4 errors is terrible. The bench is putrid. I'm disgusted we have to go to a guy we have essentially DFA's twice this season already. Awful. And then we have to go to a Tim Wood in the 9th inning of a 1-run game. Luckily it worked out tonight, but damn.

 

2 out of 3 is solid and a step in the right direction, but we soooooo could have had that sweep.

I really want to know why Lamb is still in this organization at all. Has he come through in a PH situation even ONCE this year when it mattered?

 

I agree that we need to dump Lamb for good, call up Luna, and then pick up Blalock and send Barden wherever, I don't really care where.

 

 

Barden has the glove...but no damn bat. Like Hayes, Hayes is a good catcher, right? Just no bat to go with it?

 

And give Paulino a day off ATL series. Good God, think about his knees.

There was a game last night? Every time I tuned into that channel it looked more like a 3 hour info-mercial. "We are PR. We are great. But feel sorry for us and send us your money."

Always a good sign when you decide to pitch hit for your pitcher in the 5th inning, with runners on the corners, and the guy you call on has an OPS 300 points lower than the league average (and the broadcast points that out)

Pretty Bad loss but at least we won the series. Sweep should've been that momentum shifter but the errors killed us.

I didn't watch the whole game but how did we not score more runs with 17 hits?!?!?!?!?!

We should start the ATL series strong with J.J. on the mound Friday against Kris Medlin who we should put a few runs up against which should be enough for J.J. to get the win.

 

I honestly wanted this sweep but I'll deal if we can win 4 or 5 series in a row and gain ground on the division before the All Star break.

 

Also why is Brian Barden still on the team?

Lamb usually could put good wood on the ball but Barden is just awful at the plate and I'm pretty sure we could find someone who could play solid defense with at least a decent stick. We basically have 3 below average hitters on our bench in Lamb, Bonifacio and Barden but I understand Boni for speed and defensive purposes.

This was the first time since 1934 that a team lost when 8 players had at least 2 hits.:anon I just saw that on ESPN's ticker.

so apparently Cantu was suffering from dizziness, that's why they pinch-hit for him with Wes Helms in the 8th.

 

But yes this bench is really poor right now. Barden and Bonifacio are basically useless and Lamb is even worse if that's possible. It's past time to give Luna a try.

 

Why the hell is Mike Lamb here instead of Brett Carroll? At least Carroll will run into a pitch every now and then, & you get defense too.

so apparently Cantu was suffering from dizziness, that's why they pinch-hit for him with Wes Helms in the 8th.

 

But yes this bench is really poor right now. Barden and Bonifacio are basically useless and Lamb is even worse if that's possible. It's past time to give Luna a try.

 

Why the hell is Mike Lamb here instead of Brett Carroll? At least Carroll will run into a pitch every now and then, & you get defense too.

 

Don't forget Hayes.

It is fundamentally unfair to the rest of the team and the new manager (who I say is somewhat complicit in this and should be ashamed he took a job where he obviously has zero decision-making clout) to field a roster that includes Lamb, Barden and Tim Wood, and if you want to throw Bonifacio in I'm not going to argue its fairness with anyone because it only detracts from the overall point.

 

It isn't like this team has to go out and acquire a number of big impact guys to to get better quickly although that would be nice, to me that's step two. And this team needs to stabilize their 25 man roster before making "the big move".

 

Step one has to be bring guys like Luna, who is playing out of his mind and would no doubt crawl across a bed of burning embers and crushed glass to wear a Marlins uni and deservedly so (a phrase I almost never, ever use because I don't generally believe ballplayers "deserve" anything) the way he has swung the bat all season and yes I know his defense is iffy, there is no legitimate argument that can be made that he can't replace one of the three players above coming off the bench even if you knock 50 points off across the board. And there are others in AAA as well who at least should be considered. Richar, Morrison (I submit off the bench as your left-handed pinch hitter he is so far superior to Mike Lamb it's ridiculous, and my perception is he's learned all he needs to in AAA and a half season in the bigs, even in a secondary role, will benefit his career that officially starts in 2011 - I know others will feel differently and their argument is legitimate - Murphy and maybe Brad Davis for Hayes, after all how often is Hayes really called upon with Paulino in there and gets some guys who can make contact off the bench instead of what we have now. Then there's Brett Carroll who once he got over his devastating demotion is playing well and maybe even Maybin to consider although I think he should be playing everyday.

 

If E-Rod really wanted to win instead of being a token he'd be clamoring for the guys who played their collective asses off for him this season (even if it was for show) and helped get him where he is instead of staying silent and letting them rot in NOLA like they never existed.

