Pnino

Gotta give Olsen credit. he has been busy this offseason. If you notice, it is Olsen who is out there in our community attending all events and showing up. A lot of players need to follow his lead. As much as I hate what he did last year, I got to give him credit for his actions this offseason. Hopefully he put that much effort in staying fit and translates on to the field. Good job Scotty.

Considering my BoardName- Leave it to me to ask this Question.... Whats going on with Mike Piazza? Is he a worthy Catcher to platoon with Treanor and Rabuelo for the Marlins? Is he even a Utility type player who could impact this team in a leadership role? He can play 1st and Catch. I'm sure he could play a little 3b if pressed into duty. All I know is that he is a free agent. Personally, I think he can be a great bargain leader for the Marlins in 08. He could also catch something like 90 games, and play first 20 or so. :mis2 (or flip those around if Jacobs is injured again) He could lead this clubhouse players of young stars, and still be a decent player cabable of way more offensively then either of the Catchers they have. And provide a rest for Jacobs 20 or more times. You give up some defense, but you gain Offensive skill and leadership. Chris I don't like it. Although he provides leadership and offense, I believe our team needs hands on experience. Especially at the C position. Piazza can help teach them but he has never been known as a great defensive player so how much can he actually provide in terms of mentoring. For the money he wil cost, I would rather have Treanor/Rabelo figure it out (not like Treanor is a rookie). I'll pass on Piazza. Defense was a major problem last year, not offense. We need to improve our defense behind our pitchers to help save their arms for the long season. Piazza does not contribute in that area at all.

If we're gonna be technical, none of them are kids. They're all grown men. Just thought the analogy would not have to be explained. Next time I'll try to avoid the figures of speech. Sorry.

Loria, Consider what Wayne is doing seriously. He is a wonderful businessman. maybe selling the Marlins to someone else isn't such a bad idea. C'mon man. SELL!

We have to give Rabelo a chance guys. Not everyone starts off like Cabs or Pujols. Look at this franchise. We develop great players. As much as other people make fun of this team, the day that they are looking for quality players you know that the Marlins are at the top of other teams lists. I have to give this kid the benefit of the doubt. No way would I take Estrada, this year, because that would mean taking time away from Rabelo behind the plate. This is the year for this kid to grab some real experience. Lets not kid ourselves. We are not going to be good this year. So lets take the time to give our team some experience. Our stadium deal is near. Once that gets done then we can hopefully spend some money. This year we need to develop great players. I say keep the Treanor/Rabelo tandem.

Somebody help me here. In the past, was it the City who gave problems approving the stadium deal or was it the County? B/c if it was the City who gave problems in the past, then we are in good shape come Tuesday. If it was the County, then we are gonna have problems come Tuesday.

Good. I like Miller. He is a good stop gap if for injuries during the season.

Anybody know what happened to our lost Marlin?

Isn't Dallas McPherson really bad defensively over at third? Especially coming off of back surgery? I doubt he'd be any worse than Cabrera. I suppose that's subjective though, and I really wasn't fond of Miggy's defense. Statistically, he's on par with Cabrera over the last two seasons. Better than Cabrera last year. I feel the same way about Helms. Not much of an upgrade defensively than Cabs. Would rather have a better defensive player at that position since we'll never get that type of offense at third again.

The articles are starting to pour in: http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/news/articl...sp&c_id=fla http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/20...857605730_x.htm http://www.local10.com/news/14832572/detail.html The last link is most telling. Great Links. Thanks.

Waechter actually isn't a bad pick up for a minor league contract. At one point he led the league in leaving the game with a lead and getting a no decision. Although it was in A ball, he looked good at the end of last season with his rehab. He should do well in a pitcher friendly stadium and away from being in his home town and the distractions that go with that. If he can leave a game w/ a lead this year every time he goes out, we should be in good shape. Love our bullpen.

I don't mean to keep posting consecutively but when you read the whole deal - the Marlins get the parking lot they needed + another 6,000 spaces within 5/8 mile under their control - city builds it, turns of to stadium manager (Marlins) - they get complete control of the stadium so if rock concerts ...soccer... conventions, etc. happen, the Fish bringing in revenue there. - there is no mention (unless I missed it) of naming rights - I assume it goes to the Fish. - we could actually have a franchise here with a decent revenue stream...this turned out to be a good deal. . I'm so happy right now. But is any of this set in stone? This would be awesome news. It would make most marlins fans forget about trading away cabrera and willis. Lets all hope it gets done. Who are Willis and Cabrera?

