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So, it only took 37 games to pull the plug. Cost: 965K minus whatever someone else pays him this year. I'm glad to see they bit the big pickle on both Dobbs and Marmol. After he came in with it tied 2-2, I thought this is it -- sink or swim time -- do or die. Considering they didn't dump him after his last crummy outing, they must want to get this resolved right now or someone else, anyone else would be pitching. Then, he almost hit the first hitter with his first pitch. Yup, this is going to turn out well. As he imploded, I'm hoping my prayer to the DFA gods will be answered. A few short hours later, it was. This has to be Jennings/Hill, pure and simple. They must have an iron-clad agreement with Loria to manage the roster as they see fit. Period. No matter what. Absent that, I can't see Loria cutting loose even totally useless guys like Dobbs and Marmol this quickly, even though the cost of doing so was only about 2.3 mill at most, maybe as little as 1.4 mill if these guys are (foolishly) picked up by someone else. Peanuts, but not to Loria. The failed Marmol experiment cost 3 wins, the difference between 20-17 and 23-14 -- as in best in MLB. The saving grace is that it wasn't dragged out to the point where he was allowed to blow up 6 or 7 or 8 games. That's a season-killer. The only other guy who should go is whoever convinced them that Marmol had changed his delivery in winter ball such that he would have better control.

Things could certainly be a lot worse -- one year ago today (5-8) they were 10-25 and in last place 11 behind ATL. Win 20 didn't happen until 6-14 in game 66. Ugh. Discussions like many on this board remind me of markets -- which are exactly like baseball seasons in that they never go in a straight line. When any market makes a bottom, bearishness is at its maximum. Months or even years after a market turns up and continues up (always irregularly with frequent corrections, just like baseball) there are always an incredible number of people who are convinced that the nascent new trend will end imminently. This, that and a dozen other things are a big problem. Other people who don't see or agree with that are said to have their heads in the sand. Reversion to the mean must occur soon. Always worried about something. Or 10 things. Which usually prevents them from profiting. Many of them wind up broke because they were contrarian short-sellers all the way up. Unless you're betting on a team (or an owner) "profit" in baseball equals fun and enjoyment. These guys have been fun to watch from day one of this season and remain so. I suspect that this may be true for the next few years. Don't go psychologically broke baseball-wise. Go with the trend. Enjoy it, teams with potential like this one has don't happen that often.

Alvarez works quickly, there were only 3 runs scored, so it was always gonna be under 3 hours. But, 2:08? That is a little nuts. I noticed the time in the post-game show and was waiting for the interview of Samson congratulating them for complying with his directive to play faster and extolling the benefits of fast games. Alas, no Samson. Personally, I'd prefer that every game took 4 hours, but that's just me -- I'd prefer to watch baseball than something else. Especially these guys. They remain fun to watch.

Pinto's biggest talent is being overlooked. Nobody could take the cover off of and unwind a baseball like he could. I often hoped that he would be left sitting in the BP to hone his considerable ball-unwinding skills rather than be brought in to walk the bases full.

OK. Let me put it another way. I'm sometimes surprised by how far the skinny little dude can whack a ball, gap or no. He hit 2 HR in '12 and 3 in '13. He's drastically changed his approach, but he'll probably manage a few this year. Call it whatever, minimal power, not much power, very little power, but it ain't "no" power. Since he's obviously a fixture here, having been FO-christened a potential HOF guy, we can hope that at 23 he'll develop a little more power over the next few years.

I watched the TPA/NYY game on Friday and Bell came in in the 11th inning and dug his usual hole over two and a third innings. 4 H and 1 BB. He loaded the bases in the 12th, IIRC. Somehow, he got out of it and didn't blow the game. Saturday he gave up 3 H, 1 BB and 3 ER in 1 inning, but that was after they were already losing. That, apparently, was the last straw. His ERA is 7.27 in 17.1 IP with a 1.8+ WHIP. Yeah, baby! That's the Heath Bar we knew all too well. Time to go to Japan.

