Here is what Gammons has to say:

Marlins get tougher with Conine

When the Phillies came home after losing nine out of 13, they were still at the head of the wild-card line. So were the Marlins, having lost eight out of nine before sweeping the Expos at home. And while the Diamondbacks lost seven of their first 12 on a critical homestand, they actually moved 1.5 games closer to the Phils and Phish.

 

Jeff Conine

First baseman

Florida Marlins

Profile

 

 

2003 SEASON STATISTICS

AB BA HR RBI OBP OPS

493 .290 15 80 .338 .799

 

 

 

But for Philadelphia and Florida, what was important was where they were at the end of their slides. "We got home after that road trip, realized we're right where we'd like to be and knew it was time to get after it," Florida GM Admin Beinfest said. Then came the next bad news -- Mike Lowell out for the season. "We felt," said Beinfest, "that we've come this far, so we owe it to our fans and to the players to do whatever we can do to win."

 

So Beinfest gave up two of the organization's best pitching prospects to bring home Jeff Conine. "This is one of those deals that makes sense," Beinfest said. "He is a quality player who can play third, first or either corner outfield position. He is a middle-of-the-order bat. He is a quality person who brings veteran leadership, and they talk a lot here about what Darren Daulton meant to them in '97. Jeff lives here, and is immensely popular with our fans. He's also not a one-month rental, because he's signed for two more years. So this made sense in a lot of ways."

 

Earlier in the year, the Orioles had discussed a Conine-Derrek Lee deal, since Lee could make as much as $8-9 million as a fifth-year arbitration eligible player. With as many as 14 Marlins eligible for arbitration this off-season, Conine is protection should they have to deal Lee or Juan Encarnacion.

 

Meanwhile, for now, Miguel Cabrera will move to third, with Conine in left field.

 

As for the Orioles' future, Jim Beattie -- who had a notable history of acquiring good young pitchers in deals in Montreal (Zach Day, Tomo Ohka, Tony Armas, Carl Pavano) --now has acquired five young pitchers in the deals for Conine and Sidney Ponson. At the trading deadline, the Marlins steadfastly refused to discuss 20-year-old fireballer Denny Bautista, who hit 95 on the radar gun at the Futures Game. Baltimore got Bautista, as well as Don Levinsky, who has a terrific arm but has struggled with command issues in the Florida State League.

I think iv'e either read this article or someone posted it already. It looks familiar.

I hadn't read it.

 

Nice.

It may be posted already, although I havent seen it. He is actually somewhat objective with the deal, which is a good sign because in the past, he would be ripping the FO and certainly not quoting anything Beinfest would say. Good development on the PR front...