After getting hit in the head w/ that ball, he lost the nerve to pitch. I swear by this. It has happened to other pitchers in the past.

Gotta agree w/ Johnny on this one.

With all the hoopla going on lately, I want to step back and think about what has been accomplished thus far. Based on last year, I would say our offense was pretty solid from top to bottom. Now that Cabs is gone, we have lost offense for this upcoming year. But I am still satisfied with it considering many of our young hitters are one year older and should start showing up at the plate (i.e Hermida, Ramirez, Uggla, not sure Jacobs is gonna get much better). Hanley hasn't showed up at the plate yet? Leave the sarcasm please. I meant he will only improve. I have high expectation for him. I think he will get even better offensively now that he is more experienced.

With all the hoopla going on lately, I want to step back and think about what has been accomplished thus far. Based on last year, I would say our offense was pretty solid from top to bottom. Now that Cabs is gone, we have lost offense for this upcoming year. But I am still satisfied with it considering many of our young hitters are one year older and should start showing up at the plate (i.e Hermida, Ramirez, Uggla, not sure Jacobs is gonna get much better). But our main problem last year was pitching and defense. Have we improved thus far this offseason. This is the way I see it: So far at 3rd, we have not upgraded. Yes Cabs was pretty poor defensively, but as of now there is no replacement. If moving Uggla to 3rd, don't think we have actually improved there. CF, doubt it. If Maybin is the starter, I can't give him the thumbs up. He will make plenty of errors considering it will be his first year there in that massive hole Dolphin offers in CF. C speaks for itself. We have no Starter and the option out there don't seem as if it will offer much improvement on the defensive side. Pitching, No. Don't see any improvement in our SP. Our relief should be solid. W/ the loss of Dontrelle, I see us acutually sliding behind here. He ate up innings and now that he is not there, our Relief will be much more taxed. What do you think?

Let's get Jorge Cantu, hope for a replica of his 2005 season, and swallow his pathetic defense. Either that or scrounge something for LaRoche. Don't like the idea of bringing in Cantu. Our defense was horrible last year. Last thing we need is to bring in players that are poor defensive players. We need to strengthen our defense this year to help save our arms.

And yet MLB hasn't complained. I want to remain optimistic. But articles such as this one really puts things in perspective.

Marlins: sell, sell, sell December 4, 2007 By Tom Covill PA SportsTicker Staff Writer NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE (TICKER) -- Whatever happened to revenue sharing and luxury tax dollars? When the two ideas were introduced in the 2002 collective bargaining agreement - much to the chagrin of the players association - the plan was that money from the large-market teams would funnel down to small-market clubs, who would then spend that on the on-field product. ADVERTISEMENT Apparently the Florida Marlins never got the memo. In the 15-year history of the franchise, there has been constant wrangling between the three different ownership groups and the people of Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties over whether public money should be used to build the team a new stadium. A new facility would create new money streams, especially if the tax payers decide to foot the bill. But the revenue sharing and luxury tax money was never intended to be used to cover operating costs, it was specifically introduced to be used on player acquisitions - the lone reason the Players Association agreed to it in the first place. So how does Florida justify the bi-annual firesales and constant payroll slashing? After Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis - who were reportedly traded to the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday - clear out their lockers for good at Dolphins Stadium, the Marlins will have just one player - catcher Miguel Olivo - that made more than $575,000 in 2007. It seems unlikely that Major League Baseball, which shelled out $323 million in revenue sharing alone in 2006 - with the vast majority of it going to the teams in the bottom of the market scale - has been withholding payments from the Marlins. In all likelihood the money Florida has received over the past few seasons in revenue sharing and luxury tax exceeds its entire payroll. While there is a good chance the Marlins, who had many, many fans disguised as empty seats at their home games last season, are still losing money, the fact is that revenue sharing and luxury tax money are supposed to be spent on the payroll. If owner Jeffery Loria and company need to cover day-to-day operating costs, that money should be coming out of their own pockets. Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig recently announced proudly that baseball had exceeded $6 billion in total revenue for the first time this season. The sport is awash in cash the likes of which has never before been seen. The Kansas City Royals, notorious penny pinchers, spent $55 million on Gil Meche last winter and just recently signed Jose Guillen - a nice player, but not a superstar - to a three-year contract worth a reported $36 million. Even the Tampa Bay Rays - a laughingstock for their first 10 years of existence - have begun spending money and attempting to lock their young stars into long-term contracts. Heck, they just gave Troy Percival $10 million. Selig is friendly with Loria and the Marlins' ownership group. It was Selig who helped them acquire the club from John Henry after Loria nearly drove the Montreal Expos to contraction. And Selig, who has overseen an era in baseball in which numerous clubs have opened new stadiums, wants to see the franchise move into a new stadium in South Florida. But someone has to step up and save this franchise from itself. Revenue sharing was supposed to do that, but in this case, Florida keeps finding new ways to disappoint the few fans it has left. It was exciting to watch a team with a sub-$20 million payroll compete for the wild card all the way into September as Florida did in 2006, but that should not have to happen every season. It's time for Bud Selig and MLB to start enforcing the idea of revenue sharing. And why isn't the players union more upset about this? While player contracts seem to be on a never-ending spiral upward, the fact is that the players are still receiving less than 50 percent of the total revenue of the sport. The Marlins need to step up and show their fans some loyalty and - perhaps even more importantly - show their players some loyalty.

