Out of the Past

I really think it was a sac bunt by Uggla... he squared around pretty quickly Then I hated it.

Two things really... 1. What did you guys make of Dan Uggla bunting in the first inning with Hanley on 2b and no outs? I happen to think that is absolute nonsense. Why on earth is a .280/20hr guy bunting in the first inning? Drive the man in yourself Dan, come on. I assume this is Uggla's call, and not Joe's but I think Joe needs to tell Dan to stop giving away outs when he has the absility to drive in the man himself. 2. Why did we suicide squeeze? You have Jason Marquis on the mound who was all over the place, and you have a pitcher and the plate who can swing the bat fairly well. I happen to think that was Girardi trying to pull a "LaRussa" in front of his old manager. thoughts... 1. I was flipping between games and didn't flip back until the ball was in play.. was he trying to bunt for a hit or was it a sac bunt all the way? 2. Didn't like it but not a big deal.

i don't think there would even be reason to complain if he hadn't missed all that time early in the season. He's been touted as a Paul O'neill type player (above average arm, average fielding and above average bat)and I think he still can be. Possibly though they may want to put in a defense replacement in late innings. I don't buy the injury excuse. To be fair, it was a hip issue, that's big for swinging, running and doing just about everything else. He sucked in the spring too and that's allegedly when he injured it. That's true but he came back from the DL in May.. that's 3 months ago. He had a good June, a mediocre to bad July and a terrible August. Yeah, but a hip's like a hammy, it just follows you until you can give it a lot of rest. Look at LoDuca this year to last, or Griffey. Baseball makes it really hard to shake injuries to the lower body in season. But you know what, he's getting it going tonight, guaranteed. Last year it was obvious that Lo Duca was playing in pain. It's not obvious, at least to me, that Jeremy is playing in pain or discomfort this year. Maybe he is. I don't know. If he is then the injury would have something to do with it.

i don't think there would even be reason to complain if he hadn't missed all that time early in the season. He's been touted as a Paul O'neill type player (above average arm, average fielding and above average bat)and I think he still can be. Possibly though they may want to put in a defense replacement in late innings. I don't buy the injury excuse. To be fair, it was a hip issue, that's big for swinging, running and doing just about everything else. He sucked in the spring too and that's allegedly when he injured it. That's true but he came back from the DL in May.. that's 3 months ago. He had a good June, a mediocre to bad July and a terrible August.

Further pile on - isn't he without a doubt the biggest disappointment this season for the Marlins? I'm not saying he won't get better - he will. I'm also not saying that he doesn't have potential to be a great player - he does. But, I expected him to be more ready than this. I didn't expect .300 avg and 20 HRs with no errors, but I expected more. In fact, I expected more from him than Hanley, Willy, Uggla, Sanchez, and Nolasco - because none of those guys had ANY major league experience. I understand Hermy's young...I'm just saying. C'mon Hermy...GET HOT! We need ya. You can single-handedly fuel a playoff run. Do it! I think Vargas is the biggest disappointment this season. I wasn't sold on him but he's had a horrific year and that's coming off a relatively good rookie season. i don't think there would even be reason to complain if he hadn't missed all that time early in the season. He's been touted as a Paul O'neill type player (above average arm, average fielding and above average bat)and I think he still can be. Possibly though they may want to put in a defense replacement in late innings. I don't buy the injury excuse.

In all seriousness, wasnt he supposed to be a very good RF? He is one of the worst RF that I have ever seen. He has like 8 or 9 errors and that is inexcusable for a RF, especially one touted as being in the + range. Looks like he has alot to do this offseason. No, he wasn't supposed to be a good RF. A knock on him was that he always concentrated on his hitting and didn't devote enough time to his glove.

Conine would have been a good insurance policy in case Jeremy continues playing as if he's sleepwalking through games. He was playing RF for the Phillies last night.

ethier should be on that poll too.. guy is having a great year I agree and Fielder shouldn't be on there. I'm glad JJ is leading because he's the one that deserves it. Uggla should be 2nd.

