mountainfish

The credit markets may prevent the County from issuing the General Obligation Bonds they need to finance the stadium. That's what I'm afraid of.

I know we have more serious things to think about right now but all this talk about corporate fat cats made me wonder how light Loria's wallet might be feeling right now. Will this affect payroll? What about the stadium?

Fareed Zakaria sees through this: CNN: But Dan Quayle wasn't very qualified and that didn't seem to matter, did it? Zakaria: This is way beyond Dan Quayle. Quayle was a lightweight who was prone to scramble his words, or say things that sounded weird, but you almost always knew what he meant. One of his most famous miscues was to the United Negro College Fund when he said, "What a terrible thing to have lost one's mind. Or not to have a mind at all." Now he was trying to play off a famous ad that the group used to run, "A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste." And he screwed it up in a funny way. But read Gov. Palin's answers and it does appear that she doesn't have any understanding about the topic under discussion. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/09/...alin/index.html I think the most interesting part of the Zakaria interview is when he mentioned the actuarial odds that McCain dies in office being one in 5. That sounds about right based on his age, demographics and medical history. I hadn't thought about it before but thats a pretty high number. It makes it difficult to ignore the Palin factor.

What I hope people realize is that this is an example of the government intervening (or interfering) against forces that, on their own, would correct, albeit painfully, an unstable market environment. This should not be confused with government refereeing (sounds better than regulating) of competitive markets to prevent unfair or dishonest practices. The large corporations have benefitted enormously by the form of government intervention that eliminates regulations on unfair practices or removes the risks of unstable ones. The risks make the playing field fair. The regulations make the players honest. The problem is that government is supposed to answer to the will of the people, not of corporations. Somewhere along the line government decided that corporations were entities equivalent to voters and that they had a say in how this county is governed. But they are not voters. There is no constitutional protection for the rights of corporations other than they can operate their businesses freely but within the laws of our country. Those laws used to be and should be created by our representatives for our own benefit and protection.

Further, the current credit freeze is likely due to Wall Street's hope of a bailout; bankers will not sell their lousy assets for 20 cents on the dollar if the government might pay 30, 50, or 80 cents. That's absolutely right.

Also Volstad was a barbie, Andino was in some gangster outfit, Miller was in a referee costume, Gaby Sanchez was the bunny, Anibal Sanchez was the Chewbacca, Pinto was Nacho Libre and Baker was Captain America. I'm not really sure what Cody was but he was dressed in the gold costume. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKs9HLaMqK8 This is Mike Jacobs rookie hazing if you care to see it. He's number 7 in the top ten countdown. I forgot about Jason Taylor ragging on Ricky Williams. That was priceless

That was hilarious. I cracked up when Andino called that guy "Mr. Miagi" on the subway. Hermida and Miller did not look too happy. Olsen was trippin' though. Was that before or after he pitched on Sunday?

Taxpayers will still pay. This is what bothers me. We will still pay while the Fed continues to try to prop up the industry and the FDIC takes on more risk as banks collapse. At least through Congress we could have some control over it.

