Marlins Diehards: A Florida Marlins Blog

Marlins Sell Out a Game!*

2012-01-31T00:48:00.001-05:00

*a Spring Training game for which only 10,000 tickets are available.

Can't win 'em all...

Prepare Yoenis*

2012-01-25T21:05:00.003-05:00

It is official, Yoenis Cespedes is now a free agent. The Marlins will make a strong push to sign the Cuban defector, regardless of the fact that he has faced MLB-quality pitching only sporadically in his professional career. One has to expect they have the inside track, thanks to the money they are willing to throw around and the fact that any Cuban player will be automatically revered in South Florida.

Rumors circled today that Cespedes doesn't really want to play for the Marlins, but MLB.com beat writer Joe Frisaro talked to his sources, who basically refuted that idea. It's up to you to decide which hearsay to believe; both are equally likely in my opinion.

If the Marlins do sign Cespedes, they will have to figure out where to put him. Frisaro thinks he could start the year in Double-A or Triple-A. Considering the fact that he has played almost his entire career in the Cuba (which is no longer the hotbed of talent it was even a decade ago), this makes sense. The guy could probably use a little bit of seasoning before being exposed to the Halladays and Strasburgs of the NL.

But when he gets up to the big leauges, where do they put him? He is probably athletic enough to play centerfield, but may be better suited to the corner outfield spots in the long term. Only problem there is that both of those are occupied by Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison. LoMo could be moved back to first base, but then where does Gaby Sanchez go? This is a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless (and one that could lead to another vacuum in centerfield).

Nonetheless, the Marlins still have to actually sign Cespedes, so we can wait to cross that bridge when we actually get there.

*Ted gets all the credit for this pun. You should probably know by now that it's pronounced "yo-AY-nis."

Did our magical week together mean NOTHING to you?!?!

2012-01-23T13:03:00.000-05:00

Mike Piazza wants a Mets hat on his Hall of Fame plaque (provided the BBWAA doesn't Bagwell him and tie up his potential induction because of PED hysteria):

When asked what hat he wants to wear if elected to the Hall of Fame, he responded: "It's gotta be the Mets. No question."

We, of course, have an alternate suggestion:

It would be the ultimate troll move, which means it must be done. The Hall of Fame has the final say on a player's plaque hatwear. We can only hope Hall of Fame officials find this idea as funny as we do...

Haterzzzzz...

2012-01-21T13:32:00.000-05:00

Looks like SB Nation's Al Yellon is feeling a bit cranky today...

The Miami Marlins aren't a baseball team, they're a lounge act.

And they're not one of the nightclub acts you line up to see. No, they're a faded 1970s lounge act, long after the genre lost its popularity, with a singer wearing an orange sequined jacket, singing Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby songs off-key while the lone waitress, whose hair long ago ceased to be blonde but has been frosted that way anyway, serves drinks to fifty-something men who are trying to pretend they don't have combovers.

This is all to preface this post, which I freely admit is going to be full of unreasonable dislike of the team from Miami. I can't stand the Marlins or anything they represent.

There's more. It's a bit of a train wreck. He rehashes the same criticisms of the Marlins you've heard before: Loria and Samson are jerks, the new logo and centerfield display are ugly, and no one goes to their games. The Pullitzer committee has surely taken notice of the fine work put into Yellon's tirade. At least when Jeff Sullivan criticizes the Marlins, he tries to be funny.

This is just kinda sad. If only Loria and Samson would get off his lawn, he'd probably stop yelling.

Image via.

Admit it, you felt a thrill when this happened

2012-01-20T02:57:00.000-05:00

Everyone's favorite baseball owner nearly died at the hands of LeBron James last night. Surely you've already seen the video above, so let's skip the recap and go straight to the jokes!

LeBron says he wants a hat. Loria gave Hanley Ramirez a horifically blingy chain for winning a batting title. LeBron basically saved Loria's life. That is worth at least a gauche crown or two.

Also: Shoulda been you, Samson. Shoulda been you...

Unrelated: I was looking for something in my NBCMiami archive (seriously, I needed to find a link for another story, I was not reading my own stuff and marveling at my pithiness, I swear), and I found this gem: No one invited Chris Volstad to the Marlins' uniform unveiling, he thinks that means he's on the outs in Miami. Read that one right on the money, Chris! Good job.

Finally, in burying the lede: Ted and I are of course going to redesign our banner since it no longer makes sense. But we're both kinda busy, so we haven't had time to dick around in Photoshop. Perhaps you can help! We've got some ideas we want to play with, but would be open to input and will give you a certain amount of creative autonomy. We won't pay you, but Ted may buy you a beer sometime, and we'd proclaim you to be the finest gentleman (or gentlewoman) in all the land using our lightly-read Marlins blog as a trumpet. Hit one of us on Twitter or Facebook if you're interested.

Best Photo Ever?

2012-01-14T12:15:00.001-05:00

Submitted without comment:

Amy K. Nelson on WhoSay

Yes, that's Bryan Petersen and Logan Morrison.

Good heavens, this team will be fun to cover.

Marlins Will Pursue Cespedes

2012-01-12T11:59:00.003-05:00

Yoennis Cespedes is still waiting for MLB to grant him free agency, but the Miami Marlins are poised to make a run for the Cuban centerfielder when he becomes available:

"We think he should be nowhere except Miami," Samson said of Cespedes. "It just makes perfect sense for him to be here ... we have a perfect position for him to play, and it would be great."

He thinks the Marlins could indeed sign him. "I feel pretty good" about that possibility.

Earlier reports indicated that Cespedes could command a $60 million deal, but MLB.com's Joe Frisaro is hearing his deal will more likely be in the 4-year, $30ish million range. This puts him within Miami's budget, and considering the team's glaring need at centerfield, the Marlins would be foolish not to try and sign him.

Cespedes is largely unproven. He clearly has the tools to succeed in the majors, but his past performance is not the greatest sample - a handful of international games and play in the Cuban league. But $30 million is not a terrible gamble for an athletic guy who can hit for average and power.

Miami Marlins Upping the Crazy

2012-01-04T20:11:00.000-05:00

According to just about every baseball beat writer, the Marlins are close to a deal with the Cubs for Carlos Zambrano¹. As of this moment, it appears that the Marlins would be giving up Chris Volstad. Also of note, the Cubs would be responsible for all of Zambrano's contract, save for around $3 million.

This is awesome². We'll get to the baseball aspect in a moment, but from a pure blogging and entertainment perspective this move is great. Big Z is well known for his rabid emotional outbursts, both good and bad. You can bet Ozzie Guillen will try to reign him in and focus on the good energy, but there should certainly be some explosions that will provide real entertainment value.

From a baseball sense, meh? I like the move. It was hard to expect anything out of Chris Volstad anymore, so that's not a loss. In fact, some are suggesting a parade just for being able to unload him. What does Carlos bring to the table? Well, he still has stuff. He does walk a lot of guys and give up the long ball (gee that does sound like Volstad, ugh), but he possesses a live fastball and movement on all of his pitches. He should be able to eat innings (pun intended) and maybe rack up 10 wins. Actually if you are a fan of Bill James projections, he has Zambrano going 10-10 with a 3.89 ERA in 181 IP in 2012. I'd do cartwheels if he can match that. Carlos probably would as well, except I doubt he can perform a proper cartwheel. Maybe he'll celebrate with a beer chug³.

¹I was away from Twitter for most of the day, so I don't know who had it first. Was it Ken Rosenthal? Fuck it, my money is on Ken's bowtie breaking the news.
²Unless you are a water/Gatorade cooler. If you are, then you may want to find a safe house and lay low.
³Beer chug is much better idea.

Someone had to say it

2012-01-03T23:42:00.001-05:00

Via

Food for thought

2012-01-03T23:01:00.002-05:00

Negative effects of highly dispersed pay are even seen in professional sports. Studies of baseball teams are especially interesting because, of all major professional sports, baseball calls for the least coordination among team members. But baseball still requires some cooperation—for example, between pitchers and catchers, and among infielders. And although individuals hit the ball, teammates can help one another improve their skills and break out of slumps. Notre Dame's Matt Bloom did a careful study of over 1,500 professional baseball players from 29 teams, spanning an eight-year period, which showed that players on teams with greater dispersion in pay had lower winning percentages, gate receipts, and media income.

-from Pfeffer and Sutton, "Evidence Based Management," Harvard Business Review, January 2006.

Prepare to have your mind blown

2012-01-03T20:15:00.002-05:00

While weighing in a Fish Stripes' best third-baseman in Marlins history poll, I discovered the following about inaugural Marlins third-baseman Dave Magadan (via Baseball Reference):

June 27, 1993: Traded by the Florida Marlins to the Seattle Mariners for Henry Cotto and Jeff Darwin.
November 9, 1993: Traded by the Seattle Mariners to the Florida Marlins for Jeff Darwin and cash.

Traded twice in the same year, for the same player, by the same teams. I'm not sure that's ever happened before or since, but you'll have to ask Tim Kurkjian for verification on that one.

Also, according to B-R, Magadan's closest comparable is another former Marlins, Jim Eisenreich. So there's that.

Image via Marlin Maniac

A Very Short Chat with Jesse Thorn

2012-01-02T08:30:00.000-05:00

Something different to kick of 2012. My favorite public radio show, The Sound of Young America, relaunches this week as Bullseye. To promote the new show, creator and host Jesse Thorn (America's radio sweetheart) promised to accept any interview request, so we took him up on that offer. We briefly discussed baseball (of course).

Both times the Marlins won the World Series, they ended up beating the Giants in the NLDS. Which of those Marlins teams ('97 and '03) irritated you more as a Giants fan?

One of my closest friends, a San Franciscan, became a baseball fan the year the Marlins joined MLB. I was 11, he was 10. He picked Jeff Conine as his favorite player, and the Marlins as his favorite team. I never heard the end of those two series.

I will say that I've never had anything against the Marlins, and the 2003 edition even had the cool addition of Dontrelle Willis, a Bay Area guy my age who'd played against my friends in Little League and gone to high school with a good college buddy of mine. Still, I thought that was the Giants' year. And the stupid MARLINS messed it up. So I'm going 2003.

Which baseball player or manager (alive or dead) would you most like to appear as a guest on Bullseye? My choice: Earl Weaver

I was just thinking that I'd love to have Bill Veeck on the show sometime, were he not dead, but he never played or managed, so I suppose he doesn't count. I did have his son Mike on once, many years ago. A couple of the folks I'd most like to have on have been on: most notably Bill "Spaceman" Lee, whose autobiography The Wrong Stuff was almost certainly too influential on me as a child.

It's often hard to tell who in baseball is genuinely funny or eccentric, and who is just eccentric compared to baseball players, who seem to be the most boring people in the world. Only in baseball can you find black guys whose only hobbies are hunting and golf.

Earl Weaver's not a bad choice. I read his great book "Weaver on Strategy" as a kid, and loved it. I might choose the man who inspired Weaver, though, Branch Rickey. There'd be a lot to talk about.

Great choices all, and now Ted and I know who to recruit for social chair when we start our Earl Weaver Appreciation Society. The fact that he has actually read Earl Weaver makes him the most qualified cultural Sherpa on public radio.

Here's Bullseye's social media particulars, and a link to the show's podcast in iTunes. Below, the promo for Episode 1, which airs this week. Also, links to Jesse's interviews with Bill James and Mike Veeck. Bullseye is not carried by any public radio stations in Florida, so by all means, pester your station into carrying it.

Image via GQ

Say it ain't so...

2011-12-12T15:02:00.000-05:00

The Marlins Manatees: COCKPUNCHED!*

The team is trying to keep the decision quiet, but several current and former big dancers confirmed it to Riptide, and one of them even started a Facebook page to try to change the team's mind.

Join the Save the Manatees Facebook page here. Now that the Marlins have their new fugly uniforms in stores, they can ditch one of their more embarrassing projects while maintaining their SMHAR (shake my heads above replacement team).

*S/O to Fins Nation, the greatest purveyors of dick jokes in the sports blogosphere.

Week In Review: Winter Meetings Edition

2011-12-12T09:49:00.000-05:00

I don't think we've ever done a week in review at some point in the offseason, but if there was ever a good time for one, now would be it.

