March 6, 201412 yr One thing that has certainly changed is the FO is much more outspoken without Admin at the helm. Beinfest kept everything tight lipped. And I think this was far from a quiet off season. We have new starters at almost every infield position. Signing guys like Furcal and McGehee are not major deals. The only real big deal was Saltalamaccia. Other than that they did very little since they've made it clear that they are leaning more on the younger guys, which I think is smart at this point.
March 6, 201412 yr One thing that has certainly changed is the FO is much more outspoken without Admin at the helm. Beinfest kept everything tight lipped. And I think this was far from a quiet off season. We have new starters at almost every infield position. Unfortunately none of the new starters are very good. Jones is a platoon player. McGhee is a bench player at best on most teams. Furcal has been awful for years. Saltalamacchia is a mediocre defensive catcher coming off a career year at the plate in an offense friendly park who has been an otherwise truly awful hitter the rest of his career.
March 6, 201412 yr It's not a good situation where we may end up platooning at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd this year. Maybe also SS if Hech still can't hit, which is likely.
March 7, 201412 yr My opinion is things have changed since Jennings took over. I could be wrong. Based on what? I asked "..." what he read to give him the same idea but he never replied.
March 7, 201412 yr Based on what? I asked "..." what he read to give him the same idea but he never replied. Just my opinion and gut feeling, not based on anything in particular.
March 7, 201412 yr It's not a good situation where we may end up platooning at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd this year. Maybe also SS if Hech still can't hit, which is likely. no doubt. But with the payroll they have to work with, it's not an awful strategy to take.
March 7, 201412 yr no doubt. But with the payroll they have to work with, it's not an awful strategy to take. Well it's more like they didn't give themselves other options.
March 7, 201412 yr When your flagship offseason signing is overpaying for a mediocre catcher, there isnt much to get excited about.
March 7, 201412 yr About the only thing Saltalamacchia has on Ruiz is age. Ruiz is a better hitter overall(much better plate discipline and ability to get on base, not quite as much power) and much better defensively.
March 7, 201412 yr And I think this was far from a quiet off season. We have new starters at almost every infield position. Yeah, the McGehee, Furcal, and Garrett Jones signings made a lot of noise in the baseball world.
March 7, 201412 yr Yeah, the McGehee, Furcal, and Garrett Jones signings made a lot of noise in the baseball world. Noise isn't necessarily a good thing. The 2012 signings generated noise at the time.
March 7, 201412 yr The only bad signing was Heath Bell. Mark Buerhle and Jose Reyes were quite good. The team was awful not because of those two.
March 8, 201412 yr About the only thing Saltalamacchia has on Ruiz is age. Ruiz is a better hitter overall(much better plate discipline and ability to get on base, not quite as much power) and much better defensively. Absolutely wrong. Maybe three years ago. When you look at what he was expected to sign for (MLB trade rumors estimated 4 yrs, $38 Mill I believe) we stole Salty.
March 8, 201412 yr Not absolutely wrong at all. If no one was willing to pay Saltalamacchia $38 million over 4 years, then it isnt a steal. Teams probably saw him for what he was. A mediocre defensive backstop who has spent the majority of his career being an awful hitter who had a deceptively good year in a contract year(also the only "good" year he has had at the plate and it wasnt that good) at a hitter friendly park. Saltalamacchia was never going to get that much money over those years.
March 8, 201412 yr Not absolutely wrong at all. If no one was willing to pay Saltalamacchia $38 million over 4 years, then it isnt a steal. Teams probably saw him for what he was. A mediocre defensive backstop who has spent the majority of his career being an awful hitter who had a deceptively good year in a contract year(also the only "good" year he has had at the plate and it wasnt that good) at a hitter friendly park. Saltalamacchia was never going to get that much money over those years. First, there's this big misconception that Salty is a bad catcher. He isn't. All the saber metrics say so. Second, he had a good 2012 season with 25 HR. He built upon that with a career year in 2013 (strong for a catcher) and at 28 years old there's no signs of fluke as he continues to get better. Ruiz is RAPIDLY declining, and not that good defensively. Maybe he catches a good game, that's about all he does now.
March 8, 201412 yr Salty is what he is. A platoon catcher. He hits well vs righties. He was a good signing for that purpose. If they plan on playing him full time, then they will regret it.
March 8, 201412 yr Yeah, that makes sense. Pay a guy 7 million to platoon him. Smart baseball. We're going places.
March 8, 201412 yr Yeah, that makes sense. Pay a guy 7 million to platoon him. Smart baseball. We're going places. What would be the point in starting him vs lefties if he sucks against lefties? The smart thing to do would be to platoon him. The dumb thing would be to start him full time.
March 8, 201412 yr Noise isn't necessarily a good thing. The 2012 signings generated noise at the time. That's true, but the point still remains that the Marlins had an incredibly quiet offseason. They did not add much talent; if the record improves it will mostly be the result of in-house talent improvement.
March 8, 201412 yr Yeah, that makes sense. Pay a guy 7 million to platoon him. Smart baseball. We're going places. You don't start a guy against lefties when he sucks against them just because he's making 7 million. That's stupid. You don't pay a player for his playing time, you pay him for his value. Saltalamacchia has little value (probably close to replacement) vs. LHP.
March 8, 201412 yr So we're going to start Jeff Mathis against lefties? Career .210 hitter vs lefties. Not much better than Salty. Or is Baker gonna catch, too? Realistically, he's not going to be platooned, and it's because we don't exactly have another viable, productive option.
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