I have to admit that I'm really torn by this. Let's forget the rhetoric about corporate fat cats or about socialism for a minute. I think that the notion of failure is what helps free-market economies work. It's what helps them "regulate" themselves in theory. Without that, bad decisions continue to be made and bad players get to keep playing. Many people feel that bailing out the financial industry is taking away accountability. I don't disagree with that. On the other hand, without the bailout what could happen (if you believe the experts)? The fear is that, as financial institutions close, the liquidity of the remaining institutions will be severely impaired and this will paralyze lending. That affects not only whether we can get a home mortgage or line of credit but also how the company you work for meets its financial obligations including payroll. Short term loans are important to keep businesses operating. Without them companies are forced to cut costs to stay afloat if they stay afloat at all. As for individual lending, getting a home loan could be nearly impossible unless you have spotless credit and a very secure income. As for investments, well, just look at what happened today amid all the hysteria. Who knows what will happen to our retirement funds? In other words, things could get alot uglier for the average citizen as this crisis worsens. So how would a bailout help. It would buy up bad debt and infuse liquidity into the system. In turn, the federal government would hold the assets until they recovered and resell them into the system, with the government or taxpayer hopefully breaking even or making a profit. In order to finance the bailout we would likely have to sell more US debt to be able to increase the national deficit which is already huge. So the notion of bailing out the taxpayer directly is not really an option. The taxpayer gets bailed out by keeping his job, getting to borrow money for a home and seeing his investments hold their value. Obviously, it would be a bitter pill to swallow. It should not be done without complete oversight and judicial review. There are alot of ways to structure it to provide security for the government and taxpayers but Congress needs to play hardball and demand equity for our investment. Is it socialism? Maybe, but its not as bad as the billions of dollars in federal subsidies given out to industries each year. In this case at least we get to sell the debt back. The alternative is to bite the bullet and let the market purge itself. In the end this may prove to be the only thing to clean up the system. But its going to hurt. I'm not saying I support either plan, just that its not a cut and dry decision.

It's all about location. He's got enough pitches. He needs to locate them better and more consistently.

I hate David Wright. I'm just waiting for him to get disillusioned and beg to be traded. Can't you just see him in a RedSox uniform? Boy I would hate him even more then. But if he were on the Marlins I'd be his biggest fan.

i went to school with a girl named Sky Barth First of all It's spelled S-K-Y-E, you ass. And I love my name, It is the sh*t! How many random people remember your name? -Skye Barth P.s. I went to school with a kid named Norman Seaman, tough break there Norm. Admin, there should be an award for Bump of the Year! I would like to nominate this one :lol By the way, I knew a guy named Richard Head... Jr.!!!

"That by no means takes away from the four infielders and what they've done in scoring runs, but you'd like to be able to manufacture, put the ball in play, put a little more speed in the lineup, kind of go back to the model that was successful for us a few years back." = Coghlan Coghlan is a defensive downgrade from Uggla. Plus, Uggla did a lot of things well this season. He was our best hitter with RISP and he got on base a bunch. If anything that part of the article is more about replacing Jacobs. Maybe, but replacing Jacobs isn't necessarily going to address those things, especially with the guys we're talking about platooning there. So you have to think he's telling Uggla he's not safe.

The Marlins have had some luck patching together bullpens from retreads and minor leaguers but you don't want to have to scrape it together every year. Sometimes its better to pay a little more for a known commodity. I'd say keep Nelson and see if they can work out a deal with Rhodes rather than expecting Lee Gardner to bounce back or expecting to find another Todd Jones/ Brian Moehler out there. Lets not forget the Jorge Julio horror show.

I wouldn't be too upset if Uggla left. He has some value in trade. His numbers are alluring to other teams but what the FO sees is a guy who takes alot of ugly hacks and wilts against premier pitching. I'm no big Jacobs fan but at least he seemed to change his approach at the plate the last couple of months. I think the team will seriously consider remaking the whole right side of the infield. Gregg and Hendrickson don't like their roles so they should both go and be below-avg. closers and starters elsewhere. As much as I like Hammer, he didn't seem like the same player this year. Whether its the back or not I don't know but I can't see investing alot in him at his age.

Well we heard the same thing last year.Defense Needs To Improve How are they going to do it? Andy Fox and Bo Porter are staying so no change there. Maybin will play center and Cody on one corner so that should be solid. I think Hammer is gone so we will see if Hermida recovers from surgery - the one to remove his head from his a$$ - but no upgrade there. They will trade at least one of the right sided infielders if not two. Gaby and Cantu platooning at first should be better than Jacobs. If Uggla goes Coughlin will not be a defensive upgrade but Fredo would. Cantu/ McPhereson platoon at third would not be an upgrade. Baker is steady but not stellar defensively. Lookng to add a right-handed backup catcher perhaps. Room for improvement. Then there is the enigma of Hanley. How are the Marlins going to get him to use the tools God gave him? That's the seventy million dollar question.

