rgkeller

Well,the goods news is that GS won't break the bank in arbitration this winter.

Stanton must be hurt or something. Only possible explanation. Playing through the pain because he is such a gamer.

Another example that GS is just whaling away up there.

Solano keeps contributing and this board keeps hating.

Marisnick looks real smooth on the routine plays. But he can't pull off the tough catch. Another difference between he and Willie Mays.

If anyone really wants Mike Dunn, I would let him go.

Wait are they auctioning off women tonight? Rich & Tommy have swimsuit models between them.... . Tommy's wife looks better than the women at the Clevelander.

Well, with boras involved, free agency is a near certainty. But, thankfully, not for five years.

Nobody this good this young since Doc Gooden No hurry to sign him long term but don't let him get away. There should be a hurry to sign him long term imo. The dude is awesome at pitching and awesome at life. That's a pretty rare combination, and he could easily become the most likable marlin of all time. If there is ever a player to rebuild the image of this franchise and get the fans back, he is it and the marlins need to show their commitment to him ASAP. Well, he's going to make a million for the next two years. And then arb for three years. Lincecum got 8, 13, 18 and 23 in two two year contracts that got him through arbitration. Last two years didn't work out for Giants. And he looks done. What would you offer JF?

Can we please take a second and appreciate that Cishek is the best closer we've had in YEARS. I haven't felt this safe watching close games in the 9th since watching the likes of Armando Benitez, Joe Borowski, and Todd Jones finishing off games. Would you take a top prospect for him if such an offer came in before the trade deadline?I would give Cishek and Dunn for Skaggs right now. Closer and late inning guys are the easiest to replace in baseball. Be nice, though, to go into spring training without having to replace everyone.

Major League coaches are not bosses, they are helpers. Lose your connection with the players and you should be toast.

Nobody this good this young since Doc Gooden No hurry to sign him long term but don't let him get away.

Stanton takes over the team lead in HRs and RBI from Ruggiano and Ruggiano/Ozuna.

If Loria keeps a hitting coach that the manager AND the players can't stand - and probably don't listen to, then Loria is more of a baseball incompetent than we think he is.

I like giving Cishek ten million or so for three years.

Time for Tino to move on down the road. Or for DD to knock Tino on his ass.

Goodness, this kid is tough. RFer having a pretty good day, as well.

What Loria should do is sign some hitters this offseason to compliment Stanton if he really believes in the team. The outfield alignment is irrelevant. Only if one cares not about defense.

So, you give Stanton no credit for his increased walks because of the lackup of lineup protection he is. Yet you also criticize him for his hitting stats even though it is also related to the lackup of lineup protection he is? That doesn't make sense when they're related. He sees less pitches inside the strike zone because why should he? Then the 23 year old Stanton begins to overthink it and he has a lesser performance. His placing in relation to the Tigers, Orioles, Dodgers or under 23 year olds in Baseball is not relevant to judging him on his performances. You're once again judging based on your own expectations of him. It is not relevant whatsoever! You judge a player on his own merits, it doesn't matter if he's not the best under 23 year old on this or any other team. He is still our best hitter and most of us fully believe his numbers will come back with no injuries, more lineup protection and more personal experience of dealing with his own situation. Besides, putting Stanton in those lineups with the players around him would give him the protection he won't get on this team until Yelich, LoMo etc. prove themselves as being a worthy enough threat. They haven't had the time to do so yet. He still has 3 years of good numbers and 2013 of lower numbers, but still good stats on a potentially historically bad team. Besides, none of this explains why you'd exclude him from your expectation of a future lineup. Do you really expect Yelich, Marisnick, Ozuna and LoMo to have better numbers? You also mention about trends, but small sample sizes are not reliable enough to form a trend or a good enough pattern. Do you really believe a 23 year old Stanton, with all the issues of this year, is trending downwards? You can't ignore the larger sample size. Stanton is our best hitter. I expected the Marlins to trade Stanton for prospects to fill the infield holes. So I excluded him from future lineups. But Loria is in love, as our many others here, so Stanton won't be traded. Worse, even if Ozuna comes back strong, It will be Yelich Ozuna Stanton left to right when it should be Stanton, Yelich, Ozuna. Love obscures vision and can lead to bad decisions.

Good young pitching with live arms. And it could get better

I freely admit to judging Stanton based on the potential I and everyone else saw two years ago. I thought he was a future Hall of Famer. But his hitting has not improved (despite "improved" statistics based on his having no batting order protection) and his fielding has regressed. Stanton is no longer the best 23 and under player in baseball. Or the second best. Or the third best. Or the fourth best. In fact, if you include pitchers, he is not the best 23 and under player on his team. He'd bat sixth for the Tigers and Baltimore and seventh for the Dodgers. Stanton is fun to watch and certainly worth having at 500K a year. But IMO he is not a cornerstone franchise player. And if other teams think he is, then trade him for some infield prospect and more young pitching.

Even when "The Great One" is struggling, he leads the team in OPS (which now sits at .831). May not be very impressive this year, but considering his average is the lowest it's been in his career (which apparently is the only stat that matters), he's drawing walks - something that's amazing he can do considering that he doesn't have any pitch recognition, it appears. When he does chase, it's probably the pressure he puts on himself to be THE GUY in this lineup - that's a lot to ask of a 23 year old, and it's not like he's the only one failing this season offensively. He can't do everything himself. Defensively, yes, he is having the worst year of his career. Somehow, his range factor is up at about what he did last season, but he has made some crappy throws, I will give you that one. His most recent muffling error, though, can be attributed to a crappy field condition, considering it was a transfer error which would suggest a wet ball that slipped. One instance, I know, but you seem to be a fan of looking at small sample sizes rather than the whole field of work. Trends are a quite reliable statistical measure. Stanton is not trending up.

Stanton is hitting 240 and playing terrible, disinterested defense. The continued love for him is unreasonable. That's because there are many more valuable stats then AVG and his stats in those area aren't so bad. His defense hasn't been that great, but the insinuation that it is because of a lack of interest is laughable. Not only are you looking at the wrong stats, you're also placing more weight on the smaller sample size of a difficult and injury influenced season over 3 seasons (1300 PA) of a larger sample size of data. Basing your conclusions on small sample sizes is something you're continually guilty of and repeating that mistake is unacceptable. The season is more than half over. And the Great One has been in the league for more than three years. Stanton's defense has regressed substantially. His muffing grounders and his now erratic arm cannot be blamed on leg injuries. Stanton's plate discipline is no better now than his first year and a half. Stanton is a big strong guy and a terrific athlete who looks great with his clothes off. (Thanks ESPN) He guesses at the plate because he does not recognize pitches well. When he guesses right and/or the pitcher makes a big mistake, Stanton can run into one and do awesome things. But Stanton has not progressed much, if at all, as a baseball player. He should have.

Stanton is hitting 240 and playing terrible, disinterested defense. The continued love for him is unreasonable.

Ozuna was hitting 260 something, hit well with RISP, played a pretty good CF and a terrific RF and had two hits in the game he messed up his thumb on an outstanding catch. Those who believe Marisnick is a better player, in the minors or in the majors, now or later, needs help.