MarlinsSecretWeapon

I see that they signed Dixon Machado. That's one of the guys that I wanted them to take a look at. I'm curious about Gabriel Guerrero. Interesting look. I would seriously be ok with our rebuild including the approach that we had when we were finding low-risk/high-reward guys like we've done in the past to find the Cody Ross types.

I'd take a look and chance with Dixon Machado and Jace Peterson.

I'm looking at the free agent list as it stands at the moment: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/12/2018-19-mlb-free-agents.html What player or what list of free agents would you want the Marlins to take a shot or look at for next season? [be realistic]

Good question. Does anyone know the way to reach him about this website?

The only way I'd accept that trade scenario is if it is Sanchez, Medina, a flyer on Sonny Gray, and some lower prospects, and the Yankees agree to take Chen and Castro's contracts along with JT. Pipe dream! I know.

About half of that going to Chen, Prado, and Castro. That sounds about right.

Does anyone, including the staff/mods, know Larry enough or know in general if he's willing to transfer this website to anyone else? When this website used to have articles years ago, I used to be one of the staff writers, mostly doing editorial type work. I also used to write articles for FishStripes for a short period of time.

Does anyone, including the staff/mods, know Larry enough or know in general if he's willing to transfer this website to anyone else? When this website used to have articles years ago, I used to be one of the staff writers, mostly doing editorial type work. I also used to write articles for FishStripes for a short period of time.

I'm so disappointed and disturbed by this organization that I'm actually blogging tonight. Wow! As for my prediction, based on the ineptitude that I'm seeing in this franchise, I am going with a dark, gloomy, and such a stupid decision that it seems like the direction this franchise is headed in. Anyone remember or even read my "Nepotism" related article in regard to the Marlins' hitting woes that was originally censored? I'm thinking that the nepotism continues with a sprinkle of more incompetence and the Marlins award Eduardo Perez with a promotion after doing such a horrible job with the offense. When that happens, it becomes so clear why Tony Perez couldn't stick with the Reds franchise. I used to think it was because of Marge Schott, but she's been in Hell for a while now and Tony has never been brought back there. I'm guessing the attempts to hook his son up with opportunities during his playing career and after, haven't flown too well in Cinicinatti, so now we are cursed with them here in Miami. In case anyone missed that article before, here is the link: http://www.marlinsba...-woes-nepotism/ I may end up being wrong on this if Eduardo is or has been fired. I will be too happy to be wrong about this prediction.

That is true. I don't get why St. Claire is fired. It isn't his fault that Bell went insane on us. It isn't his fault that JJ was still coming back from injury. It wasn't his fault that Ricky Nolasco continues to be an enigma with no testicular confidence. Bad break for St. Claire. Eduardo deserved it because nearly all the hitters performed below their career averages and closer to their career worsts under him. Also, the Marlins needed to send the message that they don't practice nepotism.

Is St. Claire gone too? Rumors say he won't be back. Anything on Perez? Supposedly he will be replaced as well. Perez is the guy that should have been let go all along.

I'm so disappointed and disturbed by this organization that I'm actually blogging tonight. Wow! As for my prediction, based on the ineptitude that I'm seeing in this franchise, I am going with a dark, gloomy, and such a stupid decision that it seems like the direction this franchise is headed in. Anyone remember or even read my "Nepotism" related article in regard to the Marlins' hitting woes that was originally censored? I'm thinking that the nepotism continues with a sprinkle of more incompetence and the Marlins award Eduardo Perez with a promotion after doing such a horrible job with the offense. When that happens, it becomes so clear why Tony Perez couldn't stick with the Reds franchise. I used to think it was because of Marge Schott, but she's been in Hell for a while now and Tony has never been brought back there. I'm guessing the attempts to hook his son up with opportunities during his playing career and after, haven't flown too well in Cinicinatti, so now we are cursed with them here in Miami. In case anyone missed that article before, here is the link: http://www.marlinsba...-woes-nepotism/

Ricky may be one of the few Marlins that may make alot of us feel is overpaid. At least if Hanley gets himself back together and doesn't challenge that.

