Out of the Past

Uggla has broken a 70 year old record for 2nd basemen for RBIs and HRs. He plays a much more important defense position and his OPS compared to 2nd basemen around the league ranks Much higher then Zimmerman to third basemen around the league. Hanley playing SS a position not marked for offense normally and leading off has stats that are out of this world for a SS. If Reyes isgetting looks at top 10 in the NL for MVP then Hanley easily has the RoY wrapped up. Not even going to go into pitchers. Zimmerman has nice stats but nothing amazing. He has a great glove but so does uggla had a harder position too. When comparing players rather than comparing them straight up many people adjust for the position they play. To me that's a bit like judging players on a curve based on their position and I don't like it. That's why when people mention Jeter as the MVP I laugh. Zimmerman has nice stats but nothing amazing. He has a great glove but so does uggla had a harder position too. Are you suggesting that 2b is harder than the hot corner? and comparing Zimm's D with Uggla's is laughable I agree.

With much due respect to Zimmerman, if a Marlin doesn't win it, something is wrong. Zimmerman is right there with Hanley in overall OPS, has the highest RISP OPS among rookies, has about 110 RBIs, has 4 walk-off RBIs and plays great defense. I would have no problem at all if he wins it and I don't understand why anyone would have a problem with him winning it. It's between him and Hanley at this point.

Right now it should be between Hanley and Zimmerman but it's so close it could still change.

Pujols or Howard deserve the MVP. Cabrera should be anywhere between 3rd and 5th along with Beltran and Berkman.

I hope Olsen learned his lesson and this time when Rollins, Utley and Howard crowd the plate he backs them off the plate... backs them off BEFORE they hit homers off him.

I remember Le Batard's Sunday morning show. That was a tough show to listen to. I think he did it right out of his apartment and it sounded like it. The only part I listened to and enjoyed was when he did his radio version of his "20 Questions" columns. Those were great columns and the radio version was also great.

1.) I think the Marlins will stay in So Fla because they wont relocate and they wont be contracted. They already tried relocation and failed. They couldn't get a better deal anywhere else and MLB wont let a bad owner move a team from a big market to a small market. They wont be contracted because the Union wont allow it. I think eventually MLB will lose patience with Loria's foot dragging on the stadium and will buy him out and then will sell to an owner who can get a stadium deal done. I think the owners have grown tired of giving a team in a big market $30+ million a year in revenue sharing. 2.) The county is already putting money in. 3.) Loria will make about $35 million in operating profits this year and that will be tops in MLB. This year he was about making big $$$ and he'll succeed.

03, I admit I rarely ever listen to Boog anymore but when I listened to him he came across, to me anyway, as if he was friends with the Marlins FO. Either way, friends with the FO or not, it's obvious based on what Lane posted that Boog gave the FO's side of the dispute and only the FO's side. I would think a good journalist would get both side's of the story and then take his stand. I don't think Boog did that.

Boog is buddies with the FO and has never liked Girardi so it's not a shock to see which side he takes and who's talking points he repeats. With that said and although I like Girardi I think he should be fired. There are things he does that I don't like such as his recent use of the small ball approach and the Alfredo vs lefties deal but all in all I think him and his staff have done a good job but if he can't work with Beinfest then one of them has to go. The long-term lesson to be learned from this embarrassing situation is that Loria must stay out of baseball decisions. He must let Beinfest run the show. Girardi was Loria's hire and it seems as if him and Girardi were not on the same page from the get go even on the most basic things such as what type and how much input the GM and manager would have over different decisions. This was a relationship doomed to fail from the start.