Overview

Marlins sign Jose Reyes
Hanley is upset, or is he?
Marlins sign Mark Buehrle
Miss out on Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson

Positives

A few weeks ago most people were still wondering if the Marlins interest in all of the top free agents was just a publicity stunt. They were proven wrong. The Fish exit the winter meetings with a trio of upgrades. Heath ~~Bar~~ Bell will help the back end of the bullpen and should allow the Marlins to say adios to Juan Leo Carlos Nunez Oviedo. Jose Reyes adds a spark to the front of the lineup. And Mark Buehrle is a big upgrade and rounds out the pitching rotation. Add those three legit all stars to the current team, who were without all stars Hanley and Josh Johnson for most of last season, and it looks like a pretty good ball club.

Negatives

He ended up getting an obscene amount of money, but could you imagine the lineup had Albert Pujols signed for Miami? Reyes-Hanley-LoMo-Pujols-Stanton, wow. So good it will have to stay just a dream. Also, a C.J. Wilson signing could have set up a downright nasty rotation. If the Marlins do not add another starter via free agency or trade, we could be stuck with Chris Volstad in the fifth-starter spot (gulp).

Looking Ahead

It's likely the Marlins aren't done with significant moves. They still could do some trading. One rumor that persists is that the team is looking to unload Ricky Nolasco (mainly because of his contract). I also wouldn't be surprised if the team jettisoned Gaby Sanchez for a starting pitcher (especially if Nolasco is moved). Logan Morrison would take over at first base but the Marlins outfield options would be pretty thin. Of course Cuban defector Yoennis Cespedes is still out there and I wonder if the Marlins have some money leftover from not adding Pujols, might they make a big push for him? We'll see.

Angels Poach CJ AND Prince Albert

2011-12-08T14:05:00.001-05:00

The LA Angels just pulled a Marlo Stanfield and signed Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson out from under the Marlins (Whitlock'd). Wilson got 5 years for $77.55 million, while Pujols got 10 years for $250 million.

The Marlins offered Wilson an extra year for a total of almost $100 million, but he wanted to play close to his home in California. Seems like a lot to pay for a guy who has two years of a starter under his belt.

As for Albert, I'm mildly relieved the Fish won't be paying him $20+ million when he's in his early 40s and can't DH.

Even so, the Marlins come home from the winter meetings with Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, and Heath Bell in tow. They still have a shot at signing Prince Fielder (though the beat writers are adamantly shouting that the team has no interest in Prince). For what it's worth, if Prince signs with the Fish I will gladly share my dynamite recipe for Swiss chard.

CJ Too?

2011-12-08T01:19:00.001-05:00

Not satisfied with just Mark Buehrle, the Marlins want CJ Wilson. I'm not sure what to believe anymore. A rotation with those two, JJ, Anibal and Nolasco would be pretty rad, though.

Pitching Upgrade: Achievement Unlocked!

2011-12-07T17:05:00.001-05:00

Forget that Albert Pujols guy. The Marlins have moved on from signing the mega star to an interplanetary record deal and instead refocused their efforts. Ken Rosenthal (and everyone else now) is reporting the team and LHP Mark Buehrle have agreed to a four year deal worth $58 million.

Take a look at his FanGraphs page and it's pretty obvious why the Marlins wanted him. He fits all needs they were looking for in a starting pitcher; left handed, innings eater, consistently very good. It's possible too that his 3.83 ERA could come down playing in the new spacious Marlins Ballpark. Not to mention he is reunited with manager Ozzie Guillen. Reportedly they have a great relationship and hopefully that rubs off on the rest of the clubhouse.

As for the money, it's quite a lot. Buehrle will be 32 by the time the 2012 season starts so this deal takes him through age 35. For a pitcher who isn't quite a superstar, especially one who annually logs 200 innings and has never been injured, that's a gamble. The Marlins offseason hasn't exactly been an exercise in risk management. But hey, we aren't footing the bill so what do we care? The question really is if the team's actions and attitude mean they will be spending like this every offseason, or tapering off after this year? We'll see

I asked on Twitter for a good mnemonic for remembering how to spell Buehrle. Your two winners:

But Unlike Evil Hanley Ramirez, Lefty Excites! via @danspacesmith
Better Use Every Hitter, Ramirez Lost Everything via @Apdirtybird

Non-Hanley, Non-Pujols News

2011-12-06T19:51:00.001-05:00

Via Business Insider, well, the title of their post says it all:

That Hideous Marlins Home Run Sculpture Is Going To Be HUGE

I know the consensus is that this structure is going to be ugly, but I think I'm going to like it.

I never thought I'd blog about the Marlins 4 times in one day in early December, but that was before the Marlins tried to become the Yankees...

What He Said

2011-12-06T18:51:00.001-05:00

SB Nation's Jeff Sullivan, on reports that Hanley Ramirez would rather be traded than play third base:

But they don't have to. See, it doesn't much matter how Hanley feels. I mean, it matters a little, but it isn't Hanley who's in control of this situation. The Marlins are in control of the situation, and if they play Jose Reyes at shortstop, and if they want to play Hanley Ramirez at third base, then Hanley Ramirez will end up playing third base. He'll suck it up and go out there, just as countless players before him have done.

The obvious comparison here is Michael Young. Young raised a stink when he was bumped from short to third, and he raised a stink when he was bumped from third to utility. He demanded a trade. He wasn't traded. He stayed with the Rangers, and the first time he was moved, he batted .322. The second time he was moved, he batted .338. People talk about Young as a leader. Young is a leader, despite his previous outbursts.

Continued...

The Marlins had Hanley Ramirez. Do you think they would've committed six years to Jose Reyes if they thought it would've caused a whole mess? Hanley will live, and the Marlins will be fine. Fine and fabulous.

Let's see what happens before we hang Hanley in effigy.

Prince Albert

2011-12-06T12:47:00.001-05:00

You're discussing an offer with WHO?

Marlins Up Offer to Pujols: Report

For serious, I feel like I'm living in a dream world right now.

Text message exchange Ted and I had earlier today:

Ted: This is very weird but I actually think the marlins shouldn't sign pujols.
Me: ME TOO! SO WEIRD.

Not that we don't love the idea of Pujols, H2R and Sr. #MONSTERDONG in the same lineup, but it'll get weird in 2018 when they make the rookies take turns feeding Albert his applesauce and changing his bedpan.

Game Time

2011-12-06T11:33:00.001-05:00

Q: Which of these headlines is not from a Bleacher Report post?

Miami Marlins Free Agent Signings Closely Resemble 1997 World Series Moves
Is Marlins' Hot Stove Spending a Prelude to Another Fire Sale?

A: This one. Summary: The last time the Marlins spent this much money, they had a fire sale a year later. Does that mean there will be a fire sale in 2012? POSSIBLY. How do we know? Jose Reyes does not have a no trade clause. DO I EVEN NEED TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU PEOPLE?

When I saw the headline in a Google Alert, I thought, totally BR. But no! Tortured analogies are all over the internet!

Also, apparently Yankees fans are capable of forming analogies now! Good work, guys!

To the surprise of no one

2011-12-06T00:24:00.001-05:00

Someone doesn't want to play third base all of a sudden.

Or does he?

More on Jose Reyes

2011-12-05T09:20:00.001-05:00

As you are well aware, Last night the Marlins and Jose Reyes agreed to a deal, pending a physical. It was first reported as a six year deal for $106 million. It is actually for $102 million, with a team option for a seventh year. They can decline it at that time with a $4 million buyout. Also of note, there is no no-trade clause in this contract. The Marlins are notorious for never budging from the stance of not offering no-trade clauses.

On the surface, this is a fantastic get for the new Marlins. While the team didn't have a need for a shortstop, this signing essentially fills the black hole at third base by shifting Hanley Ramirez to the hot corner. There's been reports that he's unhappy and won't do it, but it's likely just speculation. ESPN has written he's already agreed to move. Hanley's defense at short has suffered the past few season. Reyes isn't a terrific defender like some are suggesting, but he's an improvement over Hanley and Hanley is an improvement over most third basemen we've employed the last several years.

Reyes also gives the Marlins something they've sorely been missing, a leadoff hitter. For years it seems the team has been looking to alter their lineup to get more on-base guys and less power hitters. Even after trading Dan Uggla though, the Fish had trouble at the top of the lineup. This move should solve that. Reyes has all the attributes of Emilio Bonifacio, who the Marlins remain enamored with, but obviously to a much greater degree. Having Reyes set the table for Hanley and Mike Stanton is a great lineup.

The debate about this signing is about the risk involved. Jose Reyes has had injuries the last few seasons. He barely played in 2009. In 2010 and 2011 he missed a total of 65 games. Not only the missed games, but the fact he is a player that relies on speed and athleticism has some worried. If those tools begin to erode, he may not be a guy who is worth $17 million a year. But, when your the Marlins, you need to assume a greater risk than usual. Even so, there are contrasting opinions about just how risky this is; see here and here. In the end, it's hard to measure. We should just hope for the best. If his average seasons are anything like 2010 or 2011, it will definitely be worth it.

Two things make this a very interesting move: One, it's the biggest signing in Marlins history (at least for now) and two, the team has signed a star from a division rival who I hated. There's not much to say about point number one. We could see this coming as all indications were once the Marlins got a new stadium the team would abandon their penny-pinching ways and spend some money to field a good team. Point two intrigues me because I wonder what the fan reception will be. If the instant Twitter reaction means anything, he will be loved and maybe even push Hanley Ramirez aside as one of the most beloved players.

As usual, we focus on the eccentricities of Marlins fandom here at Marlins Diehards, so we'll be keeping an eye on that in the future.

Some free advertising for a friend of the blog: Check out the new t-shirt available at the SCWS, courtesy of the always hilarious @BoobiesNStanton

Reyes Signs(!)

2011-12-04T23:21:00.001-05:00

Buddies for life, you guys!

Jose Reyes will be a Miami Marlin, according to ESPN and others. Oh, and they're dead fucking serious about signing Pujols, too. We have not done this in awhile:

The Marlins are not playing around this winter. They expect their revenue to shoot up next year, they had few big contracts already on the books, and according my own third-hand info, they've built up a nice cash pile over the past few seasons. We used to call Jeff Loria "George Steinbrenner with less money," we may need to drop the "with less money" part now.

We'll have more on this later, of course, but suffice it to say I heartily approve.

We're Going to Need a New Closer Nickname...

2011-12-02T12:26:00.001-05:00

Heath Bell immediately after learning the clubhouse spread includes prosciutto-wrapped melon

If you had Heath Bell in the "First Marlins free agent signing of the winter" pool, you just hit the jackpot:

The Miami Marlins made their first big signing of the offseason Thursday night, signing former San Diego Padres closer Heath Bell to a 3-year, $27 million contract.

According to ESPN.com, Bell and the Marlins have all but agreed to the deal, which may include an option for a fourth year. Bell is expected to take a physical on Friday.

All that future revenue from the new stadium set to open next season must have been burning the figurative hole in the Marlins' pocket. Bell will make more money than all but Hanley Ramirez and Josh Johnson in 2012.

Two years ago, when the Marlins were reportedly in talks to acquire Bell via trade with San Diego, Ted noticed that Bell's rotundity might bode well for the Marlins. We can only hope the pattern of fat closers being lights-out for the Fish continues.

There has been quite a bit of debate about this signing on Twitter since the news broke. Here is the deal: The Marlins are paying $9 million a year for a guy who blew one fewer save than Leo Nunez/Juan Carlos Oviedo did last season. The similarities continue: both struck out roughly 7.5 batters per nine innings and had very nearly the same BABIP (.268 for Nunez and .261 for Bell). Nunez would have cost the Marlins $5-6 million in 2012. So that is $3 million for a few extra saves a year.

Bell posted 0.5 WAR in 2011, even with his gaudy saves total (43 - his third straight year of 40+ saves). In five years with San Diego, he put up 8.2 WAR, or 1.6 WAR per year. If that can be assumed to be a reasonable expected WAR/year, then the Marlins have just paid $5.5 million per win, which is a bit too much for my tastes.

There has been speculation that the signing sends a good message to other free agents that the Marlins are willing to pay for talent. This is nonsensical. The Marlins could send the same message by simply offering a lot of money to any of their other targets who either play every day or pitch more than 80 innings a year.

