Let's jump into this!

10. Adam Conley Starting Pitcher

Nothing really to say besides he's good.

9. Scott Cousins OF

Lots of Homeruns and RBIs.

8. Noah Perio 2B

He's a speedster.

7. Rob Rasmussen SP

Nice Pitcher from UCLA

6. Chad James SP

Nice Slider.

5.J.T RealMuto Catcher

1.000 Fielding in minors

4.Matt Dominguez 3B

The future of the Marlins?

3. Jose Fernandez SP

0.00 in 3 games

2. Marcell Ozuna OF

23 Hrs and 71 RBIs. Nice.

1. Christian Yelich OF

The Number 1 pick in the 2011 pick. I have met him in real life and he has tons of Charisma. He is an amazing athlete and there's nothing else to say.

Quick little topic. Mike Stanton could be a future MVP. Mike Stanton could be the star in a few years passing Hanley Ramirez. If you compare them last year stats, Hanley had 85 hits while Stanton has 135. The Average was not that close, Hanley: .243 Stanton .262. RBIs is Stanton has twice as much as Hanley with 87 vs 45. Where I'm trying to go is that Mike Stanton, compared last year stats, can be the star of the team in 1-2 years if the stats keep going this way.

Comment your thoughts!

Cespedes has become one of the top-rated free agents on the market, gaining interest from several teams which naturally includes the Marlins. But my question is: Is he OVER-rated? His performance in the Cuban league is well known, he was arguably the star player of the league. But more recently in the Dominican Winter League, he basically failed to do anything.

Now I realize that Cespedes had a very short stint in that league, maybe he just didn't have any time to adjust. I also don't know very much about him, I didn't even know he existed up until Major League Baseball reported that he was defecting from the Cuban league.

But I personally don't feel Cespedes is worth the payroll, or the risk. UNLESS we were to keep him in the Minors for a while, at least until the All-Star break, so we can see if Cespedes has what it takes to play in the Majors. It's just my opinion.

So, as a fan that lives in New Jersey, I regular check the Marlins' website for updates and stories. I'm also flying for opening day (SO PLEASE IF YOU KNOW OF ANYONE WITH AN EXTRA TICKET MESSAGE ME!!!!), so I am on there constantly trying to figure out a way to opening day... (HINT HINT). I also like to check out the development on the stadium apart from what my friends send me as they drive by...

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The Florida Marlins are no more. Long live the Miami Marlins.

As a commemoration this offseason, We've put together an All-Time Top 50 List of players in Florida Marlins history. The list was calculated based on each player's "Wins Above Replacement" statistic. The WAR statistic is a great metric by which to measure players against each other, regardless of position, team, or era. The reason I like the statistic so much is because it can easily pit a pitcher's value against a left fielder, or a designated hitter.

If you weren't able to keep up each day, here it is in all of its glory, as originally posted on SB Nation Tampa Bay.

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Here is a look at some of the top comparables to the Marlins top starting pitchers: Josh Johnson, Anibal Sanchez, Mark Buehrle, Ricky Nolasco and Carlos Zambrano as per the MLB Depth Charts website.

In this exercise I used 2010-2011 data, looking at the skilled stats of K/9, BB/9 and GB/FB, while coming up with a similarity score based on these three stats for each Marlins starting pitcher. The cutoff was having pitched at least 150 IP as a starter (exception for Matt Moore and Stephen Strasburg, Fans Projections FG) over the last two years. Here is the top 25 list for each Marlins starter. There is some bias when comparing NL pitchers with AL pitchers due to the slightly inflated strikeout rate for NL pitchers who don't have to pitch to a DH, so feel free to make a mental adjustment for those pitchers. If you wanted to take something like this to the next level, you could look at age, contract status, handedness etc... but I've chosen to look at these three stats which are highly controlled by a pitchers skill level.

First thing that stands out are the great numbers and comparables for both Johnson and Sanchez. Nolasco has some pretty decent numbers too, I really like the low walk rate. I did a double take when I saw Buehrle's peripherals. That is a pretty poor K rate, the low walk rate does help offset it a little bit and more importantly (not shown) is his consistency when it comes to eating innings. Zambrano struggles with the high BB rate, giving him a rather unimpressive list of comparables.

I write my own blog called Baseball's Economist, and I figured you guys at FishStripes might be interested in today's post.

Imagine how good it would feel to hit a home run every fourth fly ball in the major leagues. Well the Miami Marlins’ right fielder, Mike Stanton, knows that feeling. Stanton posted the highest HR/FB rate among qualified hitters in the major leagues in 2011 at 24.8%. In Stanton’s first full major league season, 2011, he hit 34 home runs and posted a wOBA of .378 with an ISO power rating of .275 (3rd in the majors). The 22 year-old projects to continue posting incredible power numbers. In 2010, Stanton combined for 43 home runs between AA and the majors posting an ISO of .248 at the major league level, and his HR/FB rate was also ridiculous at 22.9%. Over the course of his short major league career (250 games), Stanton hits a fly ball almost 40% of the time, while almost 25% of those fly balls have resulted in a round-tripper, if these numbers persist Stanton’s home runs will continue to rack up to possibly legendary power hitting highs. But does Stanton have an Achilles’ heel? Yes of course, like most great power hitters Stanton strikes out a ton.

