Posted May 29, 200519 yr At this point in the ML season ever team in baseball knows what it has and doesn't have the report cards are in and its time firgure out our weakness and strengths The Marlins need another power hitter and maybe another starter If we are in rush to action mode then Lowell, Leiter, and Pierre should be on the block Should one, two or all this guys be traded to improve those areas? maybe. I know this much the way this team is built right now its not going to win the NL east. What can be done? the organization must figure out is Leiter done If so can they move him along with a top prospect while eating some of his salary Have teams figure out how to pitch Pierre? keep the ball outside middle and have him fly out to the LF. His steals are down bigtime Is Lowell a 8 million player? his power numbers are down, his BA with men in scoring position is awful, he leads the team in DP hits Will the Marlins be active? YES but which area will be address is the million dollar question The Marlins are in a very tough position b/c two of there top dollar players are not performing up to there contracts....Admin its your move
May 29, 200519 yr Tomorrow's start will be a must win for Leiter as far as I'm concerned. He needs to show shades of him old self. If he is capable of pitching well - at least inconsistently - then I don't see him being skipped or demoted. Lowell's slump is bizarre. He still drives some good line balls but is missing a lot. Given that we just gave him a big contract we will have to hope that he heats up sometime later on. If he has to slump, the start of the season isn't a bad time for it. JP worries me. They said he worked harder than ever in the off season, yet he is getting caught stealing bases and doesn't get on base so much anymore. Hopefully its also a slump and not something drastical. I don't see us moving him because at the very least now we can keep him at an affordable contract.
May 29, 200519 yr I think the more we play, the better we will get. Leiter, Lowell, and Pierre WILL find their forms.
May 30, 200519 yr something is wrong with Lowell 788543[/snapback] You know...I have that feeling too!
May 30, 200519 yr Were getting production out of some players who we weren't expecting so much production out of like Encarnacion, Gonzalez, Easley, Treanor...etc. However, were not getting production out of some players that we were expecting to get a lot of prodution out of like Lowell, JP, and as of late, Lo Duca. So hopefully the players that we weren't expecting anything put of can continue, and our regular expected stars can start putting up some good numbers.
May 30, 200519 yr something is wrong with Lowell 788543[/snapback] You know...I have that feeling too! 788548[/snapback] thats wut i've been saying before but every one wanted to be an a**hole with me when i posted that up
May 30, 200519 yr Put JP on the block. Already have a great leadoff man in Castillo and Encarnacion can play CF. Could probably get a pretty nice haul for him too, though next winter maybe even more so.
May 30, 200519 yr Put JP on the block. Already have a great leadoff man in Castillo and Encarnacion can play CF. Could probably get a pretty nice haul for him too, though next winter maybe even more so. 788586[/snapback] uh....NO. Were not losing JP just because he's in a little slump. Were paying him $3,700,000 and he is definently earning it. Although he's been striking out as of late, he barely ever normally strikes out. He always gets the ball in play. He's not afraid of any pitcher, even leftires that throw hard, like Randy Johnson. He creates a great atmoshphere is the clubhouse. He works very hard. He causes a lot of trouble on the basepads. ...etc. Were not getting rid of him, especially since he is underrated and we won't be able to get sooo much for him.
May 30, 200519 yr I agree with Marlins, JP is a player that shouldnt go. His presence on the lineup is just a big threat to oposing players especially the pitcher and catcher.
May 30, 200519 yr Put JP on the block. Already have a great leadoff man in Castillo and Encarnacion can play CF. Could probably get a pretty nice haul for him too, though next winter maybe even more so. 788586[/snapback] That might not be too bad of an idea if we can get a starter. Enc to center, and Willingham to right. :mischief I'd rather trade Lowell, but he has basically no trade value right now because of his big contract.
May 30, 200519 yr JP is one of those players where perception is not reality. If he's hitting .300 it looks like he's hitting .500 and if he's hitting .260 it looks like he's hitting below .100. I wouldn't give up on him yet. Given the reserves we have and prospects coming up, Lowell has to be a prime trade candidate. One has to wonder if his name hasn't already been discused for a starter to replace Leiter.
May 30, 200519 yr Let's trade the heart and soul of this team... good idea! It's called a slump! You guys are talking crazy.
May 30, 200519 yr Pierre is just in a RECENT slump, it's not like Lowell who has been struggling the whole season... even so, I still think Lowell has plenty of season left to turn it around and he is showing signs of life. The only criticism of Pierre I buy is that he gets bad reads off of flyballs and has a weak arm... Those two problems are totally dwarfed by his offensive numbers. I think the teams' priority should be to focus on an insurance policy for Leiter and maybe another big bat off the bench.
May 30, 200519 yr Pierre is just in a RECENT slump, it's not like Lowell who has been struggling the whole season... 788602[/snapback] what do you consider recent? Pierre hit well for maybe the first 2 weeks and that was it. It's real simple to show how Pierre has stunk up the place so far this season. .322 OBP, which is terrible for a leadoff man, he needs to be at least .350, and he's 8 for 14 in stolen base attempts, nuff said.
May 30, 200519 yr yep, scary when Sea Bass is getting on base at a higher clip than JP. and I don't know what's become of his stolen base numbers.
