Concerning the Breakup of the Marlins...
There are some things that just defy any explanation. One of those things, for example, is the breakup of the Marlins.
I'm not quite sure why the Marlins decided that their current roster was not "good enough" to make it to the playoffs, but they decided that they wanted to rebuild and that was that, and they traded...
Carlos Delgado for Mike Jacobs and Yusmeiro Petit.
Yeah, I suppose they got some "value," but Miguel Cabrera will learn the value of protection next year when he's being walked every other at-bat. Then again, I suppose when you're rebuilding, tanking one season is no big deal. So the idea is to have Jacobs step in and play first, while Petit is supposed to come in and start. Both of these moves should theoretically work, but nothing is ever sure with prospects. My guess is that Jacobs will be so-so and that Petit will be pretty hit or miss.
The Mets benefit from this trade: they'll have Wright, Beltran, and Delgado in the middle of their lineup next year. That's a pretty obvious improvement.
Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Guillermo Mota for Hanley Ramirez, two minor leaguers, and Anibal Sanchez.
Josh Beckett seems to me to be the sort of player you would want to rebuild around, not deal off. But we're talking about the Marlins here, and this team apparently has no qualms about losing more than 100 games in any given year.
Hanley Ramirez should be good, and should play next year. He seems to be pretty legitimate, but will take time to develop power. Anibal Sanchez is supposedly good, but is at least a year away from making any viable contribution.
What bothers me about this trade is the fact that the Marlins traded Mike Lowell after the worst season of his career, which caused his value to decrease exponentially. This isn't exactly "maximizing your utility" here.
Paul Lo Duca for two minor leaguers.
You always have to be careful when ragging on the acquisitions of "prospects," because the Marlins have been particularly adept at acquiring great players for reasonable prices in the past. Plus, the Marlins have a highly skilled catcher waiting in the wings in Josh Willingham, so they'll probably be relatively ok with this trade. I've always thought that Lo Duca was sort of overrated offensively anyway, so I feel that the Marlins aren't losing toooo much... but still, it's sort of disconcerting to see All-Stars traded for B-level prospects, even though Lo Duca is far from your typical three-time All-Star.
Luis Castillo for two more minor leaguers.
Here's what we know about this trade: the Twins were quite psyched to get rid of the Luis Rivas/Nick Punto platoon that they "had goin' on" at second, and were more than pleased to give up Travis Bowyer, a fireballer who seems to have a great fastball, but marginal control over the rest of his pitches. The other pitcher, Scott Tyler, is seemingly headed to the bullpen too (at least according to Baseball America). So, it seems like the Marlins dumped payroll for a couple of guys who are pretty marginal. Well, that's par for the course.
Juan Pierre for Sergio Mitre, Reynel Pinto, and Ricky Nolasco.
This trade amuses me for a number of reasons. One of which is the Cubs' attempt to find another Lance Johnson-type player, which is something they periodically try to do. I think Wrigley will do wonders for Pierre's power numbers, and he should benefit from being there.
Sergio Mitre is sort of a control guy who might benefit from a bigger park; he'll get plenty of chances to start for the Fish, who will probably put him right into the rotation. Reynel Pinto had good stats last year, as did Ricky Nolasco. Both of them could end up being pretty decent.
Oh, and let's throw in the fact that the Marlins aren't re-signing Juan Encarnacion, Alex Gonzalez, Todd Jones, Jeff Conine, and A.J. Burnett. At least they re-signed Brian Moehler.
Here's the new-look Marlin lineup:
C Josh Willingham
1B: Mike Jacobs
2B: Josh Wilson
SS: Hanley Ramirez
3B: Joe Dillon
OF: Chris Aguila, Miguel Cabrera, Jeremy Hermida
SP: Dontrelle Willis, Brian Moehler, Sergio Mitre, Yusmeiro Petit, and Josh Johnson.
100 losses, here we come.
I'm not quite sure why the Marlins decided that their current roster was not "good enough" to make it to the playoffs, but they decided that they wanted to rebuild and that was that, and they traded...
Carlos Delgado for Mike Jacobs and Yusmeiro Petit.
Yeah, I suppose they got some "value," but Miguel Cabrera will learn the value of protection next year when he's being walked every other at-bat. Then again, I suppose when you're rebuilding, tanking one season is no big deal. So the idea is to have Jacobs step in and play first, while Petit is supposed to come in and start. Both of these moves should theoretically work, but nothing is ever sure with prospects. My guess is that Jacobs will be so-so and that Petit will be pretty hit or miss.