He won't be back. His stuff isn't good enough. We need to use the money to retain Nolasco and Johnson whom I believe are both headed for arbitration. I agree he probably won't be back. But to say his stuff is not good enough doesn't make sense. Good enough for what? He has a good slider and change-up and he has better location that anyone on this team except for Nolasco. Besides its a five man rotation. He's no ace but there aren't too many middle of the rotation lefties who are better at his price. Oliver Perez is going to get more money for similar numbers next year. There will be plenty of teams interested in Olsen if they shop him. Besides, I'd rather pay for pitching. Bats are easier to find.

I've got to give it up for Olsen. He pitched a good game today. I know he gets no love on this board but I like him. He's got cojones. While he hasn't been as dominating as Johnson or Nolasco he has been a work horse. I know that he is due a raise in arbitration but I think he will still be a bargain considering that reliable lefties are hard to come by. I worry about not having an experienced lefty in the rotation especially in this division and I don't have any confidence in Miller yet.

I wouldn't be surprised if Starbrownies committed suicide today. He's probably too busy staring lovingly at his Brett Farve poster.

What a great actor. I think Cool Hand Luke is one of my favorite movies of all time.

A surprisingly good season...but I still want to throttle Kevin Gregg.

I think the job is Baker's no doubt. I like the LoDuca option if he can be had for cheap but it depends on what the club offers and how they offer it. They may try to fill that need by trade as well. It will be fun to speculate for a few months.

