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Friday, July 30, 2010
@mikestanton27: Your mancrush and social media have combined their powers. All is right with the world.
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Adios, Jorge
Not exactly the destination Dave wished, but Jorge Cantu has been traded to the Texas Rangers. Not a surprise, if he had remained here until the end of the season, he would probably have been non-tendered (read: he wasn't playing here next year). By trading him now, the team gets a couple of prospects1 to add to the minor league system.
Things Jorge Cantu Was Good For
- 1.8 WAR per 162 games. For novices, if we replaced Cantu with an average MLB-er, we would win two less games every season.
- Generally a clutch hitter, racked up a lot of RBIs, although MarlinManiac might refute that
- Allowed myself and others to tweet the clever and unoriginal "Hip hip, Jor-Ge!"
1RHPs Evan Reed and Omar Poveda are their names. A quick Google search tells me Reed recorded the most saves in the Rangers minor league system last year. Poveda is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery.
2The Orioles are the only team exempt from that rule. Read more...
Trade Rumors I'd Like To Start
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
- Humble Pie has offered the Marlins $50 and a case of Heineken for Emilio Bonifacio.
- The Swimming Teachers Association is interested in acquiring Sassy Senior Jorge Cantu, but may not have the right mix of prospects to entice the Marlins.
- The Marlins are interested in acquiring AJ Burnett so that they can make him their designated postgame pie artist, protecting the injured Chris Coghlan. However, the Yankees are asking for Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison in return, so it is not expected that the Marlins will make a deal for such a limited role player.
- Work Dogs International is offering cash and a dog to be named later for the entire Marlins bullpen, who would be used for police dog training purposes. Apparently they needed a group of nonthreatening men for early-stage training.
Yer Doin' it Wrong!
For those of you that haven't heard by now, Chris Coghlan has been placed on the DL after suffering a knee injury during the pie to the face celebration following the latest Marlins walkoff win. I blame the bullpen, of course, which only adds to the long list of bad things for which they are responsible:
Anyway, the team will need a new postgame celebration. My thoughts? Why not just eat pie? Not a shaving cream pie obviously, my pick would be key lime. Dave suggests that no players should be allowed to hug or chest bump unless they are wearing the new team-approved victory suit.
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- Most Marlins losses
- Breaking Twitter
- People with high blood pressure in South Florida
- Lost Josh Johnson Wins and maybe a Cy Young
- Chris Coghlan's knee injury, which will only give Emilio Bonifacio more playing time
Anyway, the team will need a new postgame celebration. My thoughts? Why not just eat pie? Not a shaving cream pie obviously, my pick would be key lime. Dave suggests that no players should be allowed to hug or chest bump unless they are wearing the new team-approved victory suit.
Week In Review
Monday, July 26, 2010
Overview: The Marlins took three of four against the Rockies and two of three against the Braves for a 5-2 week.
Positives: Winning, simple as that. The Fish needed a huge run after the all-star break to remain even near contention and they have delivered so far going 7-3. This week featured four walkoff wins. When you're getting game winning home runs from Donnie Murphy, you know things are going well.
Negatives: Oh boy has the bullpen been bad. The pen blew a lead in the 8th inning or later five times this week including the epic blowup of the 8-run eighth inning on Saturday to spoil a shot at a sweep of the Braves.
Line of the Week: A tip of the cap to Leo Nunez, who has been the only consistent arm in the pen. Here are his numbers in his five appearances since the break.
1-0, 3 Saves, 5 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 2 BB, 9 K's
Highlight of the Week: You could really pick your own from the lot of walkoff hits (or other great plays) this week, but the home run by Donnie Murphy surely takes the cake.
Looking Ahead: The club travels west this week for a four game set in San Francisco followed by three in San Diego.
Sell Now
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
3-9, 1 2B, 2 RBI, .333/.333/.444
Somewhere, there is a beat writer wondering if Bonifacio should see more playing time. Hopefully Coghlan returns before anyone suggests this to Marlins management, who still think he is not a wasted roster spot. If Bonifacio were a stock, he would have filed for bankruptcy last June I would suggest you short-sell Bonifacio (BFC).
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Week In Review
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Overview: Hanley Ramirez finished 2nd in the Home Run Derby. The National League won the All-Star game for the first time since 1996. The Marlins took two out of three from the Nationals this weekend.
