2010 Florida Marlins Thread

I don't mind the dirt, I'm just happy the Marlins are leaving so they can move the seats closer, or add more seats that go closer, or whatever. They should try and get the Orange Bowl noise back. It's a pretty loud stadium considering how it is now, that game on MNF against the Jets was very loud on TV. So imagine what it will be like. Plus, if the Marlins stayed in a big hot football stadium eventually they wouldn't be in Miami anymore. A closer stadium that will block some of that sun and be closed when both the heat and humidity are high should help them out. Plus the constant threat of rain delays, you see why people won't drive out to Miami Gardens, especially when they play a ton of home games each year.

Good luck to the Marlins this season though. Not a huge baseball fan, but I like the Yankees and Marlins, and watched some innings of them trouncing the Mets. I like to see anything that rhymes with Jets go down. Especially in Dolphin/Sun Life Stadium.

 

Good article on MLB.com about Hanleygate.

 

Marlins Championships on that field: 2

Dolphins: 0

 

The Marlins aren't great but they don't suck either. They are one of 6 teams in MLB to have 3 winning seasons in the last 4. That is amazing given the payroll constraints they have (mostly due to the onerous rent they have to pay the Dolphins to use the stadium).

But don't sweat it, they will be gone soon enough. If you didn't know they are almost 40% done with the new Marlins Ballpark

(http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/fla/ballpark/webcam.jsp

 

It's being reported that Hanley will apologize to the team. I wonder if this is a genuine recognition that he was in the wrong or just a way to make the controversy end.

 

Update: Hanley apologized personally to each player on the team. Haven't heard if he's apologized to Fredi personally, but I'm sure he was on the list.

Crisis averted? I hope so. Maybe the team will rally around this and become more cohesive. 7-3 in their last 10 games is pretty good, but April is still fresh in my mind.

 

Well that sucked.

 

Ahh, it sucked, but it couldn't happen to a better person. Doc deserved this.

 

Stanton hit his 19th, and 20th today.

It's time.

 

Unleash the beast.

 

I really, really don't think Mike Stanton will be this team's magic panacea.

 

I didn't say he would. He has earned himself a call up and he's going to get a shot.

Rosenthal says early next week.

 

Unfortunately, that's the attitude most are treating him with. As if he's going to suddenly turn this team into the best team in baseball. Won't happen. In fact, I think his HR production will come to a grinding halt. He might hit a couple but he's not going to be the beast he is in the minors.

 

I'd also like to belatedly add that the last thing this team needs is another bat. When our guys play up to their talent this is probably the best batting team in MLB. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen too often. I don't think Stanton is going to make the other eight batters consistent.

Where we really need the help is relief pitching and defense. Can Stanton come out in the 8th inning and get three outs? Can he catch the ball and throw it to the correct base instead of the other team's dugout? All the home runs in the world won't matter if the Marlins keep imitating the NBA and disregard the necessity of defense.

 

Stanton has more talent and is already better than any of the OFers the Marlins have at the MLB level right now, except maybe Cody Ross. He'd definitely help that line up, especially when sub .300 OBP and zero power guys like Coghlan and Maybin are wasting at bats, so he'd be an upgrade just by keeping one of those guys out of the line up. Stanton is an above average OF with a plus arm too, so he'll help defensively as well.

But you're right the Marlins do need pitching help too, which Stanton can't cure but he should be able to prove the pitchers they have now with a better chance at winning games with the better bat in the line up.

 

Pitching help as in, starting pitching or relief pitching?

 

Relief pitching. Johnson and Nolasco are a solid 1 2 combo. Volstad hasn't bee that bad this year he just doesn't get much run support behind him. If he can be steady and Robertson can at least be serviceable then it's a good starting rotation. Our bullpen is unspectacular however and has been for years, and I don't know how much longer we can ignore it.

 

Don't know what you are talking about here. Coghlan was the rookie of the year last year and while he struggled early his is playing much better lately. Cameron Brings great speed, like Edwin Bonafacio last year, but probably a more consistent hitter.

