DownRodeo

Media scum like Hank prefer to ignore the facts. He refuses to accept the notion that this is a better team, and a better managed team, than last year. If being better is defined by wins and losses (and what else really matters), then no, we are not a better a team than last year. For nearly an hour I listened as Mr. Personality berated the Marlins in one fashion or another. (paraphrasing) "They shoulda never traded that outfield of Floyd, Wilson and Millar. If they coulda had the infield they have and the pitching, with that outfield they'd be in contention" he lamented, crying crocodile tears about what could have been (if we didn't have these scumbag owners he implied) over and over. Considering how Floyd, Wilson, and Millar are performing this season, it seems like a fairly accurate statement from Goldberg. Obviously you never know if they would've performed at the same level with the Marlins (certainly Preston's numbers wouldn't be as gaudy), but I think it's safe to say that they'd have been better than Hollandsworth, Pierre, and Juan. I agree that keeping Floyd at 10 million was unrealistic, but an outfield of Wilson, Millar, and Encarnacion would look pretty good right now. It makes no difference to a partisan like Fat Hank that the Marlins have just won 20 of their last 30 games, the best performance by a team in MLB over that stretch. 20 of 30 against some pretty weak competition. If the Fish can keep it up against the likes of Boston, Atlanta, Philly, Chicago, and Montreal, then there might be some cause for excitement. But don't count on the same success against teams that are actual playoff contenders. But the truth is if they do win 91 games I wouldn't worry about that. Believe it or not, I'm actually an avid Marlin fan. I'm just realistic about our current situation, and I believe our front office really has little clue what they're doing. This team is not playoff caliber, and leapfrogging SEVEN teams in the wild card standings is simply not possible. Label me a pessimist or a cynic or what have you, but I'm simply being realistic. I'd like to see the Marlins pull off a miracle and somehow make a run at the postseason, but the chances of it are almost nil. If the Marlins pull off a decent record in their 15 games before the all-star break, then I'll eat my words. But I don't see it happening.

Kudos to management and the coaches for solving the K problem (CJ and PW) and the Base on balls problem, that killed us last year. Our biggest problem was RISP batting, but with Cabs, Lowell, and the good pitching have helped overshadow and beat that. If the Marlins record this season is worse than their record at this point last season, then what exactly have they beat?

But, back to Beane....I really hate the fact that people put too much emphasis on stats...and not enough on talent, and gameplaying ability. It sickens me to see such a pure sport like baseball get turned into a mathematical, stat-reading, bookworm, egghead, nerdy sport (sorry to all the nerds). I'm not saying that it needs to be a dumb sport, but more needs to be emphasized like the 5 tools, athletic ability. I mean...stats dont always reflect the player perfectly...OPS or whatever may have said that Ariel Prieto was a better player than Todd Helton and look what happens. There are a lot of GMs in baseball now that do not like at all what Beane is trying to do to baseball. Statistics are just a numerical representation of what happens on the field. They're derived from how a player performs in a game. So it seems kind of silly (to me anyway) to criticize statistics when they're directly derived from the real-life performance of the player. It's not that statheads like Billy Beane are completely ignoring talent and athleticism in favor of stats. They just want to see if that talent and athleticism translates into on-the-field production. If a player is truly talented, then it will show in that player's statistics. Also, giving the example of Ariel Prieto I think misses the point. Billy Beane knows that his methods aren't perfect and that once in a while he'll draft a disappointment like Prieto. The idea is to make the success rate as high as possible. If 70% of Oakland's first round draft picks turn out to be solid major leaguers, then Beane's methods were successful. Sure it may result in the drafting of a guy like Ariel Prieto. But for every Ariel Prieto, you could point out "5-tool players" like Travis Lee and Brian Anderson that have also been disappointments. The goal is to have more hits than misses. Besides, if "5-tool-players" and "athletic ability" were the only things emphasized, then players like Kevin Millar and Mike Sweeney wouldn't even be in the majors.