The Mets benefit from this trade: they'll have Wright, Beltran, and Delgado in the middle of their lineup next year. That's a pretty obvious improvement.
Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Guillermo Mota for Hanley Ramirez, two minor leaguers, and Anibal Sanchez.
Josh Beckett seems to me to be the sort of player you would want to rebuild around, not deal off. But we're talking about the Marlins here, and this team apparently has no qualms about losing more than 100 games in any given year.
Hanley Ramirez should be good, and should play next year. He seems to be pretty legitimate, but will take time to develop power. Anibal Sanchez is supposedly good, but is at least a year away from making any viable contribution.
What bothers me about this trade is the fact that the Marlins traded Mike Lowell after the worst season of his career, which caused his value to decrease exponentially. This isn't exactly "maximizing your utility" here.
Paul Lo Duca for two minor leaguers.
You always have to be careful when ragging on the acquisitions of "prospects," because the Marlins have been particularly adept at acquiring great players for reasonable prices in the past. Plus, the Marlins have a highly skilled catcher waiting in the wings in Josh Willingham, so they'll probably be relatively ok with this trade. I've always thought that Lo Duca was sort of overrated offensively anyway, so I feel that the Marlins aren't losing toooo much... but still, it's sort of disconcerting to see All-Stars traded for B-level prospects, even though Lo Duca is far from your typical three-time All-Star.
Luis Castillo for two more minor leaguers.
Here's what we know about this trade: the Twins were quite psyched to get rid of the Luis Rivas/Nick Punto platoon that they "had goin' on" at second, and were more than pleased to give up Travis Bowyer, a fireballer who seems to have a great fastball, but marginal control over the rest of his pitches. The other pitcher, Scott Tyler, is seemingly headed to the bullpen too (at least according to Baseball America). So, it seems like the Marlins dumped payroll for a couple of guys who are pretty marginal. Well, that's par for the course.
Juan Pierre for Sergio Mitre, Reynel Pinto, and Ricky Nolasco.
This trade amuses me for a number of reasons. One of which is the Cubs' attempt to find another Lance Johnson-type player, which is something they periodically try to do. I think Wrigley will do wonders for Pierre's power numbers, and he should benefit from being there.
Sergio Mitre is sort of a control guy who might benefit from a bigger park; he'll get plenty of chances to start for the Fish, who will probably put him right into the rotation. Reynel Pinto had good stats last year, as did Ricky Nolasco. Both of them could end up being pretty decent.
Oh, and let's throw in the fact that the Marlins aren't re-signing Juan Encarnacion, Alex Gonzalez, Todd Jones, Jeff Conine, and A.J. Burnett. At least they re-signed Brian Moehler.
Here's the new-look Marlin lineup:
C Josh Willingham
1B: Mike Jacobs
2B: Josh Wilson
SS: Hanley Ramirez
3B: Joe Dillon
OF: Chris Aguila, Miguel Cabrera, Jeremy Hermida
SP: Dontrelle Willis, Brian Moehler, Sergio Mitre, Yusmeiro Petit, and Josh Johnson.
100 losses, here we come.
posted by mike at 9:06 PM
2 Comments:
The Heat are above .500 despite not having Shaq. They'll probably end up ok.
As far as the Marlins go, I'm not arguing with their previous results, I'm arguing with their current plan. The players that they're getting rid of aren't necessarily overpriced vets (Bonilla, Brown, Leiter, Alou, Sheff), rather, they're talented young players who you would think the Marlins would be interested in building around. I don't know how replaceable Beckett is...
And I will go ahead and guarantee that if the Marlins' roster doesn't change significantly they will lose over 100 games. The Braves are a completely different story; they had substantially more talent. This Marlins team is not good.
Well, I'm certainly not down on A.J. Burnett, if that's what you thought I meant. He's one of my top 20 starters in baseball. He also was a free agent and managed to talk his way right out of Miami last year. To put it another way, he wasn't gonna re-sign no matter what the Marlins did.
I still contend that getting rid of Josh Beckett was a poor idea. He's what, 25 years old? His best season was last year, and he's a power pitcher, which implies he should be on some sort of upslope. There aren't too many Josh Becketts around, and the Marlins are stupid for not recognizing that.
While the Marlins may not have been able to afford Beckett, in a year or two they won't be able to afford Willis or Cabrera. If Willis isn't as good as he was last year, he'll be gone too. I thought the Marlins should have at least drawn the line in the sand with not trading Beckett, but I guess not.
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