The other argument being thrown around is that the Marlins can overpay for a closer now that they will be raking in the dough from the new stadium. This ignores two important facts:

No team (not even the Yankees) has unlimited money. The $27 million being paid to Bell over the next 3 years could be better spent in a variety of ways, like locking up Mike Stanton long term.
As Michael Jong of Fish Stripes has pointed out, the Marlins have had much success in recent years patching together a bullpen on the cheap, and Steve Cishek and Edward Mujica could both have been viable closer options at a fraction of the cost of Bell. Just because you have the money does not mean you should spend it on a splashy free agent.

This is not to say that Bell is a bad closer. He will probably be good (so long as his dip from 11 to 7 K/9 in 2011 is not the beginning of a bad trend). But he is not worth $27 million, at least not in my opinion.

How did we miss this?

2011-12-01T12:42:00.001-05:00

From Dave Brown of BLS: BASEketball almost predicted the Marlins uniforms in 1998

This movie was a classic from our adolescence. How we did not remember this, I don't know. Bravo, @AnswerDave, bravo.

Image via BLS

Ozzie Guillen: Animal Lover

2011-11-30T18:57:00.001-05:00

No comment. Via.

No Comment

2011-11-30T17:15:00.001-05:00

Billy the Marlin has received his wardrobe change

photo via @ByTimReynolds

What are we thankful for?

2011-11-24T15:20:00.001-05:00

Sr. #MONSTERDONG himself, Giancarlo Cruz Mike Stanton.
Larry Beinfest, Michael Hill and Dan Jennings, who somehow keep Team Loria from trading Hanley Ramirez for a bucket of D-batteries every season.
Dr. James Andrews, who keeps Josh Johnson's throwing arm from falling off.
Whatever deal with the devil Emilio Bonifacio made that turned him into a competent baseball player this year.
The end of baseball at ~~Joe Robbie~~ ~~Pro Player~~ ~~Dolphin~~ ~~Landshark~~ Sun Life Stadium.
Team Loria's crazy-ass design choices, including the psychedelic arcade display in centerfield of the new stadium and the impending ruination of Billy the Marlin. It is better to be ugly than bland.
Luis Castillo.
Kevin Millar.
Kurt Abbot.
Alex Arias.
Charles Johnson.
Cody Ross.
Carl Pavano (the Marlins version).
Seinfeld reruns.
Readers who indulge our obsession with Earl Weaver and let us slide for ending the title of this post with a preposition.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Image via Fins Nation. We're also thankful those dudes haven't started a Marlins blog and made us obsolete.

So Long, @manbearwolf

2011-11-22T19:21:00.001-05:00

The Marlins announced Tuesday that C John Baker has been shipped to the San Diego Padres in return for LHP Wade LeBlanc. Baker missed most of the 2010 and 2011 seasons due to Tommy John surgery (his series of posts about coming back from the surgery for BLS are a must-read). But with John Buck firmly entrenched as the Marlins' starting catcher, Baker is the odd man out (not coincidentally, he is up for arbitration this offseason).

I'm pretty sure that Baker was the first Marlin on Twitter, so you can imagine that Ted and I are sad to see such a media-savvy player leave the team. It's been grand, @manbearwolf.

It's hard to tell what LeBlanc has to offer the Fish, other than a back-of-the-rotation option should some of the team's free agent targets not sign. LeBlanc made 14 starts for San Diego last season, but his 3.16 BB/9 and home-road splits are cause for concern (San Diego's Petco Field is decidedly a pitcher's park). Let's just call LeBlanc Miami's Plan B and hope the team can land one of the free agents it is honing in on and convince Javy Vazquez to come back for one more go-around.

Realignment and Expanded Playoffs Update

2011-11-18T10:45:00.001-05:00

Baseball will be making major changes in the next two years -- adding two teams to the playoffs, moving the Houston Astros to the American League and extending interleague play to September.

The expanded playoffs could come as early as next year. That will put 10 teams in the postseason, requiring a new wild-card playoff round that probably will be one game, winner take all.

As a condition for approving the sale of the Astros from Drayton McLane to Jim Crane, the Astros agreed to shift from the NL Central to the AL West as soon as 2013, giving each league 15 teams. It's baseball's first realignment since the Milwaukee Brewers went to the NL after the 1997 season.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7246443/houston-astros-sale-approved-mlb

If I were an Astros fan, I'd be a bit bummed. Alas, I am not an Astros fan. Therefore, I'm okay and borderline happy with the future realignment. I like balance, and having 15 teams in each league, with each division having exactly five teams is nice. I also don't mind the perpetual interleague play that will be required with an odd number of teams in each league.

As for the expanded playoffs with another wild card team? I'm for that too. Hell, the Marlins seem like they never want to win a division title, so having more wild card entries improves our chances of making the playoffs.

Dave and I discussed this before, when this was just a rumor (here and here) and pretty much the same holds true now. In brief:

Rewards division winners
Punishes wild card teams, subjecting them to luck of a one game playoff and wasting their best pitcher before the division series
Pennant races better, more incentive to get higher seed and win division
One game playoffs are fun and uber-exciting.

An Aside

2011-11-17T14:04:00.001-05:00

Via Harball Talk, the Baltimore Orioles will erect statues at Camden Yards of all the team's Hall of Famers, including MDH demigods Earl Weaver, Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray. Two things:

If the Earl Weaver statue ever goes missing, you've never heard of us and have no idea why we would ever pinch a statue of a former Orioles manager.
If the Eddie Murray statue does not feature his epic Afro/mutton chop combination, then it should be destroyed and the sculptor should be jailed for crimes against art.

So dope.

Can Loria Be Trusted?

2011-11-16T12:39:00.001-05:00

It is still hard to fathom, but Team Loria wants to spend some serious cash this winter. But even reports of substantial offers to Jose Reyes and Albert Pujols are not enough to convince some observers that Loria is serious about loosening the purse strings. From Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal:

Many in the industry are skeptical of the Marlins’ sincerity, believing that the club will make offers that are competitive, but not good enough to accept — and that the players will sign with teams that have better chances to win.

First, it's good to know that people inside baseball trust Jeffrey Loria just as much as Marlins fans do (which is to say, not at all). Regardless, I think Loria is totally serious about signing at least one (if not more) of the big three free agents the Marlins have targeted (Pujols, Reyes and Buehrle). Here is why.

When discussing anything Loria does, there are two critical points to remember:

Loria has terrible PR instincts, and generally cares more about his own ego than he should. Pretty much everyone who follows baseball will agree with those assertions.
Regardless, he is a shrewd businessman (the sweetheart deal he engineered to sell the Expos to MLB and buy the Marlins is all the proof necessary to prove that point).

Point 2 is important, because Loria knows that the momentum gained from opening the new stadium will fade fast in Miami if he fields an uninspiring team in 2012. You may recall that when the Heat opened the American Airlines Arena during the 1999-2000 season, there were plenty of empty seats at times. That year's Heat team had little going for it, and the oft-fickle Miami fans could not be bothered to show up to games.

This is all to say that the buzz about the Marlins trying to land a big free agent is not buzz for its own sake. If the Marlins whiff on Pujols, Reyes, and Buehrle, then the effort to sign them will not translate into any real gain in ticket sales. And ticket sales drives all of Loria's moves right now. He has sunk a lot of money into the stadium, even though the city and county have picked up a lot of the tab. Loria needs ticket sales to make his investment worth it, and teaming up Hanley Ramirez and Mike Stanton with someone like Pujols or Reyes would go a long way towards achieving that goal.

It is also worth mentioning that the Marlins' stadium-related cash flows will improve significantly in the new stadium, even if they do not get a bump in attendance. The owners of Sun Life Stadium (i.e. Stephen Ross and his Miami Dolphins partners) got a substantial cut of the gate (This Forbes piece notes that the Marlins got no luxury box revenue and only 37% of parking). Besides that, proceeds from food and drink sales went to the stadium owners, not the team. So the Marlins do have cash to spend, making these offers to Reyes and Pujols seem like less of a buzz-generating move and more of a realistic acquisition attempt.

LOLstad

2011-11-16T00:38:00.000-05:00

While just about all of his teammates were in Miami modeling the new Marlins uniforms Friday night, pitcher Chris Volstad was in Tallahassee getting ready to attend a college football game.

Volstad, the Marlins' top draft pick in 2005 out of Palm Beach Gardens High, said he wasn't invited to the rebranding ceremony, which makes him wonder if he might've thrown his last pitch for the Marlins.

Latest on Jose Reyes

2011-11-14T13:26:00.001-05:00

Buster Olney says to expect Jose Reyes to be wearing the ~~teal~~ sky blue and international orange in 2012.

"There is an expectation they will work something out with Reyes for something in the range of five years, $18-20M a year. They are seen as the team that's going to be most aggressive and he certainly fits the style that Ozzie Guillen loves to play. He loves to have a team that runs the bases aggressively, puts pressure on opposing defenses. Reyes would be a centerpiece for that with Hanley Ramirez moving to another position."

Meanwhile at FanGraphs, Paul Swydan has written a very intelligent piece (with many numbers to back it up) on what a Jose Reyes signing would mean and why it's smart to move Hanley Ramirez to 3B. Some highlights:

If you did leave Ramirez alone though, you would probably move Reyes to second base, where he played some in 2004 during the great Kaz Matsui experiment, but that seems silly. You would still have a subpar shortstop, and Reyes couldn’t be expected to play any better than Omar Infante does at the keystone. Moving Ramirez is the better strategy.

Third base is not only the best place for Ramirez from a lineup hole perspective, it also fits his game best. One of the main benefits of sliding from shortstop to third base is that generally speaking, you don’t need as much range to handle third. Sure, you have to charge on bunts, but by and large, it’s a reaction position, there isn’t nearly as much running involved as there is at short (or in center).

So let’s tally this up. Conservatively speaking, Reyes figures to upgrade shortstop by about a win, and Ramirez figures to upgrade third base by about four. In case you’re having trouble adding that up, that’s a five-win upgrade for the Fish, and it could be even better than that. Last season, the Marlins finished in last place for the first time since 2007, but if they are successful in bringing Jose Reyes into the fold — no matter how they shift their currently rostered players to accommodate him — it will probably be their last trip to the basement for a few more years.

I'm in huge favor of this potential move, but now we wait. It should only be about another 48 minutes before some obscure Twitter user with 300 followers claims the Marlins' capturing of Jose Reyes signature is a done deal.

The Wait is Over, I Kind of Liked the Waiting Better Than This

2011-11-14T01:16:00.000-05:00

Ted has a review of the new kit on Fish Stripes (SPOILER ALERT: he's somewhat ambivalent!), with a good conversation going in the comments.

Okay, I don't hate the new Marlins' uniform set, but I think the team botched a good design. The Marlins have a clean typeface that is distinctive and vaguely reminiscent of art deco, but oh, the colors. It is too busy, pick an accent and stick with it. It could use two or three fewer colors. I would have preferred gray-outlined orange. I like the Marlin the more I see it.

And the hat logo... just, you know, why yellow? Ted says "There either needs to be more of it, or none at all." I choose none at all. And Marlins aren't orange, so there's that.

I've got more small- to medium-sized quibbles (city name should not go on home jerseys, and there is no need for a black and an orange alternate jersey), but I like the overall look of the uniform. It's just that because of the overdose on accent colors, I can't say it fully does it for me. My favorite uniforms have one or two colors besides white or black, not 4.

There is something about this uniform set that seems like will not age well. I have a feeling that in twenty years, this uniform will look the same as this Miami Heat's garish throwback kit: we will wonder how it could have ever seemed like a good idea.

I'll buy an orange hat, though.

Images via Colorwerx

Uni-Watching

2011-11-11T15:01:00.000-05:00

It's all but official, via Fish Stripes:

Could be better, could have been a lot worse. I like this set, even with the ridiculous yellow V on the M. More to come (including, hopefully, the home whites and road grays) when the uniforms are officially unveiled tonight.

Hot Stove Miscellany

2011-11-08T16:19:00.000-05:00

Free agency is under way, and lo and behold, the Marlins are seemingly major players for more than a few big names. For real! This is not satire! I swear!! ...!!!

First, there's Mets shortstop/speedster Jose Reyes:

The Miami Herald reported Monday that at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, the precise moment when teams were allowed to begin free agent negotiations, the Marlins contacted New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes. According to the Herald, a team of front office higher-ups traveled to New York last week, ostensibly to speak with Reyes' agent.

