SB Nation - Chris Coghlan

MLB Trade Rumors: Josh Johnson for Justin Smoak and Neftali Perez??

raygu — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:00:23 -0000

by Wilfredo Lee - AP

2 months ago: Florida Marlins starter Josh Johnson winds up as he delivers a pitch during the first inning of the first baseball game of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia PhilliesTuesday, Sept. 22, 2009 in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

View full size photo »

I was surprised to read that the Texas Rangers offered their two best prospects, Justin Smoak and Neftali Perez for the Marlins ace pitcher Josh Johnson. I am not sure any other team could top that offer of prospects for 2 years of JJ.

Here is what ESPN's Keith Law had to say on the offer:

"As good as Johnson is, that seems like too much to offer given the remaining years of control and the fact that Smoak and Feliz are two of the top 10 prospects in the game and two players Texas' front office prizes very highly. Smoak is a switch-hitting first baseman with patience & power from both sides, and Feliz has already shown what he can do in relief with a chance that he can still start due to his easy velocity."

The Marlins are in a semi-rebuilding mode after dealing Jeremy Hermida, and on the verge of dealing second baseman Dan Uggla. I say semi-rebuilding because they are a young team that is about to get younger once prospects Logan Morrison and Michael Stanton make it to the big league club in the next year or so.

I can't see why they rejected the Rangers solid offer. Should they have pulled the trigger on that deal, they could feature a lineup in 2010-2011 as follows:

Logan Morrison-LF

Michael Stanton-RF

Justin Smoak-1B

This team would be tough to beat on paper come 2011. If the Marlins feel they can compete in 2010, then you have to keep Josh Johnson. But, come July 31st and they are 10 games out, they should re-kindle these talks.

Poll

Should the Marlins have pulled the trigger on the Rangers offer?

Hanley Ramirez and Chris Coghlan up for TYIB Awards

craig — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:13:41 -0000

It is once again time for the fan voting for this season's This Year in Baseball Awards.

Besides being teammates, Hanley Ramirez and Chris Coghlan share the distinction of both being named the National League Rookie of Year by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

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The two also are Florida's nominees for the This Year in Baseball Awards.

Voting is under way on MLB.com for the 2009 This Year in Baseball Awards. For the eighth consecutive year, fans are deciding the top hitters, pitchers and moments from the season. Winners will be presented trophies during on-field ceremonies in 2010.

The ballot boxes will close at 7:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 11.

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Coghlan is nominated in the Rookie of the Year category...

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Ramirez is in the Hitter of the Year category...

It is rare when a Marlins player wins an award that the fans vote on, but it could happen.

If you would like to cast your vote, go no further than here:

2009 This Year in Baseball Awards

Chris Coghlan Topps All-Star Rookie

craig — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:26:14 -0000

Chris Coghlan continues to be recognized for his achievements during his rookie year.

Chris Coghlan's rookie baseball card is gaining value.

The National League Rookie of Year on Wednesday was named to the Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team.

It's yet another impressive distinction for the Marlins' 24-year-old left fielder, who recently was selected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America as the NL Rookie of the Year.

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The Rookie All-Stars will each have a trophy on their 2010 trading card in Topps Baseball. Series 1 is due out in late January.

Seeing how baseball cards aren't sold in the town I live in, I doubt I will ever stumble across Coghlan's Rookie All-Star card. That is unless I decide to enter an eBay auction. But from my understanding you have a shot at it if you spend some time shopping a Publix. And if you do, good luck!

Hanson Named Topps Rookie All-Star

cbwilk — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:55:26 -0000

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

Tommy Hanson was 11-4 with a 2.89 ERA after joining Atlanta in June.

Browse more photos »

Braves rookie Tommy Hanson, who finished third in the voting for the National League Rookie of the Year Award, was named to Topps' 51st Rookie All-Star team, along with the two players who finished ahead of him in the award voting, Florida outfielder Chris Coghlan and Philadelphia pitcher JA Happ.

