Fish Bites
By Michael Jong
Good midday to you all! Here’s some Bites to get you through the last day of the work week.
– First things first, we start off with tonight’s matchup versus the New York Mets. We’ve had fun with the Mets this season, going 10-5 against them, but as I recall, we have not had fun with Tim Redding, tonight’s starter. Still, it’s Tim Redding, he’s terrible, and I heard Ricky Nolasco is not, so we should be in good shape. I would like the goal to be 90 wins this season. It may not happen that we win eight out of nine games, but I’d love for that to be the case, and it starts tonight versus the Mets.
– Clark Spencer over at the Miami Herald points out that the Marlins could have four 90-RBI guys. Of course, 90 RBIs means nothing, and I’m sure all my readers get that. But I’m not here to rag about that so much as to point out this quote:
"“I think the most important stat offensively is the RBI,” [Jorge] Cantu said. “Having four guys in the lineup who can drive in 100 or 90 runs is super.”"
I can’t agree. That’s just wrong. If runners happen to be on base, that’s great. But is that so much your doing as it is your placement in the lineup and the quality of the hitters in front of you? Jorge Cantu had 51 more baserunners during plate appearances than Dan Uggla, 45 more than Cody Ross. That likely has something to do with their RBI totals. As I always here pointed out with regards to RBIs, “the players who get the most RBIs are the best players, not the other way around.”
– ESPN’s Jayson Stark says that the Fish will only keep one of the following three: Cantu, Uggla, or Ross. Of the three, Cantu is surprisingly the youngest, though he’s also the most well-traveled and the worst of them, in my opinion. My money’s on Ross staying, since he’s playing a position of need; the Marlins are not deep yet in the outfield and could use his steady presence in terms of predictable performance. We’ve already talked about replacing Uggla, and he’s getting too expensive for the team’s taste. Cantu’s got a ready repalcement in Gaby Sanchez.
– Speaking of the offseason, John Perrotto over at Baseball Prospectus says the Marlins could deal Josh Johnson in the offseason. It would be a shame, but apparently JJ’s agent says Johnson will not accept a “hometown discount.” We’ll see how that turns out.
– Harvey Fialkov writes over at JCR’s blog that Uggla’s numbers are back. Obviously, he’s not citing the best numbers, but his argument is right; Uggla is back to form. Of course, people in the comments section came out and started complaining about strikeouts. Oh well.
– I stumbled upon a Bleacher Report article suggesting ways to improve the Marlins. It’s not the best suggestions (he suggested signing Xavier Nady, the same Xavier Nady who had a good three-month stretch of baseball with the Pirates in 2008 after years of mediocrity in various organizations, the same guy who’s coming off Tommy John surgery this year), but it’s something of interest.
– Hanley Ramirez is about to become the first shortstop to win an NL batting title in a long time. Almost five decades apparently. Just a nice cap on an amazing season for Hanley.
– The New York Times had a critical article regarding the new stadium. I never liked the way it was budgeted, and the claims that it won’t help create new jobs or tourist revenue streams are alarming and persistent. I don’t imagine the city will be happy with this in the next ten years, but as Marlins fans we can only hope for the best.
– Not linking a lot of saber-business today, but I’d like to point out one thing outside of the Marlins’ realm. Did you read the comments “Hall of Famer” Jim Rice wrote on his blog about Zack Greinke? The man watched one start and made a determination. JoePoz asked if he should take him to task. Then instead of taking him to task, he talked about how we perceive baseball performances and how they can be a good deal off of what reality is. I’m not the greatest Poz reader, but I loved this piece.