Out of the Past

I was watching the commission meeting online because I wanted to see what was said about the stadium. It started off about the police and then some commissioners (Martinez and Souto specifically) tried to turn the session into a debate on the whole "global megadeal". Martinez was going back and fourth with Burgess, with Martinez being confused that money for this project is coming from Miami residents and an expasperated Burgess trying to explain why he was wrong. Martinez sounded like he just didn't understand how the financing worked, with Burgess saying they needed to sit down together again so he could explain it. Martinez said he wasn't sure they had the 9 votes to approve the deal. The whole thing makes you uneasy about the final outcome, but I think in the end, when evertything is written out on paper, they will end up approving it. You don't run a marathon and then stop after the 25th mile. The July meeting will be worth watching though. Just the be factual the one that's "confused" is Burgess. All you need to do is to not get lost in a quick shell game.

OPS is pretty consistent to runs scored, batting average has little relationship. Last years MLB stats show that the top 8 OPS teams are the top 8 run scoring teams in each league. That correlation is there every single year. The OPS / runs scored correlation is amazing.

I think Uggla's rating is proof enough. What were Uggla's +/- ratings in '06 and '07... do you know?

Hermida last year was better than Uggla's best. I would take Hermida's future over Uggla's future. With that said, in both of his season Uggla created 101 and 100 runs while Hermida created 76 last season. If Hermida hadn't missed abput 40 games he likely would have created more runs than Uggla's best year but the fact is he missed those 40 games and that cannot be ignored. How does Uggla's 06 compares to Hermida's '07 in those VoRP, WARP or whatever those stats you always use are called?

Ok so since I was bored this morning I was looking at Team stats and I found the following... No Surprises here..... these stats are across MLB. Team Pitching We are LEADING all MLB in Bullpen Innings Pitched with 34.2 IP with an ERA of 3.89 We are DEAD LAST in TEAM ERA with a 6.19 Team ERA We are DEAD LAST in Runs Allowed Team Hitting We are DEAD LAST in Strikeouts (ie. we have the most team strikeouts) with 60 K's in 7 games We are tied for 2nd place in HomeRuns with 11 We are DEAD LAST in doubles Obviously we must improve in all the above (except the HR) or we will not be in first place for very long :confused There are no surprises there. I think it's a really good bet we'll end up in the top 3 / bottom 3 of all those categories excpet the doubles. I guess the bullpen ERA could be risky if these guys get worned out pitching 4 or 5 innings every night.

he can throw 95-97 ive seen him do it bunch of times. the nats radar gun is Always wrong. But i do think he needs more time in the minors as he really has not impressed me. If we bring up volstad and the same happens it will not be good. I hope Badenhop works out since hes older but damn do i miss anibal and JJ Last week at DS his fastballs were around 90, 91. Was the Dolphin Stadium gun wrong too?

Some of you keep talking about what great stuff he has. His mid-high 80's fastball, terrible changeup and pedestrian slider coupled with terrible command have yet to impress me. I know throwing hard isn't everything, but damn. So you've missed the numerous times he's dialed it up to the mid 90's, then? I know being "realistic" is your bit, but can you at least be informed, too? I think he had one at 94 and one at 93. I don't understand the Randy Johnson comparisons.

I think he'll get a little more rope than RVH.

Hopefully Hermida will be hitting second when he comes back. An order of Hermida-Willingham-Ramirez-Jacobs-Uggla interests me as well. You don't want Hammer in front of Hanley. If you do that, you'll turn a lot Hanley's doubles into singles and triples into doubles. If Fredo plays then it should be Fredo, Jeremy, Hanley, Hammer and then Uggla. You don't want a career .315 OBP hitter leading off. It does not matter what kind of hits Ramirez is getting as long as players with a tendency to get on base hit before him. The last 2 years Fredo's OBP vs righties is about .347 which is not bad. Just platoon him and have him lead-off when he plays which would be about 3 out of 4 days or something like that.

