champkind

i hate midgets I believe the correct term is "little people"

It may be that at some time this upcoming season one of the kid pitchers (and I'm including Vargas in this because of your interest and we're talking in the hypothetical anyways) shows enough in the first half of the season that some other team is willing to offer a (re)building block so coveted that we trade that pitcher. But at the same time, while we all know the Marlins won't be a competitive threat this season the team still has to put the best guys it can out there and win as many games as is possible. If the baseball gods smile down on us and we have two or three young guys who prove their worth by the all-star break it wouldn't surprise me to see us trade one of them for some other player we really need. I think one thing that might work against Taveras is his poor strikeout ratio and lack of power but perhaps another season will bring some improvement there. He's certainly a guy for the Marlins to consider as things play themselves out especially if he has a good spring and Preston Wilson wins the job in spite of Taveras' performance. Good post. I guess i haven't thought of the fact that we could potentially make out like bandits if we had a SP to trade after the allstar break....i don't mind us waiting to get max value. But i do believe we need to make a trade for a young CF at some point in the next 1 1/2 years.

Only way I trade Olsen is if we get Jeremy Reed from Seattle in a miracle trade. No doubt. This proably deserves its own thread. Reed is significantly better than Gathright...so it is frustrating to hear us potentially overpaying for Joey and not even trying to trade for Reed, who has the potential to be the great Def CF/leadoff guy that could complete our offense. If were going to make a painful trade with good pitching prospects, make it for a guy who's got true allstar potential like Reed not Joey G.

Cool that you got to meet him. I respect him for what he did on the field, but I hate his greedy guts. Absofrickinglutely! I hope that 4th year was worth it. Scott Boras would have his clients play in Timbuktu if it meant any extra $50 bucks. He did dominate in the playoffs and his two games against the Giants were something none of us should ever forget.

what do you plan on becoming the next Jim Morris, The Rookie How about the next Willie Mays Hayes?

She's one classy lady!!

A perfect No. 3 hitter, expect Hermida to hold down a spot in the middle of Florida's lineup until their next firesale. I couldn't help but laugh at that. Yeah that's about as nice a backhanded compliment as you can get

He'll always have the walk off home run against the Cubs. I can remember where I was and thinking that he had absolutely no chance do anything with that at bat. And I was never happier to be wrong in my life. Yanks *cough* Oops! Who was pitching? Was it Jeff Weaver?

He'll always have the walk off home run against the Cubs. I can remember where I was and thinking that he had absolutely no chance do anything with that at bat. And I was never happier to be wrong in my life.

I doubt we'll finish ahead of the Mets. The Mets are probably an 85-90 win team right now. And they were supposed to make the playoffs last year with Pedro, Beltran and Mient we will be lucky to win 62 where the mets could perhaps win 100 they are a world series favorite I think that's way off. A 60 win team is simply awful- bad offense combined with 3-4 awful, journeyman type SP's. We will have a pretty decent offense...proably 3 easy outs, 3 tough outs, and 3 guys who might surprise you. Our young SP's will naturally go through bouts of inconsistency as all young pitchers do. But there is a big difference between talented young players starting out and below average veterans. We will suffer our fair share of heartbreak. Hitters swinging at poor pitches, blown leads, and starters pitching well for 3-5 innings only to suddenly blow up and let a winnable game slip away (wait a minute, that sounds like AJ). It's real easy to say we had a firesale and we will suck. But we do have some serious talent. I really think we are one good CF/leadoff guy away from a good offense. And if 1-2 of our young SP's develop faster than normal we could really take off. I'm starting to sound like Lou from Major League so i'm gonna go. I gotta talk to somebody about some whitewalls.

On my high-school team, everyone right now is growing a beard to the best of their ability. Why? So we can kick-ass... Chuck Norris style. That's really THE only way to kick ass To avoid future round house kicks, its MR. Chuck Norris

I'd love to see Pokey starting. Pokey starting would make up entirely for the Fish losing JP, for me. So your partial to Pokey huh?

Treanor switched from 6 to 20... maybe Uggla asked him for it???? When a player of Dan Uggla's stature comes around he doesn't even have to ask you to switch your number. You simply do it and apologize it took so long.

This is stupid. I think the people who are saying it's no big deal are the ones without facial hair. I grew a goatee when I was 17 and have had it since (I'm 28 now).. For the past 6 months, I've had a beard. It's my choice to have it. It doesn't affect the way I work. They would never even think of asking me to shave at work... And I'll bet the one guy that would have fought this the most last year would have been Carlos Delgado. Much like Greg Vaughn when he joined Cincinnati. These guys have had it for years and they've made it a part of who they are... It's more than just fuzz on your face for a lot of people. Get a haircut hippie!

Baseball America List 1) Jeremy Hermida 2) Hanley Ramirez 3) Anibal Sanchez 4) Scott Olsen 5) Yusmeiro Petit 6) Josh Johnson 7) Chris Voldstad 8) Ricky Nolasco 9) Gaby Hernandez 10) Aaron Thompson 11) Josh Williangham 12) Mike Jacobs 13) Renyel Pinto 14) Taylor Tankersley 15) Kris Harvey 16) Ryan Tucker 17) Robert Andino 18) Eric Reed 19) Jason Stokes 20) Sean West 21) J.T Restko 22) Brad McCann 23) Chris Resop 24) Jesus Delgado 25) Jose Garcia 26) Jacob Marceux 27) Travis Bowyer 28) Harvey Garcia 29) Dan Uggla 30) Jeff Allison Any link or anything with more details? Please.

