SB Nation User Blog: craig

Matt Lindstrom on the block?

craig — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:02:44 -0000

According to Barry Jackson, the Marlins are entertaining offers for Matt Lindstrom.

We hear the Marlins have been getting trade inquiries about Matt Lindstrom and are considering dealing him. One Marlins official said Leo Nuñez seems better-suited to close games. The Marlins lean toward keeping Jorge Cantu (who has drawn interest) but would consider an extraordinary offer. Dan Uggla remains likely to be dealt.

It isn't surprising at all that there is interest in Matt Lindstrom. Young guys who can throw the ball 100 mph don't come along all that often. Lindstrom is on the bubble, so the speak, since he is now arbitration eligible. However should the Marlins move him it will be indication of they are salary dumping unless the other clubs will buy the reasoning that Nunez is better suited for closing and the seventh and eighth innings are already covered. Now, Nunez, who puts the thrill back into the save, maybe better at closing, at this point in their respective careers. (I probably should analyze the stats to make sure, but I don't have time.) However, if the Marlins let Calero go it will be hard sell to convince anyone that we have the other late innings covered.

Chum Bucket

craig — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:54:01 -0000

The race is on to see whether or not the Tuesday Chum Bucket will actually be posted on Tuesday. Since we're so close tomorrow let's see what is on the docket , the GM meetings wrap up on Wednesday, the SB Nation will announce the Cy Young award winners and some of you lucky ones have a midweek holiday. For us unlucky ones, it is just the regular old hump day, as it is sometimes called.

In the meantime it is a normal Chum Bucket, got a topic of interest on your mind, this is the place to express it. And it is conceivable that someone will jump into the discussion, it has happened before. So have at it.

And always, Have a Great Rest of the Night!

SB Nation Baseball Awards (ROY Edition)

craig — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:33:10 -0000

Here are the results of the NL Rookie of the Year as voted on by the SB Nation bloggers.

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Tommy Hanson	Atlanta Braves	9	9	6	78
2	J.A. Happ	Philadelphia Phillies	6	9	7	64
3	Andrew McCutchen	Pittsburgh Pirates	8	3	5	54
4	Chris Coghlan	Florida Marlins	7	5	4	54
5	Dexter Fowler	Colorado Rockies	-	3	1	10
6	Randy Wells	Chicago Cubs	-	-	6	6
7	Garrett Jones	Pittsburgh Pirates	1	-	-	5
8	Casey McGehee	Milwaukee Brewers	-	1	2	5
9	Seth Smith	Colorado Rockies	-	1	-	3

GameFish and I both put Chris Coghlan #1 and then neither of us can remember what order we placed Hanson and Happ. But they were #2 and #3 on our ballots.

My reason for Coghlan being first is that when evaluating a rookie the latter half of the season should be weighed more heavily than the first half. When a player breaks into the league normally one of two things happen, either they start off well and then the league learns them and the impressive start fizzles. Or they start out slowly until they figure out the league and then come on blazing. A strong finish, I feel, is more representative of who was the better rookie. Now both of the NL East pitchers were pretty steady throughout but an every day player should get the benefit of the doubt when making the comparison.

Live Blogging the GM Meetings

craig — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:40:29 -0000

This is completely stolen from Photi at Fish Chucks. normally I would make you go to his site to see it. However, I want to provide the direct link here at FishStripes.

Fox Sports Latest buzz for MLB's GM meetings

But to give Photi his due, if you go to his site via here you can find out how Danny and Cody are spending the offseason, so far. When they get back to Florida, I guessing they will spend the rest of it in the dog house.

All of that said, checkout the live blogging of the GM meetings. Not much is going to happen, but it will give you and idea of what is to come in December.

Hayden Penn back on the 40-man

craig — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:28:56 -0000

The Marlins purchased the contract of Hayden Penn and now he is on the 40-Man roster.

The Marlins are planning on taking another look at right-hander Hayden Penn.

The team on Monday announced it had selected the contract of the 25-year-old, who spent most of the season at Triple-A New Orleans.

Florida's 40-man roster now stands at 34.

I thought about this all night, and I still can't come with a reason for the Marlins to make this move now. Not against the move per se, but if the Marlins want to move him off of it, he will once again have to clear waivers. Which more than likely isn't a problem, but it still seems strange to me. Something gives me the idea that I am missing something here.

Any thoughts?

Cameron Maybin good to go

craig — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:16:52 -0000

Or at least will soon be. Cameron Maybin's surgery by the press reports went fine.