Out starting pitching is averaging about 4 innings a game and you guys are worried about where Uggla is hitting. :mis2 Yes, because there is not much we can do about our SPs than pray. This "Uggla hitting 2nd" problem has been going on since 2006. With Uggla hitting 2nd we give up a little OBP compared to the average #2 hitter but he more than makes the small OBP shortfall with his SLG. In the perfect world he would be a bit farther down the lineup but that doesn't mean he's not a good #2 hitter.

im in agreement with you...i want pasta 2nd and then jacobs and hammer and uggla and cantu and gonzalez and etc...im just frustrated with their lack of contact Uggla, Hammer and Jacobs are not contact hitters. They'll K a ton. Get used to it or you'll drive yourself crazy.

Hopefully Hermida will be hitting second when he comes back. An order of Hermida-Willingham-Ramirez-Jacobs-Uggla interests me as well. You don't want Hammer in front of Hanley. If you do that, you'll turn a lot Hanley's doubles into singles and triples into doubles. If Fredo plays then it should be Fredo, Jeremy, Hanley, Hammer and then Uggla.

2006 .339 2007 .326 Is that a big decline? Not according to me but some people are of the opinion that Uggla had a big drop off in production from '06 to '07 and since his SLG was virtually the same (.001 difference) I think the drop off, according to them, was caused by the decline in OBP.

Saying, "Andrew Miller- who hasn't thrown strikes since middle school. throwing 95+ doesn't make up for an inability to put it over the plate . . . . Miller's fastball and complete inability to throw a strike any time," is as ludricous as saying this 2008 incarnation of the Marlins can be a .500 team... I think what GB meant is that Miller has had control issues his entire career and if that's what he means then his comment is not at all ludicrous but to say this team can be a .500 team is ludicrous, in my humble opinion.

He walked 68 times, that isn't bad. That's why his drop in BA was not the big deal so many people make it out to be. His OBP stayed essentially the same. I agree with you but I thought according to sabermetrics Uggla had a big decline from '06 to '07 due to his OBP.

If he took that extra 20 million and devoted it towards signing Hanley... I was thinking the same thing today. This past off-season I think we could have signed Hanley for 5 years for about $50 or $55 million. The '07 and '08 revenue sharing could cover all of it and then some. Probably would have gotten him much cheaper than $50 Million. You have to realize, he won't touch $10 Mill a year for another two or three years. Why do you think Tulo got so little from the Rocks? Maybe it would take less, I don't know. I think there are some differences between Tulo and Hanley in that Tulo's contract covers two yaers of minimum wage while a Hanley contract signed this past offseason would only cover one minimum wage year and Tulo hasn't put up a monster year like Hanley has. I know he's only had one year but still. Also, I think based on what Miguel got on arbitration year 1 I think Hanley should get ~$8 million next year and ~$12 million in '10 so I think he'll be a $10 million a year player sooner than you think. This is assuming he continues to be an offensive monster which I think there's little doubt he will.

If he took that extra 20 million and devoted it towards signing Hanley... I was thinking the same thing today. This past off-season I think we could have signed Hanley for 5 years for about $50 or $55 million. The '07 and '08 revenue sharing could cover all of it and then some.

I wouldn't put Jacobs ahead of Uggla. The last two yeras Uggla was clearly the better hitter. I would like Hanley hitting 3rd but we don't have anyone else to lead-off.

This is the first time I see Miller and so far I don't see the Big Unit comparisons. His fastball was consistently in the low low 90s. I don't recall ever seeing Big Unit throw with that velocity. On his poor command, I don't think it's that he has good command and is going through a rough stretch. If you look at his stats, he has had walk problems going back to his college days. In two college years he walked almost 5 per 9 innings. His last college year was better at 2.9 per 9 innings. On RHV, some have said he has two pitches. I think he has one. On most games sooner or later he begins to struggles with his curve and then gets killed. I think he has a low 90s fastball and that's it. Both should be in AA. I think Woody Williams is available. If he is, go get him.

