LaBolaSeLlevoLaCerca

The bench is bad because 2 of the 5 guys are starting each night, and that means we have a couple of inferior players taking those bench slots. The rotation has, at various times, been without Johnson, Nolasco, Sanchez, and Mitre (60% of the expected rotation and one replacement!) The bullpen has, as a result, been beat to death. Since our bullpen is about 5 guys deep, needing to regularly use 7 guys puts us in a position to lose. Despite all this, the injury-plagued team is around .500. This team is going to get 5 upgrades without having to trade anyone. I don't buy the injury excuse. It's very likely that Cody and Fredo have outperformed (due 100% to Cody's great play) what De Aza would have done so until Cody got injured the impact of De Aza's injury was minimal. The Ross injury will hurt a lot. Hermida wasn't even guaranteed a starting spot after going 2-30 (or whatever it was) in ST so the Hermida excuse is nonsense since we don't even know if he would be a starter and if he was a starter we don't know what kind of production we would get out of him since the guy is a big question mark. Last year he didn't get the job done. On the pitching, the non-regulars have made a grand total of 5 starts which is not out of the ordinary at this stage of the season. We're 14-16 because the starting pitching has stunk and not because of injuries. I'd say that's a pretty fair assessment. I think you're understating Hermida's importance to the lineup, because even at his worst last season he was still an OBP machine and that's the one thing this offense does not have unless it's hitting (aside from Hammer). I agree, although this line up hasn't slumped yet (knocks on wood), the team's offensive production took a hit last year when Hermida went down in late September.

Burnett-Penny-Beckett, what a rotation that would have been if this team had the means to keep them.

What's the point if the team is going to do it anyways if they stay in Miami? This is widely known. :blink: Is someone fishing for ratings/attention? (pun intended)

I agree with PBC's description of the type of pitcher we can expect Sanchez to become. He'll probably end up a solid #3 starter. His fastball is average, the curve is slightly above average and his change is ok.

A piece on TV viewership and fan demographics by Fish or Cut Bait. Just be aware, that is not TV ratings, but how many people (percentage-wise) tune into at least 1 game in a season in a given city. That research could justify that the Astros get many casual fans watching a few games while the Marlins get less casual, more hardcore that watch most games a season. He can't see more detail than the percentages that tune into at least 1 game a season. It's often been reported that the Marlins have a large TV audience and the data seems to bear this out, though we don't have a way of knowing, through this study, how many games the average fan for each sport watches. http://floridafishfan.blogspot.com/2007/03...ida-part-3.html Thanks for the clarification. :thumbup

A piece on TV viewership and fan demographics by Fish or Cut Bait.

Anybody else think last nights game was really boring? You are not alone, painful, slow, boring baseball. Felt like I was watching a Royals-Rays game.

Anibal pulled a Ricky Nolasco last night, he couldn't throw the fastball for strikes but when it came time to throw the curveball he could have thrown it through a thimble. I'd like to see how many times in baseball history a team has struck out 15 times while getting 15 hits. I cannot wait until strike out machines like Borchard and Ross are out of the line up for De Aza and Hermida.