Obviously, no one is suggesting Raynor should start in left field if he can't get on base at a good clip. But if he proves he can, he's definitely the ideal lead off hitter. MarlinsLou, you put way too much emphasis on position. We have gotten almost no production from our corner outfielders this year and yet the offense has gotten production elsewhere. It doesn't matter what position people play. You want a balanced offense. Remember, this is a team game as well, and part of a player's production is driving in other players. We need more men on base, like tonight's game. No I don't, and you are failing to understand the point. You are putting way to much emphasis on the traditional baseball model and lineup orientations. Really. What is a balanced offense? Can you define this? Is it consistency? Is it OBP at the top and slugging in the middle, so in a situation where player A and B both play the same position you take a .280/.340/.420 line with a quick guy over a .250/.325/.475 line? Do you strive to have quick speedy guys, instead of all guys who can hit the ball for a little more power, just because we have a lot of power hitters so the natural inclination is to get a guy to compliment this? These inferences are flat out incorrect. The point is to get the most out of every position on the field regardless of what kind or type of production the player produces. It's a team sport, but it can be highly individualized because players production can be broken down into independent grounds. Always remember, you make best of situations with lineup orientation, you don't build teams around them. Playing Raynor in LF is not an ideal situation for the aforementioned reasons, even if he profiles as lead off style hitter. You make the best out of Raynor in LF if a player with more promise fails. You don't put him in a realistic shot to take a corner spot because he is not the kind of player who can bring plus production to the spot, even if he is type-casted as a lead off hitter. There are other options, which are simply better. Concerning the Marlins, yes we need to have more OBP in the lineup because Jacobs, Cantu, Cody, Hermida, and the C and CF slots did very poorly with that this year. We only stayed afloat because they sure like to bash. Let's look to next year. C, Baker and someone else will be a huge upgrade over the close to 400 PA given to Treanor, Rabelo, and Hoover. You state "we almost got no production from corner outfielders." Marlins LF this season currently have an .822 OPS (11th). That is predominantly Cody, with some Gonzo. That is more than acceptable. Saying we have gotten almost no production from the corner outfielders is wrong. RF? ABSOLUTELY. Let's be accurate and not make blanket statements. Hermida has been really really bad and Amezaga should not have received 200 PA in CF, those are the problems. Now that, that is out of the way, let's move to Maybin, who is going to take over CF, and that is going to be an improvement (and think about defensively also and not offensively. Maybin is a legit CF, and is going to do wonders to help both corners out, besides improving his own slot. I am not ignoring team components, you are just over-evaluating them). And Hermida, who simply has to better than a .710 OPS or whatever it is at the moment, so that is going to be an improvement. (And if he is not, during the middle of the year that is when you start thinking about moving Raynor into a corner to make the best of the situation through lineup orientation. Get it? You don't discuss before the year let's throw him into a corner. You are shooting yourself in the foot before you are out of the gates). Now we have 1B, where G. Sanchez will be predominantly taking over for Jacobs, and McDallas will be coming up to split 1B/3B. This is two fold - if Cantu stays, cool he is a solid starter, if Cantu goes they will be bringing in another veteran to do the 1B/3B thing and be consistent around the two 'rookies.' This creates a 3 man platoon for the positions. McDallas BB's his ass off. Gaby is a contact hitter, with a fantastic BB:K ratio. Both of them can hit the ball hard as well. Getting these two into the mix, is going to do exactly what you are concerned about and more - getting more OBP, with the added bonus of helping the whole - not at the sacrifice of slugging, bringing in better defensive options, while getting younger, saving money, and trading Jacobs at his peak trade value. These are potential starting caliber players at corner positions, or at least very strong RHP/LHP platoon mates. Little Raynor guys with a moderate bat, are not. Like I said, if we didn't have Maybin, I'd be shooting for a Cody/Raynor split in CF, and a Cody/Hammer split in LF. But we have Maybin, so our ideal outfielder (staying in house as I don't want to speculate acquiring a big time OF) entering 2009 is this - Cody-Maybin-Hermida, Gonzalez as a 4th OF (he has been very good and it is doubtful we can find another player to match his role on the club so perfectly through FA), and Raynor/De Aza as the 5th OF, with Amezaga still around to spot if need be. And likewise, through the other positions I was discussing, I think you see how we are going to have improvements at C, 1B, 3B, CF, and RF regardless, which is effecting the "team" dynamic, which in turn is an argument against Raynor because we are going to have a vastly changed lineup with new players getting serious PA next year. Raynor is not the answer to the equation here. Not through production options, or through lineup orientations unless one of the three (Cody, Maybin, Hermida) fail as players next year. The team is best served doing this in house: C - Baker, Acquiring another young catcher in offseason trades to set up a Snyder/Montero, Mathis/Napoli situation 1B - G. Sanchez (McDallas, Cantu) - Gaby kills LHP, Cantu and Gaby or both OK against RHP. Gaby gets all LHP, and Gaby/Cantu fight for RHP playing time 2B - Uggla - I love Coghlan, but Uggla is still a ridiculous bat to plop 6th/7th in the lineup and get .800+ OPS production from the spot. SS - Hanley 3B - McDallas gets all RHP, and Cantu gets LHP. Which they each kill LF - Cody CF - Maybin RF - Hermida / Gonzalez backs up all 3 slots because Cody can shift anywhere Remaining Bench - Amezaga, Raynor/Andino/Carroll/De Aza/Whoever That is 13 guys, all in house (Besides the other catcher, but I find it very unlikely we can't grab one with Olsen, Gregg, Jacobs, Hammer, etc, or in a worst case scenario they just resign LoDuca to a cheap deal), with solid OBP options way higher than what we have this year all over the place, and it's not impacting our slugging what-so-ever because all those guys still have hitting potential, unlike Raynor who doesn't have much potential to slug much higher than .400. Now, be my guest and order the guys through lineup orientation to make the best of the situation, but just because there is no 'traditional lead off hitter' of the bunch, doesn't mean you put a guy with lesser overall production potential in a slot, just to make the lineup look 'balanced' (whatever that word means) on paper. Overall Production > Batting Order. It's that easy of a math equation. I like it. I can see them resigning Cantu. I think Gonzo seems happy here, hopefully he'll sign. If Cody stays I think Raynor will be in Albuquerqe.

I'm still pissed at Raynor for taking out Alejandro De Aza in the last ST game. By the way what happened to De Aza. He could be in the mix for a roster spot next year. Did he ever have surgery on his ankle? Edit: He had surgery in late July.

Flush him down the same drain as Jorge Julio. No wait, I have an idea - trade him to the Mets for nothing. That will guarantee us winning the East next year.