Jack McKeon may be the best thing for Hanley. That is if Hanley accepts what Jack brings this year and if the next manager follows up with it.

March 21, 2011 By: Pedro Reyes Figueroa MarlinsBaseball.com Writer While the Phillies grabbed the spotlight in the pitching department, the Marlins did upgrade and will sport one of the most intriguing staffs in MLB. Even though most of the predictions by the “experts� for the Marlins circle around the Wild Card race, the term itself may work well with the Marlins’ staff. Edwin Rodriguez may be working with a good hand that features an ace and possibly three deuces. Just like in a game of cards where deuces are wild, in MLB having an ace and three pitchers that are #2 caliber talents can be a winning combination that can set the Marlins up for a season that has them sitting at the winners table deep into the fall. With Josh Johnson, it’s simple. He just needs to be what he is and to do it for at least 32 starts, 200 innings, and secure 20 wins with his absolute dominance. While SABR followers may not entirely respect the win totals, it will still be a good sign for the Marlins if Josh Johnson is flirting with that neighborhood and certainly have the Marlins winning at least 2/3rds of his starts. We need our Ace card to be just that. Next, we get to one of our potential deuces, Ricky Nolasco. Nolasco has been an enigma for many. While he has shown his ability to be a front-line starter, he has also shown us that he can easily be a guy that looks like an overpaid pitcher that could be on tour between MLB and the Minors. The Marlins need Good Ricky, not Bad Ricky who gives Marlins fans torturous flashbacks of Logan Kensing or Kevin Gregg. They need the guy who has command of his pitches and hits his spots. They absolutely don’t need the guy that is lobbing pitches right down the pipe that are begging to be launched into orbit. If we get Good Ricky for the whole season, he will be good for the traditional stats of 15-17 wins and an ERA in the low to mid 3.00 range. If he’s Bad Ricky, we know that he’ll get off to a horrible start and will spend the rest of the season playing catch-up for decent numbers while the Marlins have already fallen behind in the play-off race. Third, we have another potential deuce in Javier Vazquez who has spent portions of his career as a front-line caliber starter. Vazquez comes to the Marlins after another failed run in New York. However, Marlins fans can take comfort in knowing that, when Vazquez has pitched in other locations, he’s been a quality starter, just like he was in 2009 with the Braves. The Marlins can certainly be helped if Vazquez has another good season left in him. If he does, he too can flirt with victories in the high teens and an ERA that may only be outdone on this team by J.J. If Vazquez has this type of season, he will take a lot of pressure off of the other staff members. He may be the Marlins most important pitcher this year, especially if he can contribute 200 innings of solid work. Then, we have our potential third deuce in Anibal Sanchez. Many of us know the situation of Anibal’s injury and his struggles to comeback amidst the personal tragedy that no parent should endure and will naturally be rooting for Anibal no matter what. But I will say that Marlins fans can get excited beyond rooting for a very resilient man like Sanchez. Yes, he had a very good comeback and solid season last year, but I think we can get ready for bigger things from him. In my honest opinion, I believe that Anibal Sanchez is the Marlins best pitcher after Josh Johnson. While he may not have the stuff or overpowering and overwhelming presence of the other front-line pitchers of the game, Sanchez has that throw-back finesse to him. He’s the type of guy that can go through a game and a season just baffling hitters with his mastery of some of his pitches. We saw this when he was a rookie in 2006 and we saw it in his peak performance that year – his no-hitter. As he showed last season, he’s healthy again and he is mentally focused on his career again. He looks ready to enter his prime and peak ability. Some may find this thought a little on the crazy side or completely insane, but I believe that Sanchez is good for the high teens in wins and may be able to flirt with a 20-win season. He can also flirt with a top 10 or 15 ERA performance. If I am right and Anibal can perform at that level to combine with J.J., the Marlins may be celebrating their first ever division title. Finally, closing out the staff, we have Chris Volstad. Now he is very likely only to perform in his role as a #5 starter, but he may be the most intriguing of all the Marlins pitchers. The kid has a lot of tools and showed a little bit of it in his rookie year, but the league has figured him out and he hasn’t been as consistent with his performances since. With that said, I won’t write him off as only being a career #5 performer yet as he is still developing, but he has to show something soon. I also won’t make the mistake of mentioning him with his teacher, Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, but he doesn’t exactly seem like a terrible talent either. He seems more like the type of guy that can duplicate Carl Pavano type success – that is, the decent to good Pavano. However, we will see if that ever happens. For this year, Volstad should be a decent #5 and a good complementary piece in this deck of pitchers. The likelihood is that Marlins fans won’t see all of these peak performances happening together this season, but the potential for 2 to 3 of these pitchers fulfilling this is there. Unfortunately, the potential of 2 to 3 and maybe all of them not achieving these is there too. We will have to see. One thing for sure, when Edwin Rodriguez sits at the table with Charlie Manuel, Fredi Gonzalez, Terry Collins, and Jim Riggleman, he should be playing with a good hand. If everything falls into place the right way, he may be playing with a winning deck, especially if the deuces go wild.