The rest of the player selected include Mets' catcher Omir Santos, Giants first baseman Travis Ishikawa, White Sox second baseman Chris Getz and third baseman Gordon Beckham, Rangers shortstop (and former Braves prospect) Elvis Andrus, Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen and Orioles outfielder Nolan Reimold.

The accolade is just another sign of how good Hanson was this year for Atlanta. I've personally had the pleasure of seeing all of the players on this All-Star team at one point or another in their Minor League career, with the exception of Beckham, and I think that Hanson has by far the best chance to be a long-term star player in the Major League, with McCutchen as a solid second.

This Week in AZ Baseball

Jim McLennan — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:15:09 -0000

The hot-stove season is now officially under way, with the free-agent market opening on Friday morning, with 171 players putting themselves on the auction block. Relief pitcher John Grabow was the first to go, getting a $7.5m, two-year deal from the Cubs. He has been pretty good over the past couple of seasons, but this seems like the Northsiders doing what they do best, overpaying for mediocre talent, since Grabow's career ERA+ is 107. Anyway, after the break, we'll discuss more free agents (both major- and minor-league), the end of professional baseball for the year in the US, how our winter guys are doing, and whatever else comes to mind.

As noted already, the Diamondbacks have got their winter underway already, with a trade bringing reliever Aaron Heilman to the team, in exchange for a couple of prospects. Fan opinion has been a bit mixed: some see Heilman as a mediocre arm, not worth pursuing, while others welcome the depth Heilman's addition provides, at the cost of two low-ceiling minor-league players. There was some discussion of him possibly trying out for the rotation, but all the public comments from the team have him as a set-up man for Qualls. Said Josh Byrnes, "He's pitched in pressurized situations before in terms of his role and the markets he's pitched in."

Our Double-A affiliate in Mobile have got themselves a new logo (above). It's not bad, I reckon - if you think it looks a bit retro, that's exactly the look they were going for. Said team president Bill Shanahan, "We're going back in time and honoring the old Bears uniforms of the 1940s. Our new cream-colored home uniform is a classic look. The bear is out of hibernation, hungry and ready to go. With our old logo, the bear was a nice, fun, happy bear. But we're going for a more aggressive look now. We're hungry for more championships and eager to expand." Hungry? Why do I sense a certain Rockies fan-eating bear picture might be cropping up in the comments?

Speaking of our farm system, courtesy of Baseball America, here's the list of Diamondbacks' minor-league free agents:

RHP: Scott Dohmann (AAA), Seth Etherton (AAA), Bobby Korecky (AAA), Ramon Sanchez (Hi A)
LHP: Jonathon Coutlangus (AAA)
C: Orlando Mercado (AA), Matt Tupman (AA)
2B: Guillermo Reyes (AA)
3B: Ruben Gotay (AAA), Agustin Murillo (AAA)
SS: Abraham Nunez (AAA), Ed Rogers (AAA)
OF: Trent Oeltjen (AAA), Chris Roberson (AAA), Brandon Watson (AAA)

A couple here I'd like to see us try to re-sign, most obviously Jon Coutlangus. Not, admittedly, for much more reason than I like saying "Coutlangus"... And I have to support the retention of Trent Oeltjen, simply to prevent the marching of a mob of angry Laideez on Das SnakePitBunker. But otherwise... If you've spent six years in the minor-leagues and are still down at Double-A, with your thirtieth birthday coming up on Tuesday, one wonders if considering an alternative career might be for the best.

Today is the last day of the Arizona Fall League, with the championship game going on over at Scottsdale Stadium between the Peoria Javelinas and the Phoenix Desert Dogs - the latter are after their sixth straight AFL title, which is quite a feat, given how there's little carry forward of roster members from one year to another. The game is being shown live on the MLB Network and also streaming for free at mlb.com, with the game underway at the time of writing. However, it will take place without #1 draft pick Stephen Strasburg, who twisted his knee and been scratched from the Peoria line-up as a precaution. The hearts of Nationals fans skip a beat.

