Just came back from Jupiter today, and I saw the phenom that is Abe Nunez in person. The guy is a switch hitting threat with speed and power. He hit another homer today and a couple of doubles. Choi made two errors at first and although he's been swinging the bat well, he is a liability defensively. He missed a hard grounder and failed to scoop a throw from Mordecai. I propose to options:

 

1) trade Choi for bullpen help and move Conine to first where he can platoo with Cordero and move Nunez to left field.

 

2)trade choi for bullpen help and move Lowell to fist and Cabrera to third. (Lowell has a bad arm, and would make a good first baseman.

 

Either way, having Cordero and Conine, there is no need for Choi who is a subpar fielder. I like the guy, but there is too much talent in Nunez to just waste him on the bench. Choi has no more experience than Nunez, and if we are going to put faith in someone, better Nunez than Choi.

Choi has had a good spring training,if it is true that nick johnson is out for the season maybe we can give a-gon and choi to montreal for orlando cabrera and an above average reliever...

We haven't heard anything before this Spring Training that Choi was a bad fielder. Quite the opposite. I mean, Derek Lee's own dad has attested to this. Also add to the fact that he is young, he can work on his defense if it is in fact a problem, which I have yet to see because he has not made an error in a meaningful game yet.

 

I agree, Abe is a nice talent. He'll be a nice addition to the bench. But how many meaningful at bats does Choi have? How many meaningful fielding attempts? The guy has done nothing major, and quite frankly anything on offense that happens when it matters most is already a step ahead of DLee. You want to can Choi already? That's pretty lacking on your part.

 

If anything, we should trade Nu?ez while his stock is so high. I don't say trade him, because depth is necessary and we need to have a back up plan in case a stadium doesn't happen, but Nu?ez could start on some teams. If any of the two, trade him. We have three very good OFers, we don't need 4.

Why don't we just trade the whole team. They all suck anyways.

Cabrera, Pierre and Nunez. That is a young outfield with tremendous upside. I was fortunate enough today to sit in the third row at Jupiter, and believe me, Nunez is the real thing. He has a great eye, and his batspeed is outstanding. By what I've been told, his power comes from the right side, but he launched one to day from the left side and sprayed line drive doubles to the corners. I was hoping Choi would convince me this spring defensively, but he has not. It seems every game his having trouble on the field, and with an infield like ours which prides itself for its defense, Choi does not seem to fit in.

The fact of the matter is that you are spoiled by Derek Lee's inhuman defensive capabilities. Lets face it, no one will replicate that. Conine would be solid at first, sure. You can pretty much count on that. But how will Nu?ez play day in and day out? Has he ever played 162 games? How about 150? 140? And you are going to put Mike Lowell at first base? Sure, interesting in theory. But have you seen Mike Piazza trying to play first base? And this is coming from a position where he is used to catching the ball almost every play, which is similar to what a first baseman would have to do. Mike would not get to the balls Choi would, plain and simple.

 

Besides, then what of our bench? Our bench is good right now with Nu?ez on it. With him off of it, it becomes increasingly decimated. You would have Lenny Harris, Wil Cordero, Mordy as the super sub, and Redmond. Banks is hurt, he isn't going to play. Giving people days off would be alot harder.

 

And what if Conine retires after this year? You have to figure if this isn't his last year next year is. Why not keep the solid young base and have Nu?ez in a starting role next year or the year after and also have a vastly improved Choi at first base? Cordero isn't going to be here long, so you can't count on him either.

 

The team right now is solid for this year and set for a long time. Why mess with a good thing because you have tunnel vision and can only see into the immediate future of the season that looms 5 days away? Are you really going to jeopardize our future without the team having played one single counting game?

I want to see some reg. season first ya know

Give Choi a chance to Choizzle... :thumbup

The fact of the matter is that you are spoiled by Derek Lee's inhuman defensive capabilities. Lets face it, no one will replicate that. Conine would be solid at first, sure. You can pretty much count on that. But how will Nu?ez play day in and day out? Has he ever played 162 games? How about 150? 140? And you are going to put Mike Lowell at first base? Sure, interesting in theory. But have you seen Mike Piazza trying to play first base? And this is coming from a position where he is used to catching the ball almost every play, which is similar to what a first baseman would have to do. Mike would not get to the balls Choi would, plain and simple.

 

Besides, then what of our bench? Our bench is good right now with Nu?ez on it. With him off of it, it becomes increasingly decimated. You would have Lenny Harris, Wil Cordero, Mordy as the super sub, and Redmond. Banks is hurt, he isn't going to play. Giving people days off would be alot harder.

