If we could afford him, I'd love to have him..I'm curious to see where he goes as a FA.

If we were going to get Dunn, it would be a one year $10.5 million rental since there would be little likelihood the Marlins would pick up his $13 million option for '08. How much would you give up for an expensive one-year rental that, while improving our lineup, would be one of the few players that would be a negligible defensive upgrade in LF over Willingham?

Is CF alone what kept us out of the playoffs? Do the Marlins really need to overpay for an awesome CF to make a legitimate playoff run next year?

 

I don't think so.

 

 

It is likely that a reliable CF from the very first game, providing that 8th lineup spot that was a dead hole almost the entire year cost us 6+ games. If the team had a viable CF option, and the only concern was bullpen, the FO might have moved to correct that. All that is speculation.

 

It is beyond dispute that the Marlins have two primary flaws, CF and bullpen. The team will not compete without correcting both. We shouldn't overpay for anything, but we need to obtain a viable CF player. Crawford and Badelli are the most attractive but there are other players out there that could help the team and could be had for less.

The question is how do we obtain that viable centerfielder. This is what I will believe will happen:

Trade-unlikely it will be for Crawford or Baldelli or Wells, more likely for Taveras or top tier prospect

Rule V Draft-Marlins will try to "Dan Ugglarize" the position

Free Agent signing-Would not be a high priced F/A more a Jose Cruz type, One player I like for the right price is Frank Catalanatto

Vernon Wells, CF

 

27 years old

 

stat line for this season: .303 BA, 32 HR, 106 RBI, 17 SB, .988 Fielding Percentage with 4 errors all season

 

has two gold gloves on his resume, 2004, 2005

 

Oh, and did I mention that he's only owed 5.6 million next season?

 

or

 

...that the Blue Jays are looking for starting pitching?

 

The only catch would be that next season is the final year of his current contract. So, if we didn't sign him to an extension, it would be a waste of whatever talent we traded away to get him. If we would in fact trade for him AND sign him to an extension, he would be in line for a hefty raise in salary. The Blue Jays are in the process of trying to sign him to an extension, but if they don't get it done, they may be even more willing to part ways with him, to get some type of value out of him before he walks at the end of next season. Seemed to me a little bit more of a logical trade than A-Rod. Any thoughts?

 

 

Vernon Wells, CF--Toronto Blue Jays: Wells would like to remain in Toronto by signing an extension this winter, but because his price tag could be too high for the Jays, he could also be traded. Some are speculating that the Jays will be willing to hold onto Wells and let him walker via free agency after next season. The Rangers, White Sox, Red Sox, the AL West, Astros, Cards, Cubs, Dodgers and Rockies could all pursue him. As far as an extension goes, he is expected to seek something near the 7-year, $119M deal given to Carlos Beltran. He should not be willing to accept anything less than $15M annually. On the other hand, GM J.P. Ricciardi said, "I can tell you this: If it is a Beltran-type deal, then it's something we wouldn't be able to handle."

Last updated: 07:17 PM - Oct 2, 06 by Unoff. MLB | Source: Ken Rosenthal

http://www.mlb4u.com/rumor.php?order=date&spec=DESC

The question is how do we obtain that viable centerfielder. This is what I will believe will happen:

Trade-unlikely it will be for Crawford or Baldelli or Wells, more likely for Taveras or top tier prospect

Rule V Draft-Marlins will try to "Dan Ugglarize" the position

Free Agent signing-Would not be a high priced F/A more a Jose Cruz type, One player I like for the right price is Frank Catalanatto

 

 

Catalanotto has never played CF before. Ever.

 

One Rule V guy to look out for is Cody Haerther. He probably will get put on the 40 man, but its not for sure. Another is Terry Evans, although it is probably more likely the Angels protect him.

There is definitely a whole in CF that needs to be corrected, but in 2006 after the Reggie experiment it wasn't too blatant. The Marlins could have easily ridden that platoon through the postseason.

 

The greater problem was having only one serviceable arm in the pen and a bunch of mediocre arms that were poorly managed. On top of that, the starting pitching began to break down.

 

Not really...you could put AA in CF + Borch/Hermida in RF vs Righties, but vs Lefties, who do you put in w/ Cody? and to top this off we end up carrying 4 or 5 guys to fill 2 positions, which also isn't terribly efficient use of the roster.

As far as the pen, midway through the season there was Kensing and K-Mart, last month of the season we still had Tank and Pinto was solid. Even Herges was ok when he wasn't being overused.

Anyways, the point is that all pitching, from the pen or the starters, will be more effective and have an easier time if we have good defense behind them.

The question is how do we obtain that viable centerfielder. This is what I will believe will happen:

Trade-unlikely it will be for Crawford or Baldelli or Wells, more likely for Taveras or top tier prospect

Rule V Draft-Marlins will try to "Dan Ugglarize" the position

Free Agent signing-Would not be a high priced F/A more a Jose Cruz type, One player I like for the right price is Frank Catalanatto

 

 

Catalanotto has never played CF before. Ever.