For all the talk about the bullpen and centerfield, Hermida really is the key. He needs to get going big time, .164/.341/.378 for August is about the only bleak spot on this team. Thoughts? I looked at his numbers a couple of days ago and yours didn't look right. These are his August numbers: .164 .274 .219 .493 We don't really have any better options so I guess you stick with him and hope..

Ya, 2 days ago we were at 5 percent. lol. What a joke that system is. The last 2 days we made up ground on all the teams we were chasing. What did you expect, the odds to get longer?

www.baseballprospectus.com has us with a 12.2% chance of winning the WC. According to them the Reds and Padres have a better shot to win their division than to win the WC. ======================== http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/ps_odds.php Average wins by position in NL East: 99.3 83.1 79.9 76.9 69.4 NL East W L Pct3 Avg W Avg L Champions Wild Card Playoffs Mets 81 49 .554 99.3 62.7 99.99725 .00260 99.99985 Phillies 66 65 .478 81.4 80.6 .00115 21.16380 21.16495 Marlins 65 66 .484 80.2 81.8 .00140 12.16347 12.16487 Braves 62 68 .493 78.3 83.7 .00020 3.54255 3.54275 Nationals 55 76 .449 69.4 92.6 .00000 .00012 .00012 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Average wins by position in NL Central: 85.8 82.0 79.1 75.7 68.4 64.0 NL Central W L Pct3 Avg W Avg L Champions Wild Card Playoffs Cardinals 69 61 .472 85.2 76.8 74.89051 5.57003 80.46054 Reds 67 66 .477 81.7 80.3 17.05548 12.17316 29.22863 Astros 64 68 .482 79.2 82.8 6.78616 3.08343 9.86959 Brewers 62 70 .455 76.5 85.5 1.26783 .48266 1.75049 Cubs 54 78 .430 67.8 94.2 .00003 .00000 .00003 Pirates 52 81 .420 64.5 97.5 .00000 .00000 .00000 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Average wins by position in NL West: 86.8 83.3 80.7 78.3 75.5 NL West W L Pct3 Avg W Avg L Champions Wild Card Playoffs Dodgers 70 62 .527 86.1 75.9 71.95609 10.99838 82.95448 Padres 67 65 .517 82.8 79.2 20.29401 19.71283 40.00685 Giants 65 67 .500 80.2 81.8 5.09037 7.38038 12.47075 Diamondbacks 64 68 .474 78.5 83.5 1.92102 2.85213 4.77316 Rockies 61 70 .505 76.9 85.1 .73850 .87445 1.61295

I think it will take 83. If the Reds and Padres get hot and get to 85 they may pass the Cards and Dodgers and win their divisions so they wouldn't count for the WC

I'm willing to bet that, when its all over, Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla, Hanley Ramirez, Taylor Tankersley, Josh Johnson, and even Paul Hoover will have the best years of their careers in 2006! Other than JJ and Reggie I don't think anyone else is having a career year. Maybe there's another freaking Reggie on our team but if it's Abercrombie you're talking about having a CAREER YEAR then please God, help him. On Reggie, I think this will be his only year so I suppose this is his career year. On JJ, I think JJ is pitching like a CY winner this season. I think it's much more difficult to project pitchers than hitters and with that said long term I see him as a solid #2 starter so I would classify a CY type year out of him as a career year. Its always a good idea to write off a 22-year-old starting pitcher in the midst of a great rookie campaign. :thumbup Ah well, I am not suprised. There have been a whole crew of fans in here writing him off all season (though the numbers have dwindled as the season has progressed). I am sure they will continue to write him off even if he continues to pitch at or near this level next season. I didn't write off JJ. Projecting him to be a solid #2 is not writing him off.