Dude, Sign me up. I'll definitely take one. Yeah but it's also hard to read since the text teal is a dark teal I found a teal color shirt (Says it's teal, anyway) but it would cost roughly ~2 dollars more compared to the other colors (different type of shirt) Currently 8(?) other people seem interested. I'm going to leave this open a few more days, then pound out the details with those getting the shirts (color specifications, quote specifications, ect.) Those eight would be: Lurker344 Count Bass D (Maybe?) Rabbethan EricWiener Reason63 (Only if black shirt?) Fishfan79 castillo1 MRMarlin93 gomarlins9703 So that makes 9 including me...with that, the, it would be 19.01 for the teal, 17.89 for a black or white T-Shirt (Note: If you require a XXL or larger shirt, tack on two dollars). That also doesn't include whatever the shipping would be for me to send them out, which I have no clue would be (Or if you live near Gainesville and want to pick it up to avoid shipping cost, that's cool aswell)

Ok. I'll start it off. What do you think about signing Posednick to a one year deal? White Sox no longer want him. He had an off year and may be worth taking a chance on.

Outside of those two guys, I don't know. Maybe Coco to man CF? I don't know. It's not the affordability we are looking for if Coco is included. I would imaging DelCarmen would be a nice piece.

why? ... he was bound to go to a team eventually, this would just take him out of the market. Exactly..... 2 HOF 3B available, bunch of teams want them. Now only 1 HOF 3B is available, same number of teams want him. Looks like a couple of teams are making a serious push for Lowell. According to the link below, Boston has been out-bid by four other teams for Lowell. Included in those teams are the Braves, Angels, Yankees, and Cards. I guess now that ARod may be staying in NY, these teams want to take a more affordable route in trying to sign Lowell. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/rumors/post/Fo...l?urn=mlb,53841 That is interesting. If Boston gets beat in this bidding war, this will force them to be players in the pursuit of Cabs. If the Angels snag Lowell, then we could kiss that package of young studs good bye. That would leave us the Dodgers and the Sox as the two teams that are offering what we want. The Braves have little to offer us as do the Cards. I believe the best case scenario for us would be if the Yankees get Lowell. This would then pit Angels and Dodgers against the Sox in a bidding war for him. I love the possibilities.

How does the Cabrera situation change if A-Rod stays w/ the Yanks? Does it make him more valuable or do you think nothing changes? makes him more valuable, if anything I agree. But was anyone truly serious about signing A-Rod anyway? It may make the Angels a little more serious about trading for Cabs since ARod is not longer an option.

How does the Cabrera situation change if A-Rod stays w/ the Yanks? Does it make him more valuable or do you think nothing changes? In case you missed it, A-Rod might stay w/ the Yanks after all. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-y...p&type=lgns