I personally love our catcher combo. I just wish our pitchers could do a bit more to help hold the runners and make their life a little easier.

I see Hermida, Uggla, Cantu, N Johnson, Paulino, as likely goners among the regulars. I think the Marlins may be able to use a starting pitcher or two as trade bait to acquire some cheap young players. Not that the Marlins have starting pitching depth, but they have some starters they may not wish to move forward with and that could be deemed as having potential by other teams. A good player to target as an Uggla replacement would be the Rockies Ian Stewart, who is still at the minimum, and has some power. He can play 2nd, 3rd, or outfield, I believe. The Rockies seem to have a bit of glut in the infield, but still may not be willing to deal him. I hope Cody Ross stays with the team ... love his defense. Coghlan will be a fixture for years ... in the outfield, at second, or at third. Unfortunately, it does not appear that Morrison, Stanton and Dominguez are anywhere near ready.

 

I would bring up Nick Ungs to fill out the rotation for the Marlins stretch run. He just pitched seven shutout innings of winning baseball to lead Jacksonville to a first game playoff victory. He doesn't walk people.

 

Are you related to Nick Ungs? Graham Taylor didn't walk people in AA as well.

 

The Rocks aren't moving Stewart with Atkins a likely trade/DFA. He's a big part of their future. And why should we trade a legit young player(s) for him when we have Coghlan to cover 2B, and Dominguez in AA for the longterm. It makes no sense positionally to expend significant resources for a player with his skill set. We need a 'cheap' (defined as insignificant acquisition cost), or to keep Cantu, to stopgap the position until we determine if we really like Dominguez, or if we need to bring in more talent to the position. What we need is pitching, and more pitching, when we trade away some of our arbitration bats. What we need to do is keep every pitcher in the organization, even Anibal, and see which ones stick. The offense is going to be fine as long as they keep two of the arb/nj bats. This team moves forward when the pitchers collectively decide to be awesome. The upper minors is bare. Moving Uggla, Hermida, and maybe another guy will help replenish that while we wait to see if the young Beinfest draft picks (Sanabia, Hand, James, etc) work out in 4 years.

 

And a minor point, I don't see why they don't bring Paulino back. Yea neither of our guys throw out base runners, but the combination of them hitting is really awesome and Paulino could revert back to his LHP rates and start .900+ against them real quick. We're currently 6th in offensive catcher production (behind Mauer, McCann, Montero/Snyder, Posada, and surprisingly Piersynski). And this is with Baker hitting .797 vs RHP (2008 .904), and Paulino .764 vs LHP (Career vs LHP .869). There is certainly room for improvement here which is AWESOME. Let's not mess with a good thing when Paulino is going to cost, at absolute most, $500,000 over the minimum salary. He is worth every penny on the bench for us.

Dude, more great points. I'm glad someone is talking about our catchers. There not overly GREAT but there are very solid. I'm absolutely agree with you that we NEED to bring back Paulino for the money. It has been a very good combination. I also agree with the pitching comments. There is no way we are giving up any pitchers in the organization. We don't really know what we have in a lot of them and there isn't much better to swap out with that we'll really afford, especially if we keep Cantu. The upcoming trades will yield probably spot starters or stop gaps are best. We need to replenish the Upper minors immediately and this will be a way to do it. We could be in store for some lean years ahead.

What i would do is this:

trade uggla, cantu, hermida, proctor, amezaga, anibal for ml-ready SP

resign Johnson for 1yr 4.5mil, possibly a 2yr 9mil

 

Roster Breakdown:

1. C Baker $415,000

 

2. 1B Johnson $4,500,000

 

3. 2B Coghlan $405,000

 

4. SS Hanley $7,000,000

 

5. 3B Sanchez $405,000

 

6. RF Carroll $415,000

 

7. CF Maybin $405,000

 

8. LF Ross $4,200,000

 

9. B Paulino $880,000

 

10. B Helms $950,000

 

11. B Bonifacio $415,000

 

12. B Cousins/Raynor $405,000

 

13. B "Veteran"* $750,000

 

1. SP Johnson $5,600,000

 

2. SP Nolasco $4,250,000

 

3. SP Miller $2,000,000

 

4. SP Volstad $415,000

 

5. SP West $405,000

 

6. RP Nunez $1,600,000

 

7. RP RVH $415,000

 

8. RP Badenhop $415,000

 

9. RP Meyer $415,000

 

10. RP Pinto $850,000

 

11. RP Lindstrom $1,600,000

 

12. RP Sanches $415,000

 

*ross gload mold, 1st/3rd/lf rhp masher

 

Total: 39.5 mil

 

when morrison is ready, or no longer a candidate for super 2 status, call him up and put him in lf

 

 

Lineup:

1. Maybin CF

2. Coghlan 2nd

3. NJ/Hanley 1st/SS

4. Hanley/NJ SS/1st

5. Baker C

6. Ross LF

7. Sanchez 3rd

8. Carroll RF

9. JJ P

 

 

other option is to trade nunez or stormy, because the bullpen is loaded, and my projected roster already has leroux and wood in AAA, and there others like tucker, carlos mart, ceda, and tank that can get healthy and be ready for the ml soon.

