Marlins Making Trades of Little Consequence

Do the Marlins get to keep his magic levitating bat? 

Our blogbro SWCS said it best: the Marlins' fire sale has turned into a yard sale.

The Marlins are shipping Edward Mujica to St. Louis for 3B prospect Zack Cox. Mujica will be eligible for arbitration in 2013 (his third arbitration year) and will be a free agent thereafter. The team would have likely owed him a raise from his $1.63 million salary, and instead get a guy who can be plugged in to Hanley Ramirez' spot at some point (the team announced it will assign Cox to Double-A Jacksonville for now). Cox, St. Louis' 2010 first-round draft pick, has no big league experience. The 23-year-old was slashing .254/.294/.421 for the Cards in Triple-A, with 9 home runs.

As with the Omar Infante trade, this is a case of the Marlins dumping a guy who would have been on the 2013 roster, but not a major impact player, for a club-controlled prospect who will plug a hole for cheap. Regardless of whether Cox pans out, I don't think we'll ever regret the Marlins giving up Edward Mujica.

UPDATE: The Marlins have also traded 1B Gaby Sanchez and minor league P Kyle Kaminska to the Pittsburgh Pirates for OF
Gorkys Hernandez and a competitive-balance draft pick. Sanchez was an All-Star in 2011, then promptly lost all ability to hit. The Marlins sent him down to the minors twice this season, as he was slashing .202/.250/.306. Even though the team plans on getting rid of current 1B Carlos Lee (acquired only 27 days ago via trade), they are confident that the 29-year-old Sanchez is not in their long-term plans. He will be eligible for arbitration at the end of the season.

Like Cox, Hernandez is another top prospect whose success is an iffy proposition. Now in his fourth organization, he was hitting .213 in 26 plate appearances with the Pirates this year, his first cup of coffee. The Marlins say they are bringing Hernandez to the big club (presumably he'll take Mujica's roster spot). Now seems like a good time to cut losses with Sanchez, I only wish they traded him a few years ago when his value was highest.

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The only All-Star Game recap you need

Gaby Sanchez (PH-DH): popped out to second for A Ethier in the 7th

Glad I didn't stay up to watch that...


Photo via LA Times

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Managing LoMo and HanRam

Baller. via SCWS

Day 1, and Trader Jack is already disrupting the daily routine:

Jack McKeon wasted no time sending a message to his team on the first day as interim manager. He benched starting shortstop Hanley Ramirez for the team's game against the Angels Monday night.

The reason? Ramirez showed up to the clubhouse late on Monday afternoon, missing a 3:30 pm team meeting called by McKeon, according to the Palm Beach Post.

This might not be a big deal in the long run, but it bears noting that unlike with the past two managers (Fredi and Edwin), McKeon is firmly entrenched in the Jeff Loria Golden Circle. Hanley can't reasonably expect Loria to take his side in a dispute with the manager this time. Surely, there is more to come.

Meanwhile, in lineup setting news:

McKeon said he didn't know where he would put Ramirez in the lineup once he is back in it. But McKeon said he likes having Logan Morrison hit second and Gaby Sanchez third.

"He's the type of guy that gets a base on balls," McKeon said of Morrison. "I like having two pretty good hitters up there in the first inning."

Where have we heard that before?

Finally, turns out Chris Coghlan has been sucking because he's injured:

Former leadoff hitter and center fielder Chris Coghlan, who was supposed to be on his way to Triple A New Orleans, is now on the disabled list with left knee inflammation after his option was voided because of the injury.

This is the same knee he injured last year in that walkoff celebration. Someday, pro athletes will realize hiding injuries is a dumb move which only hurts their team. Until then, I will continue to think most pro athletes are dim.