 

The good thing here is none of these guys (excepting Morrison obviously) do you have any investment in, these are transitional moves and if Admin finds a better guy out there between now and the end of July, no harm no foul you send a Luna or whoever back to NOLA and move on. I would submit making some of these kinds of moves may actually benefit Beinfest and company from a trading strategy standpoint and if one or two of them click all the better.

 

In the meantime the front office increases negotiating leverage because at least to some extent the aura of desperation has been removed or at least has been lessened.They can concentrate on making the forward thinking moves they need to get done without trying to do too many things at once.

 

At the same time looking outside the organization at cast-offs like Hank Blalock (who a few months ago I would have poo-pooed as unnecessary) as he's not a third baseman anymore and as such has almost zero defensive value so let's not fool ourselves into thinking he does. He can still go out there if we need a body for an inning or three but don't look for too much more. The guy hasn't legitimately played anything but first since 2006 and this is a team with so many potential first basemen you look at him as a pinch-hitter only. Just give me a few more months of .267/.333 like you just did in June and it's a step up from Lamb.

 

And there are surely others. Limited skillsets but an upgrade over who is riding the pine right now.

 

The bullpen is not necessarily as bad as it seems if you remove Wood, and Hensley and Badenhop (whose role appears to be changing in NOLA with good success) come back strong. Regardless of how people here hate him, Veras has pitched fine since he returned (zero earned runs in his four appearances in June) and as long as he keeps doing that or anything close to it I say hold your nose and let him pitch. We need a guy to match up with Tank (and I don't care if it's another lefty or a guy who can get guys out regardless of what batter's box that guy is standing in) and maybe one more 4+/- ERA arm.

 

BTW, one last thought. I know a lot of people perceive NOLA being in the PCL means all their offensive stats are skewed by playing in the high elevations, rarified air the PCL is famous for but look at the Zephyrs schedule to date and you'll see except for an away trip or two that hasn't been the case. Looking at numbers from NOLA are much more representative than they were when the team was playing New Mexico.

 

I'm sure there's other ways to fix things, others have other "plans", this is just mine. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

 

(wow!!! sorry about that I didn't realize it was THAT long. lol)

Also why is Brian Barden still on the team?

Lamb usually could put good wood on the ball but Barden is just awful at the plate and I'm pretty sure we could find someone who could play solid defense with at least a decent stick. We basically have 3 below average hitters on our bench in Lamb, Bonifacio and Barden but I understand Boni for speed and defensive purposes.

 

 

 

Of course you can, but Loria won't pay for one. You had Ross Gload, but Gload wanted some $. That is when Loria shoved him out the door.

 

And some here say Loria is committed to winning. You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time but Loria is not fooling anyone any longer. This season is exposing him for what he is, and its going to (hopefully) get him run out of MLB. He'll never turn us into a winner with his ownership & management style, as he is alienating just about everyone in baseball. His repuation is crap and that sticks with you for a long time. People in baseball gossip, and right now Loria is considered a turd by most of them. Loria will most likely have to overpay to get FA's and a good manager here because of the BS they will have to put up with. The chances that he can bring good ones down here and still be El Cheapo is zilch.

 

With the core of players we have now, we are what we have been, about a .500 team. That is not a team that will win championships. The time is coming soon that will really test Loria, and that is when that stadium is opened. We're going to see how much he willing to pay to build a bench & bullpen and have those players that will back up the replacements for Uggla, Ross and Cantu, who I suspect all 3 to be gone by 2012. If he wants to go discount still in 2012 maybe some people will finally wake up and see this guy for who he is.

Admin beinfest i am begging you!!!

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=425659

 

 

Yeah, not only are his minor league numbers awesome this year, but his major league numbers aren't the terrible either for a middle infielder. With absolutely nobody up here contributing, we need to do something here.

I'm sorry, but E-Rod has made some QUESTIONABLE moves, to the point where you have to question his baseball IQ.

 

Second game against the Padres 7th inning- Cody on second, Paulino on first. He pinch runs Paulino for Boni with the TYING RUN ON SECOND BASEEEE. WTF!?

Today- Does the same thing with tying run on second. Not as bad since it was the 9th, but still.

 

 

I'm really sick of blaming games on the manager no matter who it is. This team lacks the roster to compete. Case in point, the trying and winning run were on base when the game had to be put into the hand's of Brian Barden, he of the .213 career average. The first 3 guys who HAD to pitch out of the bullpen were a 21 year-old rookie with like 2 career major league appearances, a guy with a 5.00 ERA who never gets any better, and a guy who was so bad earlier this year he was DFA'd after less than 5 innings. For all I care, our manager could be pinch hitting with a monkey with the bases loaded, and it wouldn't be his fault because he wasn't given anything else on this roster to work. That, and the monkey would probably have more chance of getting a hit that anyone on our bench.