Not that big of a deal, but why is it that when everybody posts their projected 2010 lineup, they want Cody in right and Carroll in left?

Not that big of a deal, but why is it that when everybody posts their projected 2010 lineup, they want Cody in right and Carroll in left?

 

 

I wondered this, as well. Carroll's arm absolutely belongs in right field. That defensive outfield would be sooo sick. If we are going with those 3, I think we could gamble on a flyball pitcher in Landshark and have some better-than-anticipated results.

1.6 Lindstrom + 1.6 Nunez = 3.2 million for 2 relievers. The more and more I see that possibility, the less I like it. Nunez' stats are the better looking of the two, and a lot of that has to do with good fortune for him, this year.

 

I'm leaning to only signing 1 of those 2 guys...not both.

Not that big of a deal, but why is it that when everybody posts their projected 2010 lineup, they want Cody in right and Carroll in left?

 

I think they're just cut and pasting in their head. Cody already in RF, cut Coghlan and put in the infield, paste in Carroll in his place.

 

But yeah, Cody/Maybin/Carroll makes much more sense than the other way around, especially since Cody is better in LF than in RF.

 

...Which Carroll could hit a baseball though...

Not that big of a deal, but why is it that when everybody posts their projected 2010 lineup, they want Cody in right and Carroll in left?

 

I think they're just cut and pasting in their head. Cody already in RF, cut Coghlan and put in the infield, paste in Carroll in his place.

 

But yeah, Cody/Maybin/Carroll makes much more sense than the other way around, especially since Cody is better in LF than in RF.

 

...Which Carroll could hit a baseball though...

 

 

This (the bolded). I don't see why/how people want him as an everyday starter, at a corner outfield spot.

1.6 Lindstrom + 1.6 Nunez = 3.2 million for 2 relievers. The more and more I see that possibility, the less I like it. Nunez' stats are the better looking of the two, and a lot of that has to do with good fortune for him, this year.

 

I'm leaning to only signing 1 of those 2 guys...not both.

 

 

Sign Nunez and let Lindstrom go....Nunez is better. He's got swag....he's got the arm pump at the end of a save....he's got the confidence of Fredi Gonzalez (which is the most important thing you could ever establish)....and now he isn't throwing 1st pitch fastballs belt high right over the middle of the plate. This is an easy choice.

This (the bolded). I don't see why/how people want him as an everyday starter, at a corner outfield spot.

 

 

If he has a .720 OPS, he's an average RFer because of his defense.

(re: Carroll) I don't see why/how people want him as an everyday starter, at a corner outfield spot.

 

 

Maybe because he's the best defensive outfielder on the team and perhaps in the organization (that's MLB-ready) and maybe after a horrendous start and playing only sporadically his bat seems to be improving markedly giving hope that not only can he play superior MLB defense, he can hold his own at the plate as well.

 

I know he's not the guy you want out there but thankfully you aren't making these decisions, in fact none of us are, so if people want to form their own opinions I say go for it.

1.6 Lindstrom + 1.6 Nunez = 3.2 million for 2 relievers. The more and more I see that possibility, the less I like it. Nunez' stats are the better looking of the two, and a lot of that has to do with good fortune for him, this year.

 

 

Ignore ERA and Lindstrom has actually pitched better most everywhere. I mean, Leo has a 10 point OPS advantage, but that's with a 100 point lower BABIP. It's not like this is some anomaly, Leo is a FB pitcher that gives up a ton jacks, this isn't a Volstad situation, this is who he is.

 

Lindstrom has basically the same K/BB potential that Leo does, the difference is in GB's/XBH's, and Lindstrom smokes him there.

1.6 Lindstrom + 1.6 Nunez = 3.2 million for 2 relievers. The more and more I see that possibility, the less I like it. Nunez' stats are the better looking of the two, and a lot of that has to do with good fortune for him, this year.

 

I'm leaning to only signing 1 of those 2 guys...not both.

 

 

 

I would let Nunez and his 1.76 HR/9 go first.