I'm willing to bet that, when its all over, Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla, Hanley Ramirez, Taylor Tankersley, Josh Johnson, and even Paul Hoover will have the best years of their careers in 2006! Other than JJ and Reggie I don't think anyone else is having a career year. Maybe there's another freaking Reggie on our team but if it's Abercrombie you're talking about having a CAREER YEAR then please God, help him. On Reggie, I think this will be his only year so I suppose this is his career year. On JJ, I think JJ is pitching like a CY winner this season. I think it's much more difficult to project pitchers than hitters and with that said long term I see him as a solid #2 starter so I would classify a CY type year out of him as a career year.

I'm willing to bet that, when its all over, Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla, Hanley Ramirez, Taylor Tankersley, Josh Johnson, and even Paul Hoover will have the best years of their careers in 2006! Other than JJ and Reggie I don't think anyone else is having a career year.

The day after we reached 36-41 I made my first and only bet ever on sports.. $100 @ 55-1 to win the NL pennant.

Of course Payton would fit in nicely, but he also fits in nicely with the A's. You have to understand, to make a trade, both teams have to want to do it. To make the A's want to do it, you're going to have to part with someone along the lines of Petit, West, Volstad, Thompson or Sinkbeil. Do you want to do that for a one-month rent-a-player? I'm not a big Payton fan but I think he's better than our current CF options and could make a 1 or 2 game difference the rest of the way and that 1 or 2 games could very well be the difference between the playoffs and not.

He makes a nice part time player for the A's. For the price he'd cost for one month, I just don't think it's worth it as he's not a tremendous upgrade over Amezaga/Ross. I don't know who you've been watching in center field all year. Marlins Centerfielders .227/.300/.352. Can barely play defense. Jay Payton .292/.321/.425. Plays awesome defense. I'd rather have Payton in CF then Pierre whose been floated of clearing waivers. Amezaga is a light hitting/low slugging/mediocre defense at best CF so getting JP would be redundant. Payton though, would be a tremendous upgrade. I do agree Beane would probably want a Volstad level single A pitcher to make the deal, so it's probably not worth it unless we are 100% confident we'd get that wild card berth and make losing the prospect count. But Payton is exactly the tough out (never K's), some pop, and defensive upgrade that could really benefit the club. I like Jason Michaels too if he cleared. That's a loaded statistic, it largely reflects Reggie Abercrombie, part of Eric Reed and Chris Aguila. We've now abandoned that experiment and seem to be sticking with Amezaga and Ross if necessary. Not that it thrills me, but is it worth sending Petit for a month of Payton? If Payton were undercontract next season, it'd make a degree of sense, but there's a reason this guy, who's a FA at the end of the year, cleared waivers: teams that need a centerfield upgrade don't think the juice is worth the squeeze. Payton would fit in nicely. I like our WC chances right now but with Payton I would like them that much more. Other than Josh and Alfredo all our OFs have struggled terribly in August. Payton would fill the team's biggest hole. August numbers: Josh: .325 .395 .545 .941 Alfredo: .263 .354 .316 .670 Joe: .182 .308 .273 .580 Jeremy: .164 .274 .219 .493 Reggie: .192 .222 .231 .453 Cody: .156 .224 .222 .447

The Marlins were mentioned in the "Stat of the Night" and the "Most Important Thing" on BBTN tonight. It's not much but hey, it's a start. MLB is decided on the field, not by the media, so I don't care what ESPN or any other media member thinks or says. Their opinion matters on NCAA Football and that's about it.

