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Nunez, Mujica sign one year deals


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The Marlins have reached agreement on one-year contracts with relievers Leo Nunez and Edward Mujica. Both right-handers avoid arbitration.

 

Nunez will head into Spring Training as the frontrunner to be Florida's closer. Last year, he converted 30 of 38 save opportunities.

 

Nunez will earn $3.65 million, plus performing bonuses.

 

In two seasons with the Marlins, Nunez has saved 56 games. In 2010, the right-hander appeared in 68 games, and he logged 65 innings.

 

Mujica, arbitration eligible for the first time, was acquired from the Padres in the Cameron Maybin deal.

http://joefrisaro.mlblogs.com/archives/2011/01/nunez_mujica_reach_agreement.html

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Have not had the time to do the arbitration projections as I have the last two years (and in fairness, we had a dozen guys then and I can't get very excited about Anibal, Nunez, Mujica, and Hensley), but these are both slightly under what I expected in roundball. Good deals. I might get bored this week and do Anibal and Hensley.

 

This has really been a financially outstanding offseason for the Marlins. The only thing you can maybe criticize is giving Buck an extra $3-5 million over 3 seasons. Which isn't that big of a deal. I am very happy with the direction they are going. Now if they can only have a good 2011 draft and get a surprise or two in the system.

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Leo Nunez's $3.65MM 2011 salary is the most ever for a Marlins reliever under owner Jeffrey Loria, tweets Juan C. Rodriguez of the Sun Sentinel. The previous watermark was Armando Benitez's 2004 salary of $3.5MM.

 

 

 

It's amazing that Leo Nunez = highest paid reliever in Marlins history. Wish they'd trade him for something this team actually needs.

Nunez better be lights out this year.

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At least look at it this way: Nunez wasn't the worst player last year, right?

 

In fact, he wasn't all that bad versus the other guys in the BP. So if our best becomes our worst (that's not exactly the case, but I hope you get what I mean), nothing to be upset about here.

 

 

 

The other guys in the BP last year sucked; that's why. He also wasn't the best arm in the bullpen last year, which is clearly what he's being paid to be.

 

At this point, the 3.65 million being spent on Nunez is a luxury (or at least supposed to be...depending on how he pitches)...not even a necessity.

My point is that that luxury better get the job done because this team could actually be spending 3.65 million on an actual necessity, instead. Like...CF. Or adding a couple of veterans to strengthen the bench, which doesn't really look too good right now.

 

Even if you take away Nunez and his 3.65 million, the Marlins still have 7 relievers with big league experience, who have all done fairly well, at one point or another. With more depth in the minor leagues.

 

At the end of the day, I don't understand why Nunez is still here, and I'm going to be twice as pissed when he blows a save next year. It's certainly going to suck if he repeats the results he put up last year.

 

I'm still hoping they trade him to some team desperate for relief help before Opening Day.

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I never said he was the best last year. I said, not exactly, but I hope you get what I mean. He went from the good end, and due to the additions, he's now at the bad end.

 

And my point also was that it's a 1 year deal. Big deal. If it doesn't work out, we're not stuck with it.

 

If he's the worst we have to deal with in the bullpen, we're blessed. That's all. Just talking about the Marlins as a team, not a financial operation.

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I never said he was the best last year. I said, not exactly, but I hope you get what I mean. He went from the good end, and due to the additions, he's now at the bad end.

 

And my point also was that it's a 1 year deal. Big deal. If it doesn't work out, we're not stuck with it.

 

If he's the worst we have to deal with in the bullpen, we're blessed. That's all. Just talking about the Marlins as a team, not a financial operation.

 

 

 

We don't need him for this one year though, unless if he decides to become a lights out reliever.

 

His contract doesn't help this current team, and his performance doesn't either, really. Clay Hensley or anyone else can be put in there at a much cheaper price and blow 8 saves/meltdown in August like Leo did last year.

 

It's unnecessary.

