BafflingBeerman

If you are blown away by an offer, yeah, you gotta do it, however... I think we should keep Uggla. He, along with Hanley, are the big offensive guys on the team. Uggla can be a marquee guy alongside Hanley. (Marquee in the sense of being big outside of Florida. Uggla has flirted with that off and on, unfortunately, not always in a positive light, i.e. the ASG). And more importantly, being a potential marquee player, he has been and will continue to be a leader in the clubhouse. I thing Uggla's role back there, behind closed doors, is very valuable. It doesn't look like Hanley wants to lead, at least not in a consistent way, so we need a guy who can say the right things, act the right way, call people out and be THE guy on the team. I think you need a mix of veterans from the outside coming in and homegrown, longtime playing on the club players to fight any chaos that may break out. Is it really that important to have Uggla around for something that is unmeasurable like "leadership?" i think so, though I don't think that means you should overpay him or hold onto him for dear life. I just have a little fear that if Hanley is the only Big Kahuna on the team, we will get more "Hanley being Hanley" (which is rare, but does occur) plus we might get other young guys in here and they see Hanley's actions and without someone like Uggla (someone used to the Marlins system, a starter, etc.) around, we might get some more incidents.

So can someone explain to me why two players with previous MLB starting experience (Sean West and RVH) were left to rot while we threw some kid in the fire when we're still in contention? Also, why was Nate Robertson allowed to stick with the team longer than Volstad? Volstad's numbers were better than Nate's. Isn't West coming back from injury? He may be having some solid starts, but you don't want to rush him back and up when he is still young.

Oh, so that story is sci-fi then?

I have been a Marlins fan from season 1, I didn't go to the first game in Joe Robbie Staduim but I did go to the 2nd...I can sincerely say I never saw a worse bullpen in a Marlins uniform ever, We have had some bad teams but our bullpens were always fairly strong. We always had young arms that were able to get batters out, even if it were the Yorkis Perez of the world. In our history we could generally count on having young strong arms. This season has been an abomination it's actually gotten worse than last year. The good news last night is that the bullpen didn't have another BS, they just flat out lost the Game! This team is at .500 in spite of its BP We could have 60 wins by now easily . If I were Beinfest i would blow up the BP and start new Have Helmsley as the close or something like that. We are going nowhere with this Bullpen and it is getting worse This might actually be the worst post on this board in a long, long time. At least the most misinformed. wasnt that terrible until the last few sentences. Yeah, because anything could be worse than last year considering last year was really, really good. But I think this was all bound to happen sooner or later. Going with unreliable arms will serve its title eventually. If you are playing on odds you wont win every time, it's actually been surprising that we've been able to put together bullpens for so long. That's how I feel. You keep on rolling the dice, eventually you are going to come up snake eyes. I don't think this bullpen has been the worse ever. I remember a lot of hairpulling over the years and this season doesn't seem like all that different. Will be interesting to see if the FO philosophy changes this off-season and we go after some proven bullpen help/talent.

Cantu peaked too early.

Not too good that a young pitcher we may or may not have rushed to the big leagues gets an elbow strain.

I've never been a pitcher, and maybe Leo being a small guy has something to do with it...I don't know. All I know is, it only would've been his 3rd consecutive day pitching. That's not unheard of, and this was indeed a big game. With that said, this team is actually at least playing with heart these days. Earlier in the year, it felt as though the games were over once the other teams went ahead. I think it has as much to do with his size and the heat/humidity as anything. I said last year he would end up wearing down towards the end of the season because of that, and was bashed for saying it. But it happened. He tossed 41 pitches closing the last 2 days. Hopefully we need him Saturday and Sunday. Friday being a "big game" or not, giving hm a day's rest was not a bad idea. In this stretch they are all big games. Could the rain also been a factor? Maybe Edwin was being cautious, with Nunez pitching again on a 3rd day (not so bad), but the possibility of a rain delay (like we saw) would add more stress to Nunez's arm?

Nice to see Ricky seems to finally found his good groove and is out of his bad rut.

I don't think the FO said they'd be no trades. That would be an empty promise because what happens if they have a deal they can't possibly pass up? More than likely, if they said anything, they said "We are going to be looking internally and externally for players that can improve this team, maybe in the short-run, if we are in competition, maybe in the long-run. Obviously, the minors are going to be the source tapped the most, since it is the easiest to get players from and we know that talent pool."

Everyone, their mothers, and their mothers' mothers know Fredi is going to Atlanta.

You never know. Sosa could have a turn around like Veres. Unlikely, but maybe possible. I wonder if there was completely no interest in Nate when Beinfest worked the phones, presumably last night, and decided that having him around in the bigs is just someone taking a roster spot that could otherwise be used better, so down he goes, with the hope that since no one was "interested" in a trade, no one will pick him up.

Why do we get upset when others talk about our team, when we do the same thing, I think it is because when we do talk about it, we (generally, not always, but generally) talk about attendance is less harsh, more diplomatic terms. Of course, even when wetalk about it harshly, we can rationalize it as "tough love." While it seems that other announcers take delight in pointing out our woes and use it to make fun of the team. It isn't "tough love" (to fans like ourselves), it is being mean for the sake of being mean. It is the equivalent of a person who knows they have a flaw and doesn't want that to be the only thing people notice, but everyone who comes in and dates that person cannot stop talking about the flaw.

Edwin just said nate wont make his next start. not sure whther he is oging to the bullpen or elsewhere. quick question, does the ballpark have a dungeon and can we send nate robertson to it for some deep thinking? Have him sit in the Bermuda Triangle and tell him to think about waht he did to deserve sitting in the corner!

The Rockies aren't exactly a "sexy" team that attracts fans like the Yankees, Red Sox, or the Strastionals are now.

I wonder what Nate's stats are the first time through a lineup. That could be a good indicator if he will excel more in the pen.

I have been saying Robertson is a typical 5th starter, so we shouldn't cast him aside, but how is Volstad doing? I would say bring back Volstad and stick him in the rotation, if he is doing better in the minors, and either move Nate to the BP or trade him. Release him? No. We should try to squeeze some more value out of Nate, whether it be in the bullpen or as tradebait (as an additional piece?). While he has done poorly recently, relatively speaking, he is not 0-15 and has provided some solid outings for us. Not great outings, but some "Alright, we'll take it" outings. But now may be time for a change.

Happy for the win. Ebullient for roughing up Ubaldo.

I'll take it. Our offense has been nonexistant almost since the break, but hey, so has the Nats for the most part. I'll take back to back shutouts, especially when one of two starting pitchers is only making his second MLB start.

I would like to keep him maybe for another two to three years. But I am ignorant on who is really up and coming and will be ready by then. I like Uggla's seeming leadership behind the scenes and I think he is a nice coutnerbalance to Hanley, in all areas.

The shoes will be nice, but they will only allow you to jog places and not run at full speed

JJ Fact: He once made the sun set an hour earlier by throwing his fastball high and inside at it.

Loved the article. LOL'd at some of the comments.

And here I thought we were going to knock The Phenom around after getting those walks and wild pitch in the 1st. Little did I know!

I think in many ways Loria is a Steinbrenner-light. The only difference is that Loria doesn't have the luxury of the nice revenue stream that the Yankees receive. The Loria/Fredi stuff that had been going on since the end of last season was almost Billy Martin-esque. I agree. Loria has the same passion for winning that Steinbrenner had, I think, and the clouding of judgment that goes along with it.

It is always nice to go into the break with a win.