 

And what if Conine retires after this year? You have to figure if this isn't his last year next year is. Why not keep the solid young base and have Nu?ez in a starting role next year or the year after and also have a vastly improved Choi at first base? Cordero isn't going to be here long, so you can't count on him either.

 

The team right now is solid for this year and set for a long time. Why mess with a good thing because you have tunnel vision and can only see into the immediate future of the season that looms 5 days away? Are you really going to jeopardize our future without the team having played one single counting game?

As is see it, the same argument can be made for Nunez. I see him as the future, and not Choi who lacks speed and defense which are characteristics the marlins like to have. Choi is a good prospect, but who would you like to give a chance to this year? Choi or Nunez? Nunez is already 27 and aging, I think it is his time to shine, Choi is still young. Let Choi be on your bench and maybe after Conine retires, then it will be his time.

Do you honestly think that the Marlins would allow the person they traded Derek Lee for, a recognizable face of the World Series team last year, to sit on the bench while a product of their farm who no one has heard of gets his chance to start? Doubtful.

 

I have liked Nu?ez for a while. He would make a very good OFer, and a definate starter when Conine hangs it up or in case of injury. But in trading Choi you not only give up on a fine raw talent after a month of Spring Training, but you stretch your forces way too thin. Think of the logistics of the team. The bullpen isn't too hot. That is a no brainer. But even if you traded for Mariano Rivera that isn't going to change. You are still going to have a big mess there, regardless if you steal Octavio Dotel and Brandon Inge for Choi or something. But what do you do in the process? You trade away the depth, which stands as a strength right now, for a cover up in the pen. Dude, we have 5 stud starters and Oliver who has proved solid. We aren't going to use the bullpen for 4 innings a game. If there is one area of the game we can get away with, it is the pen. It is important to have relievers, yes. But we can't sacrifice the other areas to benefit the one we need the least in the aspect of the way our games are played.

 

And think of our team. Our games are played to where we need solid depth off the bench. If we don't have good pinch hitters, how are we supposed to win? We need to be able to send guys in there off the bench to produce and scrap in a run or two. That is our game. Being on the bench this year for Nu?ez, besides having him to come in to hit, will serve as a good learning experience. He'll be ready to start this year.

 

Don't judge yourself on Spring Training. It can fool you sometimes.

How about keep Choi and Nunez and let Nunez prove himself during the season. Maybe Nunez will bump Cabrera, Conine, Pierre or even Lowell out of a starting spot.

 

Also I don't know why anyone thinks we need to improve the bullpen. We haven't even seen the bullpen yet. What we've seen is our starters go 5 innings, then 2 or 3 scrubs and one of established arms finish games out. And some of those scrubs have done pretty well.

Maybe people want us to go down the Yankees', Phillies' and Red Sox' route and pay millions of dollars for awful middle inning relief. :thumbdown

I agree...No need to trade anyone right now. Nunez will be fine as a bench player this year. If someone gets hurt then he can fill in. Lets wait and see what happens during the regular season. Last year they made two gutsy calls with bringing up Dontrelle and Cabrera, come June if Agon is only hitting in the low 200s then maybe do something but lets get two months into the season first

I totally agree with you that Spring traning isn't the best measuring stick and we will see how these guys do when it counts. I think this is a great problem to have and at least we know if there is an unfortunate injury somewhere down the road, (God forbid) we will be prepared with a much improved bench over last year. I just hope the marlins give Nunez enough ab's to prove that he should be part of the future of this franchise.

 

Incidentally, don't downplay the importance of bullpen. We do have stud starters, but remember that they are for the most part unproven in the regular season and a masterfully pitched game by Penny or Pavano can be flushed down the toilet by one of these bullpen guys.. I also like Oliver alot, he is a ground ball pitcher that will enjoy having the marlins infield behind him this year. If Burnett comes back at around the same time Dontrelle did last year, there is no doubt he will give us a spark ala D-train.

 

I can't wait till April 6!!!!

gotta love Spring Training

People talk about Nunez neededing to prove something but Choi has to prove something also.I say ride the hot hitter in Nunez and bump Choi out.Nunez is a 5 tool player and he is motivated to prove how good he is.Nunez deserve a chance just as much or more than Choi.

yawn .... i wouldnt trade Choi for anything, i dont care what ya'll say.

They really shouldn't trade neither guy considering Lowell contract hangs on the stadium but one has to go.They both need playing time and I would rather keep Nunez but that just my opinion.I'll hate to see Nunez waste on the bench as team #2 reserve.

