ultimopain

What an odd thread. Mets trade: Wouldn't do under any circumstances. Blue Jays trade: Hm. How long is Wells under contract for? I do think, offensively and defensively, he is one of the best CF's out there and he would look great roaming the field of DS. But I'm still not sold on trading Willis just because of what he brings this franchise. Reluctantly, I decline. Cubs trade: I'd do it. I think Nolasco's future lies in the pen. That being said, Juan Pierre is probably not the answer in CF, but for what we give up, I'd still do the deal.

For those who are undying Girardi supporters, ask yourself this question: Would last year's team have done better under Girardi? IMO? No. His rookie mistakes and mismanaging at times would have made last year even worse. What does that mean? It means that this year's team is built on hunger, and looking back, I think we can all agree that no matter what, this team was always going to win games this year just because they weren't going to give up. Does Girardi deserve a lot of credit for the work ethic that he's instilled from day one? Sure, absolutely. But this year's team clearly had something that last year's didn't - heart, talent and desire, and that's all down to the players on the field.

BUMP! Well, I hate to say it, but getting back to .500 looks like a big task, as we'd have to go 5-1 against the Reds and Phillies. I like our chances against the Reds, and even if we do sweep them, I just don't see us taking two of three from the surging Phillies. Hopefully the team can just end the year on a positive note.

Alfredo Amezaga = Wilmer Valderrama

This strike zone is ridiculous.

Yay, the fun continues...

Well, this decreases the chances of not having to rely on our bullpen tonight...

And thus, the HIRE FREDI GONZALEZ campaign officially begins.

Er, what? What good will that do to our players? I know you're talking about the ownership/stadium issue, but it's not as if we're a horrible franchise who always comes last, the Marlins fans should never pull anything like that out of respect for the players/manager/office staff. Get the message across another way.

BUMP! After looking at the schedule for the rest of the season, Sanchez is guaranteed only one more start, as if the Marlins stay with a 5-man rotation throughout the end of the year, then the D-Train will be starting on the last day of the season. However, we do have an off day in there, so they may skip a turn of either Moe or Nolasco, meaning the last two days would be Willis-Sanchez. I'd honestly prefer that, as if neccessary, our two biggest 'big game' pitchers this year have proven to be D-Train and Sanchez. So the question has to be asked, has there ever been a team with 4 rookie pitchers to get 10 wins? If we accomplish it, that would be freaking incredible.

looks like Jake is coming around too... although, he will only play 1 of 3 in Philly Not if Cabs needs a few more days. Although I wouldn't be averse to giving one start to Wood at first against lefties.

In no particular order: - Three new relief projects, hopefully one being: Kerry Wood (possible), Eric Gagne (doubtful) or Keith Foulke (hopeful). All three have tremendous upside if healthy, but I'd only pick up one. Wood would be a relief pitcher, btw. - A talented defensive CF who hits for good average and has a bit of pop. Gary Matthews Jr. would be a dream. - Re-sign Wes Helms and Alfredo Amezaga as bench players. The rest will take care of itself.

As someone said in the other thread, JoBo pitched 6 outs. The defense didn't let him get said outs. What a stupid thread.

Well, kudos to the writer for writing a feel-good story and making himself look like an absolute moron, but it still doesn't change the fact that his predictions make him look like an absolute moron. Losing 125 games? Clearly this guy has no idea about baseball. Losing 100? Even 110? Sure, I can see how you'd come to that conclusion. But no team will ever lose 125.

:lol :lol I BELIEVE!!

The chances of this happening are slim to none, but I would absolutely love to see Gary Matthews Jr. ranging in CF. With our payroll though, it's not going to happen, he's going to get a huge contract this winter.

Now, knowing all the facts, I have no problem with the move. It did cost us the game, but it's better than costing us a critical pitcher for the rest of the year.

I'm assuming he only went 5 innings because of another rain delay? If so, that's a shame. Might have been a different outcome. Nope. Girardi took him out at 73 pitches for no apparent reason other than 'preserving' him. It cost us the game, IMO. On topic, great performance from JJ.

Detroit at #10? ehhhhhhhhhhh i mean, its nice to get respect, but these rankings are sh*t Remember these rankings are done month to month, and over the last month the Tigers have sucked for a fair portion of said month, as evidenced by the Twins almost catching the Tigers once-unassailable lead.

Well done Admin, you get Tommy's seal of approval. :thumbup

The thing is there's really no other option, half of our bullpen guys are starters anyway, and I'd rather have Nolasco over Randy "Batting Practice" Messenger. It'd be interesting to see if Nolasco were to start pitching an inning here or there and if he'd take to the role, just for the end of this year anyway.

This talk started in another thread and I think it deserves its own to discuss. Now before you yell at me at 'jinxing the Marlins' and all that, in no way do I think we're automatically going to the playoffs, this is simply just a hypothetical and a chance to discuss the strategy we could employ, whether we get there or not. I think it's one of the most important strategies for any team going into the postseason, how to arrange your starters and who goes into the bullpen, and it's interesting to see what the best fit is. So, hypothetically, imagine we get there and you had the option of organizing your entire rotation and bullpen, who would you go with? Starter 1: Dontrelle Willis. He hasn't had his best year, but he's still a big game pitcher, see: Sunday. Starter 2: Anibal Sanchez. Bit of a risk throwing him #2, but I think he can handle it. Starter 3: Josh Johnson. Has been our stopper for most of the year. So if we get in trouble, I'd trust him with the third spot. Starter 4: Scott Olsen. We would probably match up very well with any other team with Olsen going as our fourth starter. Bullpen: JoBo, Tank, Resop, Herges, Moe, Pinto, Mitre, Nolasco. I wouldn't employ anything less than a four man rotation, I'm sure guys like D-Train could go on short rest, but you wouldn't want them to. And of course the order would be based on the end of season set-up, but let's just imagine you can do it anyway you want. As Nolasco showed the other day, I think he could really thrive in a relief role, he has some nasty stuff, but for whatever reason he just seems to explode half of the time whilst starting. The bullpen, apart from Mitre, have all been pretty reliable, but he's probably just there out of neccessity. Speaking of which, why hasn't he pitched lately? Anyway... IN NO WAY am I trying to jinx the team or thinking we'll make it, it's just that if we don't make it... then we won't have time to speculate on it, so I'm just doing this for a bit of interesting discussion. So feel free to play around with the team and speculate yourself.

He's something ridiculous like 9-0 since the All Star break and 18-0 since last year playing at the Metrodome. Sick.

"A lot of guys don't want to see those guys in the playoffs," Floyd said. "They're feeling pretty good about themselves." LINK :notworthy I think if we make the playoffs, we could worry a lot of teams. Making them is the problem.

Alfredo intentionally walked twice in a couple of games. Anyone would think he's Ryan Howard!