career averages/season (as starter):

159.8 GP   94.8 R   163.2 H   38.0 HR   107.7 RBI   94 BB   .282 AVG   .390 OBP   .561 SLG

I think this guy should be number 1 on our FA list for MANY reasons.

1. very possible he leaves milwaukee. doubt he'd be against playing for fish considering new dome, potential lineup, already played HS in FLA. as long as we can offer a competitive contract.....

2. he's 27, in his prime & has proven he can play every day.

3. he'll make $$ for the fish: jerseys, more tickets, win more games

4. plug him b/n hanley & stanton securing a 3-4-5 for next 5-7 years that could average 95+ HRs/year.

5. signing a leadoff guy (jose reyes) to a HUGE contract is a bad idea. boner can already get on base at .340 or maybe better for under a mill. your leadoff guy can't be 20% of team salary. we'll never win.

6. highly doubt zambrano magically becomes a better person with ozzie as coach. he can't be worth more than a 1 year contract b/c of temper, lack of consistency, temper, weight, asking price, & temper.

But real questions are: can we & how could we actually acquire fielder?

What contract will get fielder? 17mil/yr? 18? 19? more? How much of a total salary increase are the fish taking on? Anibal definitely leaving at end of year? Leo (whatever his name is) getting traded? Are we gonna try to move LoMo? Omar? Vazquez? Hanley moving positions? Dominguez ready for next year?

if nothing really changes & we sign fielder in FA

1. bonifacio 3B

2. cogs CF

3. hanley SS

4. fielder 1B

5. stanton RF

6. lomo/dobbs/gaby LF

7. buck C

8. infante 2B

or boner at 2B & dominguez 3B batting 8th. great lineup. lots of high OBP guys.

the guy's a better option than reyes & certainly zambrano. hopefully the FO sees that & can make an honest attempt for him. we'll see.......

Bullpen Totals: 76.66 IP 41 ER, 36 BB, 77 H;  4.81 ERA, 1.47 WHIP

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the doubleheader gives fredi an open spot in the rotation early in the year

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http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100419&content_id=9420862&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

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                                                                                    Should the Marlins even go after Smoltz?

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TEAM HITTING - some stats

STAT                            #                 NL RANK                MLB RANK

Runs                         406                   4 / 16                        12 / 30

Home runs                86                    7 / 16                        17 / 30

Batting avg              .257                 10 / 16                       22 / 30

On-base %              .328                 12 / 16                       18 / 30

Slugging %             .405                   6 / 16                        17 / 30

Strikeouts                 676                 16 / 16                       30 / 30

Walks                        294                  11 / 16                      17 / 30

BA vs LHP               .253                  10 / 16                       22 / 30

OBP vs LHP            .318                  12 / 16                       24 / 30

BA vs RHP              .259                    8 / 16                      18 / 30

OBP vs RHP           .330                   9 / 16                        17 / 30

NOTES

- team strikes out 20% of total plate appearances; difficult to play 'small ball' & employ situational hitting 

- team BA / OBP splits actually slightly favorably against RHP

- lead off & #2 lineup spots rank 30th in 27th in total strikeouts (179 total Ks: 24% of ABs); lead off & #2 spots rank 26th & 22nd in OBP% in MLB

- Hanley's arguably top #3 hitter in the game right now (him or Pujols)

How each lineup spot ranks on the team according to its OBP %; from high to low:

#3 .408                    #4 .325

#8 .361                    #2 .323

#6 .340                    #1 .313

#5 .330                    #7 .298

OPTIONS

   SWITCH THE BATTING ORDER

      - get less K's in front of Hanley; arguably worse 1-2 combo in MLB in front of him

      - the top OBP % spots other than Hanley on the team are the EIGHT, SIX, & FIVE spots; 1 & 2 are at the bottom

   RELY ON CALL-UPS / CURRENT TEAM

      - we always do so why not this year

   TRADE FOR A BAT ...

      - with decent avg or slugging numbers at any of the 4 corner spots; this gives team ability to PLATOON Coghlan & Bonifacio

For now, the Marlins are buyers and believe upgrading the Bullpen is the #1 priority before the trade deadline.

This appears to be questionable considering the current bullpen.

       Marlins' Bullpen: ~ 4.03 ERA         Matt  Lindstrom: 6.52 ERA (29 IN / 21 ER)

       Marlins' Bullpen Core (Meyer, Nunez, Sanches, Badenhop, Pinto, Calero): ~ 2.72 ERA

Trading or demoting Lindstrom after his DL stint may help the bullpen the most. We've already demoted the Opening Day Starter; why not Lindstrom.

No reason to think Nunez, Meyer, Calero, or even Sanches wouldn't do just as good closing as Lindstrom.

So, getting a reliever while Calero/Lindstrom are on the DL does make sense, should it be the #1 priority? What should our priority be if not the bullpen? This is my take:

       Jorge Cantu: hasn't gone deep since June 3rd & has only one HR since May 7th (1 HR last 49 games / 193 AB)

       Emilio Bonifacio: .292 OBP; lowest of ALL Marlins hitters except Wes Helms; though bats lead off/2nd

       Dan Uggla: .222 BA; probably finishes season at .250, but for now, one can only get so many RBIs batting .222

I believe the Marlins have two trade options to remedy these problems:

       1. High OBP leadoff guy - giving Hanley / Cantu more RBI opportunities

       2. Big LH bat - protect Hanley, take pressure off Cantu, & help against RHP

       OR Leave line up alone & rely on current team / call-ups for offense like they normally have

The front office will presumably keep payroll under a certain number and that will control the Marlins' trade options above all. Almost automatically taking Dunn ($8 mil), Pierre ($10 mil), and Holliday ($12.5 mil) out of the mix.

With salary in mind, these are the bats who I would like to see the Marlins go after: Shin-Soo Choo ($400k), Brad Hawpe ($5.5 mil) or Luke Scott ($2.4 mil) 

What do you all think?