popeyethesailor

The "Bust"! But another great start for JJ His numbers don't look gaudy (lack of wins), but I'd be disappointed to see JJ not earn an all-star bid if he turns in another solid month. He's pitched well enough to win in every start this year that I can remember. He gave up 6 earned runs vs washington and was lucky to not get the loss

I think we have been spoiled in that Johnson, Volstad and Sanchez were outstanding as soon as they came up. Now we are witnessing what happens more often that not. I agree but we cant do good with just Johnson and Volstad pitching well

Not quite sure what to make of Miller's performance. Only giving up 2 runs in 5 innings is perfectly acceptable however those 4 walks are typical of him. Nice for him to get the win on his return. Those 2 runs we got in the 8th were HUGE and as a result Lindstrom got a nice easy, comfortable looking save. Miller got a lucky 5 and dive win. amazinly none of his 4 walks scored the marlins needed this win bad

Surprising 2 1/2 games of pitching duels. Sad to lose this one, but 2 out of 3 in Coors ain't half bad. Another blown qualuty start for Volstad 5 out of 6 quality starts for him has a 2-2 record and era just under 3 talk about unlucky

B-Hop. After that train wreck of an outing last time, for him to give us 3 scoreless IP in relief was big. The fact that Calero & Penn didn't have to see action will be helpful tomorrow. Hanley. Without that homer and defense in the 8th inning the Marlins and Johnson would be losers

Tough tough loss, big ups to Taylor on coming out and pitching a quality game 2 runs and 3 walks in only 5 innings is not a quality start and he was very lucky it wasnt worse

Naw we got the best rotation because ours will most likely stay healthy all year. Its just the effectiveness of our 4 a And 5 starters that will determine how far we can go this year. Along with Boni and the defense at least being middle of the pack. :blink: I don't know everyone's injury history on every team, but do you not recall Anibal's arm surgery, JJ's arm surgery, Nolasco's injuries, and that Volstad has never pitched more than 175 innings? I mean, I obviously hope you are right, but that is in no way a reasonable criterion. Counting the minors Volstad has pitched 570 innings. You throw just as hard in the minors as majors

Yea, Miller really does tend to just get really unlucky. Nobody ever hits the ball hard off of him, but they find holes. It's very painful to watch. Miller had worst DIPS percentage last year with any pitcher over 100 innings, an atrocious .67%. His DIPS era was 3.96, almost two full runs lower than his actual ERA. He got really unlucky with his BABIP, .327, and the defense no doubt let him down. Basically, the stats paint him as the unluckiest pitcher in all of baseball last year. There is going to be marked improvement very fast with him. It's only a matter of time. And for the hell of it, with pitchers over 80 innings last year, Volstad was the 8th luckiest with a 1.34 DIPS percentage, and a DIPS era of 3.85. Almost a full run over what he did. Now Volstad gives up a lot of ground balls/doesn't whiff guys at a plus rate, so it is likely he will always be an 'overachiever' using independent defensive metrics, but it's something to think about for both of our young arms. I suspect Volstad will settle into the high 3s/low 4s, and Miller low/mid 4s this year as their stats become averaged out compared to the league becoming familiar with them. I agree Volstad probaly will be in the very high 3s era. His BABIP was a very good .279 showing that balls hit off him were usually not hit to hard and fieldable even with our weak ground ball defense. I meant he was unlucky that many guys got on base in the first place that maybe shouldnt have which led to the higher 1.34 DIPS percentage. Absolutely. These guys (Lowe, Webb, Carmona, Wang, Volstad, etc) are always go to 'overachieve' in DIPS for the very reason you speak of. DIPS is just going to generalize all balls into play as the same odds of becoming a hit compared to the average league rate, but obviously weak groundballs have a better percentage of being outs than fly balls/line drives. It also doesn't help none of those guys (except Webb), routinely throw over 7 K/9s creating even more balls into play. Regardless, point was Miller was really really really unlucky last year so there is a lot of good reasons for optimism. At the same time, it's realistic to think Volstad will come down a little. Johnson and Nolasco were relatively neutral last year and didn't over/under achieve, so this bodes very well for us moving forward. Thanks MarlinsLou very interesting stuff. I dont think Miller will have such a high era this year and no way will Volstad have such a low 2.88 era either. Nolasco and Johnson will probaly be high 3s too. This could be a great pitching staff.

Yea, Miller really does tend to just get really unlucky. Nobody ever hits the ball hard off of him, but they find holes. It's very painful to watch. Miller had worst DIPS percentage last year with any pitcher over 100 innings, an atrocious .67%. His DIPS era was 3.96, almost two full runs lower than his actual ERA. He got really unlucky with his BABIP, .327, and the defense no doubt let him down. Basically, the stats paint him as the unluckiest pitcher in all of baseball last year. There is going to be marked improvement very fast with him. It's only a matter of time. And for the hell of it, with pitchers over 80 innings last year, Volstad was the 8th luckiest with a 1.34 DIPS percentage, and a DIPS era of 3.85. Almost a full run over what he did. Now Volstad gives up a lot of ground balls/doesn't whiff guys at a plus rate, so it is likely he will always be an 'overachiever' using independent defensive metrics, but it's something to think about for both of our young arms. I suspect Volstad will settle into the high 3s/low 4s, and Miller low/mid 4s this year as their stats become averaged out compared to the league becoming familiar with them. I agree Volstad probaly will be in the very high 3s era. His BABIP was a very good .279 showing that balls hit off him were usually not hit to hard and fieldable even with our weak ground ball defense. I meant he was unlucky that many guys got on base in the first place that maybe shouldnt have which led to the higher 1.34 DIPS percentage.

