Cause for Offensive Optimism?

[Mudcatsfan2]

So Hanley is still Hanley, Jacobs has been hitting for power, Uggla is hitting, Hermida steps right into the 3spot with 2 doubles, and Maybin CF, Coughlan 2b/3b are both KILLING the ball in AA with power and 3sb EACH??

 

I?m just dumb enough to get excited about how the offense is lining up. You?

 

Maybin CF-R

Coughlan 3B-R

Hermida RF-L

Hanley SS-R

Jacobs 1B-L

Uggla 2B-R

Willingham LF-R

Treanor C-R

Pitcher

[upstatenyfishfan]

I dont like batting hanley as the clean up, he is either lead off or batting third in any lineup i would want....

[MarlinsLou]

So Hanley is still Hanley, Jacobs has been hitting for power, Uggla is hitting, Hermida steps right into the 3spot with 2 doubles, and Maybin CF, Coughlan 2b/3b are both KILLING the ball in AA with power and 3sb EACH??

 

I?m just dumb enough to get excited about how the offense is lining up. You?

 

Maybin CF-R

Coughlan 3B-R

Hermida RF-L

Hanley SS-R

Jacobs 1B-L

Uggla 2B-R

Willingham LF-R

Treanor C-R

Pitcher

I'm guessing you mean longterm, and while this would be awesome if they could afford them, I would expect Hammer, Jacobs, and Uggla to be gone before the stadium is built (if not this offseason), Coghlan shifted to 2B (with Andino as a fall back), and the Marlins will hope this group - Carroll, J. Miller, G. Sanchez, Cousins, Raynor, L. Morrison - can man 1B and LF adequately within 1-2 years. They will have to go outside the organization for a 3B and C, but that's ok because we have a lot of pitching and those bats to trade.

 

The team is going to hit for awhile with 2 premium up the middle hitters and a nice emerging 2B. They can easily fill the other 4 corner positions with guys who can bash, and they already have a super premium one with Hermida. Building up the middle is the best way to go.

 

There is a lot to be optimistic with this franchise. It's just going to take a year or two for all of the pitching to compliment the bats.

[prinmemito]

I disagree with Lou. Our payroll is currently well under $20 million. I think we can keep our core intact until the stadium. We've got to give long term contracts to Hanley and Hermida, and go year to year with the other guys. We shouldn't dump them for payroll reasons. If we do this, we'll still only be at around $45 million by the time the stadium opens.

[Tee Ball Bunt Machine]

While I'm certainly happy with the current offensive production, I think it should be less, not more, reason to tinker with the lineup.

 

I mean after all, you are putting 2 guys who aren't even at this level yet in the #1 & #2 spots. Let Maybin & Coughlan earn spots at the top of the order. I'm not ready to throw Hammer down into the #7 spot either.

 

All that said, things look good for this year, and hopefully without needing to rush any position guys up to the bigs.

 

Hanley & Uggla are still the same hitters, even without Cabrera behind them. And dare we even think that having a healthy Hermida & Jake all season can more than make up for what we lost in the trade?

 

And as someone who's not so down on Cantu like this whole board is, even though I didn't like that ball he threw in the seats, it was nice to see him contributing significantly to the offense as well. Just another guy who I think, if healthy, can make a good contribution and won't need to be replaced.

[Trey05Marlins]

I don't think we will be able to keep the entire quartet of Hanley-Jacobs-Hermida-Uggla. They will all be in arbitration starting next year and the likelihood of keeping them all is slim, in my opinion. Just keeping Hanlye will be a tough task. Also I think Hammer will be in the same situation as well. I think theu will keep Hanley and Hermida for sure, but later down the road, depending on how the prospects in the minors do (Chris Coghlan, Gaby Hernandez), I wouldn't be surprised to see Uggla and Jacobs either not resigned or traded.

[poptart]

I disagree with Lou. Our payroll is currently well under $20 million. I think we can keep our core intact until the stadium. We've got to give long term contracts to Hanley and Hermida, and go year to year with the other guys. We shouldn't dump them for payroll reasons. If we do this, we'll still only be at around $45 million by the time the stadium opens.

juan pierre is getting $12mil a year or some sh*t like that. jake hammer + uggla combined pay will be like $45mil a year then.

[Retro_Marlins25]

I don't think we will be able to keep the entire quartet of Hanley-Jacobs-Hermida-Uggla. They will all be in arbitration starting next year and the likelihood of keeping them all is slim, in my opinion. Just keeping Hanlye will be a tough task. Also I think Hammer will be in the same situation as well. I think theu will keep Hanley and Hermida for sure, but later down the road, depending on how the prospects in the minors do (Chris Coghlan, Gaby Hernandez), I wouldn't be surprised to see Uggla and Jacobs either not resigned or traded.