Let me make this simple: JP is a better CF than anyone on our roster right now. Doesn't say much, but it is true. Getting someone like Torii Hunter or Vernon Wells is unrealistic. JP might be too, but if he were to decide he wanted to play here and work it out, it would still be an improvement over 3/300 vs LHP Amezaga, Reggie, and the rest of our back up corner OF squad. The current platoon is better than Pierre. Not at all...our CF platoon is the worse offensively. Look up the numbers in any category Our CF numbers are dragged down by the Reed / Reggie disaster. I would prefer JP over Alfredo / Ross but not by much. JP is not a good player. Poor OBP for a leadoff hitter, doesn't work the count, his arm is crap and too many times he gets poor jumps on the ball.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...-baseball-print Marlins likely to dominate rookie voting Florida could even sweep top 3 NL spots By Mike Berardino Tribune Newspapers: South Florida Sun-Sentinel September 24, 2006 Dontrelle Willis rarely throws his weight around. But when it comes to National League Rookie of the Year balloting, he sounds ready to make an exception. "I'm a pretty easygoing guy, but it would be really hard for me not to see the rookie of the year come out of South Florida," said the Marlins ace and winner of top rookie honors in 2003. There's no shortage of qualified candidates: - Second baseman Dan Uggla (26 homers) recently knocked ex-Yankees great Joe Gordon out of the record book. Gordon's rookie homer record for the position had stood since 1938. - Shortstop Hanley Ramirez has scored 111 runs and is closing in on 50 stolen bases. He also has 24 errors but has shown tremendous range. - Right-hander Josh Johnson has built a 12-7 record and spent much of the year in the top three of the league ERA standings. - Left fielder Josh Willingham, still a rookie at 27 despite two previous trips to the majors, had the highest OPS (.871) among NL rookies with enough plate appearances to qualify. Not only are the Marlins in line to claim their second rookie honor from the Baseball Writers Association of America, they might sweep the top three spots. "Florida has an embarrassment of riches in the rookie race," said Jack Magruder of the East Valley (Ariz.) Tribune, who holds a rookie vote. Just once since the rookie award was instituted in 1947 has a single team swept the top three spots. The 1960 Orioles had AL winner Ron Hansen as well as Chuck Estrada and Jim Gentile, who tied for second. "The decision for me probably will come down to Uggla or Ramirez," Marc Lancaster of the Cincinnati Post said. "Add in the Marlins' pitchers, and it's difficult to imagine many players from other teams finding a way into the top three." Trouble is, this is perhaps the deepest NL rookie field in history. Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder, Giants right-hander Matt Cain and the Dodgers trio of outfielder Andre Ethier, catcher Russell Martin and closer Takashi Saito all figure to receive votes. There's also Pirates reliever Matt Capps, Phillies lefty Cole Hamels, Padres teammates Cla Meredith and Josh Barfield and Diamondbacks first baseman Conor Jackson. "It seems to change by the week, if not every few days," said Braves beat writer Travis Haney of Morris News Service. Similar sentiments came from many of the 14 voters of 32 total contacted for a survey. Every voter contacted mentioned Uggla among his top few candidates, with 11 of the 14 placing him either first or second. Ramirez and Johnson were well behind in early support but appear to have the best chance of hitting the board with Uggla. Outside of South Florida, the top rookie threat appears to be Zimmerman, who had driven in 99 runs and was hitting .282 while playing first-rate defense. Half of those surveyed listed Zimmerman first or second. Said Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "I would imagine the votes are going to be pretty spread out. It's a quagmire." Copyright ? 2006, The Chicago Tribune As of late last week Uggla was in the lead. I would vote for Hanley.

funny that even back then it was Beinfest who wanted Freddi and Loria who wanted Girardi. Hasn't Loria learned by now to trust Beinfest? Obviously you have some inside access and you come across as a credible person so I appreciate and believe what you write however in a case such as this I would like to know what the source to your information is because I think the source could be tainted and if that's the case then the information you're passing along would be tainted... tainted not because of you but because of the source. I hope you don't take this as a shot at you because it's not. If you don't want to name your source I understand and that's fine. What difference does it make if Ramp tells you a name or not? You either believe him or you don't. If he says oh it came from "player X" or whomever, why would that suddenly make you believe it? You going to check with the source too? If Ramp said his info came from a player I would believe Ramp. If Ramp said his info came from someone in the FO I would believe Ramp was truthful is relaying to us what someone in the FO told him but I wouldn't believe the actual information because I would consider the source (FO person) to be tainted given the ugly divorce between Girardi and the FO. I hope this is clear enough.

