No fire sale for the Florida Marlins?

by craig on Sep 25, 2008 9:20 AM EDT in News and Rumors

If the front office has it way, there will be no fire sale of the arbitration eligible Marlins.

Whatever the Marlins do this offseason, it won't be a rebuild, at least not from the front office's standpoint.

Speaking before Wednesday's 9-4 win over the Nationals, President of Baseball Operations Larry Beinfest said he doesn't subscribe to the concept.

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In his estimation, the way to go about that in 2009 is to keep the pitching, shore up the defense and reduce the strikeouts. Considering the Marlins have 17 players eligible for arbitration and likely won't have a dramatically higher payroll in 2009, achieving those goals means personnel changes.

Of course, there is what the front office of baseball operations wants to do and once Loria sets the budget, what they can do

Loria has been known in the past to expand the payroll, should he think that the Marlins have a chance at winning. But I wouldn't count of it this time.

The Marlins are making inroads at procuring a new stadium, but nothing is written in stone, just yet. Until a new stadium is a done deal, I don't expect the Marlins will expand the payroll significantly. In other words, all 17 players won't be returning, and some shouldn't. However, until we know the "magical" number of dollars to be spent, it is impossible to guess the situation accurately.

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Not a fire sale,

but perhaps they’d consider moving Jacobs and Hermida in a scratch-and-dent sale.

by Fishcrazy on Sep 25, 2008 10:08 AM EDT reply actions

I foresee

Jacobs, Hermida, Treanor and maybe Olsen going… and I am perfectly fine with that…

I worry about an Uggla move, i think it is a distinct possibility and would only be okay with it if we got a miggy sized return for it. I heard a rumor of Uggla or jacobs to SF for Matt Cain.. i like that… I’d put Cain in the rotation over Olsen…

by jrsyeagle on Sep 25, 2008 11:01 AM EDT reply actions

I dunno...

Jacobs for Cain, absolutely. San Fran would be crazy to do that. But Uggla? I know you can never have enough starting pitching, but we’ve already got a solid rotation. If we’re going to move Uggla—which I hope we don’t—it really should be to fill a weakness, not bolster a strength. That’s kind of a luxury.

Johnson, Nolasco and Volstad are givens. Sanchez probably is, too, assuming he gets back to this ’06 form. I assume Andrew Miller has a spot reserved, considering he was the second jewel in the Miggy trade.

I also don’t think Olsen will stay, but I hope he does because he’s valuable—he’s solid and eats innings.
I believe Mitre is arbitration-eligible and should come back on a reduced salary. So depending on Olsen and MItre, there could be 7 guys vying for 5 spots. (I suppose you could throw VandenHurk in the mix, if he’s ever healthy again. Or reliable when healthy. )

by Fishcrazy on Sep 25, 2008 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions

It goes withour saying, but Marlins must get back to the basics of pitching, defense, and speed. The pitching is certainly there, but what they need is to get rid of their high-strikeout/low batting average players like Hermida and Willingham. The only position players that I firmly believe will come back next year will be Ramirez, Baker, and Cantu. Maybin has shown he’s the future, as a very talented hitter with the speed the Marlins need, he’s a keeper. I also think Baker deserves a spot next year; his consistant hitting when the team was struggling in August proves he’s a good hitting catcher. I really hope we hold onto Uggla, though he lack the defense and the speed, he’s just to good a power hitter to give up.

by sebabella on Sep 25, 2008 11:33 PM EDT reply actions