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FYI

Yesterday was LoMo Day at Marlin Maniac (parts 1, 2, and 3). For the record, if Ted and I weren't convinced that Logan Morrison will someday be traded for a pair of pitching prospects to the Los Angeles Angels (or Minnesota Twins or whoever), we would rename this blog "Every Day Should Be LoMo Day," abbreviate it to EDSBLMD and wait for a cease-and-desist letter to arrive from Spencer Hall's lawyers. Nonetheless, we applaud Michael's devotion, and respond with a snippet of a future LoMo-Gaby Sanchez bff collage:

image via @GabySanchez15 Twitpic

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New Potential For Marlins Twitter Curse

Courtesy of MLB, we now know Marlins first baseman and team muscle, Gaby Sanchez has a Twitter account. This sounds great, but as you may remember, Marlins players who used Twitter during last year did not fare too well. A recap:

• Chris Coghlan: Unfortunate pie injury, torn meniscus
• John Baker: Missed season, had Tommy John surgery
• Brett Hayes: Separated shoulder, ended season
• Logan Morrison: Foul ball to the face, luckily okay

Look Gaby, the diehards love you. You're a Miami guy, a "U" alum, and just an all around dude, but we urge you, PLEASE BE CAREFUL. Either delete Twitter immediately, or stay close with Mike Stanton, who somehow has avoided this nasty disease.

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Groan

Insert double rainbow reference here. If only MLB allowed video embeds...

Watch the play here, as both Gaby Sanchez and Dan Uggla allow a Brian McCann groundball to slip through their legs before Mike Stanton picks it up. This season can't end soon enough, folks.

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Fight!

Better video here. Somewhere, fellow University of Miami alum Lamar Thomas is smiling at Gaby Sanchez' clothesline of Nyjer Morgan.

UPDATE: Adam Smoot may know where Sanchez learned his technique:

Also, haters gonna hate.

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Week In Review

Overview: The Marlins split two games with Philadelphia, with a rainout in between. This weekend they won two of three in Tampa Bay.
Positives: A winning week! Finally Mike Stanton was called up and he has performed quite well. The offense has produced more since his introduction into the lineup.
Negatives: The first game in Philly was a tough one to lose, with the bullpen blowing a late after the Fish offense scored 8 runs
Line of the Week: Honorable mention to Josh Johnson for yet another epic performance (8 IP, 0 ER, 3 H), this time in the rematch with Perfect Gamer Roy Halladay. This week's honor though will go to Gaby Sanchez, who notched his first multi-homer game, and a career high 6-RBI night Friday.

4-5, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 R

Highlight of the Week: Honorable mention for a Cody Ross diving catch, but yet again Gaby Sanchez will take the honors, because his first home run of Friday night was an absolute bomb.
Looking Ahead: The club returns home to continue interleague play beginning Tuesday against the Rangers. This weekend the Rays come to town looking for revenge.

(image via daylife.com)

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Meet the September Callups

Welcome back, now can we please keep Emilio Bonifacio out of the outfield?

Last night, the Marlins recalled Cameron Maybin from Triple-A New Orleans and DFA'd Luis Ayala (so much for that experiment). By making the move before September 1, the Marlins can add Maybin to the postseason roster if they make the playoffs (which is technically still possible). Today begins the first round of September callups, who are listed below. I'll update this post with names and commentary as more callups are announced.

The First Wave
Burke Badenhop, P
Rick VandenHurk, P
Brett Hayes, C

We already know plenty about Badenhop and Henricus, as they have both spent some time with the big club this year. Since the Marlins missed out on the Brad Penny derby, VandenHurk will likely get a start on Wednesday against Atlanta. With Volstad being sent down to the minors and the rest of the staff struggling, one would hope these two could contribute some quality starts and/or effective long relief if needed, but that may be asking too much (there's a reason they weren't on the 25-man roster...). Hayes seems merely a seat-filler at this point, he may get a start here and there to give Paulino and Baker a rest, but both seem well-rested due to their platoon situation.

More Callups
Andy Gonzalez, SS
Andrew Miller, LHP
Chris Volstad, RHP
Gaby Sanchez, 1B

Gonzalez becomes the de facto backup shortstop, since the only other option is Emilio Bonifacio. The Marlins recalled Miller from Triple-A. He will probably be used in long relief situations, though he could get a spot start in an emergency. Volstad will probably be used the same way. As for Sanchez, it's probably the bench for him.