Here ya go -- Capps’ pitching mechanics fell out of whack in Seattle last season, and he gave up 12 home runs in just 59 relief innings. The Marlins gave up Morrison for Capps, confident they could correct his flaws. “Mechanically, he had slowed his tempo a little bit and got a little more [throwing] across his body,� Jennings said. “This spring, we were able to go get video. They looked at it and one day, [pitching coach Chuck Hernandez] went out and hit him ground balls at shortstop, let him pick them up and throw across, just to find his natural throwing slot.� When Capps was sent to New Orleans, he continued to work on his delivery with Zephyrs pitching coach Charlie Corbell. http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/05/4098121/spring-infield-practice-aids-miami.html

"No" power? 7 2B and 3 3B. Not bad for a skinny little dude. He rarely hits it out, but he puts a lot of balls to the track or the wall.

There's an article out there about how Hernandez hit a bunch of grounders to Capps at short and had him throw to 1B to figure out what his natural arm-slot was. This supposedly allowed them to fix his delivery. Seems to have worked, so far. If that was really the problem, we got very good value for LoMo.

Never understood the hatred for the sign guy This has been discussed before. His signs were incredibly lame, if not totally stupid. Not to mention annoying.

Him throw hard. Him good. Ugh. You rhetoric good. Make sharp point. Him not "strong like bull" Olivo. Yes, him throw hard. But him get chance prove him talent. Marmol sit haunches and make crying. Ugh. Thus endeth prayer to DFA gods.

The whistler today didn't help at all. That guy is totally annoying. Pure attention-whore. Reminds me of the screaming heckler in Tampa a few years back. Tell him to put a sock in it and if he doesn't, ban him. Which is probably what Tampa did with their a$$hole, assuming that he didn't just die of a stroke. At least the idiot sign-guy was silent while being stupid.

I'm waiting for ... to come into this thread and remind us that the Marlins signed Marmol because they could correct his delivery. Don't put words in my mouth. What I've said was that the FO thought that he had changed his delivery and would have better control. I also said that he would continue to be put into late, important situations until he either proves himself or fails. Both were and are true. 10 or so innings ain't much, but his BB/9 still sucks. They were smart enough to DFA Dobbs, with any luck they'll do the same with Marmol and just eat the relatively small $ as a potentially good idea and reclamation project that failed.

Sure, if you discount anyone having any scruples whatsoever, hide a 1/2" telephoto lens hi-res camera in the eye of one of the birds in the sculpture that feeds to the Marlins video review room (what's one more screen in a room full of them?) and a 1/4" display (totally illegal) in some obscure corner of the dugout that relays a number indicating the pitch-type. Figure out how to signal the hitter without attracting any attention. Then, sit back and see how long it takes to get caught.

It's just a weird tendency. If you're 0-7 or 0-8 with RISP, the odds increase (for no apparent good reason) that the next guy will get a RISP hit. If he fails, look forward to 0-12 or 0-13. Or 0-21. Or 0-34. Sometimes it works, sometimes not but it works way more often than it should. I've won a lot of miscellaneous sports bets for no other reason. The loser always asks "Why did you think that?" My answer is always "Fibonacci." They never understand because nobody knows anything about an obscure 11th century Italian mathematician.

I usually don't bother commenting in post-game threads -- everyone who watched it knows what happened. Tonight, after the endless choke-choke-choke with RISP act and then actually coming back to take a late lead, I thought -- after Ramos took care of the 8th -- uh, oh, next comes Cishek looking for save number 34. 34 you say? Why is that important? It's not, except for the fact that it's a Fibonacci number. 1-2-3-5-8-13-21-34-55-89 etc. Add the last two in the series and you get the next number. The ratio between each pair beyond the first few winds up being .618. Often called the "golden ratio." I won't bore anyone with the details, but having traded markets for 40+ years I can tell you that it works in terms of predicting turning points far, far more often than it should on a purely random basis. So, too, in sports. For instance, the Bears-Dolphins game in 1985. Undefeated Bears playing game 13. Uh, oh. Bears lost. Now, anecdotes mean nothing, but every time someone comes to the plate 0-for-12 or 13 or 0-for-20 or 21 or 22 I have a heightened expectation for a hit. Every time some pitcher has run up 7 or 8 wins or 12 or 13 wins in a row, I entertain the higher likelihood of a loss. Etc. It's really quite weird and should mean nothing, but it works out far more often than it should on a random basis. And then there was Cishek looking for save number 34. The result didn't surprise me at all, although I hoped that maybe he would just blow the save and they would win it in extra innings. Not to be. Cishek, meet Fibonacci.

