Archive for August, 2010

The Marlins are coming off a disappoiting series at Atlanta against hte Atlanta Braves, but they get a familiar foe in the form of the Washington Nationals. The story is as usual: we have traditionally owned the Nationals, and hopefully we can follow up that ownage with a series sweep. Washington Nationals (56-75) @ Florida Marlins, August 30 – September 1, Games 130-132 NL East Standings Tm W L Win% GB ATL 75 55 .577 – PHI 73 57 .562 2.0 FLA 65 64 .504 9.5 NYM 65 65 .500 10.0 WSN 56 75 .427 19.5 Stadium: Sun Life Stadium [...]

This has been an overall interesting season for Dan Uggla. He is having his best season offensively and overall, with a career-high .380 wOBA and 4.4 WAR with a month left in the season. While he is unlikely to eclipse the 5.0 WAR mark, a 4.5+ WAR year is not out of the question and would be quite commendable for the Marlins slugger. It would also fuel the desire of the team to sign Uggla for a couple more seasons after this one, despite concerns about his age and skillset typically considered ripe for decline. One of the interesting aspects [...]

Once again, Tom Tango is out to find out what fans of teams think about their own players’ defense. The 2010 Fans Scouting Report is here, and I am looking to get more Marlins ballots in this year than in years past. So far, eight ballots have come in, my own not included. I will probably not post one this year, as I have had a difficult time watching games due to my TV situation. Instead, I am going to depend on the loyal fans of Marlin Maniac to fill in ballots. When you get a chance, submit a Marlins [...]

After last night’s 11-4 victory over the New York Mets, the official Marlins website headlined the game recap with the following title: “Marlins refuse to fade, gain ground in races.” The site then followed with this front-page teaser about the upcoming series between the Marlins and Atlanta Braves: “Making headway in the standings, the Marlins head to Atlanta for the opener of a three-game set vs. the first-place Braves. Chris Volstad starts for Florida, with first pitch at 7:35 ET.” Clearly, both these statements are coming from the official Florida Marlins website, so it would be difficult to expect them [...]

From the second game of the series, the Marlins had an offensive explosion that helped to override the average pitching and defensive performance from the starters. The Fish took the series and finished off the season 10-6 versus the New York Mets, all the meanwhile pulling within six games of the NL Wild Card and 8 1/2 games of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East. Series Hero: Gaby Sancez (0.486 WPA) Series Goat: Mike Stanton (-0.291 WPA) Impressed By: Hanley Ramirez (15 PA, 10 H, 1 2B, 1 HR, 0 BB, 0 K, 3 SB) Depressed By: Mike Stanton [...]

I’ve used the Four Factors tool at length to examine a couple of interesting seasons, those of Hanley Ramirez, newly minted San Francisco Giant Cody Ross, and future of the Marlins Mike Stanton. Another cog for the future of this franchise is Cameron Maybin, a former top prospect who has taken a significant hit in status since the start of 2009. Ever since he opened the 2009 year as the Marlins’ center fielder and leadoff man, Maybin has struggled with his game, being unable to translate minor league success into major league performance. We know the reason why Maybin has [...]

The Marlins made an interesting move over the weekend, allowing the San Francisco Giants to take Cody Ross without any return after the Giants claimed the outfielder on waivers. I was shocked myself to see that the Fish received nothing in return for Ross’ services, especially given the fact that Ross still had a season left of team control. Combine that with the fact that Ross was a fan and clubhouse favorite, and it seems puzzling that the team would do such a thing. How could this move be conceived as a positive for the Fish? Well, let’s go through [...]

Continuing my little Four Factors obsession this week, I wanted to take a look at the season we’ve seen so far from Mike Stanton. The rookie sensation has been amazing so far this season, batting a fairly ridiculous .266/.342/.547 (.381 wOBA) in his first exposure to major league pitching. Of course, some of it is likely a little out of line of than what you would expect. Remember, when Stanton first came up to the majors, I attempted to project how he would do based on his crazy season in Double-A and a conglomeration of his preseason projections. It may [...]

Yesterday, I discussed the lack of offensive production from Hanley Ramirez, in particular the drop in BABIP and power, in terms of the “Four Factors.” Another player on the Marlins is drastically underproducing based on his preseason projections. Cody Ross is playing significantly worse than he was last season, batting just .261/.313/.388 (.311 wOBA) this year. The primary problem that Ross has faced is clearly a lack of power. Ross is not at all impressive in terms of walk rates, avoiding strikeouts, or BABIP, so it is power that he depends on, and this power has disappeared in his game. [...]

We all know that Hanley Ramirez has had something of a down year this season. Despite still being quite a valuable commodity (2.9 WAR is nothing to sneeze at), he has struggled on defense according to UZR and has hit just .284/.366/.451 (.356 wOBA) this year, well below his ZiPS-projected .320/.393/.527 line predicted before the season. There have been two reasons for Hanley’s well-documented offensive struggles. One of those is BABIP; his current .305 mark is the lowest of his career and seems pretty out of line given his speed and ability to spray the ball. The other is a [...]