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Oh the Possibilities...

Yesterday, David detailed the early struggles of Emilio Bonifacio and Cameron Maybin. This morning he left a comment that linked a Joe Frisaro blog post about Chris Coghlan. I thought it might be good to expand on all the possibilites that the Marlins could do, if guys like Bonifacio and Maybin continue to struggle. For now, I will focus on Bonifacio and the 3B job.

David mentioned that Alfredo Amezaga could be a candidate. On first thought, he seems like a perfect replacement. He is very similar to Emilio and can hit leadoff. It would be a simple move that would seeminlgy require no additional moves in the batting order or in the field. But, like David and many others have said, Amezaga has never really shown to be a great everyday player. He has always been best used as a reserve and getting a couple starts a week.

Now to Chris Coghlan. I love this guy. I hadn't seen much of him until this spring training, but was always impressed with his numbers and always heard he's a pretty good defensive player. Problem is, he plays 2B and Dan Uggla is blocking him at the major league level. Frisaro reports he has played some 3B in the minors but if he were to come up, I'd still say it's a tough position change and you never know what kind of results you will get. He could slide into the leadoff spot if necessary, but since he is regarded as one of our better positional prospects, I'd guess they wouldn't throw him to the fire like that.

Another interesting scenario could be moving Jorge Cantu back to 3B. This would open up 1B where remember Gaby Sanchez was the favorite to start during Spring Training. He had a bad spring that included an injury, but he is doing very well in AAA and it might warrant him finally getting his opportunity. The downside to this move could be two-fold. One, the defense would suffer, as Cantu has been better at 1B and Sanchez isn't the greatest of defenders. Two, we would be replacing a leadoff hitter with a middle/bottom of the lineup guy and we'd have to juggle the lineup and perhaps use a nontraditional leadoff hitter (Hermida?).

Now to a complex scenario, bare with me. I've had a sneaking suspicion since the offseason that Dan Uggla will not be on the team in 2010 (translation: traded during this coming offseason, or before the trade deadline during the season). I could explain my reasoning, but I'll leave that for another day. If Uggla were to be traded, say for relief pitching help, his 2B spot could be filled simply by placing Chris Coghlan there. Or, if you like a crazy musical chairs infield, Bonifacio could move back to his natural position (2B) and then you could fill 3B in any of the options already talked about. It'd be very bold, but this organization has shown they don't mind doing the unorthodox, plus it would seem to fit into their philosophy of better defense and on-base percentage, less errors and strikeouts at the plate. Problem is though, Uggla has to be tradeable, and his sub .200% batting average makes him a difficult sell. He needs to get hot and boost his numbers before teams will be offering deals.

There are a lot of options. I do believe Beinfest when he says they are preaching patience, but one must wonder if the team is in real contention in June and July whether patience will be abandoned for a gamble on different young players. We saw first hand how great it can work in 2003.

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The Honeymoon is Over

With a full month of play finished, I think it's time we took a look at the everyday lineup and identified a few of the weak links. Though Dan Uggla is off to a somewhat slow start, batting .202 and OPSing .696 (OPS+ 82), the two weakest spots in the order are Cameron Maybin and Emilio Bonifacio. Their lines so far this season:

	AB		R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
Bonifacio	112		17	30	6	7	28	.268	.311	.330	.641	69
Maybin	77		9	16	3	7	29	.208	.282	.325	.607	59

Maybin's numbers are worse, but considering his spot in the order (usually eighth) and the fact that he is a franchise player, I am comfortable with keeping him in the everyday lineup a bit longer and letting him adjust to major league pitching (he had less than 100 career PAs heading into this season).

