Sashimi

Colletti is in love with his prospects and has been very stingy with them (though they want to unload Kemp who caused clubhouse problems last year). Reports were he told the Orioles Broxton was untouchable! We wanted a top pitching prospect in return and I don't think Colletti was willing to package Kershaw with any other top player. I am not going to fret over the Dodgers because if there had been a good package on the table, I'm sure Beinfest would have taken it. I do not put much stock in what outside observers think we could have gotten for them separately. I'm sure the Marlins FO explored all options. The deal on the table from the Angels for Cabrera alone wasn't that great. And there are concerns about Willis that extend beyond just one down year. Yeah, we could have gone one more year with Willis and hoped that he improved his value, but what if he only ended up improving only marginally or, God forbid, did just as poorly or worse. I think the FO really wanted the Miller-Maybin combo and adding Willis was what it took to get them. Based on their evaluation of Willis, his time left under contract and their appraisal of the Tigers' prospects, they felt it was worth it.

Probably gona be another sleeper in the Pads pen, but we needed cash. Yeah Loria has to pay rferry's monthly salary. Knowing Loria, it's probably only a stipend. :mischief

We are not going to replace Cab's offense, but offense was not the problem last year and still shouldn't be terrible even with a drop-off (although you may also have to factor in the second-order effects of losing Cabs, such as a guy like Uggla, who benefited from hitting in front of him, falling off a bit). It will come down to pitching, and starting pitching in particular. If Olsen has a bounce back year, if A. Miller starts to live up to his hype, if Anibal and Nolasco get healthy, if Mitre is recuperated from last year... I know that's a lot of "ifs," but none of them are that unreasonable. And the sleeper here, IMO, is Vandenhurk. I know his numbers from last year are bad (in the bigs), but you could see the potential there. It's just a matter of working out a few kinks. I think he's got the makeup and work ethic, not to mention the talent, to do it. It was actually pretty amazing that he made it to the bigs last year after not having pitched above A ball. I have a feeling Trahern is going to be in the mix relatively soon, too. And Beinfest mentioned using de la Cruz as a swingman.

That is awesome news on West. I hope he is not being overly optimistic. There is a reason he is still ranked so high despite a serious arm injury. I'm really excited about eventually seeing this kid in teal. I just pray he stays healthy from here on out.

I like the K/9 and H/9. Could be interesting.

Not worth it, I would rather trade for a younger player. cosign

Uh oh, PECOTA is not that high on Maybin. Damn it, Beinfest! What are you thinking? http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfilter...91/?affiliate=3

The only thing that bothered me was they still had one more year on both. With the lack of veterans and a good manager it seemed logical (if they want to remain competitive as they say) to keep one of them. Now, there's no leadership and bunch of kids likely to act worse than this past year. I'll still watch the games on TV (to ensure our great ratings). Can't say I'm willing to head that far north to watch them lose at this point, will see.... It's just a cost-benefit analysis. By the way, wasn't there a deadline for Loria to commit to OB site with actual dollars around this time? If you came to the conclusion, as the FO no doubt did, that they were not going to compete with Cabrera and Willis this year anyway, then trading them now rather than next year was absolutely the smart thing to do. You simply would not get same return next year for only one year of Cab's service (plus team's would be more willing to wait out the year and just try to sign him). This is much better for the club long-term, once the decision was made that signing him to an extension before 2009 was not possible.

...Maybin was in A ball in 2006. It's kind of hard to have a large MLE when you're in A ball. Hence my point about not being ready. We are going to put a pork chop around his neck and toss him to the wolves. It will be interesting to see what they do with him next year. In all likelihood, he will be starting Opening Day, although even the Tigers admitted after his short stint with the big club that he wasn't ready. And he will no doubt experience a lot of growing pains next year.

Typical Lebatard column sprinkled with lies to support his point of view. Name 5 lies in that article? He implies the current management was responsible for the '97 WS and he says that Maybin and Miller are more "can't miss great" than Cabrera was. That two lies. Maybe it's a reading comprehension issue on my part, but I'm not seeing where he implies that.

I love how with small market teams, being a "real mlb franchise" either means overpaying for sh*tty veterans (ala the Pirates and Royals) or letting your young studs walk and getting nothing for them. Amen. And you don't have to be a small market team to overpay for sh*tty veterans. This is precisely why I became a Marlins fan: I was fascinated at how adept this organization was at accumulating great young talent on a meager budget. IMO, watching a young talented team develop, even if it isn't always pretty, is far preferable to watching a team of complacent, overpayed veterans.

Am I alone on this board in not being impressed with Maybin? He looks like a AAAA player to me, with a Juan Encarnacion upside. Miller and de la Cruz are the only guys that get my interest here. AAAA player? Seriously? These kind of snap judgements are the unfortunate, but inevitable, after-effects of the failed Reggie Abercrombie Experiment.

Am I alone on this board in not being impressed with Maybin? He looks like a AAAA player to me, with a Juan Encarnacion upside. Miller and de la Cruz are the only guys that get my interest here. AAAA player? Seriously? He's young, so its hard to know how he'll develop, but he has a huge swing and a nose-to-toes strike zone. I don't think he is the kind of talent that Howie Kendrick represented, and that deal would have left us with Willis to deal separately. Maybe not for next year, but long-term he is a good deal better as a prospect than Kendrick. That's not to say that he might not live up to all the extraordinary hype, but if he does turn out to be a bust, it would mean a lot of smart baseball people were very, very wrong. We were not going to get a great player who was already an established big leaguer in return for Miggy (that includes Kendrick even though he has a very nice MLB season under his belt). We were only going potential in return and, of course, there are no sure things. But as far as potential goes, this is about as good as it gets in baseball right now. Same goes for Miller.