Incidentally, don't downplay the importance of bullpen. We do have stud starters, but remember that they are for the most part unproven in the regular season and a masterfully pitched game by Penny or Pavano can be flushed down the toilet by one of these bullpen guys.. I also like Oliver alot, he is a ground ball pitcher that will enjoy having the marlins infield behind him this year. If Burnett comes back at around the same time Dontrelle did last year, there is no doubt he will give us a spark ala D-train.

Like I eluded to earlier and rferry enhanced upon, the pen is not as big of a problem as many believe. Yes, it will probably cost us a game here and there. But even the mighty pens of the Astros, Phillies, and Yankees will cost their teams games. No one is perfect. But we honestly don't really need a pen as desperately as, say, the Orioles do. Why?

 

A) Stud Starters. The jury is still out on Oliver, obviously, because he has not pitched a real Marlins game yet. But, at least until AJ comes back, we have 4 guys that we have seen with our two eyes and in our nice teal and black uniforms that can go 6,7,8 innings every time out. Our starters cut the game significantly down for us, making sure that the crucial innings are handled by the guys that can handle them.

 

B) We have a solid back end. If Armando pitches like he is capable of, that gives us two damn good guys in the back of the pen. Throw in some of the guys that have impressed during Spring Training this year, and you have the workings of a decent pen. Fox and Benitez will see most of the action thanks to the starters going deep, and when needed you can call upon these other guys who if they give half of the performance they gave in Spring Training won't be as bad as everyone thinks they are.

 

C) Our team can retrace deficits. That is the one thing the Phillies can't hang their hat on. The other team has more runs then them late, they pack up and go home. Being down for the whole game to our pitchers will do that to you. You have Josh, Brad, Carl, AJ, and D making balls do the macarena all over the place and you tend to scare the other lineups. People like the Phillies don't have the fortitude to see that all game, then see Fox and Benitez with their Heat late in the game and they are broken. Our team just doesn't do that. They don't bend to pressure like that, we know it. Against a comparable pitching staff in the Cubs last year they did incredibly. They don't quit, they refuse to lose. That is why other teams need an intimidating bullpen to just keep up. We don't need Wagner and Rivera setting up Gagne with Smoltz and Inge mopping up to scare other teams. We don't win by scaring, and we aren't scared. Besides, the starters are scary enough :hat

I don't think we should trade either choi or nunez, but i feel you might want to put nunez on the opening day lineup. You basically have two unproven players heading to this season (choi, nunez) you have to go with the hot bat. if that means putting conine on the bench or choi ( i prefer choi) then do it. You can't have nunez start off the season on the bench the way he is hitting the ball. yeah yeah i know its only spring training, but it's the end when a lot of players have to prove to make the team or end spring training in a good note. if i was jack this would be my lineup

 

Juan pierre Cf

Luis castillo 2b

Miquel cabrera rf

abe nunez lf

mike lowell 3b

jeff conine 1b

ramon castro c

agonzalez ss

jbeckett p

 

or you could switch lowell and nunez so we have an experience player in the four spot. See how nunez does in the regular season if he slumps bring choi in.

 

But you can't bench a hot bat

and that would be quite the blow to Choi's confidence

 

Abe will sit on the bench until there is an injury

and that would be quite the blow to Choi's confidence

 

Abe will sit on the bench until there is an injury

But it sucks wasting Nunez on the bench as the #2 option.I hate to say it but trade Nunez to someone willing to give him a shot and watch him breakout.

and that would be quite the blow to Choi's confidence

 

Abe will sit on the bench until there is an injury

your probably right. but you have to put the best team out on the field.

and that would be quite the blow to Choi's confidence

 

Abe will sit on the bench until there is an injury

your probably right. but you have to put the best team out on the field. I try that argument but Choi supporters are quick to defend Choi but you're right.Choi shouldn't be a automatic starter since he has things to prove himself.Is not that Choi played bad because he has step it up but Nunez is ready to breakout.

Juan pierre Cf

Luis castillo 2b

Miquel cabrera rf

abe nunez lf

mike lowell 3b

jeff conine 1b

ramon castro c

agonzalez ss

jbeckett p

CLEANUP?!?!?!?!??!!!???!?!

 

Damn I thought the other guy was bad. You want to hit Abe Nu?ez clean up? It's not 4/20 yet man chill with that stuff.....

and that would be quite the blow to Choi's confidence

 

Abe will sit on the bench until there is an injury

your probably right. but you have to put the best team out on the field. And that team has an OF of Cabrera, Pierre, and Conine