Official scorers are too inconsistent from team to team. In cases such as this one where a player or team asks for a review the final call should be with the league panel. In addition to that there should be a mechanism in place for the league panel to review questionable calls even when no player or team asks for a review. Early in the season DTrain repeatedly got screwed by plays that should have been errors but were scored as hits by our official scorer and he ended up with several earned runs that should have been unearned. DTrain would never ask for a review.

forget fredi gonzalez!!!! the players love girardi and so do i becuase he has the righ attitude and has done an amazing job. accordingly, if we lose the whole coaching staff we are going to have a serious problem. girardi was picked by loria becuase he was the right man for the job. stop acting like he didnt do well no they dont. How do you know the players don't love Girardi? Did players tell you or did some FO guy tell you? If it was some FO guy was this guy one of the same FO guys who hate Girardi and have tried to torpedo him through non-stop media leaks over the past few weeks? None of the players told me, and no one in the FO told me. I just know there are about 3 players in that dugout who like Joe Girardi. If you do or dont want to believe me, thats fine. Obviously you have some inside access and you come across as a credible person so I appreciate and believe what you write however in a case such as this I would like to know what the source to your information is because I think the source could be tainted and if that's the case then the information you're passing along would be tainted... tainted not because of you but because of the source. I hope you don't take this as a shot at you because it's not. If you don't want to name your source I understand and that's fine.

forget fredi gonzalez!!!! the players love girardi and so do i becuase he has the righ attitude and has done an amazing job. accordingly, if we lose the whole coaching staff we are going to have a serious problem. girardi was picked by loria becuase he was the right man for the job. stop acting like he didnt do well no they dont. How do you know the players don't love Girardi? Did players tell you or did some FO guy tell you? If it was some FO guy was this guy one of the same FO guys who hate Girardi and have tried to torpedo him through non-stop media leaks over the past few weeks?

We would be better off getting one of the free agent CFs and keeping the young pitchers. Why give up young pitching to get a CF when you can get a CF through free agency??? Because none of the FA Center fielders are as cost effective,talented and young as a Carl Crawford, a healthly Baldelli, or a Vernon Wells. What would Crawford cost via trade, a Sanchez or a Johnson? I would rather sign an Edmonds or a Lofton and keep both Sanchez and Johnson. (Edmonds or Lofton) + (Sanchez or Johnson) > Crawford. I think Edmonds would cost about $6 million and Lofton about $3 million.

We would be better off getting one of the free agent CFs and keeping the young pitchers. Why give up young pitching to get a CF when you can get a CF through free agency???

In your opinion, will we have a Memorandum of Understanding for a new stadium in South Fla by Opening Day 2007? --- No unless MLB gets Loria out of the way. Which city will end up on top; Miami or Hialeah? --- Miami Which site do you believe will benefit the Marlins greatest in the long run? Why? --- Miami. Higher corporate sales, higher walk-up sales than the middle of nowhere. The public transportation available in downtown should be viewed as a positive but apparently Loria views it as a negative. Which site do you prefer? Why? --- Miami because it's by far the better location for Miami-Dade residents and they are the ones footing most of the bill. Downtown is centrally located for Miami-Dade residents but the middle of nowhere location is not and a downtown stadium would provide much more of an economic boost to the County than a stadium in the middle of nowhere. Miami would also be better for the Marlins (see above). On a scale of 1-10, how important is a retractable roof on a new stadium to you? --- 10 Where do you live? City/County --- Miami (right by downtown) How old are you? --- 37 Are you a season ticket holder? --- No How many games do you attend a year? --- About 15 to 20 How long does it take you to get from your home to Dolphin Stadium? --- Weeknights from Doral (work) about 40 minutes. Weekends from home 20 - 25 minutes. If a stadium is built in Downtown Miami, will you go to more or less games than you currently do? (With and without retractable roof) --- More either way If a stadium is built in Hialeah, will you go to more or less games than you currently do? --- More

Like I say, it's a combination of both. Other cities have gotten ballparks with less than spectacular attendance. What makes South Florida any different? South Florida is different because it's made-up of 3 counties who subscribe fully to the parochial approach of doing business meaning each county doesn't care one bit about regional needs. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach rarely ever cooperate in anything meaningful. Foreign countries cooperate more than the South Florida counties.