I really don't care if Brian Barden and Emilio Bonifacio can play multiple positions, one (or better yet, both) need to be called down to make room for Brett Carroll. It's a disgrace that Carroll isn't on the major league squad at this moment.

Can we just bring up Morrison already as well?

I really don't care if Brian Barden and Emilio Bonifacio can play multiple positions, one (or better yet, both) need to be called down to make room for Brett Carroll. It's a disgrace that Carroll isn't on the major league squad at this moment.

 

 

But that would be another blow to this FO that they have failed. BC has been jerked around more often than some Jamaican beef. Barden & Bonifacio again are creations of this FO and they will be given every chance under the Sun so Beinfest can say "see I am a really great FO guy".

 

Beinfest better hit on every draft choice from now on, because he hasn't won a trade since Hanley.

I really don't care if Brian Barden and Emilio Bonifacio can play multiple positions, one (or better yet, both) need to be called down to make room for Brett Carroll. It's a disgrace that Carroll isn't on the major league squad at this moment.

 

 

The only reasons Brett Carroll sounds great is because he's not on the roster right now. He's a career 610 OPS hitter in the majors, though his OPS for the last two years is around .670. He's definitely more exciting than Mike Lamb in that he has shown to be capable of getting a big clutch hit every once in a while, but the numbers show that like a lot of other guys in the Marlins organization he's just not as good as we would like to believe he is. That's the great thing about baseball in that the numbers pretty accurately show just how well you've been doing, and they say that Carroll stinks, Volstad is average at best, Nolasco just isn't the pitcher he once seemed like he could be, etc.

 

There's certainly a reason to believe that Carroll could provide more off the bench than the nothing we're currently getting, but it's hardly a tragedy that a guy who can't even OPS .700 isn't on this roster.

I really don't care if Brian Barden and Emilio Bonifacio can play multiple positions, one (or better yet, both) need to be called down to make room for Brett Carroll. It's a disgrace that Carroll isn't on the major league squad at this moment.

 

 

But that would be another blow to this FO that they have failed. BC has been jerked around more often than some Jamaican beef. Barden & Bonifacio again are creations of this FO and they will be given every chance under the Sun so Beinfest can say "see I am a really great FO guy".

 

Beinfest better hit on every draft choice from now on, because he hasn't won a trade since Hanley.

 

What about Chris Resop for Kevin Gregg? Or in the long run maybe Jacobs for Nunez? Or Jason Stokes for John Baker? But actually I agree with you completely, just though I'd point out a couple (minor) exceptions to what has actually been a pretty horrible trading record.

 

And really, Hanley Ramirez wasn't that much of a win either. We gave up a former WS MVP and future 20-game winner in Josh Beckett, and while Hanley has certainly been good and in fact much better than could have been expected, it's not as if we didn't give up top talent in getting him either.

I really don't care if Brian Barden and Emilio Bonifacio can play multiple positions, one (or better yet, both) need to be called down to make room for Brett Carroll. It's a disgrace that Carroll isn't on the major league squad at this moment.

 

 

The only reasons Brett Carroll sounds great is because he's not on the roster right now. He's a career 610 OPS hitter in the majors, though his OPS for the last two years is around .670. He's definitely more exciting than Mike Lamb in that he has shown to be capable of getting a big clutch hit every once in a while, but the numbers show that like a lot of other guys in the Marlins organization he's just not as good as we would like to believe he is. That's the great thing about baseball in that the numbers pretty accurately show just how well you've been doing, and they say that Carroll stinks, Volstad is average at best, Nolasco just isn't the pitcher he once seemed like he could be, etc.

 

There's certainly a reason to believe that Carroll could provide more off the bench than the nothing we're currently getting, but it's hardly a tragedy that a guy who can't even OPS .700 isn't on this roster.

 

 

The numbers don't accurately show AT ALL the truth about Volstad. He's much better than they show with the bad team the Marlins are with bad defense and he is a ground ball pitcher, bad run support and bad bullpen.

I could see Steinbrenner, owning this team, the FO would be on the unemployment line,

Boog pretty much summed it up well: "This team works a lot on their defense, they just aren't very good at it"

I really don't care if Brian Barden and Emilio Bonifacio can play multiple positions, one (or better yet, both) need to be called down to make room for Brett Carroll. It's a disgrace that Carroll isn't on the major league squad at this moment.

