell for Bradley? We move JP to LF. Bradley takes over in CF. Hermida in right. Why Bradley? He has a history of being in trouble with the law, and he seems like he's always getting suspended for something. Regardless of his ability as a player, having a guy like him around doesn't really help the public's opinion of the players on the team (see Albert Belle with any team he played for; I went to one of his games as an Oriole in Baltimore, and he was booed by his home crowd on an average night just like Raffy after his steroid suspension). Do we really want his baggage? I'd rather just let one of the young guys (Aguila or Willingham) join JP and Hermida in the outfield. Conine's played well enough that to me, he looks like he has another year in him.

The reason that Upton was not called up is simple. The Marlins' ninth inning today was Upton's whole season defensively. He looked like a Little Leaguer - 53 errors at Durham, and he was DHing every other day. If he didn't have such a good bat, there's no way he would have spent the whole year at that high a level; lucky for him, he's in the farm of an AL club, and he can hit. Probably most of the guys in low-A ball who can probably do better than 53 errors at AAA. Delmon, I think, should probably start next year at AAA - he's 20, so why rush him? He'll be given a shot at the Devil Rays' starting job, but unless he plays in the AFL and plays well there this year I wouldn't mind sending him back to Durham. An outfield of Crawford-Gathright-Gomes isn't half bad; the team has had a pretty good second half, after all.

Mota has been very inconsistent this year. Hermidia did look like a fool on that ball hit over his head. Offense is only part of the game. 931592[/snapback] on Hermida. that was a tough ball to catch and Miguel was not going to catch it. So I'm not going to fault Hermida for that. I did fault him on the game thread, but I was joking as a way to vent my frustration 931602[/snapback] On TV, it was impossible to tell if that was a catchable ball. All we could tell was that it looked like he misplayed it, and that cost us big time. I was waiting to hear from those at the game for their opinion. We've heard from one. I'll wait to hear from others. 931628[/snapback] I dont think Hermi misplayed it at all.. The batter hit a line drive off the top of the wall and I doubt that Hermi would have gotten it. Also... Isnt Hermi a right fielder? 931631[/snapback] Yeah. Supposedly he can play all three outfield positions like Encarnacion or Aguila can, but I wouldn't really agree with that thinking... watching him today at the game, he sort of looked lost on some plays... I'd say he's more comfortable with RF.

No, I think Mota's been bad since the Fish got him. It's their own silly fault that they let Mota stay; last year should have been a red flag. That said, I was at the game today (I live in MD, about half an hour from RFK) and I was pretty pleased with Vargas's performance. The first inning was kind of rough, but then he settled in and pitched pretty well. And I thought Jack looked like a genius when he put in Alfonseca to get out of that bases-loaded jam; I must have been the happiest person in the park after that double play ball. :-) When I saw Mota out there on the hill for the seventh, I started thinking that just because Jack put Mota in he was giving up on winning today. Mota gave up a triple or something and then was ok, but I still think Jack should have called it a day, maybe put in Messenger to pitch the 8th. But I'm not the manager, and even though Mota's a one-inning pitcher he got two innings. It was obvious in the second inning that his confidence was getting rattled. He wasn't throwing as many strikes, walked some guys, gave up some hits. Then when he gave up that hit to Livan, I think he should have definitely been yanked. When Marlon Byrd (who already had a single and a triple) came up and Mota was still in there, I was getting pretty furious. Then when he hit that double over Hermida's head (Hermida looked like a fool on the play), and all three runners scored, I just thought, "Told ya so. This is the Mota I know." When Cabrera hit that home run, at least that let me know that at least one of the Fish was still at the game in the ninth inning. My dad and I were almost alone cheering for him, but we were pretty pleased. This definitely was a game that the Marlins could have won, and Mota lost it... my condolences to Vargas, who didn't deserve getting his record punished for Mota's usual colossal mistake.

well, it's Gracesqui's first game back with the Isotopes... he's been wild since he came back to the GCL Marlins this season, and he threw three wild pitches in tonight's game. Hopefully, with time, his control will come back to him. His first inning went ok though; he got a guy to ground into a double play.

Chris Volstad got rough up a little today taken the lose 6IN 8H 3ER 4K, I think this was the first time the kid has gone 6IN, so he might have gotten a little tired. Franklin Gracesqui pitch in the game going 1IN 0H 1R 2BB 2K, it looks like he was a litte wild. 862203[/snapback] Gracesqui pitched for Albuquerque at New Orleans tonight. He came in in the 7th, and his first inning went fine... got a guy to bounce into a double play... but he only got one batter out in the second inning and threw three wild pitches (and walked two). The 'Topes lost the game, 8-4.

This *is* the minor league forum...

Penn's fastball is better than 89-92. Supposedly in Bowie this season it's been routinely 94-97, and was clocked at 101 once. It was around 94 during his starts with the Orioles, I think.

I think Lowell probably did until this year. He's had a Giambi-like dropoff. Of course, Pat Burrell had a similar down year a couple of years ago and came back with strong numbers the next season, so Lowell might just be in that type of situation.

Lowell is more than just a player on this team, Conine is retiring after this season and Lowell is going to be the new Mr. Marlin when that happens.? You can call it blind loyalty, but I don't want Lowell traded under any circumstance.? Lowell stuck with this team through the bad times and we owe it to him to stick with Mike through the bad times, it will pay off in the end. 864089[/snapback] Luis Castillo should be the new Mr. Marlin. 864444[/snapback] Agreed. I'd pick Cabrera or Willis for that, but Castillo's the better choice because he played his first six years there and decided to stay with the team, rather than pulling a Pavano or a Burnett. Is it confirmed that Conine's retiring after the season? I heard something about that shortly after the Marlins traded for him, but I didn't know if he'd go through with that, since baseball retirees often change their minds (haha... Clemens!).

I hope it will be Fredi Gonzalez or Grady Little. Little was only fired because of the Pedro situation; he has a good record and took his team to the ALCS that year. Gonzalez was also the Portland Sea Dogs (AA) manager, and if I remember right, he led that team to a good record. So either one of those would be cool with me.