Signing Reyes would kill two birds with one stone. Hanley Ramirez could move to third base, where he is less prone to injure himself, and the Marlins gaping vacuum at the hot corner would be filled in the process. Plus, the Fish would essentially replace Emilio Bonifacio - an extremely destitute man's version of Reyes - with Reyes himself.

Reyes is 28, so he still has plenty of productive years ahead of him. At Fish Stripes, Michael Jong estimates Reyes being worth 5 wins a year, which would be worth the hefty contract he will surely demand.

We discussed Yoennis Cespedes yesterday, but it bears repeating: insiders are saying the Marlins have the inside track in signing him. When's the last time we heard that about someone who is also drawing interest from the Yankees?

Finally, reports are swirling that the Fish are meeting today with Mark Buehrle, formerly of the White Sox. I'm less excited about him than I am about Reyes or Cespedes, but each starting pitcher signed reduces the likelihood of Chris Volstad staying in the rotation, so there's that's a plus.

Anyway, I know it is disorienting to hear about the Marlins becoming big spenders, but that could be the new normal (so long as the team sells plenty of tickets to that shiny new stadium in Little Havana). Enjoy it! Prepare your Nelson Muntz laughs if Florida manages to outbid the Yankees for Cespedes.

PSA

2011-11-08T15:17:00.000-05:00

Two quick things for this Tuesday PM, neither involving the rumors the Marlins will sign Jose Reyes, Yoennis Cespedes, Mark Buehrle, Barry Bonds, Reggie Jackson, and Jesus Christ.

Happy Birthday to one Giancarlo Cruz Michael Stanton. Mr. Monsterdong turns 22 today.
My first piece at Fish Stripes just posted. It asks what we will remember most about the 2011 Marlins season?

Carry on.

Commence Swoon

2011-11-07T12:55:00.000-05:00

Meet Yoennis Cespedes. He's 26-year-old outfielder from Cuba who defected this summer and is looking to sign on with an MLB club this winter. He's looking for a deal similar to the $30 million contract Aroldis Chapman signed with the Cincinnati Reds last year. If he joins the Marlins outfield with Mike Stanton, our buddy SCWS might have a #MONSTERDONG-induced heart attack in the first week of the 2012 season.

For more on Cespedes, check Baseball Prospectus.

Stay Calm, Everyone

2011-11-03T13:02:00.001-04:00

The Miami Marlins will unveil their new logo and uniform sets a week from tomorrow, but uniform watchers were subject to some subpar trolling from another Marlins blog today. James Etzbach of Marlin Maniac posted the uni sets below this morning (and there is no link to the source - Michael Jong hasn't been gone for a month and the standards have fallen). Ted did some digging and found the source, where the artist commented, "Here's my take on the new unis, stictly based on what we know for sure about them so far." Nice try, dude.

Click to enlarge either image

As Etzbach notes, placing "Miami" on the home jersey goes against normal protocol (typically place names go on the away jersey, while team names or logos are on the home jersey). Further, the teal cap makes little sense, since teal has been relegated to an accent color. (Sidebar: I still don't understand how there is a significant faction of Marlins fans that long for the original teal uniform set, but hate the leaked new cap logo. Both are ugly, and it's pretty clear they are letting misplaced nostalgia cloud their judgment...)

Regardless, I must say I like the white and grey sets (the black and orange alts are just kinda meh). Etzbach compares the set to something worn by a minor league club, but methinks the gentleman doth protest too much. Miami is a garish place, if our sports teams decide to reflect that garishness in their uniforms, that is just fine with me. Plus, there is something to be said for embracing the aesthetics of ugliness (both Ted and I listen to avant garde jazz, so you can probably guess where we stand on the issue of ugliness).

I will give the final word to Ted, since he put it best: "But fear not, the real unis should be equally or more appalling."

Huge . . meh . . Minor Announcement

2011-11-01T09:44:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed some interesting activity in the Marlins blogging community yesterday. First Michael Jong posted a goodbye on his site Marlin Maniac¹. Later in the day, Craig announced he and GameFish were leaving Fish Stripes.

Don't worry, neither Dave or I are moving, being traded, or retiring. Marlins Diehards will remain 100% the same. However, I will be doing some of the work over at the new Fish Stripes. Mike has assembled a blogging team with a small budget² that the real ~~Florida~~ Miami Marlins would be proud of. For more on that, pay attention to Fish Stripes later today.

But to continue the spoiler alert, I will be writing a weekly piece along with doing a game recap every five days or so. The weekly piece will appear on Tuesdays (except today) and will be focused on Marlins history/culture. It will essentially be an extension of Marlins Diehards. In fact you may even see a Diaspora post every now and then when I get writers block.

I will post a blurb here on this site with a link for those weekly articles, but I urge you to follow Fish Stripes all the time now (if you weren't already) with your preferred medium, links below.

RSS Feed
Facebook: FishStripes
Twitter: @fishstripes
SBNation iPhone App

Also, I know we have been pretty lame here at MDH since the season ended. There are some reasons why that's the case, but partly it's just how we do things. We will pick things up shortly, of course with the new logos/uniforms announcement coming up in 10 days. Other than that stay tuned but expect lots of radio silence. Dave and I will have our own winter meetings soon and will announce ~~some improvements~~ nothing after the new year.

¹Seriously? Leaving a Marlins blog to go to different blog is sooooooooo meta. Tip o' the cap to Mike.
² No budget. Repeat: No. Budget.

Announcement Tomorrow

2011-10-31T10:20:00.000-04:00

First of all, Happy Halloween. Not a big Halloween guy these days, but if you celebrate it, then enjoy!

This is a heads up to pay attention to Marlins Diehards tomorrow as we will have a big¹ announcement.

¹Not big really, quite small actually

They exist, for reals

2011-10-29T18:39:00.000-04:00

That's a New Era Marlins hat found in Buffalo by the Herald's Florida Panthers beat writer, George Richards.

The team is unveiling the new uniform set on November 11, how this hat ended up on a retail shelf in Buffalo before then is a mystery (though human error, as always, is the best guess).

Regardless, if you were hoping that leaked cap logo was fake, well, you're going to be disappointed come November 11.

Request Denied

2011-10-19T01:13:00.000-04:00

The Baltimore Orioles have a vacant GM job, and Marlins assistant GM Dan Jennings is among their prospective candidates to fill the vacancy. Problem is, Team Lori has denied Baltimore permission to talk to Jennings.

Baltimore is talking to various general manager candidates from other organizations, but Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports that the Marlins denied the Orioles permission to interview vice president of player personnel and assistant general manager Dan Jennings.

And according to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun this is actually the fourth time the Marlins have denied a team permission to interview Jennings, who's under contract through 2015.

All together now:

This is the funniest thing ever

2011-10-13T01:30:00.000-04:00

Poo-poo cards and pee-pee cards. The 2003 Marlins were about as mature as a Boy Scout troop:

"In between innings they'd [Josh Beckett and Brad Penny] go to the clubhouse to get a drink or hang out," McKeon recalled this afternoon from his home in North Carolina.

"I said, 'Hey, I got no rule against going up if you have to go to the bathroom or something, but get back.' A couple of times I looked down the bench to talk to somebody and they weren't there. They were in the clubhouse. So I went up and got them out and said, 'OK, boys that’s it. We'll lock the door.'"

McKeon told that same story in June, after he took over as Marlins manager when Edwin Rodriguez resigned. In June, McKeon was a little more animated in his recollection of what he did in 2003: "I would go in clubhouse with bat and (say) 'get your asses out of here!' I locked the clubhouse."

McKeon recalled in June how he handed out what he called "poo-poo cards and pee-pee cards. Put them where I was sitting (in the dugout), so if you wanted to go to bathroom you had to get a card. That broke it up."

Never change, Jack, never change.

2011 Goose Gossage Award Ballot

2011-10-12T08:56:00.003-04:00

[Note: Ted and I are members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, and along with Michael Jong of Marlin Maniac we comprise the Florida/Miami chapter of the BBA. As BBA members, we have been asked to vote for the BBA's end-of-year awards through our blog. This is our ballot for the NL Goose Gossage Award, given to the best relief pitcher.]

Craig Kimbrell, Braves
John Axford, Brewers
Joel Hanrahan, Pirates

We gave Kimbrell our vote for NL ROY, and he certainly deserves the nod in the Goose Gossage race as well. His 14.84 K/9 rate is outright otherworldly (among MLB pitchers with at least 60 IP, the next best K/9 was 13.50 - David Robertson of the Yankees). His 3.2 WAR far outpaces all other NL relievers as well. If you're more into the traditional reliever stats, we point to his league-leading 46 saves (tied with John Axford of Milwaukee).

But the save statistic is useless, so instead look at his FIP of 1.52 (which is basically ERA with defense and other factors out of the pitcher's control stripped out). He was tops in the NL, with only one reliever within 0.5 of him.

Axford tied Kimbrel with 46 saves and posted an excellent 10.51 K/9, but his 1.9 WAR and 2.41 FIP were well behind Kimbrel's. Hanrahan did not amass as many strikeouts as either (8.00 K/9), but his 2.0 WAR and 2.18 FIP were stellar. He may have been the beneficiary of some good luck, though, as his 0.13 HR/9 and .282 BABIP were two of the lowest among qualifying NL relievers.

2011 Willie Mays Award Ballot

2011-10-07T15:00:00.001-04:00

[Note: Dave and I are members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, and along with Michael Jong of Marlin Maniac we comprise the Florida/Miami chapter of the BBA. As BBA members, we have been asked to vote for the BBA's end-of-year awards through our blog. This is our ballot for the NL Willie Mays Award, given to the best rookie.]

Craig Kimbrel, RP, Braves
Vance Woorley, SP, Phillies
Lucas Duda, 1B/OF, Mets

Yikes, a trio of players from our NL East rivals. Deciphering the rookie crop was a bit difficult. In fact some of the other candidates were from the Nationals. It seems all the decent rookies were in our division.

Craig Kimbrel gets our first place vote in a landslide. Blown save in game 162 aside, he was dominant. He finished the year with 46 saves and an absurd strikeout rate of nearly 15 per 9 innings. He was nearly unhittable (.176 BAA) and posted a nifty 1.52 FIP. Just an absolute beast. Except perhaps he was overworked and couldn't come through when Atlanta needed him most. For shame.

Vance Woorley finished 11-3 with a very nice 3.01 ERA in 25 games (21 starts). His slightly higher FIP suggest he was perhaps a bit lucky, but will forgive him for giving up 10 long balls considering he plays in Philly's bandbox. A nice season from the rook, and more than okay for the Phillies fifth starter.

Lucas Duda was a bright spot for the Mets and didn't play like his last name suggests. He was way down the leaderboard in WAR, but mainly because of his fielding. We give him the third place vote for his work at the plate, namely a .368 wOBA. He played 100 games and hit 10 homers with 50 RBI. With a pretty good BB/K ratio he looks like a mainstay in their lineup.

MDH Guide to the 2011 Playoffs

2011-09-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

Another season in the books for the Fish, but now it's time for the MLB playoffs. Last year we got lucky. Division rival Philadelphia got picked off in the NLCS. The Yankees likewise in the ALCS. It left us with a perfectly fine Rangers vs Giants World Series.

Don't Root For

New York Yankees - Most hated team in baseball. They also come invade our fair city and talk about how great New York is.
Philadelphia Phillies - No explanation needed.

Perhaps Root For

Arizona Diamondbacks - Kind of like the Marlins. A young team with low payroll that no one really pays attention to.
Milwaukee Brewers - Great team name. We like Ryan Braun, but they also have Nyjer Morgan, which is no good.
St. Louis Cardinals - I don't really care for them, but they could perhaps beat Philly, and we should hope for that.
Tampa Bay Rays - Our Florida brothers. They could pull the AL East double and knock out the Yankees too.
Texas Rangers - It'd be nice to see them bounce back after last year's disappointing World Series.

We'll be Rooting For

Detroit Tigers - As you'll see below, they have the best former Marlins quotient.

