This opens up the competition not just at third but at first as well. If Cantu and McPhereson both have good springs McPherson gets the nod and Jacobs has to produce or possibly lose his job to Cantu with Gonzalez as the lefty option.

 

Does the signing of Gonzalez AND McPherson make the possibility of trading Willingham or Jacobs more likely?

This opens up the competition not just at third but at first as well. If Cantu and McPhereson both have good springs McPherson gets the nod and Jacobs has to produce or possibly lose his job to Cantu with Gonzalez as the lefty option.

 

Does the signing of Gonzalez AND McPherson make the possibility of trading Willingham or Jacobs more likely?

 

I think trading Jacobs is a real big option.

I'm amuse by the optimism everybody have with a guy who mist all of 2007 with back surgery and hit .247 with 18 HR and was non tender by the team that drafted him !!!wow

 

 

8 HR!! Not 18! And he is awesome, he will be great for us.

Can we really get much for Jacobs?

 

Finally a good day for the Marlins, something that hasn't happened in awhile. Glad to see we picked up McPherson, and Gonzalez can't hurt.

Can we really get much for Jacobs?

 

Finally a good day for the Marlins, something that hasn't happened in awhile. Glad to see we picked up McPherson, and Gonzalez can't hurt.

 

Of course we can. When he's healthy, he's a real solid contributor. And he really helped his value with the way he hit lefites last year IMO.

I'm not ready to give up on Jacobs just yet. I think another year before I come to my conclusions on him. He was hurt last year and his stats from 2006 to 2007 remained fairly constant. This given that he was hurt part of the season last year. So I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and have him hang for another year. Haven't lost faith in you yet Hammer.

I'm not ready to give up on Jacobs just yet. I think another year before I come to my conclusions on him. He was hurt last year and his stats from 2006 to 2007 remained fairly constant. This given that he was hurt part of the season last year. So I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and have him hang for another year. Haven't lost faith in you yet Hammer.

 

completely agree. Jacobs has a high ceiling and major power potential, I'm not ready to deal him just yet. Until I see him get a shot at a healthy year and 560+ AB (which will hopefully be the upcoming season), I'm not counting him out.

 

Same goes for Willingham. The problem most people seem to have with him is his range in left. First of all his average with RISP more than makes up for that to me. Regardless, having Maybin in Center running down fly balls is going to make it easier on Hammer.

 

I say keep them both for 08 and see If they can stay healthy and continue to produce. Hammer should be a 100+ RBI guy if he can manage 550 at-bats, and Jacobs can easily hit 25+ homers in a healthy season.

Now we're talking.

 

Whether ultimately it works out or not I love this signing. Low cost, high-upside.

 

 

 

and I agree with Panthino, I still want to give Jacobs more time.

I'm lost,,, i check his last 3 years and the stats are lousy ,McPhereson on base % under .300 all 3 years ,i don't see all this ra ra

I'm lost,,, i check his last 3 years and the stats are lousy ,McPhereson on base % under .300 all 3 years ,i don't see all this ra ra

 

 

He was one of the more highly-regarded prospects in baseball a few years ago, but then multiple injuries have cause him to lose time and/or struggle both at the plate and defensively.

 

Now they're saying he's supposed to be healthy, so we think that we may be able to experience McPherson the way he was supposedto be, rather than the injured one.

Now we're talking.

 

Whether ultimately it works out or not I love this signing.

 

For $425,000 on a split major league contract and less than two years service time, the Marlins can send him down if they want and let him play himself into shape at AAA if he's not 100%. This fantasy that some here have that after a year and half of no baseball and back surgery the guy is coming back and hitting 25 home runs is great tonight as we enjoy the front office doing something, but let's face it at least three other teams passed on him that I know of and even with Scott Boras as his agent he had to sign for pretty much the minimum.

 

I hope he is Comeback Player of the Year but it's just as likely he isn't with the club come April 1st. Or even in the organization. I'm not writing the guy off but I would caution people about getting ahead of themselves. He has a long road to travel to before he can call himself a major leaguer again and today was merely a first step.

I'm lost,,, i check his last 3 years and the stats are lousy ,McPhereson on base % under .300 all 3 years ,i don't see all this ra ra

he only had 360 AB's over that time...plus he probably wasnt very healthy for the latter portion of those AB's...major leaguers arent made in a day...the kid has all the talent in the world if he can stay healthy

Woo Hoo Finally! Damn we have been waiting for this awhile. McPherson will finally get a reall chance to develop into an everyday player. Castillo will be his backup. Amezaga's days in teal may be counted

Woo Hoo Finally! Damn we have been waiting for this awhile. McPherson will finally get a reall chance to develop into an everyday player. Castillo will be his backup. Amezaga's days in teal may be counted

no way we get rid of AA/pasta/super sub...he has too much value in everything that he can do

Pasta may be able to bring us a nice prospect, his value will never be higher

Pasta may be able to bring us a nice prospect, his value will never be higher

no way...while i agree his value will probably never be higher...teams dont dish out prospects for career utility players no matter how good they are...now if they packaged him with jacobs or hammer or something like that...then that might be something to follow...but i just cant see the marlins willing to part with him right now

Pasta may be able to bring us a nice prospect, his value will never be higher

no way...while i agree his value will probably never be higher...teams dont dish out prospects for career utility players no matter how good they are...now if they packaged him with jacobs or hammer or something like that...then that might be something to follow...but i just cant see the marlins willing to part with him right now

I can! Castillo could assume that super sub role very easily. Amezaga could be part of a nice package deal in a trade

Again this becomes a "what's there to lose?" type situation. The main reason to get excited about McPherson I think is that he isn't a stop gap (as if I need to tell anyone here) like Castillo and Cantu. They were both going to be temporary and not long-term like McPherson could be. He's a guy you will envision wearing the Marlins uniform for a long time, provided he doesn't go down the same road as previous Marlins third basemen. Hopefully that doesn't happen if the stadium deal works out by 2011 and we're finally able to sign some players to actual contracts.