Should have gotten MVP consideration last year too, and probably would have been talked about more if the team hadn't gone in the tank. Plus he and Delgado split the Marlin votes. It'd be awesome if Cabs got MVP chants every time he batted. Umm, I'm pretty sure Cabs was like 3rd or 4th in MVP voting last year. People that read BP don't need to be told about Cabrera's ability, they're the hardcore of hardcore fans. I doubt he was that close. He was the 3rd best player on the team. Huh? The 3rd best player? I know Delgado was among the MVP candidates, but he was definitely below Cabs. Still trying to figure out which 2 players on the team were better than Miggy. :confused DTrain and Delgado. Between DTrain and Miguel I think DTrain had a better year but I can see someone going with Miguel. Between Delgado and Miguel the overall numbers were similar with Delgado getting a slight edge. With RISP Delgado blew him away. I say Delgado had the better year. Overall: AVG OBP SLG OPS Cabrera - .323 .385 .561 .947 Delgado - .301 .399 .582 .981 RISP: AVG OBP SLG OPS Cabrera - .322 .387 .508 .895 Delgado - .327 .447 .619 1.066 Dtrain - 22-10 / 2.63 ERA / 236.1 innings

Should have gotten MVP consideration last year too, and probably would have been talked about more if the team hadn't gone in the tank. Plus he and Delgado split the Marlin votes. It'd be awesome if Cabs got MVP chants every time he batted. Umm, I'm pretty sure Cabs was like 3rd or 4th in MVP voting last year. People that read BP don't need to be told about Cabrera's ability, they're the hardcore of hardcore fans. I doubt he was that close. He was the 3rd best player on the team.

f***. Exchange Hanley for a pitiful excuse for a leadoff hitter. What a ridiculous comment. OBP through yesterday: NL average leadoff hitter: .340 Alfredo Almezaga: .339 Alfredo is obviously better suited for the bench but he has done some things well this season. He's okay for a backup middle IF. He's below average for a backup CF but he's filling that role only because Reggie is one of the worst, if not the worst, OF in MLB.

Im glad we're able to hear from the players themselves saying Girardi has made a difference, contrary to the comments made by some of you, deeming him irrelevant to this year's success. Name me one Marlin, former or current, who has ever said negative things about his coach during the season while the player was still playing for the manager. I can think of only one - Dan Miceli ripped John Boles for being incompetent and for poor player positioning, and he was promptly traded for next to nothing. Oh, and before anyone brings up Beckett/McKeon, to the best of my recollection, any bashing of McKeon done during the season was that McKeon didn't really have a personal relationship with many members of the team. Rather, he was simply the coach. This article is meaningless. If you think Girardi is doing a great job and should be kept, then that's fine. But, it is flawed reasoning to base your opinion on what the current roster publicly states during the season. What else would they say (or could they say)? Agreed 100%. You think the players respected Girardi grabbing Olsen by the shirt? Its one thing for Messenger to give him a fistful...but the manager? That's intimidation, not respect. Girardi wants the players to fear him and the owner to let him be. How would Joe be if the owner grabbed him by the shirt collar and the players treated Joe with the same sort of lack of class he showed his boss (even if it IS Loria)? I think Girardi was out of line with the shirt grabbing but if players didn't support him they could say something along the lines of what DTrain said or they could bash him through the unnamed source route or they could give a no comment. If they didn't support him then they wouldn't support him on the record. Of course we don't know if Capozzi went to all 25 players and got only 3 to backup Girardi.

Something missed by most articles is that the rift is not only between Loria and Girardi but also between Girardi and Beinfest (and his people). Over the past few weeks quotes from unnamed FO sources have continuously tried to torpedo Girardi. I think the rift started long before ST with differences of opinion over the coaching staff. Girardi wanted his own coaches and got his way. If you remember Beinfest wanted to bring Wiley back and Girardi fought it. I think if Beinfest had hired his own manager (Girardi was Loria's hire) then Beinfest would have had final say on the coaching staff.

Am I missing something? Plays that should be made that weren't made are determined by a league's worth of player's ability. By what other method would you propose? The variables in Fielding Runs are assists, putouts, errors, double plays and strikeouts but unlike Zone Rating it doesn't factor the plays the player should make in his defensive zone that he doesn't make. That's why I prefer Zone Rating.