Edit: Maybin has the same amount of HR's as Ross and Coghlan only trails by 2

 

Disagree about Maybin. He has great speed, but he's been terrible this year.

 

You're right on the analysis, but wrong on the prioritization. The Marlins need pitching and defense. The bats will come. They always come. But we're talking about a team that built up big leads and blew them. Get some relief pitching and some guys that can field and catch, and then we'll worry about whether or not the bats are swinging.

 

Both Coghlan and Maybin are slugging under .400 with sub .300 OBP. That's terrible, especially for a corner OFer like Coghlan. Coghlan has 11 extra base hits and Maybin has 9, do you know how pathetic that is? They're actually hurting the team just by playing everyday because they're failing to reach base over 70% of the time they step up to the plate and are doing it with zero power. At least Ross has respectabe numbers at this point in the season, even if the HR totals are far off from each other, at least he's earning his playing time.

But it's not like they're making a trade to get Stanton instead of getting arms in the pen. Calling up Stanton is independent of anything to do with the pitchers.

 

I know but people are stupid.

Maybin has been bad this year but Cogs has turned it around, putting up a .444/500/.741 line over the last 10 games. He's certainly not a sub-300 zero power player.

Maybin has been bad. He's not really a better hitter than Emilio at this point.

Yeah.

It's bad but Cogs wont be this bad for the rest of the year. Hopefully Stanton will be an upgrade over Maybin

 

We're 11th in the NL in OPS. Stanton is a free in-house upgrade.

 

Small sample size with Coghlan with those 10 games but you're right, he should be better almost by default since he was just brutual in April and part of May. He still doesn't have much power, even in the minors he's power numbers weren't very good, but he did always get on base a lot so he should start to slowly raise that OBP once he starts getting hits and walking a bit more. Maybin has been an absolute black hole at the MLB, for a guy with all of his tools and talent he just hasn't been able to put it together. He might just be a AAAA player where he's just too good for Triple A but not good enough for the ML.

Stanton should be an upgrade over both Coghlan and Maybin, he's a very good ball player with tons of power. He might not put up Heyward numbers out of the gate but probably won't put up Maybin numbers either.

 

Yeah, pretty much agree with everything.

I'm cautiously optimist about Stanton. Those strikeouts are worrisome.

EDIT: For what it's worth, I think Cogz can put a .440-450 slg%

 

Not going to keep going back and forth on Stanton because I don't think I can be budged from my position: I just have a hard time seeing his impact overcome bigger hurdles on defense and in the bullpen.

Anyway, baseball stats are Greek to me, but here's an article projecting Stanton's stats in the majors. Any thoughts?

 

Our offense is terrible.

 

Didn't realize Maybin had been that bad. I don't get to watch a lot of games just catch highlights and he's usually mentioned

 

Yeah he started off pretty well but is slumping hard right now.

Our offense is still bad.

 

FOX Sports had an interview with Hanley. I can't get the video to work, but that's probably just a quirk of the Flash version I'm using. Summary from the Sun-Sentinel:

 

And also from the Sentinel, a relaying of a Baseball Prospectus article that says trading Cody Ross is the best way to accommodate Mike Stanton.

 

I'd rather keep Cody through next year and get Maybin his AB's in AAA.

 

Agreed. Maybin needs more time to bake, incredibly.

 

And here we go.

 

I'm glad he's up, but the reason for his call up just sucks. Maybin needs to put it together.

 

Brett Carroll and Tim Wood sent down. Mike Lamb DFA'd.

Stanton, Boner, and Vanden Hurk recalled.

 

Wow, huge moves.

 

Ah, Vanden Hurk, the annual pitching contingency plan. I'm really getting tired of that song and dance.

 

Well, Vanden Hurk is going to be pitching in the bullpen, where he can be very effective, IMO.

 

The Hurk is awesome.

He's gon be aces in the pen.