I read on another board that baseballamerica ranked our system as the 17th best minor league system and that other than Maybin we didn't have any blue chip prospects and that the young pitchers you're referring to haven't progressed as expected. Another of the minor league sites recently rated the systems and ranked us around 20th based on how close our minor leaguers are to the majors. I don't think it's a bias against the Marlins. I think it's that Marlins fans waaaay overrated our prospects. Just the other day a scout was quoted in the Herald saying that Volstad is our best prospect and I think he said he projected as a No. 3 starter.

The converstaion actually went this way. He said that if management felt that they could not win with a payroll near $30 million, then what does it matter what they spend. He further clarified that if the rest of the owners don't care that the Marlins are pocketing their money, why should anyone else care? Afterall, it is the responsibility of the other owners to raise a stink if they thought the Marlins were doing the wrong thing. Boog conceded the point that he doesn't know if the other owners care or don't care that the Marlins pocket the money. With that said, why is it relevant what the other owners think? The ones that get screwed by the pocketing of the revenue sharing money are the Marlins fans, not the other 29 owners. Why is what the fans think any more relevant than what the owners think? If you really don't like what the Loria ownership is doing in terms of payroll v. revenue, stop supporting the team. Don't go to games. Don't watch them on TV. Don't do anything that will assist them in making money. I think it's irrelevant what the other owners think because they are actually better off if the Marlins don't spend it as it makes them (the Marlins) less competitive than what they would be if the money was wisely spent. I think the ridiculously low payrolls are akin to poking the eyes of the fan base with a sharp stick and I don't think that's the way to build a fan base. You may disagree with this but I think that without the firesales and the threats of relocation and contraction we would have a much larger fan base than what we currently have.

Hendrickson was never brought here to be anything other than a middle of rotation and down guy. Timing and injuries colluded to have him open yesterday. I don't really feel that confident in handing him the ball every 5th day with the stuff I saw yesterday. He just isn't ever going to be a winning pitcher in this league and the fact we are turning to him shows the sad state of our franchise. I would much rather have Kim back than no stuff. The way I see the primary reason Hendrickson is here is to eat innings so we don't have to rush any more of the young starters than what we're already rushing. If he makes 30 starts and pitches 180 innings he'll have a "successful" season as far as I'm concerned. Innings eaters are incredibly over-rated. Most of the time these guys have only had a few average seasons at best and then they fall off the radar completely. Whatever happened to players who actually played well? Why is it acceptable to start a pitcher every 5 days who more often than not gives you little chance to win? Well, it depends on the situation. I think if you're a contending team then an innings eater that gives you below average performance will not help you but given our situation I think such a pitcher would help us as he would prevent us from screwing up the development of another young pitcher who is not MLB ready.

The converstaion actually went this way. He said that if management felt that they could not win with a payroll near $30 million, then what does it matter what they spend. He further clarified that if the rest of the owners don't care that the Marlins are pocketing their money, why should anyone else care? Afterall, it is the responsibility of the other owners to raise a stink if they thought the Marlins were doing the wrong thing. Boog conceded the point that he doesn't know if the other owners care or don't care that the Marlins pocket the money. With that said, why is it relevant what the other owners think? The ones that get screwed by the pocketing of the revenue sharing money are the Marlins fans, not the other 29 owners.

I intend no offense. Bull.

Hendrickson was never brought here to be anything other than a middle of rotation and down guy. Timing and injuries colluded to have him open yesterday. I don't really feel that confident in handing him the ball every 5th day with the stuff I saw yesterday. He just isn't ever going to be a winning pitcher in this league and the fact we are turning to him shows the sad state of our franchise. I would much rather have Kim back than no stuff. The way I see the primary reason Hendrickson is here is to eat innings so we don't have to rush any more of the young starters than what we're already rushing. If he makes 30 starts and pitches 180 innings he'll have a "successful" season as far as I'm concerned.