Yea, Miller really does tend to just get really unlucky. Nobody ever hits the ball hard off of him, but they find holes. It's very painful to watch. Its the same with Volstad. Probaly 90% of the hits off him are singles and many are infield hits.

Some info I found: Any doubts that Michael Stanton is the real deal were erased in Monday's intrasquad scrimmage on field two behind Roger Dean Stadium. The 19-year-old outfield prospect crushed two tape-measured home runs. He took lefties Renyel Pinto and Dan Meyer deep on shots that may have combined to measure 1,000-feet. Stanton also had a chopped single that he tried to stretch to a double. He was called out sliding into second in a scrimmage with no umpires. The view from the bleachers looked like he was safe. Pinto was impressed by Stanton's strength. "I've never seen a ball hit like that, never," said Pinto, who hung a changeup. "It was like two seconds and it was out." Pinto struggled in his first game experience, but after he missed about a week with a stomach virus, he should be back on the mound on Wednesday. Other notable moments in the scrimmage: * John Lindsey and Miguel Fermin also went deep. * Chris Volstad threw three innings, and he is in line to next start on Friday. * Matt Dominguez had a double and single. * Emilio Bonifacio had a couple of singles. * Logan Morrison slapped an RBI double. Also: In Monday's scrimmage, Volstad pitched three innings and gave up one run. In his third and final inning, working a lot on his changeup, he threw a perfect inning -- with one strikeout. West, meanwhile, pitched two innings, and he gave up a two-run homer to John Lindsey. Apperently Lindseys homer was crushed and Volstads run was unearned Andino had an error on a grounder to lead off an inning.

By Jon Heyman, SI.com Ace left-hander Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies have reached agreement on a three-year extension worth $20.5 million, SI.com has learned. The new deal will pay the Phillies' World Series hero $4.35 million this coming season, then $6.65 million in 2010 and $9.5 million in 2011. Hamels' base salary also will increase by $500,000 in any season after he wins a Cy Young Award and by $250,000 if he finishes second or third in Cy Young balloting. Hamels, 24, went 14-10 with a 3.39 ERA in 2008, then dominated in the Phillies' march to a World Series title, winning four of his five postseason starts. In the Series itself, he went 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA in 13 innings over two starts (with a no-decision in the Phillies' clinching Game 5). In three major league seasons, the lefty is 38-23 with a 3.43 ERA and 518 strikeouts in 543 innings. The deal means Hamels and the Phillies will avoid arbitration this year. The Phillies went through a painful arbitration with another star, Ryan Howard, last year, and wanted to avoid a repeat. Howard beat the team that time, winning $10 million. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Guess we'll be seeing him for a few more years. I dont think we ever lost to him last year but he pitched great vs us. Volstad beat Hamels 3-0 at Philly on Aug 7

It's true.Jeffrey Loria needs to stop waiting on players like Hermida because Hermida is cheap, and spend some money on better talent. Three seasons have been wasted on Hermida.Let's put it that way.We could have easily gotten much better production for three years from another outfielder.The storm may not be over yet....... Loria has nothing to do with player development. It's also not a cheap issue because Hermida could easily turn into an above average bat over night. You don't give up on 24 year old players. How many times do we have to go over this. He's going to be fine. How about smart people, like Bill James. He predicts Hermida to be the second best hitter on the team in 2009 - .275/.363/.459 (.822). Sounds about right to me. And for giggles, he predicts Maybin to be the third best hitter - .276/.362/.445 (.806). His analysis includes Uggla, who he has a higher OPS score for .261/.344/.488 (.833), but lower Runs Created scores (5.86 - 5.79 - 5.69) which is the all important goal of the offense. And we could have rivaled Hermida's production, .267/.342/.436 (.779), over the last 3 years by stop gapping with nominal FA vets. Sure. But that would have cost free agent dollars, and we would have had a 0% chance of replicating the .870 OPS from 2007 or finding someone with the same longterm potential he displays. This Hermida complaining is really ridiculous. Yea, 2008 was really disappointing. REALLY disappointing. It's not the end of the world, he's still a kid, he's still developing. I can't wait until he starts hitting, just like in the summer of 2007, and all of you look like retards for wanting to get rid of him at the first sign of trouble. What does Bill James predict for our starting rotation in 2009?