His best secondary pitch, a curveball, is only average, and he has a hard time getting good depth on the pitch. Hmmm...Baseball America said his "hard curveball is a genuine knee-buckler" and rated it as the best in the Tigers system.

From BA Prospect Handbook (last year): [Rabelo] has all the hallmarks of a late-blooming catcher....He doesn't have a lot of power but he showed a more respectable amount last year. Much of his value comes from being an athletic catcher who calls a good game, throws well and blocks balls. He threw out 39 percent of basestealers last year.

Can anyone elaborate more on the trade itself other than, "oH NoeS diS suX". I know very little about the players we have gotten back in this. This came out of nowhere sort of so maybe Ramp or Lou or Polo can get more into detail Maybin is a freak, gunna be opening day CF and he is 20, Miller has nasty stuff, Rayburn is not that Special Do we have confirmation that Rayburn was in the deal?

Dave Dombrowski, after the 2006 trade deadline had passed: "I wouldn't trade Cameron Maybin straight up for Alfonso Soriano."

My question for the resident minor league baseball experts: is this a better package than we could have gotten from the two LA teams? Yes, because as much as the Dodger prospects were coveted, it appeared that Colletti wasn't willing to part with too much.

As for Cabrera, multiple sources say the Marlins are committed to trading the 24-year-old slugger because they simply can't afford him. After making $7.4 million this past season, the Venezuelan native is in line to earn more than $10 million. Cabrera, like Willis, isn't eligible for free agency until after the 2009 season. Yup, baseball decision. :thumbup Baseball is a business. Sorry that you're unwilling to accept that, or any of the following: - Cabrera is too expensive to re-sign in the future (without resolution to the stadium issue, and even, then a release from other financial obligations prior to the stadium's opening) - It's worth the publicity hit to measure Cabrera's trade value against that of draft picks In measuring the trade's impact on the team, you must consider that Cabrera will not be with us beyond 2009. A lot of the players rumored project to provide good value up to and beyond 2009. You make some excellent points. Many of us are bound to be disappointed with what we are likely to get in return for Cabrera because we are considering Cabrera as the total player and not what is actually being traded, namely, two years of Cabrera's services. What the Marlins FO has to weigh is the benefit of having Cabrera in a Marlins uniform for another two years against having the whatever players we could get for Cabrera for however long they would be Marlins which, as you noted, could extend well beyond 2009. If the Marlins felt they could contend for a pennant with Miggy next year, it might be worth holding onto to him for another year (or perhaps even for another two years). But it's clear the team still has a number of holes that need to be addressed before it can be a serious contender.

would it be insane to consider the possibility of the Carlos Quentin deal for the White sox was to get himto put into a possible proposal for Miguel Cabrera?We know Ozzie and KW both want Cabrera badly. Any thoughts? It is blatant conjecture just trying to consider that over.quentin + fields + gio + danks? No, it wouldn't. I thought the same thing. Kenny is a GM that likes to make the big deals and is not afraid to part with prospects...too bad they don't have the Dodgers farm system! They would probably try to foist off Brian Anderson and/or Ryan Sweeney, neither of whom do much for me. I think it would be very tough for the White Sox to put together a package that would appeal to the Marlins, but I bet Kenny Williams will try.

The Lindstrom prediction is awfully harsh, especially since I thought his slider was coming along quite nicely last year. With Lindstrom, what I worry about is an injury this year, given how much work he got. I wouldn't be suprised to see Gardner fare even worse than predicted, but I hope to be pleasantly surprised. I do not think Hermida will have an OBP 100 points above his average next season, although I'm sure he'll still have a very good OBP. When Hermida started turning things around, he actually walked less because he became more aggressive at the plate and it served him well. In the first part of the season, it would often seem that he was too patient at the plate and fall behind in the count too often. If Jake lives up to his prediction, that will be a nice year for him. I have not written him off yet. You cannot discount the lingering impact of a hand injury for a hitter. It's more a matter of him having a completely healthy year. That team-record breaking slump just killed his average, but went on a nice tear after that to get his average up around .280 but then suffered another bad slump to end the year. I do think he is fully capable of hitting for a better average than he has the past two seasons and I believe he was projected to hit for a decent average precisely because he could hit to the opposite field. I do not think we have to worry too much about Hammer's ability to hit lefties. If anything, last year was a small sample size abberation. I am afraid that Uggla's prediction prediction, especially the average, might be a bit optimistic considering that he will not have the same protection in the line-up next season.

I don't understand how he has HanRam declining and everyone else improving? It wouldn't be far-fetched to see Hanley slow down a bit.... and going from a .948 to .900ops isn't a shonda Do you mean "schande" (the German/Yiddish term for "disgrace or shame")?

Alex Sanchezesque Junior, Love your sig! :thumbup

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. No thanks. Living in Illinois, I follow the Cubs and Sox closely, and I can say it wasn't just an off-year. He is just not very good. The only thing he had going for him was his legs and now those are nearly gone as well. He is a terrible fielder, has no power, a low baseball IQ, and his batting average will suffer as well if he cannot get as many infield hits as he used to. He couldn't play CF at the Cell, so he certainly couldn't play CF at DS. He has had one injury after another the last two years (they seem chronic) and he will never even become the stolen base threat that he was in '05.

Supposed Uribe is going to play second Possible, but here in Chicago the word is Williams will look to deal him. They did get him to take a slight pay cut. Aside from the occassional dumb play here or there, he is a solid defensive player and 20 HRs at SS isn't bad either. Seems that the Angels may also be targeting Tejada with their surplus arms.