Maybin, 22, underwent surgery to repair a partially torn labrum in his left shoulder. The team announced everything went well, and the speedster is expected to be ready when Spring Training opens in February.

Don't know what to expect from Maybin for the season, especially since he is so young, he can be a bit erratic. But is nice to know the doctors were able to put him back together.

Pepper Martin

craig — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:11:22 -0000

Pepper Martin

He was one of those who, disguised in white coveralls and carrying paint buckets, marched into a dinner in a Philadelphia hotel and began redecorating the room, somewhat to the consternation of the speaker.

---

When the team was tossed out of a Boston hotel for shooting pigeons from the windows, Pepper was there.

He did not clown on the field, though. An umpire in minors found that out when Pepper, then manager, dissented from a decision.

"Pepper," the league president asked later, "when you had your hands on that man's throat, what could you have been thinking!"

"I was thinking I'd choke him to death," Pepper said earnestly.

Red Smith, February, 1965.

SB Nation Baseball Awards (MOY Edition)

craig — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:19:34 -0000

The postseason awards as voted on by the SB Nation baseball bloggers rolls out today. Each site is given two votes in their respective league, in this case GameFish and I are the voters for FishStripes, just like last year. SB Nation awards in the past have been pretty decent predictors of the BBWAA awards, which may not say much about us as a group.

The votes are scored 5-3-1 for the ones where you only get to vote on three, like today's award, the Manager of the Year.

The schedule for the awards is as follows:

Monday, 11/9: Manager of the Year
Tuesday, 11/10: Rookie of the Year
Wednesday, 11/11: Cy Young
Thursday, 11/12: MVP

So without any further ado here are the results for the MOY:

Rk	Manager	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Jim Tracy	Colorado Rockies	24	1	2	125
2	Tony LaRussa	St. Louis Cardinals	3	7	10	46
3	Fredi Gonzalez	Florida Marlins	2	6	5	33
4	Joe Torre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	9	2	29
5	Charlie Manuel	Philadelphia Phillies	-	3	5	14
6	Bruce Bochy	San Francisco Giants	1	1	1	9
7	Bobby Cox	Atlanta Braves	-	1	4	7
8	Bud Black	San Diego Padres	-	1	1	4
9	John Russell	Pittsburgh Pirates	-	1	-	3

Normally at this point I would tell you who we voted for, but they change up the voting this year and it was done by some Google app. instead of email and neither GameFish or I wrote down our selections. However, we both think we put Tracy in the number one slot and Fredi number three. Who we put as number two is anyone's guess.

Oh, they also email us the results of the AL and if you are curious about them, just let us know, and we will post those results too.

GM Meetings start today

craig — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:52:44 -0000

The General Managers Meetings start today in Chicago. Not exactly sure where, but they generally don't get too far away from the airport.

The GMs Meetings last until November 11th.

Normally they will bring up stuff like expanding video replay which they will discuss for approximately five seconds and table the discussion. The main point of the meetings is to start laying the ground work for the Winter Meetings. Putting out feelers to see who is available and who is not, while trying to gauge what they may have to give up in the process. After that, they go bowling.

I don't expect this one to any different, though I do imagine the phones will be ringing in the Marlins hotel room.

Marlins payroll to shrink?

craig — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:21:02 -0000

Joe Frisaro reported this over the weekend.

For years, the Marlins have shown they can remain competitive while spending carefully.

They will be continuing that trend in 2010.

Payroll for the upcoming season will be in the neighborhood of $36 million, or slightly lower.

In 2009, the Marlins finished second in the N.L. East, winning 87 games with a $36 million roster. So expect salaries to again to be in that range.

Don't know whether this is Mr. Frisaro's prediction or whether it is insider information which he is quite capable of having.

Last season the Marlins opening day payroll was $36,834,000. In order to achieve that again it will mean that Uggla and Cantu have to be traded, along with others, since there is no way to achieve the number without doing so. The ones who are arbitration eligible for the first time: Paulino, Nunez, Lindstrom and Pinto are likely to be some of the of the ones who will be among the others.

If the Marlins actually decide to stick with the $36 million number, it will become known to the other clubs that the Marlins are shedding payroll and looking for anything they can get in return that's cheap. Uggla and Cantu, if traded, will bring back a decent prospect or two. However, all the others will likely garner the return of Hermida, next to nothing since the other teams know what we are doing.

I will hit this harder later.