cornfield

Good for the Marlins: Hanley was ripping (even though it was for DR) and Hermida was hitting well also. McPherson hit a homer in my book, as his shot to left easily goes if not hit high and directly into a very stiff breeze. Bad for the Marlins: With the exception of the first two innings for the most part, the DR hitters absolutely loved everything they saw. Every swing off of Tucker resulted in a line shot ... they just didn't start falling until his third inning of pitching BP. Tankersley couldn't miss the fat part of the bat either.

I predict that both Ross and Hermida will outperform both Ibanez and Franceour this season. Why not Maybin too?

If you are managing the DR, who do you start at short, Hanley or Reyes? Can hardly move one of them to third because ARod is there. I don't know if the DH is in play or not.

Thanks for the report on the scrimmage. Nice to see Stanton pounding some major league pitchers, even if only Pinto and Meyer. I look forward to watching Stanton play in Marlins stadium some year soon.

Who was there to watch the scrimmage at Jupiter today and what did you see?

First spring game this year, seven rows back, right behind the plate. Pretty quick game ... should have been a super quick 1-0 Marlin win. Instead, it was Little League day in right field as Hermida totally botched two routine flyballs to deep right. To the hitters' discredit, both were unconscionably ruled as base hits. Pitching: so so for both teams. Johnson threw three good innings and the pen held up fine for the final three innings. Nolasco didn't overpower anybody and gave up some deep fly balls ... but they should have been caught. Defense: Oh boy. Not only did the two balls elude Hermida (the sun?), but Bonifacio dropped a cream puff foul pop, Hanley hacked a routine grounder, and Amezaga misplayed a perhaps playable grounder. Offense: Some sharply hit balls turned into outs, but there were also too many strikeouts. Helms was the hitting star with three opposite field punches. I sure wish more of the Florida hitters would have settled for three hits of that variety .... or maybe one. Maybin looked good at the plate to me. Unfortunately, he made a major muff on the bases, turning a nice infield single into an out when he turned into fair territory rounding first and they ended up nailing him..... again, Little League stuff. Logan Morrison and Brett Carroll hit shots that were caught. Hermida homered but was also left in the game to face a lefthander ... against whom he predictably fanned without a chance of contact. I think I'll wait for the real games to start before hitting the bleachers...

In all seriousness, the Marlins have a better team than either the Phillies or Mets. I believe that the Marlins will win the World Championship this season.

Is no one concerned about how absolutely putrid Pinto was last year?

How can you not have worries about a bullpen that Pinto is part of? Even more seriously than that, the bullpen is a huge question mark. The starters? Nolasco and Johnson should be, at worst, okay. The rest are really up in the air. The offense and defense I have no worries about, just excitement.

Coste has impressed me for sure. Twice I've gone to see the Phillies play the Marlins and twice he smacked the crap out of the ball.

Given Annibal's age, history, and work ethic, I would not be in the least surprised if he turns in the best season of any Marlins' pitcher. And that's not take anything away from the others.

I marvel at the team that the Marlins put on the field for the payroll. You can find so many teams in the league with double the payroll and the Marlins look better at almost every position on the field ... especially the pitching staff. Just take a look at the rosters around MLB. And when you consider all the highly regarded prospects waiting in the wings it's all the more impressive. Go Marlins.

How can you feel unwanted when a team is going to pay you close to $5 million bucks to play baseball for them this season? If Uggla was unwanted, the Marlins would have traded him. Invest your $3.2 million worth of take home pay for this season alone, Dan, and you can live exceptionally well on it for the rest of your life.

1) If I traded Uggla for Cain or JSanchez, I would feel fine putting Cantu at second base. Defense would continue to be less than stellar there, but offense would actually improve. 2) Still, I don't sell Annibal Sanchez short. If he has regained his arm strength, which seems to be the case, I expect him to have a better year than Cain. I believe that and am sticking to it right through opening day.

We already have Dunn in uniform ... it just says McPherson on the back.

Let's think about the offense of our opponents. It figures to be down impressively with a little better defense and much better pitching. I can't imagine why the Marlins wouldn't be favored to win the NL East ... at least by us.

There is no way on Earth that Blake could have matched Cantu's performance for the Marlins last season. Cantu was arguably the Marlins MVP.

I'm comfortable with Jonathan Sanchez as the fifth starter. Now, go get him.

I guess parroting is the norm for forums, but here's once voice that's weary of the "Cantu can't play defense" cackling. Cantu had played second base previously in the majors and moved to third in Spring Training for the Marlins last season. He made too many errors at third during the first half of the season, but was highly capable with his fielding after the all star break. I expect his fielding to continue at that higher level this season and don't know why any reasonable observer wouldn't have a similar expectation.

What would you think if Cody Ross had been a free agent this year and some team had given him a two-year contract for $30 million. That's exactly what the Dodgers did for Andruw Jones last year because his numbers were comparable (although worse) than Ross's numbers last season ... despite the fact that he had already been in steady decline for a couple years prior to that. Andruw Jones is washed up. Might as well sign Sammy Sosa - we saw him last night at the Hard Rock Cafe at the Billy Joel concert.

Just stop with this stuff. It hurts the team credibility to even put Jones name on the message board.

If I owned the Marlins, either of those two would have to pay me a million a year to sit on my bench. The Marlins are now officially a young veteran team. No messing with that.

Harold Reynolds can say what he will about the Marlins, and I know nothing of the real nature of the incident that caused his removal from ESPN, but I will say this: 1) a production manager at ESPN told me that Harold was about the nicest guy he ever knew; 2) and many years ago, around 1990, a couple kids from my hometown of Juneau, Alaska, were at some batting cages in Scottsdale, Arizona, hitting next to Harold it turned out. He introduced himself and gave them some hitting tips along with a couple bats and a roll of quarters to keep on hitting. Only really decent folks do something like that.

Just plain silly. Even if the Marlins wanted to pay a journeyman $5 or $8 million a year, which is completely out of the question at face value, what would be accomplished? If you moved Uggla to third, you would be negating half his value as a player. The offensive punch you get from Uggla as a second baseman is what makes him a unique contributor. Put him at third and he is no upgrade over Cantu. Same would go for moving Hanley out of the shortstop role. He's one of top few players in the game because he plays short. Having Ramirez and Uggla as the keystone combo is the foundation of the Marlins offense. I wouldn't mess with Cantu at third base either. His defense improved in the second half and he was a solid hitter. I wouldn't hesitate to play McPherson at third, however, if Cantu could land the lefty Sanchez from SF, a deal I'm still hoping materializes. Gaby Sanchez is going to be absolutely solid at first base and at the plate ... I just know it. I'm hoping to see Maybin lead off and Hanley bat second. Hanley needs to see all the fastballs he can get. G. Sanchez third in the order. Cantu cleanup. Hermida. Uggla. Ross. And Baker. Let's start the season tomorrow.

In questioning Lindstrom's selection, you are really only criticizing the team management that selected him. Lindstrom looked great at the end of the year ... and he has as good an arm as there is. This selection can only boost his confidence ... and confidence is particularly key for a closer. Good luck, Matt.