Children of the Marlins Diaspora in the 2011 Playoffs
New York Yankees: Joe Girardi (Mgr), AJ Burnett (P)
Detroit Tigers: Jim Leyland (Mgr), Miguel Cabrera (3B), Brad Penny (P)
Texas Rangers: Darren Oliver (P)
Tampa Bay Rays: none
Arizona Diamondbacks: none
Milwaukee Brewers: none
Philadelphia Phillies: Ross Gload
St. Louis Cardinals: Arthur Rhodes (P)

2011-09-29T08:17:00.002-04:00

2011-09-28T15:46:00.000-04:00

Two NBC stories to share with you. The first is a general opinion piece on Ozzie Guillen, and expands on my thoughts from this MDH post from Monday night.

Anyone hoping new Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen will magically transform the team from an underperforming middle-tier baseball team into a playoff contender should probably re-examine their expectations.

The Marlins are finishing off a disappointing 2011 campaign, and coaching has been the least of their problems this summer.

Injuries to star players, underperforming pitchers, and just plain bad luck have plagued the Marlins.

Ozzie Guillen can't change any of those.

On a more fun note, the second is my top ten Marlins moments in the Stadium formerly known as Joe Robbie. Just missing the cut was the monsterest of #Monsterdongs, which I will embed below.

Now I must change my pants.

2011 End of Season Awards

2011-09-28T09:30:00.006-04:00

The season is just about in the books. What better time than the last day of the season to hand out the prestigious Marlins Diehards end of season awards?

Dontrelle Willis Out of Nowhere Award, given to the player who was completely off the radar in Spring Training that made a big impact on the team

Greg Dobbs was a non-roster invitee who only had a small chance of surviving as a left-handed bat off the bench. A strong spring won him a roster spot. Injuries early in the season meant he started many games and came through better than anyone could have expected. He finishes the season with over 400 plate appearances and though no stat jumps out as extraordinary, he was hitting over .300 for a fair share of the season and deserves plaudits for consistent production and helping keep the team afloat in April and May. I still don't believe he did it.

Jorge Julio Award, given to the new addition to team who completely flopped

Dave and I racked our brains but ultimately decided nobody deserves the awful comparison to Jorge Julio this year, although in the first few months of the season it was a tight three horse race. John Buck came the closest, but he did hit 16 home runs and his numbers overall were decent. He's overpaid, but no Julio. By May we were all counting the days until we could release Omar Infante, but he rebounded very well and has earned a new two-year contract. Javier Vazquez was looking like the second coming of the 2005 Al Leiter, but he too reversed course in impressive fashion.

Darren Daulton Deadline Dandy, given to the best midseason acquisition

For the second consecutive year, this award remains vacant as the team did no business at the trading deadine. In typical Fish fashion, several players were added via the waiver-wire, but none of them performed strongly enough to earn this honor.

Next Member of the Marlins Diaspora: self explanatory

~~Leo Nunez~~ Juan Carlos Oviedo, at least we hope, will be long gone. Even before his recent identity/visa issues, it seemed unlikely the team would bring back a middling closer for a price exceeding $5 million. Even more, recent reports suggest the Marlins very well would have traded him during the season had they not known about his ongoing problem. It will be interesting to see if they decide to tender him or not and try to trade him. I'd imagine they'd just cut their losses and non-tender him.

Bret Barberie Bizarre Boo-Boo: given to the player with the weirdest injury of the season, named after the time former Marlin Bret Barberie missed a game due to a case of habanero juice in the eye:

Loafing and a lack of effort has always been a criticism of Hanley Ramirez, especially in the last 18 months. But what happens when you keep asking a guy to play harder and hustle? He gets hurt. This shoulder injury occured on August 2nd and caused Hanley to miss the rest of the year. Good going Marlins fans!

And now, the generic awards...

Most Valuable Player

The man, the myth, the legend, Giancarlo Cruz Michael Stanton. Forget the numbers, simply put, Mr. Monsterdong was one of the few small reasons myself and other fans continued tuning into games after June. Now onto the numbers. The 22 year old slugger crushed 34 home runs and is third in all of MLB in isolated power behind only Jose Bautista and Curtis Granderson. His 4.5 WAR led the team by some margin.

Best Pitcher

Despite winning just eight games, Anibal Sanchez finishes the year with a solid 3.67 ERA and led Marlins pitchers with a 3.7 WAR. It was a down year for hurlers on the club (looking at you Ricky Nolasco) but after Josh Johnson went down at least Anibal stepped his game up and acted like an ace. The rest of the team even treated him like one deciding to give him poor run support and have the blowpen blow a bunch of his games. Nonetheless, it looks like his injury issues are behind him and he's a very solid big-leaguer.

Biggest Surprise

Before the season, I had no idea what a Steve Cishek was. He arrived to the team in late May and turns out he's a flame-throwing reliever who's now a candidate to be the closer in 2012. He made 44 appearances this year and posted a 2.67 ERA. His good K-rate (basically one per inning) may give him the nod to in fact be the closer. If that's the case I just hope he learns how to throw the ball to first base properly, perhaps have Gaby Sanchez wear a catchers mask.

Biggest Disappointment

Once again coming into the year the Marlins starting pitching staff appeared as a strength that some writers were even calling underrated. They fell very short of expectations. The early injury to J.J., which turned into a lost season was devastating. As mentioned above, Anibal did his part, but it wasn't enough to mask the misfortunes of the others. Ricky Nolasco was up and down, mainly the latter. Javier Vazquez rebounded and had a great second half, but his first half was abysmal. And of course, everyone's favorite Chris Volstad perpetually had baserunners circling around him.

Most Improved

We'd be remiss if we didn't acknowledge Emilio Bonifacio in some way. The perennial punching bag of MDH turned it around and had a great 2011. He posted a 3.3 WAR, second amongst Marlins position players. Despite our pleas, the club made him an everyday player and he made over 600 plate appearances. He responded by posting a career-best .367 on base percentage and even managed to hit five home runs (all out of the park!).

Infante Returns

2011-09-27T11:53:00.001-04:00

Via MLB.com, the Marlins and Omar Infante have agreed to a two-year contract extension worth $8 million.

Re-signing Infante is nothing to get terribly excited about, but the Marlins have bigger needs than second base this offseason, so retaining Infante for $8 million over two years is a pretty sensible deal. If he puts up 2.5 WAR for two more years, that's $1.6 million/WAR, which is $0.5 million/WAR cheaper than John Buck.

UPDATE: Marlin Maniac has run the numbers, and it turns out the Marlins might actually be underpaying Infante. Well played, front office, well played.

It's Ozzie

2011-09-27T01:29:00.002-04:00

He won't be wearing this uniform, but you get the idea...

Ozzie Guillen is your new Marlins manager. And all it will cost the team is a pair of minor leaguers.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday night the White Sox released Guillen Monday afternoon after he met with team owner Jerry Reinsdorf for an emotional goodbye.

Guillen told his players that Monday night's White Sox game against Toronto would be his last, and he is expected to fly to Miami Tuesday morning.

In return for declining a team option on Guillen for 2012, the White Sox retained the right to compensation, which the Marlins will send in the form of two minor leaguers.

I'm pretty sure there is no one left in the farm system that is untouchable these days (save maybe for Matt Dominguez), so it's hard to get too upset about trading anything for a manager.

Besides, at least it will keep the Marlins interesting, even if it's the train-wreck kind of interesting.

Jack McKeon had a few nice things to say about Ozzie, but he wasn't about to start pretending that a manager can actually make his players play better. He was asked what he thought Guillen brings to the Marlins, and replied:

You got me. Ozzie ain’t going to bring anything,. The players are going to bring it. Ozzie's a colorful guy. You guys will love him. You’ll have a lot to write about. He's a colorful guy. He knows this game.

What he can bring, it's like anything else. Good managers are (as good as) their good players.

McKeon never fails to say what is on his mind, and if nothing else, Guillen will more than make up for the loss of McKeon in that regard.

Adios, Trader Jack

2011-09-26T17:34:00.000-04:00

Jack McKeon in happier times

To the surprise of just about no one, Jack McKeon announced his retirement this afternoon. Let the Guillen/Valentine/reincarnated spirit of Casey Stengel rumors begin!

Too bad McKeon's second term as manager did not have nearly as many highlights as his first, but he always kept things interesting and rarely bit his tongue. There are only two managers in our pantheon, and Trader Jack is one of them (Earl Weaver is the other, as if you had to even ask). We'll miss him.

Related content: The MDH Short List of New Manager Candidates

Week in Review: Limping Toward the Finish Line

2011-09-26T12:47:00.002-04:00

We can almost go home you guys! Wheeeeee, vacation!!1!1

Overview: The Marlins took two of three from Atlanta then were swept by the Brewers, securing their first last-place finish since 2007.
Positives: None. We're past the point of finding silver linings here.
Negatives: I seem to be the only person on the planet that does not totally hate the Marlins' new logo. The team bid an early adieu to Juan Carlos Oviedo (nee Leo Nunez). Or a two-months-too-late farewell, depending on your perspective. Nonetheless, it is hard not to feel sorry for him. He was caught in a lie he told years ago because he thought it gave him a better shot at becoming a pro baseball player, and that lie only boxed him in more and more as he got older. I hope he can resume his career (with another team, I still don't think he's worth $5 million a year) without too much difficulty, because this seems like a victimless crime from where I stand.
Line of the Week: Javier Vazquez topped the immortal Pat Rapp with his (ongoing) 25-inning scoreless streak on Wednesday:

7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 109 pitches, .385 WPA

Play of the Week: Omar Infante makes Atlanta pay for a two-out error in the bottom of the ninth by knocking a walkoff home run on Monday night:

Looking Ahead: The Fish will host a three-game set against the Nats before packing up for the winter. The team will also interview Bo Porter and Joe Espada for the impending managerial vacancy, but neither seem like likely hires:

Neither man has any experience as a manager in the majors, which is especially curious since team owner Loria said in July the team's next manager "will have to be somebody with experience."

With that in mind, this could be a case of the Marlins interviewing a pair of minority candidates to satisfy Major League Baseball's diversity hiring requirement, so that when the team makes a run at a big name in the offseason it won't face the prospect of a fine from MLB.

Programming note: There will be no Week in Review after the Washington series. Instead, we will begin our roundup of end-of-season material.

New Hat

2011-09-24T21:17:00.001-04:00

via Sun Sentinel

Looks like that hat logo Ted found on a message board was legit. I'm sure seeing it on a hat won't change anyone's mind about it if they don't like it already, but the absence of the "Marlins" wordmark over the logo makes it seem less jarring to me.

That yellow V remains hideous, though. Nonetheless, I guess I'll buy one next season.

The Leocoaster is actually the Oviedocoaster

2011-09-23T00:18:00.000-04:00

Leo Nunez has left the country:

Florida Marlins closer Leo Nunez has been playing under an assumed name, and the issue prompted him to return Thursday to his native Dominican Republic, two people familiar with his immigration status said.

Weeeeeeeird. Contrary to initial reports, his real name is not Leo Costa.

Both people said the Marlins have been aware of the issue for several months. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Dominican and team officials haven't made any public comment on the case.

Let's pause for some guest commentary:

Glad we held onto Leo at the deadline.

Back to the story.

One of the people said Nunez's real name is Juan Carlos Oviedo and he's 29, a year older than listed in the team media guide. The Marlins placed Nunez on Major League Baseball's restricted list, and he isn't expected to pitch in the final week of the season.

That is officially the weirdest baseball story I've ever read. That is probably the end of Leo Nunez as a Marlin. It was already unlikely that the Fish would keep him this offseason, when he will get a hefty pay raise thanks to arbitration. Now it's an impossibility, coinciding with a huge drop in his trade value to boot.

Clearly this is why the team did not deal him at the trade deadline. If they knew about the issue, there was no way they could withhold it from any trading partner, and who would trade for a player that could be forced to leave the country at any time?

Final Off-Day Guide of 2011

2011-09-22T15:26:00.002-04:00

TV

8:00 (NBC): The NBC Thursday night lineup is back and it's all new. The Community/Parks and Rec/The Office trio is a must see.

8:00 (ESPN): College football (if you must). It's a snoozefest, though, between NC State and Cincinnati.

10:00 (FX): It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia/Archer. We love Fat Mac and his Hawaiian shirts.

Book

I just got Drew Magary's The Postmortal. I think you'll like it too.

Culture

None tonight, it's comedy TV night. No substitute is worthy.

