esteban0321

No, I don't think it's a good trade. But what about Andrew Miller? Not in this trade but getting rid of him in general. I think he has shown little upside and he is kind of expensive for a guy you don't know can even make the team. I think this experiment has proven to be a disaster and with the Marlins in contention I believe his salary could be much better spent else were.

With all there spending this off season and their limited budget can anyone explain paying $1million to Reynel Pinto? I still think that he has some upside, if he can ever get consistent command. I think he has one of the best change-ups in baseball. But for one million dollars I would have passed. With what may turn out to be a buyers market I think they could find a more reliable arm for a million dollars.

Ricky signed his one year deal a few months ago. Somewhere in the ballpark of $4 million if I remember correctly. $3.8 million. I think that can be a steal if he keeps up his second half form. Especially his last game of the year vs the Braves. That was amazing! Thank you for the answer. I must have just had a brain fart because I'm sure I heard this but I just forgot. Does anyone know where the marlins stand with players still headed to arbitration? Of course Cody is the big name but is there anyone else left? And how is the bullpen looking right now?

First of all I think the Marlins deserve a lot of credit for spending some considerable cash to give the team a chance to build on last year. Does anyone know what's going on with Ricky Nolasco? I haven't heard anything. I haven't heard he has been signed, but I haven't heard he is going to arbitration. I haven't heard anything.

102.4 total Having only devoted about an hour to trying to list expenses, I'm sure that I've missed a lot more than 1 million, but, in any case, it's obvious why the Marlins payroll is what it is, give or take 5 mill. I'll guess that any excess revenue from "other stuff" has been allocated to pay the Marlin's 150-160 million contribution to a stadium that they won't own. With any luck, the "Loria is a cheapskate and/or a thief" crowd will now choke on their bile, but I won't hold my breath. Since you seem to know everything please answer me why MLB has agreed that they Marlins have to increase payroll? How can the Marlins possibly pay for the 10-15 million increase in payroll from last year to this year with your figures? I know that sports franchises have been known to play for a season or two at a deficit but I don't think that MLB would force a franchise to do this. According to your estimates the Marlins are only a couple million in the black and have just added a ton of money (putting them in the red). MLB is a business and while an individual owner might choose to operate at a deficit there is no way I believe MLB would force them to.

The marlins did break the rules. Their payroll wasn't even as much as their cut from shared revenue. This money is given by the big spenders to the low revenue teams so that the disparity in spending won't be so great. The Yankees and company spend a $zillion on payroll. The small markets say we can't compete with a $zillion dollar payroll we need a salary cap. MLB and MLBPA say no salary cap, how about the big spenders give money to the little spenders so they can compete. But that money has to go into players because the Yankees and Co. don't want to pay for the Marlins and Co.'s rent. The point of the money is to give the little spenders a chance to keep their players and sign free agents. So it isn't like the Marlins could just spend that money on whatever they wanted. Now if the Marlins were under budget for a year or two they could say they were restructuring and it would be OK. But this is a team in position to win now, going into their fifth season of spending less than what they take in from revenue sharing and appearing like they planned on cutting players to doing the same thing next season. You notice only the Marlins got reprimanded. This is because they were the only ones spending less than they take in from RS. Now that they have been reprimanded they have signed their two most expensive players and seem ready to play fair. I love the marlins. I even like that they are penny-wise but any fan that believes that they weren't scamming the system is delusional. They got caught, they have mended their ways and hopefully we will see a playoff team this year or next. (this statement of the obvious is in response to all those commenting that the Marlins did nothing wrong and they can spend their money how they want.) p.s. And to those still believing that the marlins are some paupers working with a shoestring budget that can't afford 800k for a much needed reliever or to pay anything more than rookie contracts: MLB was in on this reprimand not just the MLBPA. Do you think that MLB would force the marlins to spend money they don't have?