Hello Everyone, I actually used to write articles on this site before. I admit that it's been awhile. I will try to be more active, but I do have my share of writing commitments. I am a big Marlins fan since the inaugural season when I was cheering on the likes of Brett Barberie and Ryan Bowen. I look forward to hearing your comments and feedback.

March 3, 2011 By: Pedro Figueroa MarlinsBaseball.com Writer In the offseason, as many of us can remember, our offense did make a drastic change. While many analyze how the change that involved trading Dan Uggla may be good or bad, the effectiveness of the lineup can be viewed in how the first 3 hitters perform – Chris Coghlan, Omar Infante, and Hanley Ramirez. All 3 of these hitters have had excellent success at some point in their careers involving Top 10 finishes in the batting title race with Hanley winning a batting title. Each has had at least one season posting a .321 average or better and all 3 have done it in the last 2 seasons. No matter the path that these 3 took in those efforts, if they can duplicate that success together, the Marlins may have a 1-2-3 combination hitting at the top of the order that can provide a level of hitting for average that very few teams are able to bring to the batter’s box every game. However, for that to happen, there are some questions that each will have to answer in the process. With Chris Coghlan, he will have to show what type of player he is. Both of his MLB seasons have resulted in terrible starts and getting better as the season progressed. Unfortunately for him last year, he was freakishly injured well before he was able to get his season average above .300. He will not only have to show that he is healthy, but he will also have to show that he is a legitimate .300 hitter. It would also help if he can be consistent from the beginning of the season on forward and throughout. This will have to be displayed while he also proves to be a legitimate leadoff hitter and answer the biggest question of whether he will be able to hit enough to make everyone ignore moments in the outfield that may remind older Marlins fans of Junior Felix. Next, Omar Infante, who will be batting second, will have questions of proving himself as well. While he isn’t as young as Coghlan, he will have to prove that he is a legitimate .300 hitter. His situation is that he did spend a good amount of time as a super-sub, who had some decent numbers in starting opportunities, but not showing anything entirely special until last season. He has the most to prove as he attempts to show that last season was not a fluke, but the start of him breaking out as a very good player in his prime. If he comes through, this sets up our table-setters very nicely for what follows. Finally, Hanley Ramirez is the third and most important piece to this equation. He has been praised for being the best offensive shortstop in the game and, as a result, is among the elite players in this sport. He cannot be content with that. Hanley is better than just being the best offensive shortstop. Last year he posted some of the better numbers for a shortstop. That didn’t help the Marlins. Hanley needs to look at his role in the lineup. He is the #3 hitter. While his numbers were excellent for a shortstop, they were not among the elite or even average #3 hitters and certainly not Hanley numbers. We need for Hanley to be an elite #3 hitter who gives us 25+ homeruns, 100+ RBI, a lot of stolen bases, many more of those extended stats, and flirting with a batting title along with an MVP award. He needs to be a presence that makes his teammates get better pitches and have bigger seasons. We also need him to be better than his stats say as well. He needs to be our franchise player and not accept anything less especially when he’s among the names mentioned after Albert Pujols. Can he be what we all expect him to be? If he does this – watch out for the Marlins in this division. Can these 3 do this? Yes. Will they? We will have to see this season play out, but if they do, it may make for a very interesting 2011 season.