 

I could understand what you're saying if the rest of the team was set, too. It's not; Leo's money is unnecessary. The Marlins are on a budget; the Marlins need a CF'er. A quality CF'er could possibly be traded for at the price of ~4 million dollars.

 

I'd be just fine going with a bullpen of...

Hensley, Webb, Badenhop, Mujica, Sanches, Dunn, Choate.

 

That's an above average bullpen with arms in the minors, just in case one or a couple of those guys falter. There's little reason to keep Leo Nunez around.

 

Leo's the second worst contract on the team; the worst is John Buck, but he's actually a necessity.

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We can still trade Nunez mid season.

 

 

 

 

 

We could use a new CF'er by Opening Day. Or at least another 3B.

Paying a reliever this much when you're still uncertain of what your 2B/3B/CF situation is going to be heading into the season seems rather silly to me. Especially when the bullpen already projects to be a solid area of the team (with or without Leo Nunez).

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We can still trade Nunez mid season.

 

 

 

 

 

We could use a new CF'er by Opening Day. Or at least another 3B.

Paying a reliever this much when you're still uncertain of what your 2B/3B/CF situation is going to be heading into the season seems rather silly to me. Especially when the bullpen already projects to be a solid area of the team (with or without Leo Nunez).

 

 

Who says we can upgrade those positions with Nunez? Who's willing to trade a starting caliber CF or 3B after the season he just had?

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We can still trade Nunez mid season.

 

 

 

 

 

We could use a new CF'er by Opening Day. Or at least another 3B.

Paying a reliever this much when you're still uncertain of what your 2B/3B/CF situation is going to be heading into the season seems rather silly to me. Especially when the bullpen already projects to be a solid area of the team (with or without Leo Nunez).

 

 

Who says we can upgrade those positions with Nunez? Who's willing to trade a starting caliber CF or 3B after the season he just had?

We could always trade him to the Padres for Cameron Ma... oh wait...

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Nunez can be an excellent closer. If the slider/cutter he is working on becomes reliable, Nunez will be very cheap at less than $4M.

 

For once, you make a point. Proud of you :D

 

Anyways, I do agree with this. Nunez we know already has an effective fastball and his change is just...wow.

So, having a third pitch that's effective would be pretty big, especially if mixed well. Imagine a guy gets a couple fastballs blown by him, then a waste fastball up, the batter expecting a change only to get a slider that he thinks is heading for his hip so he bails out just for it to hit the inside corner.

Ah, love it.

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You guys do not understand the market place.

 

LINDSTROM just got $6M for two years. LINDSTROM!

 

Nunez can be an excellent closer. If the slider/cutter he is working on becomes reliable, Nunez will be very cheap at less than $4M.

 

 

 

The Rockies have a higher payroll than us, and don't really need anything on their team. They're pretty much set in all positions with a fairly good bench.

 

The Marlins don't need Nunez; it has nothing to do with the market place to me. If our bullpen was some sort of weakness, I'd have no problem giving him ~4M. Bottom line is, that's not the case. Bottom line is, "can be an excellent closer" doesn't = "is an excellent closer."

 

I don't see why you think he can improve on his slider/cutter; a pitch that sucked last year, and he had no confidence in.

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We can still trade Nunez mid season.

 

 

 

 

 

We could use a new CF'er by Opening Day. Or at least another 3B.

Paying a reliever this much when you're still uncertain of what your 2B/3B/CF situation is going to be heading into the season seems rather silly to me. Especially when the bullpen already projects to be a solid area of the team (with or without Leo Nunez).

 

 

Who says we can upgrade those positions with Nunez? Who's willing to trade a starting caliber CF or 3B after the season he just had?

 

 

We're allowed to make more than one trade...

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How about this...

it's been established that we're not getting a CF and htat CC will more likely than not be there. So enough about needing a CF. It was a managment move made that had nothing to do with money but rather too much talent and not enough roster spots. Also, I like the point out above. The marketprice for relief pitchers is going up, it's not that bad of a deal.

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