In the words of the great Monty Burns, "Mattingly shave those side burns!" :lol :lol That episode was great. Admin you should institute a no-facial hair policy for mods. Das would go down swinging. Now we're talking, great thinking there. BTW I'll support the cause and go clean shaven when Spring Training begins. A couple of other Monty Burns quotables: "Scour the National Leagues, scour the American Leagues, scour the Negro Leagues" MB- "Strawberry take a seat. Take a lap and hit the showers" DS- "But Skip, I've got nine homeruns this game" MB- "It's called playing the averages!"

In the words of the great Monty Burns, "Mattingly shave those side burns!"

I'm usually not a big Buster Olney booster but I enjoyed the piece immensely. There is for me a great feeling of relief that (with the sole exception of Beckett, though understandable to unload Mike Lowell) these trades were made. This was an aging team that even if it played to its potential probably wasn't going to contend in 2006. Wiping the slate clean and starting again, while painful especially to the casual fan who laments buying his kid that Juan Pierre jersey last summer, was absolutely the right thing to do. Jettisoning the likes of Villone, Mota, Encarnacion, Castillo (love ya Looie but I just couldn't take watching you hobbling around anymore), Gonzalez, and even favorites like Delgado (who will be missed) and Pierre too, and LoDuca and Mr. Marlin, Jeff Conine, works for me. I want to thank Todd Jones for a great year and he deserves every penny he got in the off-season and Jim Mecir for showing us all what courage really is all about, but we begin again, rebuilding our next championship team in just 32 days. It's going to be great to watch. Go Fish ! Couldn't agree more. Whammy!

This is a very exciting time to be a Marlins fan. This offseason has drawn me to the Marlins like no other. I have become obsessed with finding any information I can about all of our young guys. I revel in any sort of "top ____ prospects in baseball" list to see how many Fish are on board. And I can't wait to see what Hermedia does with a full season. Is it possible for a rookie to step right in and be a disciplined, high OBP hitter who can take any pitcher deep at any time? I don't want my expectations of him to be ridiculous but it's hard not to think we're going to watch one of the better rookie seasons MLB has seen in some time. I'm not saying Pujols good but I think the rest of MLB fans are going to be blown away with how well this guy plays from day one. For pitchers I'm torn between Anibel and Petit. Petit wins because I am so fascinated to see if his numbers translate to the the big's. I do think control and movement are the two most important things for a pitcher and he looks to have both. I still can't believe we didn't trade for Lastings so I hope this kid makes the Marlins look like a genius and the Mets look like fools. Whammy!

I'm a big believer in not rushing kids through a system simply because they have great tools. Hanley Ramirez is not going to make a difference as to where the Fish finish in 2006 so I'm all for giving the kid another season in the minors to mature. What I would like to see this season is Andino moving to 2B (or Ramirez if that's the FO choice) and let them play TOGETHER for a season to see if they can develop into a legitimate ML double play combo. Andino is 21, Ramirez 22, in another year it's possible we could have a young well-oiled middle infield that would serve the Marlins franchise for the next six or seven years the way Gonzo and Looie did. I have been of the belief that all things being equal, might as well give Hanley the major league AB's. As Stag posted, he might be one of those guys who simply plays better in the majors for whatever reason. I do like the idea of our future 2B/SS playing together to form cohesion etc. But there is no guarantee Andino will ever do anything as a Marlin and the most important thing is the ultimate development of Hanley into the player he has been projected to be for some time now. I think he will be best served in the majors but I trust Girardi to do what's right by Hanley and the Marlins

In case anyone forgets/didn't know, AJ Burnett had bonespurs and elected not to have surgery. He then had to have Tommy John. Very depressing. I guess this is why we shouldn't be afraid to pull the trigger on any of our young pitchers if it helps us get a start quality CF/leadoff guy. I have always thought highly of Olsen and envision him as star in the majors but there is a reason baseball history is full of can't miss pitchers who....missed.

I will forever have fond memories of Jack's handling of the 2003 squad. Maybe some of his moves were just plain lucky, but he was not afraid to make tough choices and to make a some "uncharacteristic" moves that played out beautifully. That being said, I can not imagine Jack actually being the GM of a present day club. Maybe i'm too new school but I would be nervous as hell if Jack had total control of our players/farm system/future. That being said if we could fleece him for Willy Mo that would be awesome. Whammy!

That Scarlett Johanson clip is hot!! Oh yeah, go Marlins or something

Considering the Red Sox will likely pass on giving up Jon Lester for Reed (and Meche). The same Jon Lester with a higher minor league WHIP than Olsen, higher ERA and drastically less strikeout totals... nice try though. I have been under the strong impression that Boston is not willing to trade any of its top pitching prospects for Reed (paps, lester, henson?) I strongly agree that Reed is way better than Gaithright. I have a hard time believing Seattle will trade Reed for anything less than a top prospect. But they do want pitching. I do not want the Marlins to give up any of our top prospects-petit,anibel,and scotty O....but i would love this guy. My main drunken pt is- who can give them a better package than us? If Boston won't part with one of their big three, then a Fla offer of one of our 4-7 SP prospects should beat anyone else. At a minimum, we should offer whatever we offered for Gaithright...Reed could be a long term CF option, a solid young player we could control for years. Basically, the equivalent of any of our young pitchers. Don't trade Olsen or Anibel but pull the trigger!

No proposal ever contemplated had the Marlins owning the stadium. No proposal ever contemplated was based on financing that included $$$ from residents/taxpayers. And since TSwift seems offended that I would refer to Huizenga as the assassin he is (see conversation with Tom Lee), I won't. If built, the stadium becomes part of the Marlins entity. The Marlins instantly become more valueable once they have a new stadium. Whether or not the Marlins own the stadium, it increases the value of the franchise signifcantly therefore making Loria's net worth increase as well. And just because the proposals did not include a direct tax increase tied to the stadium does not mean the $$$ doesn't come from residents/taxpayers. Where else does it come from? Public money is taxpayer money plain and simple.