Is this a serious offer or is this simply a gratuitous offer to get the fans excited and make ownership look like they're really trying to spend on a big name? I believe the Marlins know how to sign someone. I cannot tell if the Marlins offer is realistic and could actually get this guy signed. It seems very fair though. I think anything over 2.3 million a year is overpaying and the Marlins can't afford to take on that kind of risk but if the Boston offer is the highest out there then maybe the fish have a chance at signing him. Getting him would generate a lot of excitement and would steal some headlines from the fall and winter sports. Plus, I think if they did sign him they would try to get him to the big leagues by the all-star break to compete for the closer job or help out of the bullpen. I know some will say that he is a starter but the Marlins have a boatload of starters and are desperate for bullpen help. It would also give Chapman an opportunity to see big league pitching sooner. No matter what he won't be starting this year so might as well get some use out of him.

The SP has been great. If the offense could be some what consistent we'd could go on a roll. 100% agree. If the offense can start to produce this team is still in it and can do something special still. This team was supposed to be improve from last year and last year we won 84 games. My consolation is that veteran players tend to produce as they have in the past. Most of the "veterans" on this team are behind or well behind what they are expected to do so that means a lot of guys are due to get hot. I believe the pitching will continue to be good and there are enough reliable guys in the bullpen that if managed properly the pen can be good for the rest of the season. Playoffs or not I hope we at least win more games than last year and are in contention late.

Great game for West. By the end of the season the rotation is going to end up being as good as everyone was predicting pre-season. On another note Freddie Gonzalez is a minor league manager and this team will never be successful with him at the helm. You can argue for taking West out tonight (though I don't think so) but it isnt just this one time. He's always doing things like this. A couple nights ago he took out J.J. and nearly lost the game. And who can forget his love affair with notorious gas cans like Pinto. Freddie stinks and I hope he's not around when the stadium is built. Fredi. His name is Fredi. Also, a 23-year-old rookie at 107 pitches did not need to go back there. Also our ace at 107 pitches, who's coming finally healthy after coming back from his second arm injury, didn't need to stay in that game, especially with a lefty, who hit him to .300/.364/.500 and was 2-3, coming up. Fredi, thank you for the correction. I thought it looked funny the other way. That is why is said one could argue that West could have come out. Only because its his 4or5 start and he had never pitched even into the eighth inning but this magic number of 100 pitches is not a magic number. A pitcher with 100 hundred pitches after 5 0r 6 innings might be tired but after eight it is not a must to take the guy out. Plus J.J. had a three run lead and still looked strong. Leaving him in for one more hitter wasnt going to hurt him and he could do worse than Nunez giving up the home run that brought the game within one run. Like I said it isn't just one or two times. Fredi nearly always manges by the numbers. The only reason the Marlins have him is because he is a company man that will do what he is told.

Great game for West. By the end of the season the rotation is going to end up being as good as everyone was predicting pre-season. On another note Freddie Gonzalez is a minor league manager and this team will never be successful with him at the helm. You can argue for taking West out tonight (though I don't think so) but it isnt just this one time. He's always doing things like this. A couple nights ago he took out J.J. and nearly lost the game. And who can forget his love affair with notorious gas cans like Pinto. Freddie stinks and I hope he's not around when the stadium is built.

