Thanks for keeping the info flowing. Let’s see the type of offers the Marlins get, maybe it would be worth our while. If there isn’t something really strong, like what Law mentioned, we could go into the regular season with him and still get something at the deadline if we fall out of contention.

Buster Olney’s insider had this: “5. The respected John Perotto twittered that the Marlins are willing to trade Josh Johnson. I made contact with a couple of executives of rival teams Thursday night, and both indicated that the Marlins had not yet told them this.”

and then Peter Gammons had this on Twitter:

@pgammo:
Tis the season when agents try to spin news. So here is reality:Josh Johnson isn’t going anywhere. 2010 @ $4M is good business for Phish

Thanks for the link and the quote (for those of us like me who cannot access ESPN Insider). I absolutely agree with Law. If the team has no interest in resigning Johnson, the return package would be very good and the Marlins could easily get an excellent haul WITH major league talent.

Keith Law just posted his Insider take on JJ, fwiw…

http://insider.espn.go.com/insider/features/rumors#3728

“The Marlins actually have a history of moving guys early, and in Johnson — under control for whoever gets him for two more years — they have a player who is worth a major package of prospects. Think: two ML-ready guys, plus two solid prospects at the Double-A level. In Johnson you have a difference-maker like Halladay, but you have that extra year of control. He doesn’t have Halladay’s history of durability, but few do.”

The organization’s been mum on the whole issue, but I think that this silence probably means the Marlins are moving on with a year-to-year plan. And yeah, I don’t like Samson all that much (not at all, actually).

Of course, every word that comes out of his mouth sounds assholish, I wonder if they’ll put it online.

Since the contracts are backloaded, the Marlins would not have to worrk about that until 2012. There is uncertainty as to whether or not they would be willing at that point to pay the salaries of Ramirez and Johnson at that point, but the fan base assumes that with the new stadium being built, plans on increasing payroll will be in effect. In addition, the payroll for the team has gone into the $40-50M range during Loria’s tenure as Marlins owner, particularly after the team won the World Series in 2003.

Alas, it does not seem to be what will happen. All signs point to the Marlins moving forward with a year-to-year plan, which may ultimately be detrimental to the team.

Even he only got 10, then that would be an 18 Million Dollar Raise for those two guys. Would your owner raise the payroll to 45-47 million to keep both?

I don’t think it’s so much “pressure to make a deal,” as if they will do it, they’ll do it, and if they don’t want to, then they definitely won’t. I think there will be pressure to make a trade in the face of a fan base that is disillusioned but still hopes for good fortune now that tax dollars are building a new stadium. This is countered by the notion that if they continue down the road and wait to trade Johnson, they might face a Johan Santana situation in which teams might not be so willing to deal for him with less team control years.

I don’t know. It will definitely be an intriguing off-season for the Marlins. Stay tuned to Marlin Maniac, that’s all I can say.