At least according to Ken Rosenthal and his "sources." Personally, I've never trusted a man that's under 5' 6" and wears bowties, but Ken is normally pretty spot on and I like his reporting. With the Braves off to a terrible start in Spring Training (1-10) and their epic 9.5 game collapse in the playoff race last season, it does seem pretty logical that he would on the hot seat, but I would have sooner thought in the off-season, not now.

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Everyone that's been on here awhile knows by now that I'm awfully opinionated and should probably bite my tongue a little more... however, this time, it seems David Samson's the one that should be getting that advice.

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So did anyone win? The stats were apparently absurd between the amount of people who entered and the amount of people who got picked. I'd assume many of the entries were people like me, who entered in their regular email, their work email, etc... but still pretty staggering numbers.

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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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Turns out, it's not as crazy as we all would have assume, and Loria or his creative near were not on some acid induced psychedelic trip. They may have even broken a few laws...

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Well, at least some good news (from my perspective) this morning, on the home team front.

I went to check out the ballpark cam to see if you can capture any more shots of the monstrocity of a home run celebration being built in center field and, much to my visual pleasure, they have ditched the orange background on the landing page!

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Alright, I know we've beaten this like a dead horse, but it still bothers me that our new logo is going to be the laughing stop of major league baseball.  While we've seen the style guide entry, I'm told that the leaked logo is not 100% accurate, by someone who has worked on PR material for the transition

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I was on vacation this weekend, so the news of ERod resigning got to me via a text message.  I automatically assumed he had been fired, much like I'm sure many of you.  Then when I saw "resigns" in the headline, I figured it was resigning with a wink and a nod to save some face for the organization and himself.  This also appears not to be the case...

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With news that Padres prize prospect Anthony Rizzo will be called to San Diego Thursday, and as we wait, impatiently, on the health and call of Brett Lawrie (hand), we get the consolation prizes of future middle-infield stars Dee Gordon and Jemile Weeks -- two called-up prospects with strong bloodlines.

It reminds us there is more than one piece to the June call-up puzzle. You have to be: 1. Healthy; 2. Scorching hot at the plate; and 3. Filling a position of immediate need.

If only Mr. Matt Dominguez had the latter after finally picking up the first two criteria ...

The Marlins have dropped six consecutive games, losing in a 1-0 shutout where their 21-year-old Double-A call-up, Brand Hand, does everything he can to make up for a stagnant offense that is missing fantasy monster Hanley Ramirez. If journeyman Greg Dobbs wasn't hitting .337, Dominguez could be that injection of help for the Marlins.

Dobbs has taken advantage of a big opportunity with the Marlins after Dominguez failed to win the third-base job out of spring training as was planned. After getting off to a hot start with a pair of early homers, Dominguez hit just .190 (8-for-42) in exhibition games.

Then, back in the minor leagues, bad luck struck him on the elbow with a hit-by-pitch and forced him out of action for what should have been two full months. Dominguez, 21, healed quickly and wound up playing 20 unproductive games from Class A through Triple-A in May.

The calendar turned to June, though, and Dominguez has turned it on. The high school teammate and fellow 2007 first-round pick (12th overall) of Royals prospect Mike Moustakas (second overall) has gone 9-for-22 (.409) with three homers, nine RBI, four runs, a .481 on-base percentage and a .909 slugging percentage in the seven games this month. It isn't enough of a stretch to earn a call-up, but it is definitely something to take notice of in deeper fantasy leagues.

In those ultra-competitive leagues that value prospects, Lawrie (53 percent ownership), Moustakas (42 percent), Desmond Jennings (36), Rizzo (34) and Dustin Ackley (32) are tough to get their hands on. Rizzo (11 percent), Lawrie (6) and Moustakas (2) are the three-most added minor-leaguers in fantasy right now.

The Marlins' future third-base star is hardly making any noise on the transaction wire and rumor mills. He is owned in a mere five percent of leagues; yet he is closer than all but a handful of the 50-plus prospects that are owned in more than him.

If you cannot get your hands on the imminent call-ups of Lawrie, Rizzo, Jennings, Moustakas or Ackley, Dominguez -- like Gordon and Weeks are above -- is your consolation prize.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/eric_mack/06/08/fantasy-baseball-prospects/index.html#ixzz1PGYd14i7

Saw an interesting note about our old friend Dontrelle Willis yesterday on MLB Trade Rumors but forgot to post it up here with the game going on and my confusion about how to post pictures... oh and work.

