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fauowls44

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Everything posted by fauowls44

  1. I heard the same thing on ZETA. I think they said it's 7:00pm at Riverwalk in Ft. Lauderdale.
  2. It's difficult to tell at this point whether the bullpen is set for the beginning of the season, or if they will look for a lefty specialist. They may opt to try some of their young arms (Neu, Neal, Phelps) and make a trade mid-season to fill any gaps. I think they'll probably bring in another arm or two. Now that it's January, players will start to lower there demands and there are still plenty of relievers on the market. There are a number of right handed set up men that could fill the 7th inning hole: Terry Adams Danys Beaz Jose Jimenez Jose Mesa Jeff Nelson Antonio Osuna Julian Tavarez(yuck) Turk Wendell Rick White Mike Williams There's also a number of lefties available: Aaron Fultz Jeff Fassero Mark Guthrie Graeme Lloyd Mike Matthews Trevor Miller Terry Mullholland Mike Myers Scott Sauerbeck
  3. Here is the update on the Redman deal. Looks like the Marlins made out well. Dec. 23 update: Oakland completed the deal by sending one of its best pitching prospects, lefthander Bill Murphy, to Florida. Murphy, 22, was a 2002 third-round pick out of Cal State Northridge. Though his fastball usually sits at 89-91 mph, its life and his deceptive motion induce a lot of swing-and-misses. He also throws a curveball and changeup. He split 2003 between low Class A Kane County (where he threw a no-hitter) and Double-A Midland, going a combined 10-7, 2.94 in 25 starts. He had a 121-58 K-BB ratio and a .200 opponent batting average. Sounds a bit like Dontrelle with a low 90's fastball and a deceptive motion.
  4. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7561156.htm This is encouraging news. I'm not crazy about the site, and obviously not having a roof is not ideal, but I just want to see the team get a stadium built, so i'm all for it. Going without a roof knocks the price down significantly and sharing it with the Hurricanes will also help get it pushed through. Hopefully this plan works and we can stop talking about stadiums.
  5. By the way for a link to the transaction: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/transactions/today.html
  6. The Marlins recieved LHP Bill Murphy as the PTBNL in the Redman deal. He isn't a top 10 prospect but was on Baseball America's emerging prospect list for the A's. All the way at the bottom: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minor...amwrap_oak.html
  7. I would assume that the Marlins still get the PTBNL. The A's got a PTBNL(Damian Miller) in the Barrett deal, after Barrett was non-tendered then signed. I could be wrong, but I think that was a similar deal. The A's would have gotten cash if Barrett wasn't signed.
  8. Last year.... The man still had a decent season. People would see that Benitez is one of the better closers in baseball if they look at the numbers and not what was written about him(mostly by the NY media). He's got a career 85% save percentage, and even in a "poor" season last year had a sub 3 ERA and held opponents to a .218 average (compared to Looper's .263).
  9. I don't think you can say right now if they are better or worse. Last years team wasn't "ideally" built, but it worked well. So who's to say that what they've done this offseason won't work. I think Benitez is an upgrade at closer. Having Fox a full year is an upgrade to the pen as well. If Burnett is healthy and back in May or June, then the rotation is upgraded. Cabrera and Conine replacing Hollandsworth and Encarnacion is a big upgrade, in my opinion. Choi for Lee is a downgrade right now, although I think Choi will eventually be the better hitter. Replacing Pudge with Castro/Redmond is a downgrade, although the dropoff in production may not be that great. The championship team had a chemistry that can't be duplicated, and that's fine. The Angels showed that you just can't assume you'll have that same chemistry just by bringing back the same team. I like most of the changes that have been made, especially from the financial standpoint. They've cut payroll while still keeping the team competitive. They may not repeat, but they should be in the running, which is all we can ask.
  10. One player i'd like to see added to the bench is Andres Galarraga. Yeah, he's old, but he can still hit and he'd be a nice option to start against a tough lefty. Platoon him with Choi?? Teach him a little batting and first basemenship??? Not platoon him really, but he'd be a good player to have to spell Choi against tough left handers. Choi actually hits lefties well, at least he did in 2002 in AAA. He had a higher SLG percentage vs. lefties than righties.
  11. One player i'd like to see added to the bench is Andres Galarraga. Yeah, he's old, but he can still hit and he'd be a nice option to start against a tough lefty.