Arizona's boys on the Scottsdale Scorpions finished with a 15-16 record, 3.5 games back of Phoenix in the standings. Despite a decent performance in front of the assembled 'Pitters on Wednesday, Brandon Allen finished the year hitting a disappointing .177 in the AFL, though did lead the league with 22 walks. It has been a very long season for Allen: he has played in five different leagues (Southern, International, Pacific Coast, MLB and AFL), accumulating over 750 plate-appearances (502 in the minors, 116 in the majors and about 135 in the AFL). Take the rest of the year off, Brandon - you deserve it.

If any one of our hitters looked good in the AFL this year, it was new 40-man roster addition Cole Gillespie. While not showing much power (one home-run in 72 at-bats), he hit .333 with a phenomenal K:BB ratio of 6:17. Yep, that's not a misprint: he walked almost three times for every strikeout. Given the league average was almost 2:1 the other way, it's especially impressive. On the pitching front, Bryan Augenstein recovered well after a poor first outing, to end up with the lowest ERA among the Arizona prospects at 4.15. Over his final five outings, he allowed four earned runs over 15.2 innings, with three walks and 14 strikeouts.

Conor Jackson returned from the Dominican Republic on Monday - to the disappointment of his team there, who wanted him to extend his stay. You can't blame Leones del Escogido for wanting to hang on to CoJack. At the time of his departure, he was leading, not just his team but the entire league in the Sabermetric Triple Crown categories: OBP (.561), SLG (.589), and OPS (1.150) as well as those old-school favorites, BA (.425) and - are you ready for this? - stolen bases, with Conor having nine, without being caught once. It's perhaps that which is perhaps the most convincing proof that he has fully recovered from the energy-sapping effects of Valley Fever.

Jordan Norberto also continues to perform well, pitching in the DWL. With a 2.70 ERA, he has yet to walk a batter in ten innings of work, and has fanned thirteen. However, Norberto has hit three batters and thrown four wild pitches, so control does still seem to be something of an issue. In Venezuela, Alex Romero is hitting .372, though has yet to hit a home-run after 86 at-bats. Not too much of a surprise there. Tony Abreu is also homerless in the Dominican, after 79 at-bats, and has only two walks in that time, leading in part to a lackluster .659 OPS thus far. Bit of a theme for most of the Diamondbacks in winter ball: combined, those listed have only four HR in over five hundred at-bats.

Seems to be a bit of a spat going on over the sale of the franchise previously known as the Tucson Sidewinders. An investor says former owner Jay Zucker refused to honor a contract giving him the right to buy 10% of the team. David Smallhouse of Primo Ventures says he invested $1 million in the franchise in 2004 with an option to buy another 10 percent of the company. During the 2007 sale of the franchise, Smallhouse tried to exercise the option, but Zucker refused. Smallhouse now wants a Pima County Court judge to compel Zucker to go to arbitration regarding the matter.

And a random note to finish. NL Rookie of the Year, Chris Coghlan could have been a Diamondback. We actually picked him first, in the 18th round of the 2004 draft, but he didn't sign and re-entered the draft in 2006, when the Marlins picked him in the 1st round - guess it proved a profitable decision for him. The rest, as they say, is history...

Emilio Bonifacio: The Audacity of Hope

GameFish — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:02:08 -0000

This might seem like a far-fetched idea, but I'm sure there were at least a few people who were disappointed when The Bonifacio Experiment™ finally ended last season. You know, like... maybe some of the members of Emilio's immediate family.

If you were one of those three people, our friend JCR at the Sun Sentinel has dug deep into the Bill James Handbook to find a reason for you to be filled with hope.

The manufactured runs section of the Bill James Handbook offers a pretty good indication of why the Marlins stuck with Bonifacio, and why come spring training they'll give him every opportunity to play himself into the starting lineup again.

Among National League players, only Michael Bourn (47) had a higher manufactured runs contribution than Bonifacio (32), who ranked ahead of David Wright (31), Dexter Fowler (29), Troy Tulowitzki (27), Matt Kemp (27) and Hanley Ramirez (27).