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As we all feared, Art-Dealer turned MLB Team Destroyer Jeffrey Loria continues his path to destroying the teal and black by incorporating his New York Mets' colors in the teams marketing material, and I'm sure, future uniforms.

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So FishStripes might have lost the suite... This is pretty cool that the Marlins donated this experience to the Jimmy V foundation for ESPN to auction off, ending July 9th.

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According to John Heyman of SI, the Marlins are offering him the job on a 4 year basis and he is flying to Miami tonight to meet with the team brass, including the rare appearance by one infamous art deal/scoundrel owner.

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Bryan Peterson Optioned to AAA after last nights game

The Hopper Optioned to AAA this morning

Renyel Pinto to the DL with a hamstring issue

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Send cash considerations and Voss (MiLB pitcher) to Detroit for Nate and cash considerations.  Robertson is a former Marlin and the next in the long line of our reclamation projects.  He's had a pretty solid spring and you have to figure he will be the lone lefty in our rotation, perhaps bumping Volstad down to the minors for some more seasoning, which I can't disagree with since he's shown no signs of being ready to go yet.  Robertson is getting $10MM this year so you have to figure a lot of dinero was part of the deal.  Very happy about this...

Really?

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Basically I just want to put 2 polls in here, but I'm not sure how to do one, so this could be interesting. 

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I'm not sure if this is going to work at all, because I've never tried to post from excel to here.  ANYWAY, work is a bit slow today so I tried to figure out, based on past performance this season, how the teams that matter to us most right now will finish up.  It is no secret the Giants have the hardest schedule and the Marlins not necessarily the easiest.  The Rockies have the way paved with gold as the easiest schedule.

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That is the question.

As of 12 noon tomorrow Billy Wagner will clear the waiver wire.  He is expected to do so because of the amount of money left on his contract and the buy out after this year.  He will then most likely pitch in the Mets game at night to showcase his abilities. 

Several scouts that have seen him rehab have said that he could surely help a team making a playoff push.

I think, if the Fish can get him at a cheap enough price, we should do it.  I think a late innings rotation of Kiko, Sanches, Nunez, and Wagner is absolutely sick, leaving pinto (ugh) and Meyer as lefty specialists.  The Hopper of course would be the long reliever we have come to know and love. 

Thoughts?

I was perusing my ESPN inside account this morning and found this tidbit on the marlins acquisition of Nick Johnson and the effect that it had on our ability win, essentially, because it removed Bonifacio from the every day lineup (curse you carlos zambrano).  It also factored in dropping Miller to the minor leagues and Lindy getting activated, apparently.  Sorry if this is too big of a block quote craig:

The team that had the biggest change in its expected winning percentage however -- a 42-point gain, well over twice what the Cardinals added -- is the Florida Marlins. Their only trade was to bring in Nick Johnson from the Nationals, but he essentially replaces Emilio Bonifacio in the lineup, meaning you're replacing a .220-ish EqA with a .300-ish EqA. The picture is complicated by internal changes in the pitching staff that happened at the same time -- ditching Andrew Miller for now, getting Matt Lindstrom back from the DL -- that also helped to inflate their expected win total. Still, having the best win-percentage increase only gets them a four-point gain in their playoff odds, from just three percent to seven percent, which was also the fourth-largest improvement by any club. The system still likes the Phillies and Braves a lot more than it does the Marlins, and it doesn't see many opportunities for outdoing those two teams.

Basically copying my reply to another post:

I don't think we come back and win the division.

With the Phils and Dodgers battling it out for best NL record, the Marlins would be bound to play LA for the first round of the playoffs since inter-divisional games are a no-no in that set.  If the Marlins got destroyed in 2 games, or 3, there's no way we are buyers.  We showed we could beat the most likely first round opponent though, with what we have, so now we are buyers or standing pat.  I think the decision ends up being based on asking prices of relievers and possibly a bat.

So now developing that further....

We all read who people would trade... Some Uggla, all Boni, a lot of Hermida.  Maybe Miller and some of the higher up prospects, though Stanton and Morrison have been called untouchable.

We'd all like a closer, and a replacement for Boni.  Maybe an OF, maybe a SP.

Let's be realistic though.  Name some players you'd like to add, and try to keep it to people that are being shopped...

I for one, would have liked to see DeRosa, but since he's off the market, I will go with:

Freddy Sanchez

Justin Duscherer

George Sherrill

My 4 year old Dell Inspiron 9400 crashed last week and I need to replace it. My budget for the computer is up to $850, but the cheaper the better. I want something with at least 250GB Hard Drive, 14" screen minumum, and Intel processor, WiFi capability build in. The OS doesn't matter though I'd prefer XP. I am open to a Mac if it is at the right price. If it has bluetooth capability that is a plus, but I know the chips can be bought for $30 so am not too worried.