Why are the Marlins so stuck on putting a stadium in Miami when they could put one in Broward County? There haven't even been reports that they have tried for Broward County. If they put a stadium in Miami, wouldn't they be losing fan base from north Broward and Palm Beach County? I know attendance hasn't been very good, but I think that's because they are so stuck on Miami. What's so great about Miami? -- Kevin G., Hollywood, Fla. Miami-Dade County, for starters, has a lot more population than Broward and Palm Beach counties. The team's season-ticket base is slightly higher in Miami-Dade than it is in Broward. Of the three counties, season tickets are by far the lowest from Palm Beach County. So the bulk of the fan base, at least from season tickets sales, is Miami-Dade and Broward, and that's with a stadium in the north part of Miami-Dade County. To directly answer your question, Broward has shown zero interest in working with the Marlins on a new stadium. These deals take time, and for the past few years, the Marlins have talked to the cities of Miami and Hialeah, in Miami-Dade. http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/...sp&c_id=fla The breakdown by county hasn't moved much since '03 or '04 because back then Miami-Dade and Broward were pretty much even with about 40% with Palm Beach making up only about 10%. I guess now Miami-Dade moved ahead of Broward while Palm Beach continues making up only a minimal percentage of the fan base. Reading this board (and believing some of the nonsense written on this topic) one would think the Palm Beach and Miami-Dade numbers were reversed with Palm Beach having the highest and Miami-Dade the lowest.

Because he's a former top draft pick coming off an incredible minor league season and a record debut? He was the natural choice for both rookie of the year and one of few Marlins most people even knew about. What incredible minor league season??? The one where he drew 111 walks. If I hear any more bulls*** about how he should be more aggressive, I am going to be supremely pissed. Patience is a rare gift in a young player, and the Marlins have precious few patient hitters. He drew an incredible number of walks but all-in-all he had a very good year, not an incredible year. His OPS was about .970 which is very good but not incredible. If Rferry said Hermida drew an incredible number of walks I would agree with him but I don't agree that he had an incredible year. I don't consider an OPS in the .970s to be incredible.

I don't think Edmonds would sign here and agree to be platooned. I don't know if Lofton is a free agent but if he is a Lofton / Ross platoon would get the job done. Edmonds has been "platooned" this entire decade versus LHP. If the Marlins are aggressive, it's a good fit both ways. Lofton is a FA. I've never noticed him to be a platoon player. Since the '01 season 25% of his ABs are vs lefties. That's a pretty high number for a platoon guy.

As crazy as it sounds, they should go after Jim Edmonds hard. I think he'd come here for a chance to play without any real competition and prove he still has it. He'd want to be on a contender at this stage of his career, and we can offer that over the next few seasons. Perfect fit on paper unless he has family issues and wants to stay in St. Louis or go to a bigger market and be a platoon OF. All it would take is the starting job and a decent deal w/ strong incentives. Also, Cody Ross hits LHP with a 1.000+ OPS. Edmonds hits RHP .900+. We'd turn centerfield from a glaring weakness, into one of our main positional strengths with one move. I also like Kenny Lofton in the same role, but I prefer some power with Edmonds. Think those old vets is the way to go with this one, and see if Cody can learn how to hit RHP, wait till Gaby/Volstad/West/etc are ready to make the jump so we can trade MLB ready pitching from either the rotation or AAA for a young CF. All up to Loria to open his purse to $30-35 mil next year. That's all we need to fix every problem. I don't think Edmonds would sign here and agree to be platooned. I don't know if Lofton is a free agent but if he is a Lofton / Ross platoon would get the job done.

If in 1997, when Livan joined the team and proceeded to reel off I believe his first 8-9 starts in the majors into wins.........on a great team in the thick of a playoff race.....the Hispanic fans still didn't show up.....then I don't think a Latino manager would add anything to attendance. We have the same problem with Latino attendance that we do with anglo attendance. I guess I admire your ability to differentiate Hispanics of European and African decent from non-Hispanics European and African decent. Lets say Hanley Ramirez and Matt Diaz weren't baseball players and were in the stands. Would you be consider them Hispanic or non-Hispanic?

Because he's a former top draft pick coming off an incredible minor league season and a record debut? He was the natural choice for both rookie of the year and one of few Marlins most people even knew about. What incredible minor league season??? Hermida's 2005 season was pretty damn impressive .293/.457/.518 18hr 23sb 111bb to 89k He had a very good season. There's a huge difference between very good and incredible. Would you say he had an incredible season in '05?