May 30, 200519 yr Put JP on the block. Already have a great leadoff man in Castillo and? Encarnacion can play CF. Could probably get a pretty nice haul for him too, though next winter maybe even more so. 788586[/snapback] That might not be too bad of an idea if we can get a starter. Enc to center, and Willingham to right. :mischief I'd rather trade Lowell, but he has basically no trade value right now because of his big contract. 788593[/snapback] I agree about Lowell. I'd rather see him traded, if someone is, but I think JP would bring more in return, and isn't that much less expendable since Castillo can lead off, Lo Duca can hit second, and Encarnacion can play CF. Maybe package Lowell and JP together and see what's out there?
May 30, 200519 yr Pierre, Lowell, and Leiter are definitely concerning me. We're two months into the season and these guys still haven't found "it". Pierre looks like crap on the bases, crap in the field, and can't get on base anymore. He's basically become a 2nd or 3rd tier outfielder. There's no way in Hell that we can move Leiter. No one wants an ineffective 38 year old pitcher that has a big contract. Lowell might be dealable to the Dodgers, but I can't see us getting anything out of the deal and even if we did, we'd probably be paying a pretty healthy sum of Lowell's remaining contract. I think we basically have what we have, but I'd consider some trade where we get Zito and send the A's Willingham and one of our pitching prospects (which one, I don't know) since that sorta seem to be the A's MO. Also, does anyone get a queasy feeling when they see Pierre on the bases? The guy doesn't get good jumps, he's noticably slower, and pitchers are keeping him on the bags. I really think his days as a speed/stealing dood are more or less over. I'd really love for us to deal him, but I don't know how the outfield would be able to shake out. Perhaps we could have Enc play CF and then have Conine in LF, but now I'm just talking out of my buttocks.
May 30, 200519 yr No one is making big trades at this time of the season. We will have to live with Leiter, Lowell and Pierre for the time being. And teams aren't going to rush to take them out of our hands.
May 30, 200519 yr Something tells me Pierre had the green light taken away from him. When he got on today with Luiy batting next, he stayed at first in a situation where he probably would have stolen last year and the year before (especially off of Glavine/DiFelice). It might have cost us a run at the time, since Luiy singled to Left (Pierre would have gone to third), and Miguel flew out to the track in deep right center (Pierre would have scored, instead he tagged and went to third). The team in general is being alot less agressive at the plate and it's showing up in Pierre because he plays his best when the style is aggressive. I think they are so scared they will run themselves out of an inning (though that's rather hard when you have no outs) that they have stopped taking extra bases, and completely ignored the use of the bunt. I felt like throwing a parade when Juanpy bunted for a base hit today, and when Alex tried to lay down a suicide I think I almost popped a blood vessel out of shock. When teams struggle offensively you have to stop waiting for runs and try to create them, they don't seem to do that now. And if the team isn't creating runs, Pierre isn't hitting agressively, which in turn causes him to lose his effectiveness due to a lack of a need for speed. If you're going to play the sit and wait for the three run homer offense, you can't really expect Pierre to magically be himself when a big portion of his game has been removed with both bunt hits and stolen bases.
May 30, 200519 yr something is off with Pierre this year too I mean really... Mike Piazza threw him out
May 30, 200519 yr Pierre concerns me...He doesn't look the JP of '03...He is not the stolen base / speed demon he once was...he is striking out a lot more than he used to and it seems as if he is grounding out weakly when he puts the ball in play...In '03, he almost always seemed to slice one down the right field line when a clutch hit was needed late in the game Lowell is a mystery...every now and then he has that swing of old, but for the most part, he doesn't seem to have some of that bat speed he once did...Granted, his defense has been present, but I have been wondering if Mike's cancer treatments from a few years ago are catching up to him...Going through what he did probably has taken a few years out of his career, and if so it's not Mikey's fault...It was a miracle he came back to be a contributing member of a championship team, but I wonder if it is slowing him down a little... tough call, but if someone is traded to better this team, I trust in the FO's judgment...PErsonally, I'd rather see the team get a solid pitcher that would be a 3rd or 4th starter on another team be the marlins 5th starter and really solidify the rotation...Imagine sending out a pitcher every day that has an ERA between 1.5 and 3.5 and go at least 6 or 7 strong innings...Kudos if the FO can find another Moehler, that would be sweet...
May 30, 200519 yr anyone else notice that Pierres slump started around the time he hit the HR in colorado? and if i remember correctly, he had a mild slump last year after a HR...maybe he lets them get to his head and starts trying to drive the ball instead of slapping it over infielders heads and just beating out grounders
May 30, 200519 yr I wouldn't mind trading Lowell to the Dodgers if we can get some good prospects (especially any good pitching prospects) and move Cabrera to third. Then use those prospects, Willingham, Stokes and some of our lesser pitching prospects to trade for Zito and Dunn. I think the Reds would be willing to deal Dunn now for one of Tank/Vargas, Stokes and another pitching prospect. Beane would wet himself for Willingham. 1. Castillo 2. Lo Duca 3. Delgado 4. Cabrera 5. Dunn 6. Enc/Conine 7. Pierre 8. Gonzo 1. Beckett 2. Willis 3. AJ 4. Zito 5. Leiter/Moehler/Valdez It may be hard to pull off those moves, but I think it is possible. That team would lead us to another championship. :thumbup
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