Fish Bites

Some midweek Fish Bites to get you over the hump. A few more days till the weekend! Of course for me, every day’s a weekend, as I’m currently in between graduating college and starting my job in December. Sort of a down time for me, which translates to “What, it’s Wednesday? Already? Thought it was still Sunday!” Anyway, enough about me, more about the Marlins, right?

– To start, let’s talk about the series finale today against the St. Louis Cardinals. After last night’s surprising victory over Adam Wainright (thanks Sean West and Dan Uggla!), we’re finishing off the series with Josh Johnson on the mound against Joel Pineiro, one of the league’s biggest surprises. We’ll find out whether we can take the series with our best pitcher going up there. Remember folks, it’s an afternoon start.

– Hanley Ramirez says Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball. Well, yeah Hanley, but you’re damn close, and we’re happy to have you wearing “Florida” across your chest for the next few years. Also, that was a Miami Herald piece, and in it they’re reporting that Chris Volstad is likely out of the rotation. I think at this point it’s in his head, because there’s no explanation for how many home runs he’s given up. Lately, his peripherals have dropped as well, putting him more in the Andrew Miller range. It’s been sort of a lost season for Volstad, hopefully he recovers and plays better next year.

– Over at MLB.com they’re taking votes for the Marlins’ “All-Time 9,” the best single-season performances at each position for the Marlins in their team history. Off the top of my head (without looking at WAR), I’d say it looks like this:

C: Ivan Rodriguez (2003)
1B: Carlos Delgado (2005)
2B: Dan Uggla (2008)
3B: Miguel Cabrera (2006 or 2007, one of his later years when he was back at third base)
SS: Hanley Ramirez (2008, 2009 if you can vote for that, as he beat 08 already I’m sure)
OF: Gary Sheffield (1996), Moises Alou (1997), Cliff Floyd (can’t exactly recall, he had a 6 WAR year in like 2001 or 2002)
SP: Dontrelle Willis (2007, it’s only hitting, Willis’ ’07 on the mound was forgettable to say the least)

It only takes hitting into account, but I’d like to take everything into account. Really, it’s not as if Marlins players have ever been great defenders, Luis Castillo aside. What’s the lineup order for that team? I’d say Hanley, Miggy, Alou, Sheff, Delgado, Floyd, Uggla, Rodriguez, D-Train. What do you guys think?

– Did you see Tony La Russa give props to Fredi Gonzalez? Clearly, Tony doesn’t read my blog. Based on his decisions with some things, it’s not that surprising.

– Among a flurry of other South Florida news, Barry Jackson of the Herald says that the Marlins will be trying to trade Jeremy Hermida. I think this year is the right time to do it. He’ll be past his age 25 year, he hasn’t shown a whole lot of improvement at the plate, and he plays the corner outfield terribly. We have better options internally.

– Check out my Beyond the Box Score piece on Alfonso Soriano’s lost 2009 season. And check out Jack Moore’s Seth Smith piece, as part of our ever-increasing Player Profiles department.

– Finally, take a gander at Carson Cistulli’s interview with Ken Arneson, formerly of Catfish Stew. It’s got some thought-provoking stuff on how we enjoy baseball.