Are the Marlins the Most White Trash Team in Baseball?

2011-09-22T11:08:00.000-04:00

Decide for yourself:

Javier Vazquez is an Asshole

2011-09-22T09:46:00.001-04:00

A bit harsh, but very true. The first half of the year, Javy sucked. His first 14 starts were a parade of people circling him around the bases. He posted a lofty 6.85 ERA. So of course after the team's abysmal month of June, where they went from ten games over .500 to ten below, he turns it around! Since that point he is Cy-worthy with a 9-4 record and a 1.84 ERA! Well, at least he can carry this turnaround into next year?

Nope. All reports indicate he will most likely retire at the end of this season. Doh!

All that is bad enough but last night was the final straw. With seven more shutout innings, Javy extended his scoreless innings streak to 25, besting the previous mark for a Marlins starting pitcher (24 2/3), held by none other than Pat Rapp.

Rapp is hero here at Marlins Diehards. He is one of the most Marlins players of all time. Just look at the picture. All teal hat. Generic face. A stereotypical no-name journeyman who patched together a few decent years for the Fish. We love him. And taking away probably his last claim to fame is not cool.

Javy, this aggression will not stand. Unless of course you do decide to come back and win 15+ games in 2012. Then we may forgive you.

More Logo Fallout

2011-09-21T21:38:00.002-04:00

Paul Lukas (aka Uni Watch) confirms the rumor:

At first it wasn't clear whether it was legit or just some Photoshopper's concept, but Uni Watch has confirmed that it is in fact the real deal. This is what the team will be wearing next year when it's rebranded as the Miami Marlins.

David Samson tries to be coy (and fails):

A copy of the logo was leaked on the Internet on Wednesday. Or was it? Samson had no comment on whether the logo that has gained wide attention is the exact logo or not.

"I'm not saying anything was leaked or wasn't leaked," Samson said. "I read about so much stuff on the Internet that it's hard to keep track of it all."

And Zoo With Roy mentions Ted:

(via some guy named Ted)

WAY TO GO SOME GUY NAMED TED!

And from Craig Robinson, the aesthete behind Flip Flop Fly Ball:

Just for the hell of it, I decided to do a quick mock-up of a Miami Marlins jersey. If indeed the leaked logo is the real thing, I really like the big M, don't like the prosaic typeface or the stylised marlin flying off the M. So, really, it's not a mock-up of what this logo could look like if it were used, but I have Photoshop, ten spare minutes, and the desire to fuck around. Were it me, I'd keep the teal as a Marlins colour, and, it would seem, make it look kinda like an upside-down Weezer t-shirt…

Is This It?

2011-09-20T23:09:00.001-04:00

Ted caused a bit of an uproar on Twitter today when issued this tweet:

Ted found it here. Since he issued his tweet, at least one tweet has corroborated the logo (A Bleacher Report writer put forth the same logo with a different color scheme, but that clearly looks photoshopped). Could this be the Marlins new logo? I have no idea, but now we can argue about it regardless! Yay, internet!

No matter what the new logo/uniform ends up looking like, plenty of Marlins fans will hate it, because people hate change. But I actually kind of like it, except for that bit of yellow on the M. The fish and M have a nice art deco look to them (which obviously fits with Miami), and I think adding orange to the color scheme is a good move. The new fish is sleek and minimalist, and I'm generally in favor of that whole aesthetic. It is not for everyone, but since when do the Marlins make decisions with everyone's wants and needs in mind?

SCWS, as usual, has the best take on the situation...

Miami Marlins: Part Deux

2011-09-20T09:30:00.001-04:00

Whatever the new uniforms look like, we'd love to see this old Miami Marlins sleeve patch included somehow.

We're now a little under two months away from the dramatic revealing of the new Miami Marlins logos and uniforms. The angst among the fan base is palpable as most are terrified to see how Team Loria may have ruined the club's look. This is due partly to the pessimistic feelings most have about the ownership group, but also a large number of rumors that have surfaced on Twitter, message boards, etc. Those are always to be taken with a grain of salt, but I thought we should take a closer look at a few of the rumors Dave and I have seen lately, and assess their merits.

Rainbow Colored

This seems to be the one most discussed and it's the one the fans fear the most. It would seem impossible that any team would try and replicate this disaster from Tampa Bay (or even something more subdued like Houston's Tequila Sunrise unis), but could Loria do it? Because of his well-known love of art, it seems entirely possible. Supposedly the colors of the stadium logo (see right) are all involved.

Spare me the "Miami is a city of many vibrant colors. . . blah blah blah." If the team is trying to be progressive and use three, perhaps even more, colors, it will most likely fail and cause an uproar. Fans want their team to have an identity. That means one, maybe two colors that people recognize as the team identity.

Orange-centric

Another concept making the rounds is that the new set is very orange-heavy. It wouldn't be too surprising considering the amount of orange that's been introduced in team marketing materials the last several years. Hell, go to the Marlins' official website right now and tell me the first color you notice.

Not too many teams have orange as a very prominent color. The detractors say we'll look too much like the Giants or the Orioles. I doubt they would opt for a traditional orange though. A softer tone (Creamsicle Bucs? Don't laugh) or a burnt orange look would be pretty unique in baseball.

Blue and Orange

Another option is a blue and orange set which immediately prompts most fans to shout, "NOOOOO!!! Not like the Mets!" On the surface, I would agree. But again, it doesn't sound like the Marlins will use traditional colors. If they decided on this look, they could use the orange described above, paired with either a soft blue or an oceanic blue-gray. Also, a blue and orange combo would pay homage to the old Miami Marlins (see left), which I think would be pretty cool.

Official Guess

Taking in all of the inside info and trusty anonymous comments on our blog, my official guess would be that new Miami Marlins colors/logos will consist of the following:

A black base (hat color, trim etc.)
Some kind of orange as the primary color
Silver and some sort of blue (seat color) used as accents
A logo that incorporates all of the above and the other colors in the stadium logo. We'll all hate it.

UPDATE: My checklist was pretty spot-on, including the part where everyone hates the new logo.

The Most Monster of Dongs

2011-09-19T19:48:00.003-04:00

Señor #MONSTERDONG, doing what he does best. Check it out here.

Penultimate 2011 Week in Review

2011-09-19T00:03:00.000-04:00

We're usually tired of baseball by mid-September too, Gaby.

Overview: The Marlins dropped two of three two Atlanta, were swept in a doubleheader by the Phillies, then took two of three in Washington.
Positives: The Marlins didn't lose to Stephen Strasburg (despite only scoring once in six innings against him). Javier Vazquez threw his first shutout in ages Friday. On the same night, he moved to the 29th spot in the all-time strikeouts list and Jack McKeon won his 277th game, the most by any Marlins manager. That's about as much enthusiasm as I can muster right now.
Negatives: McKeon is getting a little testy. First he blasts Ricky Nolasco for his role in Thursday's loss to Atlanta ("That's why you’re not a 20-game winner," he said), then he complains about his hitters' aversion to taking walks. "Our guys are allergic to taking walks," he told the Miami Herald Sunday, adding, "They play by the players' association rules: Thou must swing at 3-1 and 2-0."The former complaint was a little harsh, the latter, pitch perfect. Hanley Ramirez underwent shoulder surgery on Thursday, though the Marlins said they still expect him to be back in time for Opening Day 2012. Mike Cameron was released for being a jerk.
Line of the Week: Vazquez' Friday night performance:

9 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 104 pitches, 0.421 WPA

Play of the Week: Edward Mujica pulls off an instant classic bullpen prank on Thursday, locking Jose Ceda in the bathroom in Philadelphia's visiting bullpen:

Looking Ahead: The Fish play three against Atlanta starting Monday, then fly to Milwaukee for a weekend set beginning Friday.

LoMo Files a Grievance

2011-09-16T14:28:00.000-04:00

Logan Morrison has officially filed a grievance against the Marlins for his August demotion to Triple-A New Orleans. From Amy K. Nelson of ESPN.com:

Morrison and his agent, Fred Wray -- along with the players' union -- believed the demotion was a form of discipline without just cause, so they filed the grievance Aug. 25, two days after he was recalled from Triple-A New Orleans.

"I'm doing this because I'm standing up for what's right," Morrison told ESPN.com this week. "If I thought it was because of my performance on the field, then I wouldn't be filing a grievance."

I am not familiar with MLB and the players' union's rules regarding grievances, so I cannot provide more than superficial commentary here. But it seems like the burden of proof will be on Morrison to prove that his demotion was unjust. And while the Marlins' reasoning for the demotion (he was not hitting well) is a tad flimsy, Morrison was hitting .240 at the time.

His slash line in 2011 (.252/.333/.468 at the moment) is down from last season (.283/.390/.447) - though he is slugging a few points higher. His BB% is down to 10.1% from 14.3% while his K% is up to 18.6% from 17.8%. Morrison can blame bad luck for some of the production (his BABIP is down 78 points to .273 from .351 in 2010) - but if the Marlins say they did not like what they were seeing from him at the plate, it would be hard to make a convincing argument otherwise. He certainly is not the first hitter to have been demoted for a .240 average, and he won't be the last, either.

As so often happens, the Marlins will probably lose this case in the proverbial court of public opinion, but that is not where this grievance will be heard, so I bet they end up in the clear.

Deadspin just found out the Marlins will become the Miami Marlins in 2012

2011-09-15T01:35:00.000-04:00

Meet The Miami Marlins (New Look! Same Slightly-Below-.500 Taste!)

It only took them ~2 years to do so. And Jack Dickey mentions the Heat in the snippet, because, well, I guess that's required at Deadspin these days? I don't know, but they'll return to ignoring the team on Thursday, which is fine with me.

Dave Sends the Marlins to Detention

2011-09-13T17:40:00.001-04:00

Just like last year, the fine folks at Big League Stew are running a series for the end of the season to encapsulate the 2011 campaigns of each MLB squad. Also like last year, Dave has penned the Marlins piece. This year's theme is Detention Lecture. So go right ahead and read Dave's monologue to this year's Fish and find out what potential roster move would make Dave quit baseball.

Week In Review

2011-09-11T17:19:00.001-04:00

Overview: The Marlins lost two of three to the Mets, then swept the Pirates.
Positives: A winning week? We'll take it. The bats exploded Friday night. Also nice to finally win in Pittsburgh.
Negatives: Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison both sustained injuries and will miss a bit of time. There is also more speculation the Marlins will court Ozzie Guillen in the offseason, and may even trade a player for the manager. #SMH
Line of the Week: Lord knows how long it's been since we've seen a dominant pitching performance. Anibal Sanchez delivered on Saturday

W, CG, 9 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 11K, 3 BB

Highlight of the Week: Gotta love homers that make their way to some sort of body of water. LoMo deposited one in the Allegheny on Friday.
Looking Ahead: The Fish have a funky road trip with three in Atlanta, followed by a double header in Philly, then a weekend series with the Nationals.

The titans of Marlins history, in one place

2011-09-09T10:37:00.000-04:00

The Marlins announced plans to leave Sun Life Stadium with a bang, scheduling an on-field celebratory ceremony for their final home game on September 28. You better sit down before reading this list of attendees, it's a doozy:

Scheduled attendees include Kurt Abbott, Antonio Alfonseca, Moises Alou, Alex Arias, Bruce Aven, Rickey Bones, Bobby Bonilla, Kevin Brown, Luis Castillo, Greg Colbrunn, Jeff Conine, Reid Cornelius, Andre Dawson, Alex Fernandez, Cliff Floyd, Chris Hammond, Lenny Harris, Bryan Harvey, Livan Hernandez, Charlie Hough, Charles Johnson, Josh Johnson, Rene Lachemann, Al Leiter, Mike Lowell, Josias Manzanillo, Jack McKeon, Robb Nen, Vladimir Nunez, Tony Perez, Mike Piazza, Scott Pose, Hanley Ramirez, Pat Rapp, Ivan Rodriguez, Cookie Rojas, Benito Santiago, Gary Sheffield, Julian Tavarez, Tony Taylor, Michael Tejera and Preston Wilson.

Whoa whoa whoa, Greg Colbrunn, Scott Pose AND Pat Rapp, all in one place? What a get for the Marlins PR team!

In all seriousness, nice touch inviting Piazza, who is the embodiment of the team's spendthrift ways (involved in not one but two salary-dumping trades in the same week!).

