MarlinsMatt

The Hopefully Not Too Orange Bowl

I have never seen the words "very dedicated Nats fan" used in a sentence before. Good for you. I read somewhere that the average TV audience for a Nationals game is 9000. Hang in there, eventually they will be good. Even though baseball doesn't have a salary cap (thank God), with things like revenue sharing and the Rule 5 draft, teams are able to get good eventually once they start heading in the right direction.

I was just warming up to Boni. He looked great on Tuesday and going into Wednesday he had a 8 game hitting streak and had been playing decent defensively, but then he runs on his own to try and take third and he gets nailed. Generally when people are calling for your replacement, you avoid doing things like that and giving them ammunition. I live in Rhode Island and watch both the Red Sox and the Marlins. I generally don't bash Marlins players because they are all young and have a future ahead of them. It's different from someone who's a veteran like Julio Lugo, who makes $9 Million a year and is expected to perform. Bonifacio has definately shown potential, especially as of late, but he needs to use his head out there if he wants to stick around.

NL C Yadier Molina 1B Albert Pujols 2B Chase Utley 3B Ryan Zimmerman SS Hanley Ramirez OF Brad Hawpe OF Raul Ibanez OF Ryan Braun AL C Joe Mauer 1B Kevin Youkilis 2B Aaron Hill 3B Evan Longoria SS Jason Bartlett OF Torii Hunter OF Adam Jones OF Jason Bay

As to the original question about what it'd cost to get Soria or Bell - too much. I don't think that Bell would be worth it. I doubt that they would pay to re-sign Bell and I don't know if there's a compensation pick if he signs with another team. At this point, the Marlins are only a .500 team. Giving up prospects for a player that they would only have for a few months doesn't seem worth it. On the other hand, Soria would be around for a few years at a relatively low price. He would be the better choice in my opinion. I don't think its time to make a move yet. We could drop 15 out of 20 and be totally out of the race by the time the trade deadline rolls around. Or we could win 15 out of 20 and have a 5 or 6 game lead. I think it would be smart to wait.

He's hitting a little over .300 from the right side...He's doing fine. He's one of those guys you characterize as a winner because he'll find something to do during the course of a game to help you win a ballgame." That description sounds like someone you could throw in as a pinch hitter against a lefty. He's just not good enough defensively to be an everyday player. There's plenty of options. Give Wes Helms or Gaby Sanchez a chance; Try Coghlan out at third (He played there in the Minors a bit); or as I saw in an article on ESPN.com, move Uggla to third, Coghlan to second, and Brett Carroll to LF. If you go with the third option, you could also alternate Carroll and De Aza or maybe Cameron Maybin Espn article

I have a better chance of playing 3B for the Marlins than does Lowell because I'd do it for lot less than the 10M+ that he will want post-'10. Maybe they'll bring him back in about 2017 when he could be a "veteran presence" and "good clubhouse guy" for about 1 mill. I have my doubts about whether Lowell can even make it through this year. He's missed a few games lately due to hip problems. He's 35 and hasn't been holding up as well as he usually does. However, there was talk about him losing his touch back in '06, so you never know. He's only 14 years away from passing Julio Franco's record of oldest player in baseball history.