To be fair Jeffrey, you hired Mike Redmond. To be fair, if I was Loria, there's no way I would be posting here as I would have killed myself somewhere back around '06 or '07.

We don't know that. Meanwhile, I can't explain Houston's idiocy. Not that it matters.

We were damn close. Nah. Interviewing him probably caused whoever was involved in it to wonder why they were wasting their time, but he was never anything other than a sop to the MLB rules about "affirmative action" when hiring managers, etc.

I'd forgotten what an idiot Porter is. He's one of the reasons that HOU is well on their way to another #1 pick. Which he probably regards as a resume enhancement. Not even the Marlins were dumb enough to hire this clown.

Doing a little more reading, it appears that many TJs use a tendon (muscle to bone) to replace the ligament (bone to bone.) Once attached in the reconstruction the tendon slowly turns into a ligament. So, that opens up an almost unlimited number of TJ surgeries per arm. Arm tendons, ankle tendons, near-hamstring tendons -- lots of tendons available. Most used seems to be the palmaris tendon and the gracilis tendon (near the hamstings.) There are also experiments with stuff like Kevlar and other fibers going on. The bionic future.

Thinking about those few 3-time TJ guys, if they used their own replacement ligaments they've probably got a problem if they wanted to go for a 4th round of TJ. #1 might use the ligament from the other arm. #2 might use the ligament from the back of one knee. #3 might use the ligament from the other knee. Regardless of the order, you're out of ligaments that can be used (assuming wrist and ankle ligaments can't be used -- probably too small -- I've never seen them referenced.) So, #4 would probably have to be a cadaver ligament. Which has supposedly been done, but I would think that it has to be accompanied by a whole pile of drugs to prevent tissue-rejection. As far as I'm aware nobody has ever done TJ four times. The natural limit would seem to be three, but give it enough time and someone will go for four.

What do you mean when you say that JJ "earned 50 mil, but netted 25 mil"? After taxes or something? Yup. Round numbers -- federal income tax 40%, state income tax 5%, agent 5%. There's also the 1.45% Medicare (FICA) tax on all earnings, without limit (114K limit for the 6.2% Social Security portion of FICA.) Unless he's managed to fritter away about 25 mill, he's set for life. You have to really love to pitch to have someone take a knife to your arm (and your other arm or a leg to get the replacement ligament) and go through the year of rehab -- again. Then, there's the guys who really, really love to pitch -- the ones who have had TJ reconstruction done three times. Ouch.

Or genius. Loria is a financial realist, for sure. Massive losses tend to get your attention when you're the one suffering them. Never mind that you'll ultimately come out OK when you sell the team. Negative cash flow comes out of your hide today -- right now, not when you sell. A genius, baseball-wise? I doubt even Samson thinks that at this point. Not even JJ, never mind Loria knew JJ would have to take a second whack at TJ surgery two years ago. Loria dumped JJ because he needed to dump payroll. And so he did. Including this year, JJ's earned about 50 mill and netted about 25, so he should have no worries. He obviously loves to pitch or he wouldn't bother going through TJ again. Just another example of a failed pitching contract.

Jesus. The guy makes a few questionable decisions and some want him fired. The only one that made zero sense was bunting Ozuna -- it was like he suddenly lost faith in one of his best young hitters because of the mere possibility of hitting into a DP. Red doesn't get a choice on platoons, not yet anyway. Jones was signed based on the understanding he would play full-time. Same with McGehee. Getting around that will take a month or two -- failure will free Red's hands. As for Marmol, either they're right about him modifying his delivery in winter ball or not. Meanwhile, he's gonna be tossed into important, late situations to sink or swim. Red is following orders: find out if he's worth a sh!t or not. Orders with which he probably agrees. So far, mostly so good. This board is perverse. They hit up a storm and the instant opinion is not just that they will probably revert a bit but that the offense will totally fail. Headed for last place. Lose a few games and all pitching is overrated. Defense sucks. Only the last is somewhat true. At the same time, they've made some great plays. This is probably a .500 team, but could easily be better. Contend? Probably not, but the difference is about 8 wins and anything can happen. Fire Redmond? Ridiculous. If he bunts Ozuna 2 years from now in the same situation, OK.