And yes, Ted and I are thrilled that our old friend Antonio Alfonseca will be there. We're only disappointed that Jorge Julio and Kevin Gregg could not join him and complete the shaky reliever trifecta.

The team will open the 2012 season in its as-yet unnamed new ballpark on the former site of the Orange Bowl in Little Havana.

Update on Hanleyless Marlins

2011-09-07T00:42:00.000-04:00

Not pictured: Dressed as Emilio Bonifacio, J. Walter Weatherman saying, "And that's what happens when you hustle."

Last time: "The Marlins are 50-39 in games Ramirez has started and an abysmal 9-33 when his name has not appeared on the lineup card."

With Hanley Ramirez starting, the Marlins remain 50-39 in 2011.

Otherwise, they are now 13-39 with tonight's loss to the Mets in extra innings.

Ramirez will undergo shoulder surgery September 15, under the knife of renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews. "[Player X] to see Dr. James Andrews" are normally the seven scariest words in baseball, but it was pretty much assumed Ramirez would see surgery. So the story is a lot less shocking than usual. And the Marlins are so out of any race that the surgery pretty much doesn't spoil anything! Unless Logan Morrison says something about it, then we can talk about that for a day...

What an eventful night

2011-09-06T23:11:00.001-04:00

I know what you're thinking, and no, the cat does not count as nine fans in attendance.

Also, that was a terrible joke. You're better than that.

UPDATE: We have video.

WELL THEN

2011-09-06T23:05:00.000-04:00

I wonder if he ever accidentally calls Tommy Hanson Gary Carter...

Tall-Man Syndrome?

2011-09-05T21:49:00.000-04:00

What's to blame for Josh Johnson's injury troubles? His height, apparently:

Johnson said a physical therapist he has worked with offered him the "Tall Man's Syndrome" diagnosis, which affects tall athletes who are constantly "bending over and your shoulder is not in a good place.

"You start throwing, you start leaning over when you're throwing. It snowballs and you're shoulder is not in the correct place."

Johnson said he has been working on maintaining a proper posture to relieve pressure on his scapula and wearing a special form-fitting shirt. He said he walked in the clubhouse last week and was told by teammates that he looked taller.

I call bullshit. My posture is terrible, and I'm 5'10". It has nothing to do with height, and everything to do with being a man.

Walkoff!

2011-09-04T18:02:00.001-04:00

Marlins beat the Phillies 5-4, in 14 innings.

Important Injury News

2011-09-01T21:25:00.000-04:00

The Marlins made it official: Josh Johnson will miss the rest of the season. Thank god they cleared that one up, I was starting to get worried.

As for Hanley Ramirez, he's a firm maybe, says Larry Beinfest:

"We just need to get him healthy now. So to speculate whether he will return or not may be a little premature but I think we'll have a pretty good idea this weekend. But he has interrupted his rehab once again and we're going to have to get this thing fixed one way or another."

OMINOUS. What could he be referring to? A shoulder transplant? Perhaps we could just give him Randy Choate's non-throwing shoulder. He doesn't need it, right?

Mike Stanton is good at baseball

2011-08-31T14:57:00.001-04:00

Those are some sweet stirrups on Mets reliever DJ Carrasco
Mike Stanton can't be human. He is a robot sent from the future to save humanity via the long ball.

UPDATE: For some reason MLB's embed of Stanton's home run isn't working right now. Watch the video here.

The MDH Short List of New Manager Candidates

2011-08-31T10:15:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, Dave wrote about the ongoing reports of Ozzie Guillen and the increasing likelihood the Marlins will try to pry him away from the White Sox to manage the team in 2012. As we've stated many times, our position is to not hire a manager at all. But with very unlikely, here is the official Marlins Diehards short list for managerial candidates in 2012.

Ozzie Guillen

While Dave and I don't believe in managers, if the Marlins are going to be dumb enough to waste money and/or give away prospect(s) for someone (they will!), why not Ozzie? Even when the Fish are 10+ games under .500 in late August there should be plenty to write about. Bonus: He'll probably redecorate the clubhouse and dugout and line it with scented candles.

Wally Backman

You may have seen me mention Wally on Twitter a few times. He's best known for his priceless YouTube clips of some ejections while he managed the South Georgia Peanuts, which you can see here and here (audio NSFW). He'd be just as entertaining as Ozzie methinks, plus the team can get such great motivational speeches like the following

The seats in the first few rows behind the home dugout will sell out quickly.

Billy the Marlin

A mascot has not been a manager since Don Zimmer left the Cubs in 1991. Billy has no experience but scouts tell me his always-chipper attitude (seen at right) is infectious and builds great team unity. Downside: With a face like that, we'll probably never see him ejected.

@BoobiesNStanton

The great SCWS had a take on the whole situation this morning for Marlins Daily and wrote

Seriously, just stop the charade and bring Jack back. Or at the very least, hire a blogger. We come fairly cheap.

Normally, I'd offer mine or David's services, but Dave just moved to Seattle and honestly, I couldn't last a week as a big league manager before falling asleep in the dugout during a game or leaving to the clubhouse in the 6th inning to play dominoes.

On second thought, what if they hired a team of bloggers?

Marlin Maniac: Stats guru, will make all baseball decisions
Dave: Book expert, great to have as a bullpen coach
Myself: Chief Beer/Food Officer, ensures a good postgame spread, keeps morale high
SCWS: Player development, i.e. postgame trips to Tootsie's

Stadium Giveaway

First 500 (if that many) fans to the game are entered in a drawing. One lucky winner will receive the managing gig for that night only. Prize also includes an oversized official uniform, yours to keep, plus any drugs or prostitutes you're able to score from players.

Your move Marlins.

Fish Still Enamored With Ozzie

2011-08-30T15:21:00.000-04:00

This is becoming entirely too predictable:

There have been at least two known heated blowups between Guillen and Williams, according to sources. But even more significant is the recent talk in baseball circles that the White Sox have been getting a feel for managerial candidates. Sources said that also included renewing talks with the Florida Marlins about compensation for Guillen with the team set to open its new stadium next season.

Loria likes Ozzie, and so does Jack McKeon, who has Loria's ear. The Marlins will keep inquiring as to Guillen's availability unless they can lure a better manager to Miami this winter. Thankfully, the team showed the restraint last year to not give up Mike Stanton or Logan Morrison (depending on the report) for Guillen. There is no way any manager is worth as many wins per year as either of those two.

And because it is one of my favorite MDH posts, I will once again link to my suggestion: Don't hire a manager.

That's How You Corral a Mantis

2011-08-30T14:44:00.000-04:00

Take note, Logan. When it comes to handling a mantis, you must take initiative and control the situation, like Brayan Pena did last night. That way, you don't end up looking ridiculous:

h/t: BLS

Mets fans are the worst, am I right?

2011-08-29T17:15:00.000-04:00

From PBP's Joe Capozzi:

Lots of empty seats at Citi Field 10 minutes before start of #Mets #Marlins

I'm sure we'll be seeing blog posts about how awful Mets fans are (and maybe even a few questioning their very existence) any second now...

Just wait...

I swear it'll happen...

Why do I feel like Linus Van Pelt waiting for the Great Pumpkin all of a sudden?

via Pleated Jeans

Update: Marlins sans Hanley Still Suck

2011-08-29T10:52:00.000-04:00

Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald has the update:

Ramirez was hitting just .243, nearly 100 points lower than his league-leading .342 average in 2009, when he landed on the disabled list for the second time this season. Despite his off season, the Marlins have tanked in his absence.

The Marlins are 50-39 in games Ramirez has started and an abysmal 9-33 when his name has not appeared on the lineup card.

With Hanley, the Marlins are a bubble team; without, they are the 1962 Mets. Think of how wide the disparity might be if Hanley were playing to his usual standards (1899 Cleveland Spiders, anyone?).

Hanley's absence is not the only reason for the Marlins' struggles (Josh Johnson's injury is also quite significant, as the Marlins haven't even been able to come up with a consistent replacement; instead they have trotted out a panoply of replacement-level starters). Nonetheless, next time you find yourself arguing with some mouth-breather who wants the Marlins to trade Ramirez, you've got the perfect rebuttal.

Week In Review

2011-08-27T17:23:00.000-04:00

Lots of this, this weekend.

Overview: The Marlins lost two of three against the Reds then swept the Phillies. It was a one game series, I don't care.
Positives: More rainouts means less losses, at least for now. Also there's a five game series against the Mets coming up and Hanley Ramirez should be back on Wednesday.
Negatives: Same as always really. Another derailment of the LeoCoaster to boot.
Line of the Week: Greg Dobbs with an improbably four0hit game Firday night.

4-5, 2 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI

Highlight of the Week: A John Buck opposite field grand slam, even though it was a true Citizenz Bank home run (short)

Looking Ahead: Busy week as the Fish will play five in four days against the Mets, then come home for three with the Phillies.

Off-Day Guide: August 25

2011-08-25T14:28:00.000-04:00

Hurricane Irene gives us a surprise off-day. Here's what you can watch/read/do:

8:00 (NBC): Community. It's a rerun, but a good one: the fake clip episode. This was one of my top three episodes from season 2. Here's a Slate essay about it.
8:00 (ESPN2): Little League World Series, if that's your thing. ESPN has a Redskins/Ravens preseason game at the same time.
9:00 (Travel): Man vs. Food in Miami. "The host tries to devour a 48-ounce steak in less than 20 minutes at Shula's Steak House in Miami." I could think of ten better places to go in Miami, and I'm sure you guys can as well...
9:00 (USA): Burn Notice. Does anyone watch this show? Should I?
10:00 (FX): Wilfred/Louie. Loving both of these shows for different reasons. The Louie episode is one hour.

Book rec: The 50th anniversary of the publication of Catch-22 just passed, and there have been a swarm of excellent essays about Heller's seminal novel in recent weeks (my favorite is from Ron Rosenbaum at Slate - I know, two Slate links in one post, I don't care). I read this one in undergrad, and it is usually in my top 5 novels list (my top 5/10 lists constantly change). It is hilarious and poignant, and everyone should read it, so get on it.

Culture: Hurricane Irene will not be making landfall in Florida most likely, but that shouldn't stop you from throwing a hurricane party. Since you'll be getting wasted, you should probably go ahead and take Friday off from work as well.

LoMo Goes PoMo

2011-08-25T12:57:00.000-04:00

Still no update on the origins of his H2R Boombah shirt, but the PBP has some choice commentary on his ten-day timeout in New Orleans from the man himself:

When asked if he has talked to anybody in the organization since the demotion, Morrison said, "I haven't talked to anybody. I didn't really care."

When asked why he believes he was send down, Morrison said, "I have no idea."

When asked how he will change, Morrison said, "I'll be the same person."

When asked what was accomplished by him being in New Orleans for 10 days, Morrison said, "I don’t know."

When asked to describe his relationship with the organization, Morrison said, "I'm the baseball player and they provide the uniform."

Those are the words of a man who knows he should just say nothing, but really wants to make his empty statement pack a punch. Who knew Morrison was so into postmodern theory?

Also, I didn't know LoMo was a Seinfeld fan...

347

2011-08-25T01:41:00.000-04:00

Image via BLS

Marlins Can't Get 500 People To Watch Them:

Ever attend or watch a Marlins game on TV and wonder what the discrepancy between the announced crowd and the actual crowd is?

One fan decided to do just that while attending the first leg of today's Marlins double-header against the Cincinnati Reds at Sun Life Stadium.

Twitter user @790Justin took a headcount at the first pitch of Wednesday's first game at 4:10 and tweeted the result: "Unofficial count of 347 at Sun Life for first pitch...myself included! Counted by hand. Still not the smallest crowd I've seen here."

Click through for my ace Strip Club With Stanton reference (blogger unity and all).

This story has already gotten a lot of play in the blogosphere, but to be fair, the afternoon double-header was announced the night before, and the game was moved because of a fucking hurricane. I'm letting my fellow South Floridians off the hook since they had bigger fish to fry Wednesday. Someone's got to...

Pics or it didn't happen

2011-08-24T15:15:00.001-04:00

From Joe Frisaro:

Logan Morrison, sporting a Hanley Ramirez t-shirt, stood at his locker on Wednesday afternoon talking about being glad to be back.