Sorry to hear this about Raynor, I hope he's healthy enough to audition for a OF spot in ST, as for West totally off topic, usually the arm comes back better after TJ surgery, so he should be good to go as a starter for the next few years. He didnt have TJ surgery he had labrum surgery which is rougher.

id like to see olsen stay...ive said that a bunch of times but i think miller is a bit too unproven to hand him a rotation spot and olsen is a solid No 3 which is where i think he will slot behind johnson and nolasco. with olsen you know what you're going to get...with miller you dont just quite yet. if we are going to contend we need some sense of stability Based on how guys pitched ERA, h/9. WHIP, etc the slot would be #1 Nolasco, #2 Volstad, #3 Johnson, #4 Olsen, #5 Anibal

Second Half's Stats Cantu - .269 AVG .323 OBP .469 SLG 11 HR 41 RBI Ramirez - .282 AVG .414 OBP .495 SLG 10 HR 22 RBI Baker - .304 AVG .404 OBP .440 SLG 4 HR 30 RBI Nolasco - 5 W 4 L 3.29 ERA 0.99 WHIP 95.2 IP 12 BB 98 K Johnson - 7 W 1 L 3.50 ERA 1.36 WHIP 82.1 IP 27 BB 71 K Volstad - 4 W 4 L 3.18 ERA 1.38 WHIP 73.2 IP 33 BB 46 K First Half Winner - Dan Uggla Your stats on Volstad are wrong.

And some people still refuse to call him the ace, on this very board, when they put out their 2009 lineups... I am one of them, just because he had a good year this year, doesn't promise us a great year next year, i would put JJ there for safety because u know what u are getting from him. U don't know whether u are going to get the 07 Nolasco or the 08 Nolasco WHAT! What he's done this year isnt a fluke. What he's done this year, is become the CLEAR CUT ace of this staff. JJ isnt, his whip is to high and he doesnt have Nolasco like control. Nolasco was a MAN this year, he stepped up from his very first start. JJ has done what few people expected to overcome an injury in such a manner. Those will hopefully be the anchor to our rotation for a long time. As far as the Ace is concerned, that will be determined next season...JJ had the higher WHIP but he refused to lose. 7-1 is pretty solid after having missed that much baseball. Lets hope Volstad and Miller make their claim for that distinction JJ "refuse to lose 7-1" is almost all due to how many runs the offense scores for you . one game he had 5 inns and 6 runs and actually won. Olsen and Volstad wernt that lucky. KK/BB ratios and low WHIPs are nice but whats important is how the ERA ends up being. Volstad great 2.88 era with 4 losses is ridiculus. He wont do that good next year hes not that good probaly but he pitched the best the second half. Nolasco more experince and solid makes him the ace really.

I dunno wot Beckett's numbers are on this, but Volstad has an incredible HR/9 innings pitched in the majors. This is something that we can continually expect out of Volstad, and one of the reasons his high WHIP isn't that concerning. Agree and his 3.10 era very good with a so-so 5-4 record. Last game 5 inns and 2 ER and gets the loss and Johnson last game 5 inns and 5 ER and gets the win. W-L records dont mean much

very good game that we needed good hitting and enough pitching too win Very good hitting is why we won. Pitching was yech Johnson was lucky to win with 5 inns and 6 runs

alright let's do this fish! i still believe....and nolasco pitches on tuesday doesn't he? He should :thumbup Edit: I looked on the MLB page and it says Volstad is gonna pitch on Tuesday against Oswalt. Oswalt? tough luck Volstad

Well, for those of you in SoFla....GO TO THE GAME! RAB CAN YOU TAKE ME :whistle Post of the year if you ask me. :notworthy As for MLB TV, I'm getting MASN 2 but there is no commentary. I'm getting MASN with commentary. :mis2 Go Marlins! just lokking at the schedule now and next week olsen johnson and sanchez get easier washington twice and nolasco and volstad miss Wash both times tough luck for them

So I guess I'm the only one that thinks Olsen got lucky tonight and should still be replaced for the rest of the year? 6 hits and 4 walks in 6 innigs only 1 run and gets the win he was lucky tonight but I wouldnt replace him

Also, Scott Olsen gets his 1st win since July 19th. He now has 7 wins. Tied with Kevin Gregg :| for 2nd on the team. Pretty amazing that Kevin Gregg is tied for 2nd on the team in wins. Yea a reliver or closer should not have 7 wins. Volstad could easily have 7 wins too and hes only been here 2 months

Wouldn't De La Cruz get the win? He was the one who got thru the 5th inning...with a lead. Miller and Gregg got a hold...no? Tecknically you are right but the score keeper used his discretion to give the win to Gregg he would gag to give it to De la crz with giving up 6 runs

Renyel Pinto and Kevin Gregg are definately struggling. Its understandable that the bullpen will blow one on occasion, but Gregg has done it a few times lately and Pinto has been absolutely terrible. In fact, the game the other day against the Cubs when he gave them 5 runs and the game in one inning was the worst pitching and coaching job I've ever seen. Bullpen was great earlier and some of them not good now. Since the new rotation started july 8 the starters have had 27 inherited runners and the first relivers have allowed only 5 to score. 1 against Olsen and 4 against Volstad. All 4 were saved for Johnson to really help him and all 6 were saved for Anibal hes the lucky one. His 3.99 era would be much worse Volstads era could be a lot better. Dont know about the closers.