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Thanks mostly to Bonifacio, Ramirez, and Chris Coghlan, who was third on the team with 21 manufactured runs, the Marlins ranked fifth in the NL with 169 manufactured runs. Ahead of them: the Mets (181), Reds (173), Dodgers ( 172) and Rockies (172). For the Marlins, that's a huge improvement over 2008, when they finished second-to-last in the majors with 125 manufactured runs, ahead of only the Padres (104). The Marlins in 2009 were considerably less dependent on home runs and extra-base hits.

So I guess if there's a positive side to being an out machine, it's being a productive-out machine. And if manufactured runs contribution can make up for his OBP and, well, everything else, the Marlins may have reason to continue The Bonifacio Experiment™ next season.

Or at the very least, we have one less reason to complain about it.

MLB Trade Rumors: Marlins Listening to Offers for Ricky Nolasco??

raygu — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:00:20 -0000

by Wilfredo Lee - AP

2 months ago: Florida Marlins' Ricky Nolasco delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Friday, Sept. 25, 2009, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

View full size photo »

Yesterday ESPN's Buster Olney tweeted that the several teams have talked to the Marlins about the availability of Ricky Nolasco and Jorge Cantu. Here is is tweet:

Spoken with teams about Florida's arb.-eligible trade bait, and there clearly is major interest in Jorge Cantu and Ricky Nolasco. about 8 hours ago from web

It appears that the Marlins are listening to offers for all of their arbitration eligible players including Dan Uggla, who is almost certain to be wearing a different uniform by Christmas. Should the Marlins deal Cantu, they will be left with Emilio Bonafacio at either 3B or 2B (should Chris Coghlan stay in LF), and either 1B prospects Logan Morrison or Gaby Sanchez to play 1B. The Marlins have a 3B prospect Matt Dominguez but he is not yet ready with the bat, but is certainly major league ready with his glove.

Trading Nolasco, who had a terrible first two months of 2009 and returned to form after being sent down to the minors, should net the Marlins some top major league ready prospects. Nolasco pitched better than his 2009 stats indicate, so there should be many teams looking to deal for him.

Who are those teams? I would guess that the Mets, Cubs (he was drafted by the Cubs), Brewers, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and Rockies would have some interest from the National League. I wouldn't be surprised to see the two of them packaged to the same team for several prospects.

Could the Brewers send a package headlined by Mat Gamel for Nolasco and Cantu? How about the Dodgers with a package around Chris Withrow and James Loney? The Diamondbacks could offer a change of scenery for struggling outfielder Chris Young.

Poll

Where is Ricky Nolasco more likely to pitch in 2010?

Brewers-in a deal involving Mat Gamel

38 votes

Dodgers-in a deal around Chris Withrow

31 votes

Diamondbacks-for Chris Young?

18 votes

Marlins-they wait till June 2010 to deal him

64 votes

151 votes | Poll has closed

In Honor of Chris Coghlan winning the ROY

craig — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:47:16 -0000

What else would we play other than his walk up song.

And anyway, it will make LadyFish happy.

Marlins Chris Coghlan, A's Andrew Bailey named top rookies

Eli Greenspan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:55:55 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Browse more photos »

MLB announced that Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan and A's closer Andrew Bailey were awarded the Rookie of the Year honors for the 2009 season.

Coghlan edged out Phillies pitcher J.A. Happ while Bailey edged Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus, who beat Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello by one point for the second spot.

SB Nation - Baseball writers voted Tommy Hanson in the NL and Andrus in the AL, with Coghlan finishing fourth and Bailey finishing second.

Do you guys think that Coghlan and Bailey were the right picks for the awards?

Chris Coghlan Named NL Rookie of the Year

GameFish — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:37:57 -0000

The Baseball Writers Association of America has spoken, and we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief. Chris Coghlan is the 2009 NL Rookie of the Year.

Florida Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan is the National League Rookie of the Year, and Oakland Athletics closer Andrew Bailey is the AL winner.

Coghlan edged Philadelphia Phillies pitcher J.A. Happ in a close race, receiving 17 first-place votes and 105 points Monday in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Happ, the only player picked on all 32 ballots, had 10 first-place votes and 94 points.

All is right with the world (or at least with this one tiny part of it).

Congratulations, Chris!