MarlinFan44

They should start Sanchez. He has been on a tear in Triple-A New Orleans, hitting .421 with 4 HRs in his last 10 games.

''I think Bonifacio is going to be like another Jose Reyes soon,'' said Texas Rangers All-Star Nelson Cruz, who has played with Bonifacio in the Dominican winter league for the past five years. ``People forget he's just starting. They need to be patient.'' Cruz is obviously right... actually, EB will probably be better than Reyes link I agree, they should be patient with Bonifacio. They should let him refine his skills in the minor leagues like every other player that is not yet ready to get the job done at the major league level. I don't question Bonifacio as a young player with upside. I question the Marlins letting him learn on the job when our team is in contention, which in a rare occurence by the way. They need to get someone in there who can produce. They are treating this situation like we are 15 games below .500. It's been half a season, he's had 350 at-bats, we can expect more of the same from Bonifacio going forward.

I want to contest the point made about leadoff batters and strikeouts. At no spot in the batting order (except maybe behind a slow catcher with a great OBP) is a strikeout less destructive than the leadoff spot. With so many of their at bats coming with the bases empty (or with pitchers on base, naturally cautious to taking extra bases), it makes no difference how they get out. An out is an out is an out. With few to no negative consequences for the baserunner. Perhaps you intended to say strikeouts are bad for a player of his skill set. (I'll forgive the confusion; baseball people have encouraged all of us to automatically assume speedsters are best utilized as leadoff hitters despite consistent analysis in opposition of such narrow-minded thought.) But even then, I feel as though you may be concentrating on his speed rather than his entire skill set, much less his individual batting approach. I agree it is beneficial for a speedy player to put the ball into play and push the defense to throw him out or err trying. However, it may not be entirely beneficial for a player to revise their entire batting approach to do so, much less revise their approach toward the goal of avoiding a situation rather than actually accomplishing something. Back to the main point: As the goal in any situation should be towards accomplishing something. The Marlins have a chance to, and EB may not be the best fit right now to help the team accomplish it. I agree with you there. I just don't think that Bonifacio's, with as many Ks as he has and a .304 on-base percentage, should be in a starting role, much less leading a contending team in at-bats. As you say, if an out, is an out, is an out, then you shouldn't have a guy that gets out so much leading your team in at-bats.

Now that the season is half over (a little more actually), now is a good time to reevaluate and see what the Marlins need to do to improve the team and give them the best chance to make the playoffs. Of all the things they can do, the most obvious, and least costly, would be to promote Gaby Sanchez from Triple-A, and play him. I think this move alone will greatly improve the production of the Marlins lineup in the second half, and would lead to two or three more wins for The Fish down the stretch. Bonifacio, for all his intangible assets, is not getting it done at the plate or in the field. He is hitting a mediocre .258, but when you consider how terrible his other offensive statistics are, his average is misleadingly good. The problem is Bonifacio has no power (82 percent of his hits are singles), he seldom walks (which leads to an on-base percentage of just .304), and he strikes out way too much. Bonifacio has 73 Ks on the season, which is ridiculous for a leadoff hitter, especially for one with no power. Bonifacio has the 15th most strikeouts in the National League, but he has none of the other assets a team should get in exchange for those Ks, like HRs, RBIs, or a high average. Let’s look at the 14 players in the National League with more Ks than Bonifacio to demonstrate my point. These 14 players average 14 more HRs and 30 more RBIs than Bonifacio. They have an average OPS of 0.849, while Bonifacio’s is just 0.624, a 0.221 difference. The other teams in MLB understand that if a player is going to strike out as much as Bonifacio does, you better get some real power numbers to go with it. Bonifacio just does not have that capability. All of this might be overlooked if he had truly stellar defense, but Bonifacio is leading the Major Leagues in errors with 13 on the season. I hate to say it, but Bonifacio is killing us. Gaby Sanchez, on the other hand, is a huge prospect that has been an amazing hitter at every level of minor league ball. He even hit .375 in limited action in the Big Leagues last September. Sanchez was MVP of the Double-A Southern League last year (.314/17 HR/92 RBI/.917 OPS in 478 ABs), and has put up comparable numbers in Triple-A this year (.297/8 HR/35 RBI/.815 OPS in just 212 ABs), although he was sidelined for a month with a knee injury. He also plays solid defense, winning the Southern League award for best defensive first baseman last year. Now that Sanchez has established his health, I don’t see how he still has not been given a chance to help the Marlins given Bonifacio’s lack of production. I am delighted to see that the Marlins are in contention, but I am getting mad that they have not made a switch at 3B when the numbers show quite painfully that something needs to be done. The Marlins are going to need every win they can get. Sanchez is Major League hitter and a very good option at 3B. Pull the trigger already!

I think Gaby Sanchez is the best option the Marlins have at 1B this year. Granted, he has had a slow start in 2009, but let?s not forget that Gaby has been outstanding at every minor league level and had an incredible year last year, winning the Double-A Southern League MVP. Who cares if he?s hitting in the low .200s over 32 Spring at-bats? Throw out his 0-for-9 start and he?s hitting .304, a level of production the Marlins can expect to continue based on his three-year track record. Are the Marlins really going to send one of the best young hitters in baseball to triple-A because of a small slump he had a month ago? That makes no sense at all. Spring statistics don?t mean that much. Hanley, Uggla, and Cantu have all had slow starts, but it doesn?t matter because a handful of games is not a big enough sample size to be meaningful. Their impressive production over a full 2008 season is much better indicator of what we can expect from them this year. It?s the same story with Gaby. The Marlins next best option appears to be Bonifacio at 3B with Cantu moving over to 1B. Bonifacio has had a pretty good Spring, hitting .278 over 72 at-bats. But his numbers with the Nationals last year were less than impressive - .248 over 157 at-bats. Bonifacio also has zero HRs in 192 career major league at-bats. The bottom line is, the Marlins lose a ton of power and RBI potential by removing Gaby (92 RBIs in 478 at-bats last year) from the lineup and inserting Bonifacio. Bonifacio, is a very capable utility man, but he is not going to be a consistent middle-of-the-lineup threat that can generate runs the way Gaby can. The Marlins need to show a little faith in their future star Gaby Sanchez.