Stanton may be hitting almost 1 home run per every four fly balls hit in his career, but he has struck out more than once per every four at-bats during his career (29% K rate). In 2011, Stanton was 3rd in the majors in ISO power, yet was also third worst in the majors in K% (27.6%). Stanton’s K% and BB% did improve by around 3% each from 2010 to 2011, and as Stanton is young those numbers could continue to improve. However, I wouldn’t expect much improvement from the powerful righty, who never posted a K% below 21% in his professional career. Many have compared Stanton to his N.L. East powerful counterpart, Ryan Howard, because of their comparable height/weight and the raw power/awful strikeout numbers Howard has posted throughout his career. Yet I don’t completely agree with this comparison for a few reasons.

Howard’s first full major league season came as a 26 year-old, making him a much less raw player at the start of career. His late debut has lead to an already apparent decline in Howard’s power numbers. While Howard’s strikeout numbers have remained steady over his career (averaged a K% of 27.8 before he was 30, and a K% of 26% since he’s turned 30), his power numbers have significantly declined (averaged an ISO of .312 before he was 30, and an ISO of .232 since he has turned 30). Stanton has so much more youth than Howard, we may not see a decline in his power numbers for another decade.

Howard isn’t old (will be 33 for the whole 2012 season), but he hasn’t hit 300 homeruns yet in his career (286), thus he cannot be considered an all-time great power hitter. When Howard was 22 he had 0 career major league home runs; Stanton has already hit 56 home runs in his major league career. Stanton will be an all-time great power hitter. In his first 100 major league games as a 20 year old, Stanton hit 22 home runs. Last season, while playing in 50 more games he hit 12 more home runs than the season before. Most project Stanton to improve on these incredible numbers next season and as Stanton develops into his prime. Bill James projects Stanton to hit 39 home runs next season, with an ISO of .295 and a K% of 26.4%. Let’s say that somehow Stanton does not improve and is consistent over the next decade, averaging 34 home runs over those 10 seasons, (this of course, is an underprojection for the young slugger) he’ll have 396 career home runs going into the 2022 season, in which he would be a 32 year-old (younger than Howard is currently), with a legitimate opportunity at finishing his career as a 500 home run hitter and with baseball's current decline in power hitting, a clear-cut Hall of Fame power hitter.

so does anyone have any suggestions for non-roster invites? These are guys that we would sign to a minor league deal, invite to spring training and see what they got. They will either make the team, or head to triple-a or ask for their release.

I think a good option might be Brandon Webb. He averaged 5.667 WAR per year from 2006-2008. The fact that he was always a finesse pitcher (7.2 k/9 over that span and according to fan graphs averaged only 89 mph on his sinking fastball) means he can be effective even if topping out in the upper 80s.

There hasnt been any buzz about webb at all, so this late in the offseason it seems he will settle for a minor league deal. According to Jon Heyman, he has been throwing for a month and his arm feels good. Webb could be a solid option out of the marlins, if he would be willing to try to revive his career as a reliever. He pitched over 220 innings or 4 years in a row and should be a very durable option out of the pen. He would also be a solid veteran presence who could help to stabilize the circus, i mean clubhouse.

All this is assuming he is healthy, but what harm would a minor league deal be if he isn't?

The Marlins have signed a speedy, All-Star shortstop in Jose Reyes, who when paired with Emilio Bonifacio - who will most likely be competing with Scott Cousins and Bryan Petersen - will be the incredible top of the lineup one-two punch that we had in the Pierre/Castillo era of the Marlins.

We signed an All-Star reliever in Heath Bell, who is a closer capable of racking up saves with a consistency that we haven't had since 2004 when we brought in Armando Benitez, who holds the Marlins record for saves in a year with 47 saves, not to mention the fact that he brings a lot of excitement and personality to the bullpen, can you imagine him and Edward Mujica combining to be the clowns of the bullpen? It'd be hard to be bored out there.

We signed an All-Star left-handed starter in Mark Buehrle, who is great friends with our new manager Ozzie Guillen, and he's an incredibly consistent starter who is capable of going out there every time and giving us a chance to win. He pitched a no-hitter on April 18, 2007, which only further proves his reputation.

Our most recent transaction is also a rather large gain if he works out. We traded the young Chris Volstad for the fiery Carlos Zambrano, who has a good reputation as a pitcher, and like Buehrle, he threw a no-hitter as well, his was thrown on September 14, 2008. His bad reputation regarding his temper can hopefully be erased with a new team, and a manager who he gets along with in Ozzie Guillen.

