Out of the Past

This is my Friday lineup: Hermida Hanley Miguel Hammer Jacobs (Boone if Jacobs is a no go) Uggla Olivo Fredo Olsen

It's 10 games vs 3 bad teams. After the 10 games we have 16 games vs good teams. Hoping for at least 6-4... a 5-5 trip would not be a good one.

So is Treanor getting cut or Olivo going to the DL? I hope it's Treanor. I don't like him at all. He had a good year for a backup C last year but has done nothing this year.

You can't think of UM, or any other college football team, in the same terms as a professional franchise. Some colleges raise millions per year through athletic fees and other colleges raise millions through guarantees for season tickets in a new (or upgraded) stadium and other colleges raise millions from the luxury boxes in a new (or upgraded) stadium and other colleges raise millions through donations so I don't know why it is that UM who has one of the wealthiest student bodies in the nation cannot tap into any of these funding avenues to pay for a new (or upgraded) stadium.

That is really a horrific analysis. I don't know how anyone with an iota of statistical intellect can find it appropriate to take a survey sent to a small sampling of adult respondents in three counties, extrapolate the figures to meet each county's population size, and use the aggregate results to gauge the number of unique attendees for a college sports team and compare that to other pro sports teams. I mean, that is patently stupid. The major flaw is in the sampling. Not to mention the fact that the survey was conducted in October and explicitly asked respondents about their attendance at sports games in the past year. Did you read the methodology prior to ripping it? The methodology statement states that the data was colelcted over a 12 month rolling period and not only in October as you claim. Why did you say the data was colelcted only in October? The methodology statement also states they collect data from 210,000 adults in 81 markets meaning the So Fla data is likely based on around 2,500 interviews. Do you consider 2,500 to be too small a sample size for this type of analysis? What would you consider to be an appropriate sample size? When you rip the extrapolation of the data collected are you ripping it because you think the sample size was too small or are you ripping it because you think the extrapolation of data is inherently flawed?

You couldn't be further from the truth. Compared to UM, FAU is flush with cash. UM has some of the worst facilities in the ACC because of the fact that it is a private university. It's been one of the major sticking points with recruits who visit UM (at least for football). When the facilities are compared between FSU, UF, and UM, Miami comes out on the short end of the stick because the University cannot afford to upgrade the facilities. When UM was an independent they would pimp all their games to the highest bidder (nothign wrong with that) and at times would make up to a million in individual games and this is back in the 80s. UM then moved to the Big East and then the ACC for the sole purpose of making more money (nothing wrong with that). The football program has made tons of cash for 25 years but the reason the facilities stink compared to other programs is because UM has diverted the football profits to other purposes rather than reinvesting profits on the football program. Also, FAU has over 21,500 undergraduate students, compared to UM having 10,000 undergraduate students, so the "pool" of student resource is much less. Add to that an alumni base for UM that isn't necessarily Floridian and doesn't really remain "local" as do the other state schools. That brings into effect the fact that UM does not have the same "booster" clout as UF or FSU, or the other big "state schools" out there (i.e., Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Texas). ticket"). Thank you for one the of better arguments for not spending any public funds building a stadium for a private university with a minimal number of local students compared to our public universities.

He's definetly at least as valuable as Reed, and since he can hit for even a semblance of power, he's better. I don't agree. Reggie is much more likely than Reed to make stupid playes like getting picked-off in a four run game or throwing to the wrong base. Reggie is basically a ticking dumb mistake.

UM is unwilling to make firm commitments for what? To pay the city to repair its run-down, city-owned Orange Bowl property? UM isn't exactly asking for a stadium to be built. The school has never had any ownership stake in the historic property, and the athletic program makes very little from playing there. That's why this talk of moving to Dolphins Stadium has popped up. And I'm almost certain the total number people who attend get to see the Canes football games far outnumbers the number of people who get to attend Marlins games. My guess is that the ratio is closer to 5:1 in the other direction. Oh, and living in South Florida my entire life, I think it's pretty laughable to compare the number of Canes football fans to the number of Marlins fans. I get annoyed more than anybody when people idiotically rip on the Marlins' fanbase, but even I'm willing to admit that that's a really foolish comparison. I mean, good lord, that's really outrageous. The Canes are much bigger in Miami. You may want to look at this: http://floridafishfan.blogspot.com/2007/03...ida-part-2.html Look at the bar graph on the bottom So right now it's about 3.5 to 1 in favor of the Marlins over UM and with a new stadium in downtown Miami the Marlins attendance from Miami-Dade residents will likely increase dramatically but the UM attendance at a renovated OB shouldn't increase too much from where it is now so the ratio could go to 6 to 1 or 7 to 1 or even higher in favor of the Marlins.

