Out of the Past

Coco started it last night with his ridiculous whining about the SS blocking the bag when he slid head first.

Puma's scouting report on Kyle Skipworth (based on personal kowledge, reading other reports, and watching on video) A poor man's Joe Mauer. Plus power, plus contact, definitely an offensive minded catcher--defense is a work in progress. Pretty good arm from the videos I've seen, but will get better. Big frame, not done filling out, will put on some muscle. HUGE upside, even more upside than Posey. Concerns are that he may not remain at the catcher position and could be moved to a corner infield or outfield spot. If he can progress defensively he will be fine because the bat will be there. All in all, a pretty good pick for the fish. Best case scenario: A potential All Star catcher who will hit for average and power. Think .280-.300 AVG with 25-30 homers. Sounds like one of if not the best hitting cacher in history... awesome!

Normally, what do players ask for? How much $$$$. The sixth pick, where we are, is slotted for $2.4 million.

we got a catcher in the 2nd round last year but he is a really bad hittter It was actually the third round (Mike Stanton was drafted in the 2nd). And Jameson Smith is actually doing pretty well against RHP: .306/.429/.371/.800, walking over 18% of the time and a 14/17 BB/K ratio. If he could turn into a .400 OBP catcher only against RHP, I'd gladly take it. It's not hard to find a RH back up catcher to start against LHP. Obviously you don't want to put all your marbles in that bag, but if he can become that, he'd be a useful player. If we don't get Posey, get Crow, and trade some of our pitching for Teagarden/Salty/Clement/Anderson/Yadda Yadda Yadda. Then instead of waiting years and years hoping Skipworth works out, we get an ace pitching and a basically MLB ready C spec: WOOO. That's what I'm hoping happens if Posey doesn't fall to us. Would you give up Volstad and someone else for one of those catcher? I would not. We need a catcher but we need pitching more. I doubt we could get any of those catchers unl;ess Volstad is in the deal.

After the '06 season in which he put up a .998 OPS as a 23 year old I think people thought of Miguel as the next Pujols but last year he regressed a bit and this year, although it's still early, he has taken a couple of steps back. The question is where would pick him, more or less, among these 12 infielders if you were starting a team? I would pick him probably around 5th.. certainly no better than 4th after Pujols, Wright and Hanley. I would pick Pujols first. Adrian Gonzalez Albert Pujols Chase Utley Dan Uggla David Wright Hanley Ramirez Justin Morneau Mark Teixeira Miguel Cabrera Prince Fielder Ryan Howard Ryan Zimmerman

Why would Gregg care? He cared.. unless you think the Sun-Sentinel writer made it up.

I haven't read the thread but this starting rotation is absolutely terrible. You can't consistently give up that many runs in early innings and expect to win many games. It puts too much pressure on the offense and the rotation. I do agree with you about the rotation but seeing as how he turned it into a QS, I'm not sure why Badenhop would get the blame here. I don't like the QS stat. With thats said, he didn't have a QS because he only pitched 5 innings. He was pitching well after the first and I think he should have gone out for the 6th but Fredi didn't agree. I wonder why. Had he pitched the 6th he could have had a QS.

I've been saying this all season. He's a mediocre pitcher whose stock is inflated because he pitches in the ninth inning. Saves are the most superficial and meaningless statistic in all of baseball. Yes, saves are overrated but blown saves are a bitch... usually lead to losses.

Gregg also couldn't catch or block the plate on that wild pitch.Terrible outing. While I agree that he has been pretty bad, the wild pitch wasn't that wild and how often is Gregg forced to block the plate? The wild pitch was that wild and if Gregg catches Rabelo's throw Francouer is probably out.

That so far Castillo is above average defensively and average offensively while Cantu is average defensively and above average offensively. Production wise, they are basically identical. Alernatively, it means this was a stupid topic. To say Cantu is average defensively is the stupid thing in this thread.

Questions: ========== 1. How many wins did you expect before the season started? 2. How many wins do you now expect? My Answers: =========== 1. About 70 2. 81 - 84 I think from here on out we'll play about .500 ball or just below it and that will leave us in the low 80s in wins. I don't like the remainder of the schedule as it will get much tougher compared to what we have played so far. I also think we have about 5 or 6 guys playing much better than what they really are but only Tank is playing much worse than what he really is. I would expect Uggla, Pinto, Olsen, Gregg and Waechter to regress somewhat. Anibal could provide a boost but I wouldn't bank on it. Mitre is a 5th starter type so I wouldn't expect much out of him. JJ isn't supposed to come back until August or Septemer (I think) so it may be too little too late.