Positives: The pitching has been great and surprisingly the bullpen is a big part of that. The trio of Veras-Henlsey-Nunez went scoreless for innings 7-9 on back to back days. Alex Sanabia recorded his first major league win throwing 5 1/3 shutout innings despite being on an 80-pitch limit.
Negatives: The offense has been ice cold. Only three runs were scored on the weekend. Also, Chris Coghlan tweaked his back and is expected to miss at least few days which means we'll be seeing more Emilio Bonifacio.
Line of the Week: The combined stats of the bullpen from Saturday and Sunday's shutouts.
6 2/3 IP, 0 R, 9 K, 0 BB
Highlight of the Week: Tip of the cap to a sweet strike'em-out-throw'em-out double play and a nice catch by Coghlan, but why don't we take another look at Josh Johnson's two perfect innings in the All-Star game.
Looking Ahead: The homestand continues with four games against the Rockies and three against the Braves.
Off-Day TV Guide: July 15
Thursday, July 15, 2010
MLB gets back in action tonight, but the Marlins and fifteen other teams will have to wait until tomorrow
8:00pm EDT, Los Angeles Dodgers vs St. Louis Cardinals (MLB Network): If you just can't wait for baseball.
8:00pm EDT, Tosh.0 (Comedy Central): I've seen/heard many friends talk about this show. Tonight would be a good time to catch a couple reruns and see if it's worthy of such praise.
10:00pm EDT, Curb Your Enthusiasm (TV Guide Network): After Dave's revelation yesterday that they do have actual programming now, I checked their schedule and was surprised. The diehards are big fans of Curb, so we highly recommend checking it out.
10:00pm EDT, Zombie Alligators (National Geographic Wild): "Experts investigate unknown causes contributing to a rash of mysterious alligator deaths in Florida." Sounds interesting enough.
Here's Dave with tonight's book recommendation:
I'm moving soon, so I've been sorting through all my crap in hopes of having to move less stuff. Looking through my books, I noticed that as David Sedaris writes new books, I like them less and less. I think he's running out of interesting stories as he settles into middle age (see especially the quitting smoking essay from When You Are Engulfed in Flames). With that in mind, tonight's recommendation is Naked. It is his second collection of essays, and along with Me Talk Pretty One Day, one of my favorites.Read more...
First Half In Review
Quick promo: For a far more in-depth look back at the first half of the season and some insight about the upcoming trade deadline, get MarlinManiac's Trade Deadline Primer. I'll be downloading it when I get home tonight and I'm sure it'll be great.
Overview: The Marlins entered the All-Star break at a disappointing 42-46 and are a full 10 games behind the first place Braves.
Positives: Not too much. Josh Johnson is having another stellar year (9-3, 1.70 ERA) and tossed two impressive innings in the All-Star Game on Tuesday. Also, Gaby Sanchez has performed very admirably (.302/.365/.467, 9 HR, 21 doubles) and could garner Rookie of the Year consideration.
Negatives: The bullpen has been quite horrendous. Also the team has struggled to score runs consistently. Hanley Ramirez is having an off year by his high standards. And of course who could forget the managerial firing - courting of Bobby Valentine - week without a manager - Edwin Rodriguez appointment as manager sequence?
Looking Ahead: It might be a long second half of the season. By all accounts the Marlins may move a few players (Cody Ross, Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu, Ricky Nolasco, etc.) and look towards 2011 and beyond. The real drama will probably be seeing if JJ and Gaby can grab some hardware at the end of the season.
Read more...
Off-Day TV Guide: July 14
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Happy Bastille Day! Today is one of the worst days of the year. Football and basketball season are still months away, and all of baseball is quiet as All-Stars rejoin their clubs. The TV slate is a bit light, so tonight I'll be watching the copy of Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense I got from Netflix. Here are your options:
- 8 pm EDT, Best In Show (TV Guide Network): Apparently they show actual content on TV Guide now. I'm for it.
- 9 pm EDT, Ken Burns' Baseball, The Seventh Inning (1950-1960) (PBS): The "golden age," when half the teams had yet to sign any black players and no one discussed amphetamines.