I really feel for Reed. I hardly ever watch the postgame stuff but watched it last night and the guy was so happy to finally contribute. I think he did enough to win the job during ST but unfortunately for him De Aza came out of nowhere and beat him out and he (Reed) did put up good numbers in AAA last year. I think with Cody out he should be given a shot.

What would be the cost of a 50k capacity on campus stadium? Maybe $250 or $300 million? What's room & board at UM nowadays? How many students at UM? If you bump up tuition and room & board by a couple of percentage points how much would you collect a year? Ballpark around $20 million a year. Add luxury boxes, premium seating, naming rights, advertising, etc. to the $20 million and UM can well afford to pay for their own stadium. I would prefer if UM students and UM football fans pay for the stadium as opposed to people who will never go to one of the six football games a year. As a city resident that the city would even consider renovating the OB makes me fume. In that case, you must be opposed to the idea of public financing of stadiums for privately-owned teams like the Marlins. The Hurricanes are South Florida's college football team. Whether it belongs to a university, or whether that university is public or private, is irrelevant. In fact, as the county's second-largest non-governmental employer, one would think the University of Miami would have a much better case for public support than Jeffrey Loria. The ratio of fans that will attend Marlins games compared to UM games must be around 10:1 or something like that and I'm no fan of Loria but he's pledged $212 million (plus overruns) for the stadium while UM is unwilling to make firm commitments. the ratio doesn't matter, since it still a very small percentage of the population The difference between small (Marlins) and non-existent (UM) matters.. at least to me.

What would be the cost of a 50k capacity on campus stadium? Maybe $250 or $300 million? What's room & board at UM nowadays? How many students at UM? If you bump up tuition and room & board by a couple of percentage points how much would you collect a year? Ballpark around $20 million a year. Add luxury boxes, premium seating, naming rights, advertising, etc. to the $20 million and UM can well afford to pay for their own stadium. I would prefer if UM students and UM football fans pay for the stadium as opposed to people who will never go to one of the six football games a year. As a city resident that the city would even consider renovating the OB makes me fume. In that case, you must be opposed to the idea of public financing of stadiums for privately-owned teams like the Marlins. The Hurricanes are South Florida's college football team. Whether it belongs to a university, or whether that university is public or private, is irrelevant. In fact, as the county's second-largest non-governmental employer, one would think the University of Miami would have a much better case for public support than Jeffrey Loria. The ratio of fans that will attend Marlins games compared to UM games must be around 10:1 or something like that and I'm no fan of Loria but he's pledged $212 million (plus overruns) for the stadium while UM is unwilling to make firm commitments. UM would need a much larger endowment to justify spending 300 million on a stadium. What's does the endowment have to do with raising stadium money via increases in student fees and monies collected from luxury boxes, premium seating, advertising, etc?

The Canes should build an on campus stadium. They have the resources to do it. What's the stumbling block for an on campus stadium? Is it Coral Gables zoning or UM's cheapness? Resources? I think many people read too much into UM's designation as a private school. In college sports, state schools are, by far, the fat cats. They're the ones with massive athletic budgets. They're the ones who can afford to spend money on new facilities and high-priced personnel. Very rarely will you hear about a private school being a major player in multiple sports. Private schools just don't have the government-subsidized budgets to invest heavily in athletics. Instead, they have to cater to those who pay tuition, while remaining mindful of the fact that spending heavily on athletics will make the school less competitive from a cost perspective. Anyway, to answer your question, I doubt a privately-financed football stadium would be feasible, particularly if it's located in CG. What would be the cost of a 50k capacity on campus stadium? Maybe $250 or $300 million? What's room & board at UM nowadays? How many students at UM? If you bump up tuition and room & board by a couple of percentage points how much would you collect a year? Ballpark around $20 million a year. Add luxury boxes, premium seating, naming rights, advertising, etc. to the $20 million and UM can well afford to pay for their own stadium. I would prefer if UM students and UM football fans pay for the stadium as opposed to people who will never go to one of the six football games a year. As a city resident that the city would even consider renovating the OB makes me fume.