Maybin may need another year after this one in the minors because he is not close to being ready to play in the majors Maybe he has other ideas.. hit a couple of homers today.

yea theres nothing to worry about There is plenty to worry about.Our starting pitching is falling overboard. it is? How is it any worse than it was about a month ago? Olsen has done worse Hendrickson has done a lot worse (as expected) Nolasco has done better Miller has done a lot better ...it's been this way all year. Starting pitching sucked a month ago and it sucks now.

I know he has a young and talented bullpen, but it appears that Freddi is pretty fast to pull starters, even though the rotation has settled. I don't want this to turn into a bash due to the results in the past 2 series. Frankly I happen to think that the 3rd game in each series is a clear indication of "sh*t happens" Is there any reason that Hendrickson shouldn't have been fed feet-first to the Phillies for at least another inning? Is there any reason that Nolasco could not have finished the 6th last night? Is there any reason that Miller could not have gone another inning today? It seems to me that there is a school of thought on the board that our pitchers are not getting quality starts, and are not going deep enough into games, but between the errors that extend innings, and the quick hook, I don't think they are given the opportunity to stick around. Thoughts? I somewhat agree. When guys are struggling he should pull them quickly and he does and that's fine with me. I think when guys are pitching well he tends to pull them too early even when pitch counts are low. The problem with this is he unnecessarily burns the bullpen. Pinto is on pace for over 100 relief innings. I would bet he sees the DL this season.

Our defense stinks , our starting pitching is below average , our offense is feats or famine and yet we are still over .500 in june less than 2 games back given everything I am happy where we are at . That said Jones and Rabelo are useless and our line is not balanced adaquately to deal with left hand pitching. I wonder if Raynor can play CF? I was hoping Jones would come here and revive his career but it just isn't happening. Cody Ross can play CF.

Does anyone know other teams ratings and how we compare? This was in the article: Marlins telecasts also stack up around the middle of the pack with all of MLB television ratings.

I'm not convinced the Rays or Marlins are for real but am little more convinced by the Rays. I'm sure it's not unusual for bad teams to have a winning record over 50 some games.

Until I see a pitcher have a greater impact on a season for me it will always be Bryan Harvey. If you didn't see it, it would be almost impossible to understand, but if one ballplayer ever carried an entire team on his shoulders for a season it was Bryan Harvey in 1993. For those who did, especially in person, it almost became a religious experience as the season rolled on. He was the savior. And his humility and the burdens of his personal life made it only more glorious. How much more dominating do you think he was than Benitez in '04? I wasn't paying attention in '93 so I don't know but Benitez was pretty much unhittable all year.

Josh Beckett - Game 6 of the WS. Yes.

Hanley being 1st is right. Uggla and Utley seem to be almost identical as far as stats. I'll wait until I can see Utley play before deciding who I think should be first, but going by stats Uggla and Utley should be in 1st and 2nd. You've never seen Utley play? When you do, you will realize why he is the best 2b in baseball right now. I love Dan and the marlins, but Chase Utley is the best second baseman in baseball. I would be right on you with that if he wasn't batting .250/.345/.469 in May. It does look like he is breaking out of that slump though. Just because he's been great throughout his career doesn't mean the he has been that great this year. Are you kidding me? His OPS is 1.032. He has 46 RBI in 55 games. He has an 1.152 OPS with RISP. Those numbers don't impress you?

Whatever the purpose, I don't know. Braman has been hitting the airwaves with Deforrest on a station most people in Dade County can not hear and since Broward and Palm Beach do not vote or give tax dollars for the stadium, there is no purpose there. I heard him and I'm in Miami-Dade. In the morning the station comes in fine. At night, not so good. I don't get 850, not that it's much of a loss. I think it's 640. His show is better than Rose or Rosenberg.

Whatever the purpose, I don't know. Braman has been hitting the airwaves with Deforrest on a station most people in Dade County can not hear and since Broward and Palm Beach do not vote or give tax dollars for the stadium, there is no purpose there. I heard him and I'm in Miami-Dade. In the morning the station comes in fine. At night, not so good.

Where is the "Defense" first crowd when it comes to Cantu? Weren't most of you Cantu defenders also the ones constantly bitching about defense last year? Cantu's defense is bad but based on RZR and OOZ it's comparable to that of some of our other starters. If you combine RZR and OOZ, Hermida ranks 20th out of 23 RFs. Cantu ranks 22nd out of 24 3B. Jacobs ranks 22nd out of 28. Uggla is 21st out of 25th. Hanley is 16th out of 23.

I was hoping they would call up Tucker, De La Cruz or Volstad for the 2nd game but because of when they last pitched I don't think it will happen. When did they last pitch. They probably will go with Hopper because he barely even pitched yesterday. They all pitched the 21st or 22nd. The Herald said Hopper would not be available.

I was hoping they would call up Tucker, De La Cruz or Volstad for the 2nd game but because of when they last pitched I don't think it will happen.