I will be happy if we locked up at least two of those four.Hanley and another.

[geemoney]

I disagree with Lou. Our payroll is currently well under $20 million. I think we can keep our core intact until the stadium. We've got to give long term contracts to Hanley and Hermida, and go year to year with the other guys. We shouldn't dump them for payroll reasons. If we do this, we'll still only be at around $45 million by the time the stadium opens.

I wouldn't expect the payroll to jump that high until a year or more after the stadium is built....the reason we don't have money now is we get pretty much nothing at Dolphin Stadium....it'll take a year or two after the stadium is built to start raking that revenue in.

[flasportsfan88]

Why is Coghlan in AA, he struggled in 130 abs in Jupier last year.

[Iowa]

its just nice to have our lefty bats healthy.. lets just hope they stay that way please

[Marlins2003]

I disagree with Lou. Our payroll is currently well under $20 million. I think we can keep our core intact until the stadium. We've got to give long term contracts to Hanley and Hermida, and go year to year with the other guys. We shouldn't dump them for payroll reasons. If we do this, we'll still only be at around $45 million by the time the stadium opens.

I wouldn't expect the payroll to jump that high until a year or more after the stadium is built....the reason we don't have money now is we get pretty much nothing at Dolphin Stadium....it'll take a year or two after the stadium is built to start raking that revenue in.

 

I'm somewhere in the middle. I think the posturing about what they are and aren't going to do regarding personnel decisions and payroll expansion is directly related to what the final stadium deal looks like, if there is a stadium deal, whatever scenario plays out, etc. My guess is before the deal is done the Marlins' contribution will increase from $30-50 million from where it is now (depending on how much is upfront and how much is increased term of lease payments) and what HOK estimates the final design/build dollars will be.

 

Once they get that sorted out they're in a much better position to make the on-field decisions they are reluctant to make now.

[prinmemito]

The deal is final, as far as I know. The main issue is probably cost overruns. If I am not mistaken, the Marlins are going to cover all or most of the cost overruns, so their final contribution will vary depending on that. I suspect that 2003 is right. They will probably have a better grasp of potential cost overruns after they are a few months into construction. So, I guess by the 2010 season they should have an idea of where they'll be. In the meantime, I don't see any reason why they can't increase their payroll to $30-35 million for 2009.

[Mudcatsfan2]

I also just realized Coghlan is a lefty, my mistake.

 

As to when this lineup is feasible, I meant more like opening day next year, or perhaps even late this year as the Fish consistenly move elite talent straight from AA Zebulon to Miami (Miggy, Dontrelle, JJ, Anibal, Olsen, Hermida, etc)

[costabear]

Jacobs will have to continue to show this kind of power if he wants to stay in our long term plans. I still would like to acquire a high quality catcher via trade or the draft soon. Treanor is ok as a backup...but that's about it.

[Mudcatsfan2]

Why is Coghlan in AA, he struggled in 130 abs in Jupier last year.

 

He did, and it concerned me, but they've started him at AA, and he's TEARING it up.

[MarlinsLou]

I disagree with Lou. Our payroll is currently well under $20 million. I think we can keep our core intact until the stadium. We've got to give long term contracts to Hanley and Hermida, and go year to year with the other guys. We shouldn't dump them for payroll reasons. If we do this, we'll still only be at around $45 million by the time the stadium opens.

If you think payroll goes to $45, the whole team can come back in 2009 and 2010 and we won't have problems until 2011. I am not optimistic. I am also not optimistic at buying out Hanley and Hermida, even though it's the blatantly obvious thing to do. I also probably disagree with what you think the core is. The core to me is Hanley, Hermida, Maybin, and anyone of Coghlan, Andino, G. Sanchez, Carroll, J. Miller, L. Morrison, Raynor, and Cousins, who wants to develop into a startee. Plus, all of the young, not close to arbitration, pitching. Everything else (Hammer, Jacobs, Uggla, Olsen, Hendrickson, Gregg, Mitre, J. Miller, Gardner, Cody, Amezaga, Cantu, L. Gonzalez, McPherson) is expendable for a young starting 3B, a young starting C, more general pitching depth, and maybe a young LF or 1B if the team is totally disappointed with the flurry of corner OF and 1B prospects in the system.

 

If we work under a $30 million rationale for next year, they can basically keep two of Hammer, Jacobs, Uggla, and Olsen for next year. I'd keep one of them for 1B and Olsen. We can handle 2B and LF between internal options, or another Gonzo type free agent.