The Canes should build an on campus stadium. They have the resources to do it. What's the stumbling block for an on campus stadium? Is it Coral Gables zoning or UM's cheapness?

I love that someone finally gives Hanley the due he deserves. But, the one thing that stood out big time to me was that Utley was so low...so the list isn't immune to criticism. Do you really think Hanley is the 6th best player? Cabrera deserves his spot but Hanley as No. 6 is ridiculous.

This article is filled with great quotes from Presley and a few players on the too many Ks nonsense. ============================== http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sns-ap-...la-sports-front Marlins on Pace to Set Strikeout Record By STEVEN WINE AP Sports Writer May 8, 2007, 4:56 PM EDT MIAMI -- Miguel Cabrera backs away from the plate, rubs his knee, arches his back, stretches his arms, spits, taps each shoe with his bat, steps back into the box, adjusts his helmet, scuffs the dirt, crouches and gives the bat a menacing waggle. Then he swings and misses. The Florida Marlins have struck out again. Cabrera and his teammates swing for the fences, and often they miss. Marlins hitters are on pace to set a major league record for strikeouts, and on Monday they fanned 14 times against Brad Penny of the Los Angeles Dodgers. But the Marlins also began the week leading the National League in runs, slugging and total bases, and they have five players on pace to hit more than 20 home runs. "What does that tell you?" hitting coach Jim Presley said. "If we cut down on our aggressiveness, I think that hurts us. We are a young, get-after-it, hacking ballclub. We like to swing that bat, and striking out is part of it. If that's our only drawback, we're going to be OK." The Marlins are struggling to stay around .500, but not because of their offense. Injuries have sent four starting pitchers to the disabled list, disrupting a rotation touted as the team's strength, and newcomer Jorge Julio quickly became a bust in the closer's role. But with the youngest team in the majors, the Marlins are on pace to break franchise records for runs and homers set last year. They're also striking out an average of nine times per game. "It's the kind of hitters we have," said first baseman Mike Jacobs, one of four regulars in their second major league season. "There's that old saying in the minor leagues that you're not going to walk to the big leagues, you're going to get there by hitting," Jacobs said. "And I think a lot of us still have that mentality that we're going to stay here by hitting. "I need to hit the ball, drive in runs, hit my home runs, hit my doubles and get my RBIs. While trying to do that, I'm probably going to strike out 100 times, maybe a little bit more." By Marlins standards, Jacobs is a contact hitter, with 21 strikeouts through 31 games. Like Jacobs, teammates Joe Borchard (38), Dan Uggla (33), Miguel Olivo (30), Hanley Ramirez (24), Josh Willingham (22) and Miguel Cabrera (20) are on pace to finish with more than 100 strikeouts. "We come out swinging," Uggla said. "We're not what you would call a patient team. When we hurt you, we're going to hurt you good." They do it playing in a pitcher's park, where the dimensions can be daunting, especially for left-handed hitters. Still, in one recent stretch Florida hit 23 homers in 13 games, the majority at home. The lineup is built around slugger Cabrera, by far the Marlins' best-paid hitter at $7.4 million. He led the team through Monday with seven home runs, but Uggla, Willingham, Ramirez and Borchard were also on pace to finish with more than 20. "To score like they've been scoring, it takes more than one hitter," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "You'd better be careful, because there are guys around Cabrera who can do some damage." When they hit the ball, that is. The Marlins' whiffability became apparent eight days into the season, when they struck out 17 times in a loss to Milwaukee. The flailing performance against Penny left them on pace to finish with 1,453 strikeouts, which would break the major league record of 1,399 set by the 2001 Brewers. The Marlins are divided as to whether they strike out too much. "Nobody wants to set a record for strikeouts," Uggla said. "That's something we do need to work on -- maybe cutting down our swings a little with two strikes," Willingham said. "If we're putting up numbers," Jacobs countered, "what's the difference if we're striking out a lot?" Manager Fredi Gonzalez said the strikeouts aren't a problem as long as his team keeps scoring at its current rate. Hitting coach Presley predicted the Marlins will fan less frequently as the season progresses, but he's reluctant to discourage their aggressive approach at the plate. "It's like a thoroughbred horse, pulling back the reins on them," Presley said. "We've got some good young hitters. They like to let it go. You like to harness it to a certain extent, but we don't want to cut back so much we're not scoring runs."