  12. I'd love to be talked out of my pessimism, but every move we've made has made us a weaker team ... Choi< Lee Castro/Redman< Pudge Benitez< Urbina No one< Redman No one< Encarnacion No one< Looper I know it's early, but we need a big time rally Choi vs. Lee. No doubt, Lee is a loss. I'm not sure why everyone is so down on Choi though. Last year he was one of the top 5 offensive prospects in all of baseball. He was having a pretty good rookie year until the injury, and that was with Dusty Baker messing around with his playing time. He won't be D-Lee defensively, but the guy can flat out hit. He's done it at every level. I think he'll produce around 20 HR this year with 75-80 RBI with a decent batting average. Plus you know he'll get on base. Castro/Redmond vs. Pudge. Well, Pudge is a Hall of Famer, and you won't be able to replace what he did defensively. Castro/Redmond, may, however be able to replace Pudge's production. Castro should get the majority of the playing time. He'll mostly likely hit more HR than Pudge and hopefully drive in around what Pudge did. To me, Pudge is the hardest to replace, but who knows, Castro deserves the opportunity, provided he's not in prison. Benitez vs. Urbina. I personally like Benitez. I think a lot of the negativity surrounding him was a product of the NY media. Look at his numbers, he's been one of the elite closers in baseball. He struggled a little bit on a terrible Mets team and he took a lot of the blame. He pitched well with both the Yankees and Mariners. I think that Urbina was not re-signed for a reason. He would have commanded the same amount of $$ as Benitez, but if you paid close attention during his stint with the Marlins you saw some warning signs. He pitched great most of his time here, but his velocity was down, a lot of times in the 88-92 range. I could be wrong, but he used to be consistently in the mid 90's. He relied a lot on off speed stuff and he was hit pretty hard in the post season, even if it didn't result in giving up a lot of runs. By the end he wasn't really fooling anyone. You say no one replaced those guys, but you have Cabrera in place of Encarnacion, Burnett in place of Redman, and Fox replacing Looper. Cabrera is already a better hitter than Encarnacion, not to mention about $4 million cheaper, and he's only going to get better. I don't think you lose much if anything defensively in RF. Burnett will be back in May or June, and you'd think that they are looking at short term #5 starters. They will probably look at El Duque and maybe bring back Redman. Fox replacing Looper is, to me, at worst a wash. Fox is a better pure pitcher, with just as live an arm. If he can stay healthy, he'll be one of the best set-up men in the league. There is still some work to be done. The obvious needs are a lefty out of the pen and another starter until AJ returns. I'd also like to see 1 more set-up guy in the pen, although they may be hoping that either Neal or Neu steps up into that role. That would be Spooney's role, but I think he's pretty much done for the year. The bench could use another bat or two, but there will be no shortage of 4th or 5th OF's on the market. I guess the conclusion is that while the team took some hits in the offseason, there's no reason they shouldn't be able to contend for a post season spot again, and that's pretty much all you can ask. Will this group win the WS again? Who knows, but I bet you didn't think they could last year at this time either.
  13. I don't think Neu is a potential closer, but he is a good arm in the pen. Besides lacking a closer at the moment, the bullpen doesn't have much depth right now, and this trade helped to address that. While Neu's numbers last season were decent but not great, he K/IP ratio in the minors was always very good. He should be able to cover the 6th or 7th inning next year. I like Red, but he was the odd man out. Although this was mostly about lowering payroll, the return wasn't bad considering Red was arbitration eligible.
  14. I hope Castillo comes back as much as anyone, but Castillo's not the player you want to give a no-trade clause to, not with that hip problem, and not in this market. There are a lot of 2nd baseman available in free agency and through trades. If they lose Castillo, they'll be able to replace him cheaply and spend that money on another bat or the bullpen.
  15. A no-trade clase? Are you kidding? Don't you remember Charles Johnson? The Marlins don't have to go down that road again. Plus, Castillo's hip will never be 100%, there's no way he gets a no-trade clause.
  16. Leave Cabrera where he is. There are plenty of 2nd baseman available, either through free agency or trade.
  17. I was just about to post that Sun-Sentinel article. 11/29 Article Castillo doesn't seem to know what he wants. He changed agents like 5 times and now seems to be backing out of a deal that he was close to signing. If i'm the Marlins, i'm starting to look elsewhere for a 2nd baseman. I'd push harder to re-sign Pudge, and should that fail, i'd start to look for another bat. I like Castillo, but what more does he want? The Marlins seem to have a very fair offer. I'd give him a deadline to either take or leave the offer and then move on. With the market the way it is, 2nd base should be easy to fill. Alomar, Walker, Grudzielanek, Ronnie Belliard, Eric Young, Fernando Vina, and Chris Stynes are all free agents, not to mention those who will be non-tendered. With the exception of perhaps Walker, most are significantly cheaper than Luis as well. Good news on Lowell though. Looks like a good deal, and Mike really deserves it. As far as the last paragraph about how the Marlins may regret dealing Lee if Castillo leaves, I disagree. To me, the Marlins got good value for Lee, and saved $7 million. Even if they lose Luis, that money could still be used to sign Pudge or another bat, or improve the pen.
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