Bonifacio's situation is more interesting. As much as I would not like to let Ken Rosenthal win this argument, a .311 OBP is simply unacceptable in the leadoff spot. Combined with his 28 strikeouts, Bonifacio's production has been abysmal. Simply put, if he stays in the leadoff spot and continues at his current pace, Hanley Ramirez will not have enough RBI opportunities.

Joe Frisaro reported today that Larry Beinfest is preaching patience with Maybin and Bonifacio:

In the eyes of the organization, both have terrific upside, and that's why the team is patient.

"With the young guys, they all have different time tables," Beinfest said. "It's all about making the adjustments, learning the pitchers, those types of things. It happens differently for different guys.

"It's hard to say this guy has this many at-bats, and we know for sure about him. It's not just that. You have to look at the mental aspect of the player. Is he up or down? Is he handling it? Is he making the adjustments."

Because both are handling the adversity, the team is sticking with them.

"Both of them. They're confident in their abilities, and they're working through," Beinfest said.

I have no problem with Beinfest giving a vote of confidence to the media (you certainly don't want him trashing his own players and giving them inferiority complexes). However, at some point, if either of these two does not improve their offensive production, the team must consider benching one or both of them. And they certainly have a lot of options on the table.

Alfredo Amezega is not an everyday player by any stretch, but he can play centerfield and third base, which allows him the opportunity to replace either Bonifacio or Maybin in the lineup. However, I think Maybin's numbers will pick up relatively soon as he adjusts to Major League pitching. With Bonifacio, the Marlins could move Jorge Cantu back to third base and promote either Gaby Sanchez or Logan Morrison to play first base. This has a couple of drawbacks: Cantu's defense is very suspect at third base, and if Morrison and Sanchez were sent to the minors after spring training, then it is clear the team does not think either are prepared to start yet. We shall see if the team's assessment of these two changes if Bonifacio continues to struggle.

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Rotation Set

Looks like Ted was right, Andrew Miller will start the season in the bullpen. The team named Anibal Sanchez the fourth starter, and Miller will join the rotation as the fifth starter on April 15. It seems like a sensible move to me, as Miller is still working on his motion so as to not throw across his body. Some extra time in the pen and some long relief duty in garbage time will give him an extra few weeks to iron out the kinks. Miller could become an ace, so there's no rush in getting him two extra starts in 2009.

Meanwhile, the Marlins picked up RHP Hayden Penn from the Orioles in exchange for Robert Andino in a rather unsurprising exchange of players out of options with no spots on their former teams. Hopefully Andino will find room to grow in the Orioles organization. As for Penn, he hasn't shown much promise in scant major league action, but in my mind, relievers are mostly a crapshoot: sometimes they put it together for long stretches, and sometimes they're Jorge Julio. Since the Fish would have been forced to release Andino, at least they got something in return.

The Fish also traded popular Player to be Named to Kansas City for first-baseman Ross Gload. Gload is being penciled in as Jorge Cantu's backup at first, which I am interpreting as disappointment in Gaby Sanchez. He had the first-base job all but locked up in the spring, but will open the season in Triple-A New Orleans. Surely, we will see him again by September (and maybe sooner), but in the meantime, the Marlins needed someone whose primary position was first base (with Wes Helms and Jorge Cantu being natural third-basemen).

So with Opening Day fast approaching, the roster appears all but set, with the injury status of Alfredo Amezega being the major remaining question.

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Previewing the Marlins' Rookie Class

Being that the Marlins so often rely on contributions from rookies, the team almost always has at least one player on Rookie of the Year watch lists. Though this year's class won't match the 2006 class that featured three Marlins among the top four vote-getters in ROY voting (including award-winner SS1a). Nonetheless, many are expecting to see some Marlins in the hunt. Let's take a look at the Marlins' rookie class, and assess their chances of winning the award (all numerical estimates completely arbitrary).¹ One quick note, I'm only citing the most elementary of statistics, since those are the only which most ROY voters care about (mention WARP3 to a voter, and he'll probably call you a nerd and make a lame joke).