Later on:

Morrison says he wore the Hanley Ramirez "H2R Boombah" t-shirt because it was in his locker.

For those who find Affliction shirts to be too subtle, via boombah.com

Frisaro was too busy talking to LoMo about actual baseball stuff as opposed to this interesting sartorial choice, but it nonetheless raises a big question. Did Hanley leave this shirt in LoMo's locker as a not-too-subtle reminder of whose team this is? If so, I applaud Hanley for his big-swinging-dickishness.

I like Morrison, but he needs to learn an important lesson: until you win a batting title and sign an expensive contract, you will not have immunity from putting your own foot in your mouth. It's not a particularly reassuring lesson for Marlins fans (who wish Hanley too would just shut up and play baseball sometimes), but the sometimes-socially-unaware Morrison needs to know the ropes. Hanley Ramirez, of all people, is in the perfect position to let him know. Hopefully Morrison absorbs the lesson I'm projecting here.

UPDATE: LoMo hit a home run in his return. I wonder if he's superstitious enough to wear that ugly shirt again on Friday just in case...

The LoMo Returneth

2011-08-23T19:02:00.002-04:00

Your Florida Marlins: Still mediocre, but now slightly more entertaining.

Apparently, it only took Morrison ten days to remember how to hit...

Off-Day Guide: August 22

2011-08-22T11:56:00.000-04:00

First: a rant. Having moved to Seattle this month, I had to contact Comcast to get my cable and internet set up. I ordered my service on August 5, and today (hopefully), I will finally have my cable and internet set up, following 2 SEPARATE incidents in which Comcast failed to notify my that something was wrong with my order. Only when I contacted support myself did I find out about these snags. If I hadn't taken the trouble to contact them, I would probably still be in the dark.

Hey Comcast, it makes NO SENSE whatsoever that you would fail to follow up with a guy WHO WANTS TO GIVE YOU MONEY EVERY MONTH for cable and internet.

On top of that, when you call Comcast's 800 number and navigate the phone tree so that you can speak to a live person, their phone system usually hangs up on you. I am not the only person who has noticed it. This proves my theory on corporate customer service: If you have to produce and air TV ads touting your commitment to customer service, then your support team probably blows.

The saddest part? Because I can't live without college football, and don't care to try my hand at navigating another media company with poor customer service (DirecTV), I am stuck with Comcast. America: the leader in world capitalism that also props up some of the least efficient government-supported monopolies in the history of mankind.
Rant over. At least I don't have to watch the Marlins tonight, amirite?!?!

8:00 (ESPN): Monday Night Football, Bears at Giants. Fake football, real concussions.
8:00 (ESPN): Little League World Series. If you really need to watch baseball tonight, this will have to do. If you don't feel icky about ESPN making money off the dreams of children and their helicopter parents, that is...
9:00 (Travel): Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. Bourdain goes to the Kurdish regions of Iraq and Turkey. This has to be his most dangerous trip yet, no?
9:00 (Comedy Central): It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Four episodes, including the sublime "The Gang Hits the Road."

Book rec: I went to Portland this weekend, and it goes without saying I visited Powell's Books (or as nerds like me call it, church). Among my haul was a copy of Michael Lewis' seminal Liar's Poker, a wonderful look inside the world of Wall Street bond traders. As with all his other work, it is an engrossing read full of great stories and sharp insights.

Culture: I saw 30 Minutes or Less yesterday. It is a fantastic caper/buddy comedy, well acted and sharply written. Jesse Eisenberg is the only star of the movie that is not a comedian, but he is regardless a skilled comic actor who holds his own alongside Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, and Danny McBride. Definitely worth your time.

Another Brief Week In Review

2011-08-22T11:00:00.001-04:00

"It's getting embarrassing."

So says our skipper Jack McKeon. Trader Jack used the wrong tense though. It's gotten embarrassing.

Overview: Six losses and just one win, we've seen our fair share of these this season.
Positives: [looks over box scores from last seven games] [20 minutes elapses] Nope.
Negatives: The team is in the cellar and there isn't much hope on the horizon. JJ is out for the year and speculation is that Hanley won't come back either. The Fish have struggled to beat teams over .500 and a glance at the schedule induces:

Line of the Week: Mike Stanton had a nice week.

6-21, 2, 2B, 4 HR, 4 BB

Highlight of the Week: Stanton, with his longest #Monsterdong of the year

Looking Ahead: A day off then three home games against the Reds. This weekend they will ~~get swept~~ travel to Philadelphia.

NolascOMG!

2011-08-17T22:08:00.003-04:00

Tonight Ricky Nolasco drew even with Dontrelle Willis in the Marlins record books by striking out out his 757th batter. That's where the good news ends. In true Marlins fashion Ricky's achievement (and half that really, because he was only two short entering tonight) was overshadowed by another club record he earned.

~~Coolest. Ballpark. Ever.~~
Worst. Start. Ever.

Nolasco allowed a five-spot in the first. He nearly escaped with just a 2-0 deficit, but Mike Cameron misplayed a ball in centerfield (yet not poorly enough to be an error) which allowed a bases clearing double. After a scoreless second in which the Rockies were too busy playing Candyland in the dugout, they put up a six-bomb in the third, punctuated by a three run homer by Carlos Gonzalez. 11 runs, all earned.

A search of the Baseball Reference play index indicates that no Marlins starting pitcher has ever given up 11 ER, let alone in 3 IP or less. Ricky bravely went where no Marlins (even scrubs like Ryan Bowen, Jack Armstrong, Dennis Springer, Carl Pavano) have ever gone.

Congrats?

Important Announcement

2011-08-17T17:29:00.000-04:00

Not pictured: Erections of Marlins fans

I know some Marlins fans (but not the sophisticated, capable-of-nuance readership of this blog) care about "chemistry," "class," "playing the game the 'right' way" and other such buzzwords, so I pass on this news from Joe Frisaro. Mike Stanton: not a punk, like some other dude on the team who we won't mention specifically but his name rhyme with Manly..

In his second year and his first full big league season, Stanton doesn't feel he has enough time in the game to do anything to draw additional attention to himself.

So when he unloads on his big blasts, he simply drops the bat and runs. On those shots he isn't sure have a chance, he is hustling, just in case the ball doesn't clear the fence.

What would it take for Stanton to "pimp" a home run?

"If they threw at me, for no reason," he said. "Or to intimidate me or whatever, then I will. If I'm upset about something."

Another time he would show more excitement is if it is a walk-off homer.

"Other than that, there is no need to," he said.

So there you go, Mike Stanton is the anti-Hanley. And his Twitter is super boring, so he's also the anti-LoMo while we're at it. Glad we've sorted that out.

It wasn't Twitter

2011-08-16T12:51:00.001-04:00

Angry Twitter Bird is nobody's scapegoat

John Buck says he and other teammates warned Logan Morrison that he was expending too much energy on Twitter:

On Monday, catcher John Buck told the Miami Herald he and "several" other veterans on the team advised LoMo to spend a little less time coming up with witty remarks on the social media service and more time focusing on baseball.

"He's an awesome dude, a great teammate and a great person," Buck said, but he had become known too much for his social media presence, and not enough for his baseball skills.

"Just don't let it be the main focus of who you are, because you're a pretty dang good baseball player. That, for him, I think that should be good enough. And the other good stuff coming out of him, being who he is, should be icing on the cake. It shouldn't be flip-flopped, which I think it has become."

As you might expect, I don't think Twitter is to blame for LoMo's decline at the plate:

But Buck and his teammates (he did not specify to the Herald which teammates had joined him in warning LoMo about the perils of Twitter) seem to be missing an important point when it comes to Twitter: that it is possible to use the service without it becoming a "distraction."

People expect professional athletes to take a monastic approach to their sport. Only complete devotion to improving themselves is enough to satisfy the fans. And athletes, coaches, and front offices for the most part share this belief. If one player struggles (as Morrison has since early June), all of a sudden the hour or so a day he spends on Twitter signifies an unacceptable work ethic.

But when LoMo was tearing the cover off the ball in April and May, no one seemed to think that Twitter was preventing him from becoming a better baseball player.

To put it another way, if instead of tweeting, Morrison spent most of his time learning to speak Spanish and reading the complete works of Hemingway, would his teammates say "don't let it be the main focus of who you are"?

The point is not that Twitter is as worthwhile a hobby as learning another language, but that neither are detrimental to one's skill at baseball. To cite either as a cause of Morrison's declining batting average is beyond ridiculous.

The most Marlins loss of the season

2011-08-16T00:35:00.001-04:00

@robneyer: McKeon takes out his closer, brings in the lefty specialist, Giambi crushes a 1-and-2 pitch for a line-drive, three-run, walk-off job. Wow.

The Leocoaster strikes again, and wastes a genuine (if Coors Field assisted) #Monsterdong!

/sadtrombone

Shortest Week in Review in MDH History

2011-08-15T12:25:00.000-04:00

One win. Five Losses. No Lomo. Picture below echos our feelings on the Marlins current state of affairs.

More on LoMo in a bit.

No LoMo?

2011-08-14T08:26:00.001-04:00

By now you've probably heard the Marlins have demoted Logan Morrison to Triple-A, ostensibly for both his struggles at the plate and his big mouth (and it didn't help that he missed a meet-and-greet with season ticket holders). I haven't fully digested the story yet, I was at a wedding last night (which is to say I was quite drunk - Russian weddings are ridiculously awesome). But needless to say, we'll have more on this later. Lots of stuff to unpack here.

But as for my initial reaction, I can't say that anything this team does surprises me anymore. And if you're going to be as outspoken as LoMo is, you damn sure better back it up with solid play. Playing the game the right way means little if the result is a. 240 batting average.

More to come later.

What to do about Hanley? Nothing.

2011-08-11T11:09:00.002-04:00

via NBCMiami

The Marlins have placed Hanley Ramirez on the 15-day disabled list due to the shoulder injury he sustained while hustling last week, and Logan Morrison is frustrated with Hanley yet again. This is not exactly the take-away from our last post I had in mind:

When asked by the Sun-Sentinel whether Ramirez could become a veteran anchor, Morrison replied, "I guess, but he's not there every game. It's 162 games. It's not a 100-game season."

He preceded that sentence with "What we don't have is experience and a veteran who is in the lineup every day that can be an anchor for us. We don't have it."

First of all, getting injured twice in one season is not poor leadership, it's bad luck. And if the Marlins need anything, it is better players around Ramirez himself (keep in mind this team has trotted out Omar Infante all season and had to resort to starting Mike Cameron when Chris Coghlan got injured - not that he was setting the world on fire before his injury). Take away Ramirez, Morrison, Gaby Sanchez and Mike Stanton, and the Marlins lineup is the opposite of imposing. Greg Dobbs, Mike Cameron, and Emilio Bonifacio may be nice dudes who try hard, but they are not everyday starters on most MLB teams.

Regardless, the biggest victim of Hanley's yearlong slump has been Hanley himself. His perceived "lack of effort" was more bearable when his batting average was north of .300. Now that he's underperforming Bonifacio (!), not so much.

UPDATE: Late last night Morrison disputed his quote in the Sun-Sentinel, tweeting, "funny how u left the part out about how unfortunate it is that he was hurt and that he could be an anchor if he was healthy." But as I mentioned at NBCMiami, "Replying 'I guess' when asked whether Ramirez could be a veteran anchor is hardly a rousing endorsement of his teammate." Expecting the media to be tactful for you is beyond naive, something Morrison could have learned from sharing a clubhouse with Ramirez for two seasons.

Trade the bum!

2011-08-09T07:35:00.004-04:00

The Marlins have lost five in a row. Do you want to know who's not at fault? Hanley Ramirez:

Going into Monday’s game against the Braves, they were 5-20 in games in which Ramirez did not start as opposed to 50-39 when he did.

With Monday's loss, that's now 5-21 without Ramirez starting. Small sample size, I know, but keep that stat in mind the next time you hear someone complaining about Hanley for any reason. He's way below his yearly WAR pace (1.3 so far this year, compared to 29.9 in five previous seasons, according to Fangraphs), but let's not pretend to like seeing him replaced by a platoon of Emilio Bonifacio and Alfredo Amezaga.

Take That Uggla!

2011-08-08T23:34:00.000-04:00

From Twitter via @Marlinsdoit