- 9 pm EDT, The Espy Awards (ESPN): I've never watched this. My streak continues tonight. Seth Myers is hosting. I would have preferred Zach Galifianakis. Not that I would have watched had he hosted, mind you.
Boss
It's been a rough first half for Marlins fans, as we've watched our team continually take two steps back for every one step forward. But when your favorite team boasts a pitcher as good as Johnson, at least you'll get the opportunity to smile once every five days.
Photo via PBP Read more...
Hey, Trade Rumors!
Monday, July 12, 2010
ed. note: Please join our contest, the Marlins Diehards Trade Pool. Easy to play, anyone can enter.
We've come to the time now when trade rumors start to heat up ahead of the July 31st deadline. We shall highlight some here since it seems like the Marlins may be more active this year, in a bad way. Today's installment comes from Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.
The Marlins have made infielder Jorge Cantu and outfielder Cody Ross available, major league sources say, but are holding off - for now - on second baseman Dan Uggla and right-hander Ricky Nolasco.Rosenthal goes on to mention that Cantu is probably a better fit for Colorado than Dan Uggla, because of Todd Helton's uncertain status (DL - lower back) and he will be due less in arbitration in 2011 than Uggla. Take from that whatever you'd like.
(h/t MLB Trade Rumors) Read more...
Must Read
The wonderful Ian of The Blue Jay Hunter, a fellow BBA blog, posted his roundup of the best baseball mustaches of the first half. Check it out. There are, of course, no Marlins on the list, since Jeffrey Loria believes in the Steinbrennerian fallacy that no baseball team can win a title if its members have excess facial hair.
UPDATE: Ian dropped by in the comments to tell us about Taylor Tankersley's glorious fu manchu (below). I totally missed it, which can happen if you don't watch many games on television (I'm very dedicated to this blogging stuff, as you know). According to this piece from Joe Frisaro, Tankersley's 'stache somehow complies with the Marlins' facial hair policy (though he did have to trim it a bit to pass muster with Fredi Gonzalez). So at least Marlins fans have something to be proud of at the All-Star break (besides Josh Johnson, of course).
Week in Review
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Stumbling into the All-Star break...
Overview: The Marlins took 2 of 3 from the Dodgers in LA before splitting a 4-game set in Arizona.
Line of the Week: How much worse off would the Marlins be without Josh Johnson? 4.4 wins worse, according to FanGraphs. His line from Wednesday night:
8 IP, 6H, 0R, 1BB, 8K, 117 pitches
Highlight of the Week: Mike Stanton went deep on Wednesday night and his shot landed in a spare glove in the Dodgers' bullpen. See it here.Looking Ahead: After the All-Star Break, the Fish open a 3-game set at home against the Nationals. Read more...
Week In Review
Sunday, July 4, 2010
I'll be brief, since Ted and I are at the annual Marlins Diehards company retreat and we have a dominoes game to finish up.
Overview: After taking 2 of 3 from the Mets at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, the Marlins dropped 2 of 3 to the Braves in Atlanta.
Positives: Hanley Ramirez and Josh Johnson were named to the NL All-Star team this week.
Negatives: The team is continuing to struggle, so perhaps Jeffrey Loria could rehire Fredi Gonzalez in order to fire him once again (and Fredi can be the Billy Martin to Loria's Steinbrenner. That would make David Samson George Costanza in my imagination - I hope this happens).
Looking Ahead: The Marlins will play 3 against the Dodgers in LA followed by a 4-game set in Arizona against the Diamondbacks. I had to try really hard not to make a joke about Emilio Bonifacio getting arrested due to the new anti-immigrant laws in Arizona (and only partially succeeded).
This Is Too Funny
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Happy July 1! It's now only 365 days until the Mets start paying Bobby Bonilla his deferred compensation package, which consists of him being paid $1.2 million every July 1 from 2011 through 2035 because the Mets didn't want to give him the $5.9 million they owed him in 2000! I have cut and pasted five or six different bits of this Wall Street Journal piece on exactly why and how this fiasco happened for inclusion here, because they're all just so cringe/facepalm-worthy. But you should go read the whole thing, because at the very least, it's a nice primer for any future labor negotiations you might have!Hating the Mets keeps paying dividends, though being released by the Mets is more lucrative. Read more...
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