I really don't know why folks were thinking that, other than the signing and trade were announced so close together. And of course the "experts/unnamed insider" saying the payroll would be between $47 and $50 mil, which since has gone up to 50-55. It won't be long before the "experts/unnamed insider" change their "predictions" again. As stated a few times, they went into the off season knowing they needed a starting catcher and IMO had already set $$ aside for one. The Buck deal evidently was close to the amount they were willing to spend on one so it was inked.

 

Well, nobody really knows, do we?

 

Perhaps Buck was signed because they knew they had some Uggla-bucks to work with, or perhaps they had budgeted some extra $ that no "expert/unnamed insider" knew about, or some combination thereof.

 

It's easy to understand why they moved aggressively on Buck as soon as they knew (and they knew it for some time, maybe days before it was reported) that the childish Uggla had turned down their final offer (he being too dense to realize it was a final offer.) Regardless of any amount they might have already allocated to solving catching.

 

Any way you slice it, Buck was easily accommodated, with other important moves probably yet to come.

Sanabia should be given a serious shot in Spring training, otherwise he'd be great as a long-reliever out of the pen. I'd take Pavano too of course, coming off the season he had and his familiarity with the Marlins would be great. But Vazquez is a guy with a lot of upside if he can be brought in cheap. Luckily we have a very good pitching coach that should be able to work out his kinks. I'd be very happy with either, but I still think the Marlins would need an experienced OF like Carl Crawford, but I know that's never going to happen.

I wonder how much Zach Duke would cost.

 

 

Minor league contract, probably. That would be a good minor deal.

 

 

 

 

I'd just like to add that what I said here was wrong. Duke, I believe, made the All-Star team in '09, and would've gotten 5-6 mill in arbritration this offseason, so yeah. I underestimated him. He'll sign a big league deal with any team looking for a LH arm in the rotation. Thus, he's not a guy we should even be looking at.

Will it not just be that he wants to keep closing games hence make more money, and he would be blocked by the likes of Rivera, Papelbon, Marmol, Lidge etc at those teams?

 

 

Or he knows that if one of those teams wants him, he can make them pay him more cash to waive his no trade clause.

mlbtraderumors.com

 

Edwin Rodriguez Met With Javier Vazquez Today

By Mike Axisa [November 20 at 2:54pm CST]The Marlins and Javier Vazquez are known to have interest in each other, and manager Edwin Rodriguez said he met with the free agent right-hander in Puerto Rico this morning on the Marlins Insider Show. "Hopefully we can get him and put him in that rotation," said Rodriguez, who has known Vazquez since he was a teenager according to Juan C. Rodriguez of The Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). The two share the same hometown.

 

President of Baseball Operations Admin Beinfest confirmed the team's interest in adding to their rotation earlier in the show, saying "There's some speculation out there that we're on some starting pitching ... I think that's fair to say." Reports have indicated that the Marlins only have $3-4MM left to spend this offseason, which might not be enough to land Vazquez even coming off his down year. He made $11.5MM in 2010.

 

I examined the 34-year-old's free agent stock last month, saying that he's a potential bargain on a short-term, low-money deal. Surely that's what the Marlins have in mind.