You can spin it however you want, but the fact remains that Cabrera is a legitimate cleanup hitter, there as hard to find as an ace pitcher! He makes 14 million a year, thats not A-ROID money... but with him in the middle of the lineup it would have been devastating... If the stadium deal would have gone down sooner like it should have, then he never would have been traded period.. Hanley is a bargain at 5 million a year. Josh Johnson better not get away Exactly. No matter what anyone says, we should have kept Cabrera. Hanley and Cabrera in the same lineup, both only being 25 and 26 respectively? We would be a legit playoff and possibly even world series contender for years to come. Now, with only two legit bats in the lineup, we're stuck being mediocre for the time being. Uggla is one of the best offensive 2B in all of baseball. Cody Ross is an .800 .OPS guy, who's struggling. Hermida is showing that he can get on base, again. We have one of the best offensive catching platoons in baseball. And, again, 1 of those 2 legit bats (I'm assuming you're talking about Cantu, since he's having a good year, and you seem like a "what have you done for me, lately?" type of guy?") we never get if Cabrera does not leave. He's currently hitting .193/.301/.345 through 30 games. He had a great season last year, but he's currently nowhere near being one of the best offensive 2B in baseball. Well it's currently .581, but I get your point. We'll see if he steps up or not. His bat has still been less than stellar. In fact, it's been below average. I'll give you that. Baker has done well thus far. I've said it once, and I'll say it again. I couldn't care less about having Cantu if we still had Cabrera. Cabrera is one of the top 10 players in the game. Can you imagine how good we would be having two of the top 1-10 best players in the game? I can. Ok first of all Uggla didn't just have a nice year last year. Check his stats. He had three exceptional years in a row. Typically vetran players, unless they are injured or at the end of their carreers, tend to finish the season with similar stats to what they have done in the past. Second of all if you know where they are handing our JorgeCantu's I think you should talk to the Marlins or any other team because I'm sure someone will offer you a big bag of money for the where abouts of easily gotten middle of the line up professional hitters with power that can play multiple positions. And about Cabrera still being on the team well, if we are going to make a fantasy team of could have and should haves, we could make some team. And since your so smart that you know how to aquire all our young talent and keep all our superstars without cracking $50mil in payroll, again, I recomend you offer your services to the Marlins because clearly Beinfest is a fool and you could do a much better job. You know sometimes in video games I just create superstar players so that I can fit all the Marlins under the payroll. Maybe the Marlins should try that.

I will be happy to finish .500 with the limitations of this team! Not enough offense is obvious. the injuries to Sanchez, Miller hurt.. Maybin flopped, Bonafacio has come back to earth, Uggla, ross, hermida not so good.. limited lineup = limited payroll maybe the marlins should have kept Cabrera to go with Hanley. For $144million Cabrera would have to pitch every other day as a starter, be the closer when he isnt starting, pitch long relief for himself and hanley, who would have to pitch too, he would also have to man the entire left side of the infield and cover some of the outfield and he would have to be the back up catcher. And if he did all that the marlins would still have to trade Hanley because they payroll would be too high.

I'd like to join the rest of you in proclaiming the sky is falling. The fish wont win another game and hanley, jj and cantu will help a nice old lady across the street and they will all be tragically flatened by a falling piano. Things will never ever get better... until they do and when they do pls researve a seat for me on the bandwagon.

The bright side is hanley's hot bonifacio is heating up coughlin looks good and Senior Macho Cantu doesnt stay cold too long. The rest of the line up is due big time because they have all stunk pretty bad lately, especially jerm-itis, ugly popeye and my beloved cody!cody! ross. And the dodgers have to come back to reality after beating up on the NL deadbeats and the phillies for the first month and a half. Ricky needs a nice raging 14,000 fans on sunday to get him rolling again. Or we can always try a human sacrifice. Any volunteers? Met fan anyone?

I voted yes but that is contingent on how hard a push we're talking about. Adding Penny doesnt make this team an instant contender. Plus I get the feeling that they dont want a prospect, this is not dumping a player they want a major league infielder and probably one that can start. So who fits that bill on the Marlins that we can do without and doesnt have a great upside for the future with this team? hmmm...So I guess my answer is really no. Besides if they are willing to add some payroll to get Penny why dont they just sign Pedro for 3-4 million? He's available and likely to give you as much as Penny would and we wouldnt have to mortgage the future to get him.

Hanley needs to bat third for this team to be successful. Bonifacio will have his growing pains but he is coming out of his slump and is the ideal leadoff guy if he can get his OPS up. Bake should be hitting #2 because he has been successful there and let the new guy Coughlin try to contribute to the lower part of the order. The problem most of the year has been the lower part of the order. It seems no one can hit down there. We need Ugs to start find gaps, especially that gap over the fence. Cody needs to be Cody. Hermida needs to crap or get of the pot already. Of course without Nolasco getting back to any version of last years Ricky we can pack up the tent and call it a season. But assuming he does get better, and he must, I think that Marlins need to find a legitimate bottom of the rotation guy. A Mark Redman type circa 2003 that will give you a chance to win and finish with 10-12 wins and not lose more than that. It's scary right now. We need to start winning. But at least we have a few players slumping right now. That means that a bunch of guys are due for a hot streak.