January 7, 200620 yr FLORIDA MARLINS Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics After the apocalypse, civilization has collapsed. Grown men eat dog food straight out of the can while scavenging for gasoline. An entire infield is dispersed across the continent. Roving gangs of minor league pitchers prey on the weak, desperate for a place on the 25-man roster. In those few places where society, in some form, persists, petty warlords insult each other?s height, and argue about how to pay for a retractable Thunderdome. Oh, things are ugly in Southern Florida. Remember Juan Encarnacion and Juan Pierre? Here are your new outfielders. You?ve already met Jeremy Hermida--he made quite a first impression, what with the grand slam and all that. Given that Hermida was our #35 prospect, and he?d posted a .975 OPS in AA, before he hit that grand slam, he oughta be alright. You?ve also met Chris Aguila, but under less auspicious circumstances. Aguila?s been a backup for the club over the past two seasons, compiling a .218 EqA in 94 games--mainly pinch running and defensive replacement work. Although he?s been impressive in his time off from the Marlins during that span--.325/.389/.534 in the Pacific Coast League over the past two years--Aguila will already be 27 before Opening Day. Most sources have Eric Reed playing center between Hermida and Aguila. Reed?s speedy, but he spent 2005 regressing in the Southern League and posting one of the emptier .310 averages you?ll see in the PCL. Typically, that doesn?t augur Major League success. Around the infield, we?ve got good news and bad news. The good news is Miguel Cabrera returning from his outfield exile to take over at third base. Cabrera hit for a .321 EqA last year, matching Albert Pujols?s age 22 production. If Cabrera can be an asset at the hot corner--something that was pretty much taken off the table after Pujols?s first season in the bigs--his value will soar. The bad news is that everywhere else around the infield, the names are also changing. The World Series double play combination of Alex Gonzalez and Luis Castillo is gone. In their places, you?re likely to see a pair of former Red Sox properties--prospect Hanley Ramirez and journeyman Pokey Reese. Ramirez might not be quite ready for prime time, having posted a .271/.335/.385 line in his second shot at Double-A. Still, you?d have to think that if the Marlins care about public opinion, at all, they?d want to get Ramirez in there to justify the Josh Beckett deal. Then again, if they cared about public opinion, the Marlins probably wouldn?t have picked up Pokey Reese. Reese missed the 2005 season to injury, but even when healthy, Reese hadn?t broken a .600 OPS since 2002. The next couple of guys down the depth chart don?t inspire much more confidence. Dan Uggla, a Rule 5 pick, did a much better job in Double-A (.297/.378/.502) than Ramirez did--he?s also nearly four years older. Robert Andino performed slightly worse than Ramirez at AA, and is a few months younger. The fact that Reese is the only one of these guys who?s seen an at bat at Triple-A could spell more moves for the Marlins. While the middle of the infield stands to be a competition between lesser evils, first base looks like a fun battle royale. Mike Jacobs was one of those guys who didn?t seem to mind moving up from Double-A to the majors last year, slugging 11 homers in 100 major league at-bats. If he can keep that up, he probably wouldn?t need a platoonmate such as former Brewers cornerman Wes Helms. Helms hits lefties hard (.905 OPS vs. lefthanded pitchers over the past three seasons), and has the ?advantage? of veteran-ness. Less veteran but more exciting is Josh Willingham, who could find himself in the picture at first or possibly catcher. Willingham lost a ton of time to injury in 2005, but up to that point had shown signs of a good prospect with the bat--high isolated power in the minors, consistent on base skills--good enough to be our #48 prospect last year. If he?s headed behind the plate, Willingham faces former prospect Miguel Olivo as his primary competition. Olivo was one of the biggest disappointments in baseball after he was obtained by the Mariners from the White Sox in 2004, but he hit well enough before and after his stint in the Pacific northwest to merit a shot in Marlin Teal. Further muddying the waters is holdover Matt Treanor, who needs one more year in the supporting role to get his card from the International Brotherhood of Backup Catchers. Considering that Jacobs has also caught in the minors, manager Joe Girardi could try some interesting roster construction--not that any small changes would compensate for the team?s overall weakness up the middle. Between the challenge of working with this gutted roster, and trying to find space for the dozen or so young arms the Marlins have picked up in their immolation sale, Girardi may find himself wishing he could hop the last of the V8 Interceptors right out of town. --Derek Jacques http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4692
January 7, 200620 yr What an absolutely nothing of an article. not to mention the guy is nearly illiterate.
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