1. Cameron Maybin, CF: Future Former Marlin Maybin has the starting centerfielder job pretty much locked up, so he'll have the best chance among the Marlins' rookies to make a good impression. In September call-up action, he did not disappoint, going 16 for 32 while stealing 4 bases. Maybin strikes out a bit much for a leadoff hitter (so he'll fit in with the rest of the team just fine), and he won't put up gaudy power numbers, but he already has buzz, which makes a big difference in awards voting. When Hanley Ramirez won ROY in 2006, he hit .292, OPSed .833, hit 17 home runs, and stole 51 bases from the leadoff spot. If he can match those numbers and not embarrass himself on defense, then he'll have a great shot. I'm giving him a 40% chance.

2. Gaby Sanchez, 1B: I was pretty optimistic about Sanchez heading into Spring Training, but he has not stood out at all. As Ted pointed out, Sanchez may have to start the season. Nonetheless, FanGraphs thinks he'll be good for 15 home runs and 65 RBI if he can get into the starting lineup. That's not bad, but it won't win him ROY. I'm giving him a 12% chance, since he'll get decent protection in the batting order.

3. Emilio Bonifacio, 2B: Bonifacio has two things going against him. First, he's stuck behind Dan Uggla, and only an injury would open up the starting job for him. Second, in the words of FanGraph's Marc Hulet, "He's really fast, doesn’t walk enough and strikes out too much." I'm giving Emilio a 0.4% chance at winning ROY.


¹ John Baker and Dallas McPherson have too much service time to qualify as rookies.

Image via espn.com

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Spring Training Update

Three Up

Highly touted and bearing huge expectations, Cameron Maybin has had a solid spring and erased any doubts that he would be the opening day centerfielder and perhaps the leadoff hitter. He is 12 for 33 with one homer and looks every bit the rookie of the year candidate many believe he will be. He needs to be the new table setter of the lineup with Hanley Ramirez moving to the three-hole. Expect a lot of singles and methodically advancing along the base paths.

The aptly described, "tall, dark and Mormon," Josh Johnson has gone a total of eleven innings in his three appearances and has yielded just one run while striking out seven. He is certainly in the battle for the title of opening day starter ace. He had a solid early return from the Tommy John surgery last summer and was remarkably consistent. Consistency is usually something lacking in young pitchers and a young staff. Hopefully he can provide that and be the stopper at the top of the rotation.

Catcher John Baker has had a stellar 9-20 start at the plate with three walks giving him a .522 OBP. Nice for a guy who was our number two hitter in the lineup towards the end of last year and might find himself there again this year. He fits right in line with the front office's new philosophy at the plate (fewer K's and HR's, better BA and OBP). While he obviously doesn't have the prototypical speed for the two spot, he may be our best option to sandwich between Cameron Maybin and Hanley Ramirez.

Honarable Mention: Burke Badenhop has not allowed a run in seven innings spread across four appearances.

Three Down

Andrew Miller has had a couple rough outings. In his opener he allowed six runs in one and a third inning. He has improved each outing and says he feels he is getting more command but the season is just weeks away and we need him as the lefty in our staff. The team will probably go with a four man rotation the first couple weeks of the season, so Miller might need to be the guy who gets a couple more rehab starts in the minors.

Another player bearing some expectations this spring is Gaby Sanchez. Unfortunately, a first base job that looked like his to win is now the one he is losing. He is just 4 for 25 with six strikeouts at the plate and has made three errors in the field. I think this will be an intriguing decision to see if he makes the club. He proved he was too good for AA, and the Pacific Coast League (AAA) won't provide a tougher test (PCL is a hitting league, not pitching) if he goes there. He could start out as a bench player, but it would be a tough adjustment to getting just a several at-bats per week.

Taylor Tankersley has been given a large amount of opportunities to settle in as a lefty in the bullpen. This spring he isn't doing much to help his cause. He recently had an outing with six earned runs conceded and has only kept the scoreboard clean in two of his six appearances, all of which were an inning or less. He will always have an advantage making the club because he is a left-handed pitcher, but he may be out of options.

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