I have focused my search on Macs, HPs, and Lenovo IdeaPads). I also can't find many reviews for the IdeaPad's so am not sure how they are in terms of functionality and service.

Any help, suggestions, or tips would be great. I have no clue what speed processor, Ram, screen, graphics are good these days, but just use the computer for basic home work with Office, some minor photoshop, and web surfing.

Thanks!

Call it a parting gift?  Or a thank you for all those stellar outings he had as a Marlin?  Or revenge?

After last night's very Jorge Julio-esque performance by none other than Jorge Julio, and not the collective Marlins bullpen for a change, Jorge Julio was released by the Milwaukee Brewers.  Sad story... NOT!

Here's the link to the story... They called up their Brian Sanches to replace him it appears.. I wish him luck, except in this series.

Courtesy of MLBTradeRumors.com, this gem, reminding us all that it is never too early in the season to start a firesale:

On this date 11 years ago, the Marlins traded Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson and two others to the Dodgers for Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile. Piazza's tenure with the Marlins would last five games in which he was 5-18 with a triple and 5 RBI. Seven days later he was traded to the Mets for Preston Wilson and two minor league pitchers that would combine for 5 career appearances.

CJ isn't 2nd on my list of favorite Marlins (Mike Lowell #1, Conine #3, Pudge #4, Chuck Carr #5... and the list goes on).  Also, Piazza should go into the HOF as a Marlin, just as a slap in the face to the Mets... hey, it's an annual, last game of the year tradition anyway...

So, as many of you know, Chris Coghlan hit his first carrier homerun yesterday, which also accounted for his first 2 RBIs of his Major League carreer.  Happiness was inspired by the Coghlan family and Marlins fans alike.

As a 23 year who attends more baseball games than I can afford, I could not help but notice the gentleman that caught the ball seemed noticably older than me.  I played baseball for several years, have worked at stadiums, and am generally a fan of the game.  Most importantly for this conversation, I do not bring a glove into the stadium.

As the game went on, sadly, the happiness dissapated like too many games this year, Jeremy Hermida continued to be terrible at life, and Nolasco continued to look, as Tommy would say, "uncomfortable on the mound."

I was in much less of a positive mood as Craig Minervini interviewed the friend of the fan who caught Chris' HR ball.  Again, I was struck by his age, but this time more so by the fact that "ballhawking" is a past-time, and almost a job to him.

This interview was followed by Craig interview the "Happy Youngster" himself, who touted his "ball-hawking" abilities, and had very reasonable demands for trading over the ball.  No foul there, however, his apparent age pushed my disappointment to anger when I found out how often he does such things.

So, I checked out his websites here and here.  Much to my dismay, this fan brings multiple outfits to games, shows up before batting practice, is 29, married, and has 2 kids.  His family shows up at the regular game time to meet up with him, though he does not let this interfere with his "ball-hawking" duties.  He claims to give away meaningless balls, but has pictures on the blog, in empty stadiums after games with his pockets over-filled. 

I do not understand how a grown man, with a wife and family, that is a police officer, a) does this but more imperatively, b) still brings a glove to a game. 

So, fellow fishstripers (obviously I'm still stewing about the loss), I ask you... how old is "too old" to still bring a baseball glove to games?  Do you thing the "happy youngster," who is not too young, is sane?

You know where I stand...

It's another one of those days at the office.  After getting the most reads I think I ever have on my list of possible team names, I decided to dabble in the top 5 least likely sponsors.  It isn't as in depth or valuable in terms of information, but you might get a kick out of it.  I also gave a shot out to us here and some other fun links...enjoy! or don't...

Link

Since I was too lazy to google the Marlins today and see what others wrote about them, and Craig was too busy to spoon feed me, I wrote an article over on Bleacher Report with some naming write/sponsor ideas for the new stadium in light of Land Shark Stadium.  It's not exactly informative, but I ran over some of the top possibilities in my mind... Take a look if you want, if not.. well... at least you read this...

Link

Absolutely terrible news out of California this morning.  Nick Adenhart, the Angels #3 pitcher, was killed by a motorist than ran a red light just hours after pitching last night.  I actually watched some of this game, and remember when the Marlins tried to structure a Cabrera trade around him.  Adenhart passed away after surgery at only 22 years old, my age.  This is just tragic and awful news.  My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends, and teammates.