 

One Rule V guy to look out for is Cody Haerther. He probably will get put on the 40 man, but its not for sure. Another is Terry Evans, although it is probably more likely the Angels protect him.

Pasta never played outfield before the Marlins put him in CF this season. I think Catalanatto might do a better job than Amezaga

Here is some info on Terry Evans

http://www.minorleaguenews.com/baseball/fe...8/fab50/43.html

There is definitely a whole in CF that needs to be corrected, but in 2006 after the Reggie experiment it wasn't too blatant. The Marlins could have easily ridden that platoon through the postseason.

 

The greater problem was having only one serviceable arm in the pen and a bunch of mediocre arms that were poorly managed. On top of that, the starting pitching began to break down.

 

Not really...you could put AA in CF + Borch/Hermida in RF vs Righties, but vs Lefties, who do you put in w/ Cody? and to top this off we end up carrying 4 or 5 guys to fill 2 positions, which also isn't terribly efficient use of the roster.

As far as the pen, midway through the season there was Kensing and K-Mart, last month of the season we still had Tank and Pinto was solid. Even Herges was ok when he wasn't being overused.

Anyways, the point is that all pitching, from the pen or the starters, will be more effective and have an easier time if we have good defense behind them.

What do you mean with Cody?

 

And there is nothing wrong with using the roster space in that manner unless you have someone like Reggie Abercrombie lying around.

 

And a good defense can only do so much. You need to first have pitchers that won't get lit up whenever they are used.

About Cody, I mean that vs LHP he cannot play both RF and CF at the same time, which means you need to play one of Hermida, Borchard, AA or Reggie in the other spot. Now you want the really depressing stat about this? Reggie has the best BA vs LHP of that group.

 

If we could, I'd like to have Cody semi platoon/backup Hermida in RF (or Hammer in LF when need be, same with Borchard) and a have a CF we can actually play vs any pitcher. AA can stay as a backup IF.

 

Again, about the pitching, there were problems (I can admit) with Messenger and Kensing at times giving up HRs on their first pitches. At the same time, you have Pinto, Tank, and JoBo(not coming back I know) who were doing pretty good jobs.

Ideally, Hermida should be playing against LHP, but he needs to break out of whatever slump he was in. He couldn't even really hit RHP, but that does not mean the Marlins need to go looking for a replacement.

 

And I didn't like what I saw from Pinto and Borowski and they can only be complimented on not being as bad as Messenger, Herges, and Kensing. That's it.

 

Hermida was hitting on one leg. He should be ready By ST and be the hitting machine we have been hoping. Kensing was a bright spot in our bullpen til he was hit by the injury bug as well. We all hope he can come back from it as good as ever. Pinto pitched much better the last weeks of the season.

Ideally, Hermida should be playing against LHP, but he needs to break out of whatever slump he was in. He couldn't even really hit RHP, but that does not mean the Marlins need to go looking for a replacement.

 

And I didn't like what I saw from Pinto and Borowski and they can only be complimented on not being as bad as Messenger, Herges, and Kensing. That's it.

 

Ideally Hermida might even be able to play CF and we could platoon Borchard and Cody in RF. but that's not happening.

 

As far as Pinto's concerned, he had 2 bad appearances in July. His ERA for the Season is 3.03. If you don't count those 2 appearances in July, its around 1.60-1.70. Half his ERs for the season were in those 2 games. 5 ERs in his other 26.2 IP this season. He isn't perfect, but he's been doing his job. And I'm not suggesting he become the closer or anything. But assuming we get no one better, he could be Mr. 7th Inning leading into Tank as Setup man before whatever solution the FO finds for the closer spot.

Is CF alone what kept us out of the playoffs? Do the Marlins really need to overpay for an awesome CF to make a legitimate playoff run next year?

 

I don't think so.

 

 

It is likely that a reliable CF from the very first game, providing that 8th lineup spot that was a dead hole almost the entire year cost us 6+ games. If the team had a viable CF option, and the only concern was bullpen, the FO might have moved to correct that. All that is speculation.

 

It is beyond dispute that the Marlins have two primary flaws, CF and bullpen. The team will not compete without correcting both. We shouldn't overpay for anything, but we need to obtain a viable CF player. Crawford and Badelli are the most attractive but there are other players out there that could help the team and could be had for less.

There is definitely a whole in CF that needs to be corrected, but in 2006 after the Reggie experiment it wasn't too blatant. The Marlins could have easily ridden that platoon through the postseason.

 

The greater problem was having only one serviceable arm in the pen and a bunch of mediocre arms that were poorly managed. On top of that, the starting pitching began to break down.

I mostly agree that we need to go after pen help before an outfielder.

 

But...

 

Considering we do not go after a center fielder this offseason and go after pitching instead, who do you suggest start there at the season's start? I really don't think Reggie is going to "sharpen his skills" that much this offseason. Amezaga and Ross could do the job but I really don't like the idea of "riding that platoon" through another season.

 

Like you mentioned, the hole must be filled. Picking up an outfielder off of FA or before the deadline would be a must.