PBMarlin Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 Willis receptive to one-year offer By Tom D'Angelo Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Tuesday, December 20, 2005 The Florida Marlins and the agent for left-handed pitcher Dontrelle Willis have made progress on a one-year contract. "Certainly where they started is reasonable,'' agent Matt Sosnick said Monday. "We've talked a few times, and it's been very open, very polite.'' The Marlins are expected to tender contract offers to their 37 unsigned players today, including Willis and third baseman Miguel Cabrera. Willis, the only player eligible for arbitration, is expected to sign for around $4 million, the salary he likely would receive in arbitration. Sosnick does not expect the process to reach arbitration. "I feel that the Marlins recognize how valuable he is to the team, and I am not sure what they could say about him that is bad,'' Sosnick said, referring to the arbitration process. Sosnick added that he would be "very surprised'' if Willis was traded. Willis, 23, was the NL Cy Young Award runner-up last season to St. Louis' Chris Carpenter. Willis finished 22-10 with a 2.63 ERA. Cabrera, 22, has not yet qualified for arbitration. The Marlins have the right to renew his contract. Cabrera is expected to make about $475,000 this season. It would have been nice to see the Marlins sign Willis long-term. But given the state of the franchise I'm not at all surprised they plan to go year by year. I would expect the same for Cabrera next year, or until they get a stadium deal signed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boog Sciambi Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 no surprises here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish4Life Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 Agree, No surprises! But this should make the Train a bit happy when he see's all that green, $$$$$!! How about another 20 wins this season DONTRELLE!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PBMarlin Posted December 20, 2005 Author Share Posted December 20, 2005 Agree, No surprises! But this should make the Train a bit happy when he see's all that green, $$$$$!! How about another 20 wins this season DONTRELLE!! Run support could be an issue......but then again, he'll create his own run support if needed. :lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickGold Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 Agree, No surprises! But this should make the Train a bit happy when he see's all that green, $$$$$!! How about another 20 wins this season DONTRELLE!! Run support could be an issue......but then again, he'll create his own run support if needed. :lol Run support will be an issue. If Dontrelle wins 15 in 2006 I'll be surprised Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rorod Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 Agree, No surprises! But this should make the Train a bit happy when he see's all that green, $$$$$!! How about another 20 wins this season DONTRELLE!! Run support could be an issue......but then again, he'll create his own run support if needed. :lol Run support will be an issue. If Dontrelle wins 15 in 2006 I'll be surprised i wouldnt be surprised the dtrain brings an intangible excitement that spreads to the other guys and it makes everyone better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolycrapIlovetheMarlins Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 Man, if only we could clone Dontrelle and make 8 more of him. We might win 120 games. I have a 30 year unblemished record of heterosexuality, but I have a man crush on that guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PBMarlin Posted December 21, 2005 Author Share Posted December 21, 2005 Agree, No surprises! But this should make the Train a bit happy when he see's all that green, $$$$$!! How about another 20 wins this season DONTRELLE!! Run support could be an issue......but then again, he'll create his own run support if needed. :lol Run support will be an issue. If Dontrelle wins 15 in 2006 I'll be surprised Dontrelle didn't get that much run support last year either. He generated a fair amount of his own run support. Last year's offense was a huge flop and was at the bottom of the league in many offensive categories. These young guys may actually perform better offensively. You never know. Baseball can be funny like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSwift25 Posted December 21, 2005 Share Posted December 21, 2005 Re: One year deal. Good, as far as the franchise goes, this is the smart move. Don't pay big after his best season, wait for the '06 season to be done with, go long-term with D-Train after he has a "make good" season. It's foolish for a penny-pinching franchise to pay a player after his best statistical season when they don't have to, plus, I don't think Dontrelle will hold a grudge. Re: The offense. My favorite quote from last season was from Beinfest "the numbers are there, just something's not adding up; two plus two is turning out to be three." The offense last season was both statistically above average and terrible. I believe we were in the top third of the league for average and some other fun numbers that are now crunched big time by stat heads, but close to last for both power numbers and run scoring numbers. Tounge in cheeck I've said that the offense can't get any worse than it was this season, but you have to believe that aside from subtracting Delgado, you have to take away 3-4 Cabrera at bats every week (given the lack of lineup protection), which'll add up over the course of the season. Adding Hermida, Willingham and Jacobs could be huge, but these guys are untested. Not to say they're not ready, but they are untested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickGold Posted December 21, 2005 Share Posted December 21, 2005 Agree, No surprises! But this should make the Train a bit happy when he see's all that green, $$$$$!! How about another 20 wins this season DONTRELLE!! Run support could be an issue......but then again, he'll create his own run support if needed. :lol Run support will be an issue. If Dontrelle wins 15 in 2006 I'll be surprised Dontrelle didn't get that much run support last year either. He generated a fair amount of his own run support. Last year's offense was a huge flop and was at the bottom of the league in many offensive categories. These young guys may actually perform better offensively. You never know. Baseball can be funny like that. I agree. I wouldn't be at all suprised if these young guys do better offensively than last year. Last years offense was TERRIBLE. If you thought 2005 was bad, you aint seen nothing yet. Dontrelle could be this year's Roger Clemens (pitch well, no run support) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlins R #1 Posted December 21, 2005 Share Posted December 21, 2005 [if you thought 2005 was bad, you aint seen nothing yet. Dontrelle could be this year's Roger Clemens (pitch well, no run support) Where did Houston go last year though :whistle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homerun Posted December 21, 2005 Share Posted December 21, 2005 I heard Dontrelle earlier in the week say that is was a shame the team hadn't offered him a long term contract. He also said he wouldn't worry about it and just play ball. I'd hate to get him to the point where he wouldn't sign long term after next year. He might just be inclined to eventually test free agency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickGold Posted December 21, 2005 Share Posted December 21, 2005 [if you thought 2005 was bad, you aint seen nothing yet. Dontrelle could be this year's Roger Clemens (pitch well, no run support) Where did Houston go last year though :whistle Any team that has a rotation of Clemens, Oswalt & Petite will be a contender Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rferry Posted December 21, 2005 Share Posted December 21, 2005 Dontrelle didn't get that much run support last year either. He generated a fair amount of his own run support. Last year's offense was a huge flop and was at the bottom of the league in many offensive categories. These young guys may actually perform better offensively. You never know. Baseball can be funny like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lefty Posted December 22, 2005 Share Posted December 22, 2005 Run support is not a factor. If he has a ~2.5 ERA again with this group of guys on offense, he'll be gold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formerbatboy03 Posted December 22, 2005 Share Posted December 22, 2005 is lefty willis the same guy as lefty castillo? welcome back if you are.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rferry Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 and leftypower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDon Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Agree, No surprises! But this should make the Train a bit happy when he see's all that green, $$$$$!! How about another 20 wins this season DONTRELLE!! Run support could be an issue......but then again, he'll create his own run support if needed. :lol Run support will be an issue. If Dontrelle wins 15 in 2006 I'll be surprised Yeah we had such an overabundance of run support and clutch hitting last year. :banghead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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