So just this off-season, we've managed to bolster both our offense and defense with the Reyes signing, we've upped the ante on the bullpen with the signing of Bell, and our rotation is projected to be even stronger than last years with Josh Johnson, Buehrle, Anibal Sanchez, Ricky Nolasco, and Zambrano, three of these pitchers - Sanchez on 9/6/06, Buehrle on 4/18/07, Zambrano on 9/14/08 - threw no-hitters in their career.

And of course that isn't even counting all the smaller transactions we've made. We signed a former All-Star in Aaron Rowand to a Minor League deal and we'll see what he's got in Spring Training.

We signed a reliever in Chad Gaudin to a Minor League deal, who'll be looking to redeem himself in Spring Training.

We signed Nick Green to a Minor League deal, who'll be competing for a utility infield spot with Donnie Murphy.

We signed our biggest bench asset from last year - Greg Dobbs - to a two-year deal worth 3 million dollars, which gives us back a left-handed bat off the bench who we know can step up and start if necessary.

And a trade, we traded catcher John Baker to the Padres for lefty pitcher Wade LeBlanc, who at this point will probably be competing for a spot in the bullpen as a long relief option.

Phew...well after all that, we'd assume that the Marlins are pretty much set for the year right? Hmm...well I don't think so. Something's still bothering me...ahh yes, it's the catcher position. By trading Baker, we gained a left-handed pitcher but we lost our platooning catcher option. And with all due respect to Brett Hayes, I don't feel comfortable with him as the backup.

So I say...there's a 40 year old catcher who was with us in 2003 and was an indispensable member of the World Series squad, he's a 14 time All-Star, and he's looking for a job. His name? Ivan Rodriguez. Most of the reasoning for this fan wish list (fan wish because the Marlins don't even seem interested) is because of nostalgia, everyone loved Pudge, everyone wanted Pudge back, every time Pudge was available fans screamed for Pudge, so now he's available again, and at 40 years old, he isn't going to force any team to make him a starter.

Now thinking with the team in mind, Pudge is pretty much a legendary catcher who'll be a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame someday, he's smart, he's wise, he'd be a good influence on young pitchers, and could probably help (if you think I'm gonna say Brett Hayes think again) John Buck with his approach to throwing runners out since Buck would be playing the majority of the games, although he wouldn't exactly hinder Hayes either.

Pudge does have a few drawbacks though, number one obviously is his age, he's 40. His power's gone down, his defense probably hasn't deteriorated much but then again he's 40 so...there's that factor.

The other factor is he got hurt last year, missing two months of the 2011 season with an oblique strain, but even then Pudge was influential and he helped a man named Wilson Ramos to gain the potential to become a force one day.

Pudge definitely wouldn't be a money factor, seeing as he signed a two-year deal with Washington for only 6 million dollars, and he's still looking to get his milestone of 3000 hits. He's got 156 hits left to go, why don't we welcome him back to the Marlin family and let him get that milestone with the team he got his only World Series ring with?

And on a less vital note, our Minor League is extremely limited at this point, and there's only one guy we have left that we're willing to part with. Oviedo - formerly Leo Nunez could be traded to restock the Minors, and if not, we can still use his fastball in a setup role.

There are so many things we could still do, every fan in the world has a wish list during the offseason, the last things on my list, is hopefully to trade Oviedo, and the less realistic scenario, signing Pudge. Now my poll, would signing Pudge be good or bad? Discuss, maybe if enough people say yes, the fanbase as a whole can convince the FO to sign him, who knows?

The Marlins and Cubs are talking trade, but they're not talking a package deal for Matt Garza, they're talking a player for player trade, which would send Chris Volstad to the Cubs, and bring the very...interesting Carlos Zambrano to Miami. My previous post explained why I felt that the Marlins should give up on a trade for a top-of-the-line starter since they'd have to give up one of our best players plus a couple more in return, but this trade I like.

There are a few downsides however. Number One I feel is the age difference. Volstad is younger than Zambrano, and age is ALWAYS a factor when building a team. Number Two is Zambrano's reputation of being hotheaded. Zambrano has a tendency to blow up in everybody's face, and he has a serious temper. Supposedly Zambrano and Ozzie Guillen are good friends, so hopefully that will be quelled slightly.

There are a lot of upsides though. Should Zambrano join the Marlins, we do gain that all-star starter we were looking for, and it would give us an incredible rotation consisting of JJ, Buehrle, Sanchez, Nolasco, and finally Zambrano, and that sounds like awesome to me.

And on a side note, Zambrano could also act as an emergency bat off the bench. Thinking like a manager here, I could technically survive with one less position player on the bench and keep an extra pitcher in the bullpen in case of emergency. Why? One hitting pitcher isn't enough reason to lose a bench spot. Ahh, but don't forget that JJ isn't exactly a slouch at the plate either.

I like the idea of Carlos Zambrano in Miami. As a manager, his temper and antics could prove to be a problem, but worth the risk. As a fan, having Big Z in a Marlins uniform would be a LOT of fun. So now the poll for discussion sake. You like Zambrano in Miami? Yes or no?