 

As much as I would like to see what Jacobs could do in a full season, it's hard to justify keeping him if McPherson turns out to be a star. He brings another left-handed bat to go with Hermida so where does that leave Jacobs, in the 7 hole? Not going to happen.

 

And as much as I like Amezega it's becoming apparent that we're not in dire need of his services like we were last year. With Castillo becoming a back-up at second and third, and Gonzalez and Ross backing up the outfield, it looks like Alfredo's spot starts will be few and far between.

 

The Mcpherson signing has changed the entire dynamics of the team. If you would have asked me yesterday to put a Jacobs/Amezega package together for something I would have been completely against it. Now, it doesn't look like that bad of an option If we could get some decent prospects or a real catcher in return.

Before the discussion begins about what Jacobs or Jacobs/Amazega would bring back in a trade I have to think about what team out there is in such dire need of a first baseman that they would make Jacobs a starter? Is there anyone? Because otherwise he's a back-up with potential, at a position where he'd be lucky to see 40 starts and that's only 'cause he's a lefty. He's a AAA player, so far. We'll see how he does this year. Hopefully he'll improve on offense and defense. He wouldn't bring anything in trade anyway.

121 whiffs in only 360 at bats!

I'm amuse by the optimism everybody have with a guy who mist all of 2007 with back surgery and hit .247 with 18 HR and was non tender by the team that drafted him !!!wow

 

Not only could he benefit from a change of scenery to a low pressure environment, but the Angels also have so much depth that it's ridiculous and Dallas wasn't really needed.

Mike Jacobs has been the worst firstbaseman, when you combined offense and defense, two years running.

 

He has almost no value at the moment.

 

He also does not have that much potential, anybody who would give up something of value based off his potential would be a foolish GM. He's decently old (27) with a long swing, and unlike somebody like McPherson (Who's also 27 and had a injury plauged career so far), did not have a very good minor league career (.815 career OPS. He had two pretty good seasons, but outside of that he was horrible). His claim to fame was a huge September call up with the Mets, which just shows you shouldn't judge a player based of only 100 ABs.

 

He either needs to put up a .900+ OPS next year to make up for his defense, or change from one of the worst fielding firstbaseman to one of the best fielding firstbaseman, to actually have any value. And considering it's rare to see players upgrade their fielding this late in their careers (And expecially that drastically), it's basically counting on a guy to raise his OPS buy over a hundred points.

ok...just curious...say the guy has a great first half...do we extend him during the season or after the season or if he has a good year is he as good as gone?

 

Isn't he still arbitration eligible? He doesn't have too much MLB service time...

i wasnt sure...thats why i figured i would find out...i mean if he has a great year...that comforts the blow of trading away a future hall of famer quite a bit

 

As 2003 alluded to, he has just under 2 years of service time, so unless there's an opt out clause in his contract (Which you see often with foreign imports), we have control of him for 5 years.

Before the discussion begins about what Jacobs or Jacobs/Amazega would bring back in a trade I have to think about what team out there is in such dire need of a first baseman that they would make Jacobs a starter? Is there anyone? Because otherwise he's a back-up with potential, at a position where he'd be lucky to see 40 starts and that's only 'cause he's a lefty. He's a AAA player, so far. We'll see how he does this year. Hopefully he'll improve on offense and defense. He wouldn't bring anything in trade anyway.

 

Agreed, which is why I'd like to see a full season of at-bats before we give up on him. He's not likely to bring back much in a trade, so I think his best value for us is starting at 1B and hopefully getting into a hitting groove this season. That's assuming he isn't blocking someone else... so IF McPherson works out and they want to move Hammer to 1B, that's another option.

I believe if Willingham is healthy, he and Jacobs (given he's healthy too) are in the starting lineup on Opening Day and McPherson and Cantu are in the minors sharpening their games and perhaps in the case of Cantu playing multiple positions including the OF. Jacobs started hitting to the opposite field last season which, if he can do that consistently, opens up the who field for him. If they can get his swing to be more compact he can be very productive.

 

That said, as much as it pains Eddie, Amezaga is still with team as the infield utility player.

 

What I do like about this spring is the positional competitiveness we're going to see. Budding superstar or not, Ross will be out to win an everyday job, and Maybin will have to be ready to compete, something I suspect he hasn't had to do too much in his brief professional career. And no one knows who is the starting catcher or the makeup of the rotation, that has to be the biggest question mark.

 

As for McPherson I'm not saying he doesn't compete at third, I just don't think spring training is enough time to get his batting eye back and he probably will need a couple hundred at bats between spring training and the minors to do so. And his back is yet to be tested defensively as well. I suspect he and the front office have already discussed as much, hence the split contract. After all, they both share the same goal which is for McPherson to finally be healthy and successful at the major league level (which then opens up the opportunity to bundle Amezaga if Castillo shows enough to suggest he can fill Amezaga's current role).

 

So yeah, I like the signing but I suspect I'll like it more in June than April. We'll see.