Our team is filled with aggressive hard swingers and Penny is a hard thrower who was on his game so you put that together and you'll get a boat load of Ks.

If he was injured, why send him to AAA? Why not the DL? I don't get it. "After we optioned him out, he said his shoulder didn't feel right," General Manager Admin Beinfest said. "We'll see when he starts to ramp back up." Did he toss pitches after being optioned that made his shoulder feel bad? Was he optioned so that he would give up and say what was wrong? Seems odd no? I would bet he's been injured for a while.

He should seriously consider bunting for a hit in every AB, he will at least get on base once in four attempts. With Tubby on the mound it's not the worst idea that will be posted here today. when was the last time you saw Brad Penny? 2006-----------------------------------------------------------------------------2007 he is a shell of his former self The one on the right cannot be Penny.

I think Miami and Miami-Dade would benefit from the name change and as they're putting up the public money then make the name change.

I think you're understating Hermida's importance to the lineup I agree with that. Borchard has struggled a bit lately which has dragged down his production to the point where Hermida would likely be outperforming him but I still say it's much more about poor starting pitching than anything else.

The bench is bad because 2 of the 5 guys are starting each night, and that means we have a couple of inferior players taking those bench slots. The rotation has, at various times, been without Johnson, Nolasco, Sanchez, and Mitre (60% of the expected rotation and one replacement!) The bullpen has, as a result, been beat to death. Since our bullpen is about 5 guys deep, needing to regularly use 7 guys puts us in a position to lose. Despite all this, the injury-plagued team is around .500. This team is going to get 5 upgrades without having to trade anyone. I don't buy the injury excuse. It's very likely that Cody and Fredo have outperformed (due 100% to Cody's great play) what De Aza would have done so until Cody got injured the impact of De Aza's injury was minimal. The Ross injury will hurt a lot. Hermida wasn't even guaranteed a starting spot after going 2-30 (or whatever it was) in ST so the Hermida excuse is nonsense since we don't even know if he would be a starter and if he was a starter we don't know what kind of production we would get out of him since the guy is a big question mark. Last year he didn't get the job done. On the pitching, the non-regulars have made a grand total of 5 starts which is not out of the ordinary at this stage of the season. We're 14-16 because the starting pitching has stunk and not because of injuries.

Or, you know, they could just pony up the cash. He is happy here, has stated he wants to stay. Give him market value and he doesnt go anywhere. I know market value for Cabs is only reached by roughly a handful of other players, but its doable, and for a player like this you HAVE to get it done. Miguel is about 4877 times the player Soriano and Carlos Lee are and if Soriano and Lee get about $20 million a year in free agency how much do you think Miguel will get? I think he'll get over $30 million a year. Will Loria match a $30 million a year offer? Not a chance and he shouldn't because no player is worth that much money. Miguel will get traded or he'll leave as a free agent.

Yeah, Wang is awesome. Really knows what to do with the ball and just makes guys frustrated out there. I'd love some Wang on my team. This is fun. During the off-season you were arguing that Wang wouldn't be a good pitcher because he didn't K enough hitters. So what happened that led to such a drastic change in your opinion?

Did I actually read in the game thread from someone who blamed Cabrera for that run being scored??? Cabrera had no shot to get that guy at home, whether he bobbled the ball or not. Borchard and Amezaga are the ones to blame in that inning. I wouldn't blame anyone but if anyone has to be blamed it should be Owens. Fredo's throw was online but it hit the runner. I can't blame him for that. The Borchard error allowed Cameron to go to 3rd but Cameron on 2nd would have scored on the Robles' single so his error had no impact on the score. Owens faced 5 batters and allowed 3 hits.

Situation keeps changing. The UM to Dolphin Stadium curveball angered the City and brought the Marlins back into view. MLB is handling many aspects of the negotiations with the City, but the Marlins and the County control all the money. The City is putting in $108 million so why do you say the Marlins and the County control all the money?