 

 

The only reasons Brett Carroll sounds great is because he's not on the roster right now. He's a career 610 OPS hitter in the majors, though his OPS for the last two years is around .670. He's definitely more exciting than Mike Lamb in that he has shown to be capable of getting a big clutch hit every once in a while, but the numbers show that like a lot of other guys in the Marlins organization he's just not as good as we would like to believe he is. That's the great thing about baseball in that the numbers pretty accurately show just how well you've been doing, and they say that Carroll stinks, Volstad is average at best, Nolasco just isn't the pitcher he once seemed like he could be, etc.

 

There's certainly a reason to believe that Carroll could provide more off the bench than the nothing we're currently getting, but it's hardly a tragedy that a guy who can't even OPS .700 isn't on this roster.

 

 

The numbers don't accurately show AT ALL the truth about Volstad. He's much better than they show with the bad team the Marlins are with bad defense and he is a ground ball pitcher, bad run support and bad bullpen.

 

I'm not looking at Volstad's W-L record alone, I'm looking at things like ERA. yes, he has had some instances where inherited runners scored, but what you have to understand is that this is part of the problem in that even in his good starts, he's not able to finish them out. He hasn't gone 7 innings in a start since May 7th, and that's his fault. Either he's too ineffective to go deep, or he's too inefficient to get though 7 innings. If you have to leave a game with runners on, the runners are charged to you, and for good reason. It's your fault that they are there in the first place and your fault that you're having to leave the game in the first place. If he were better, he wouldn't have been placed in this position over and over.

 

His 4.49 ERA isn't terrible, which is not what I'm saying he is. But his 5.21 ERA last year was terrible. His ERA now is somewhat of a midpoint between his rookie year, where he did what a lot of rookie pitchers without outstanding stuff did and probably outpitched himself, and last year where the league really figured him out. Which is why I'm inclined to believe that this year's ERA is the range we should expect Volstad to stay in, now that the league has adjusted to him and he in turn adjusted to it to the best he was capable.

 

Obviously you disagree with my assessment, but I'm not really gonna consider myself wrong about this when Volstad is not locking down the other teams' offense on any given night and hasn't even gone past 6 innings in a game in a month. And again, I'm not saying he's terrible, I'm saying he's average. It's better for the organization to consider and plan for him being a number 4 instead of a future number 2, because a number 2 starter needs to be able to control the game himself and not be so much at the mercy of his team's defense and bullpen. if you're constantly having to leave your own performance to other's finishing your business, than you aren't as good as the one's capable of getting it done themselves. Last I saw JJ's ERA wasn't hurting from this team's poor defense and bullpen, just his W-L which is somewhat an arbitrary stat.

Boog has always being Beinfest's mouthpiece so I wouldn't believe anything he says regarding the Marlins. Going by baseball-references's Rtot/yr our 3 worst defensive players are Uggla (-4), Cody (-9) and Hanley (-13). All three have regressed defensively. Had they played their entire careers under a manager that stressed defense (and backed it up with hard work) I doubt that would be the case.

I might not be the smartest baseball guy on the planet and dont pretend to be so, but something has got to be done. Are holes are completely exposed and yet we do absolutely nothing to fix them. I just dont understand the logic of bringing back bench players after they have been DFA"D twice in one season, when you have other guys in AAA busting their asses off on the field. Personally I hate the thought of started your identity over in 2012 but yet having the same crappy team from the previous one. As far I'm concerned the FO has one more year after this one to get it right, and stop being blow-hards with the cash.

 

I was multi-tasking during the game so i didnt get to pay a whole lot of attention but how did Sanabia pitch? I know the errors really killed the innings he was in.

I was multi-tasking during the game so i didnt get to pay a whole lot of attention but how did Sanabia pitch? I know the errors really killed the innings he was in.

 

 

It's been tough to figure how well Sanabia has or hasn't pitch for just that reason, errors and sloppy play behind him.

 

I really would like to see the Marlins give Raynor (who, yes I know is on the DL) and maybe even another player, or a player to be named later of the Pirates choosing, and bring in Perry Hill, even as a consultant or part-time advisor, to work with these guys. His family situation is over, this spring after the blow up between Perry and the Pirates (little play on words there for those old enough to get it) the Marlins approached the Pirates regarding rehiring him and were rebuffed, but at the same time, they have a continued interest in one of our guys and the season is half over, I would think if everyone is willing something could get done.

At least Veras pitched another solid inning from the pen. My confidence in him is building