Archive for January, 2011

Over the weekend, the Marlins quietly made a strong move to solidify pitching depth for the team. The Marlins signed Shawn Hill to a minor league deal that would pay him $600K this season if he makes it to the major leagues. As a fan of the Marlins and a normal, law-abiding baseball fan, you probably have never heard of Shawn Hill, but a simple look through FanGraphs would show that Hill is a surprisingly decent pitcher. His 4.74 career ERA is a bit deceiving as it tags along with a pretty impressive 4.02 FIP and 4.34 xFIP. Both of [...]

After listening and reading the votes, I’ve decided that it may be worth a shot to try out a live chat with the readers of Marlin Maniac. I’ve scheduled the chat for 5 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) today, January the 28th. Please join me at 5 pm EST for the first Marlin Maniac live chat, where I’ll talk everything Marlins, baseball, and fantasy baseball related! Marlin Maniac Live Chat

Update: Poll mentioned at the end of this article is updated at the front page. Please vote! A couple weeks ago, I asked the Palm Beach Post’s Joe Capozzi via Twitter about the Marlins’ insurance plan with regards to the potential Chris Coghlan problem and whether Scott Cousins wouldn’t be a better option in center field than having Coghlan move to center and Matt Dominguez play third base. The response I read was, to be honest, a bit ridiculous. Capozzi retorted that putting Cousins out there would be dependent on whether he could put up a strong enough bat for [...]

I was not expecting an early release of MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro’s latest inbox article, but I am always ready to bring the snark in my responses when it is necessary. So let’s get on with the Snarkbox, shall we? I read an article recently that proposed moving Mike Stanton to center field. It said that he had betters numbers in center than right when playing in the Minor Leagues. Is it a possibility that he could play center field this year? – Steve M., Fredericksburg, Va. Steve M, was that my article? Because if so, then I have been mentioned [...]

Over the weekend, amidst the chaos that was the Vernon Wells trade to the Los Angeles Angels (quick reaction: worst trade in the history of the game), the Tampa Bay Rays made two solid moves wrapped up in one, signing Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon to fill in two spots in their lineup for around $7.25M and change. These moves were excellent for the Rays, who now have just solidified their lineup in the wake of the losses of Carlos Pena and Carl Crawford. Obviously, this isn’t a Rays blog, but these moves represent the sort of sound, intelligent work [...]

While Chad James, Brad Hand, and Edgar Olmos rank as our top SP prospects, only Hand has a chance to see the majors in 2011 but even then he’ll see significant time in AA.  Meanwhile, Elih Villanueva, Tom Koehler, and Omar Poveda will also be pitching for AAA New Orleans and could see the call should we suffer an injury early in the season.  The former two are back-of-the-rotation arms, while it’s hard to pinpoint what to expect out of Poveda.  After the jump, we’ll take a look at how they’ve done so far in the minor leagues.

As a fan, I appreciate Logan Morrison and his many talents. But as an objective observer and analyst of my beloved Florida Marlins, I have to put my personal feelings aside and look at both sides of the coin. Recently, LoMo told me that he doesn’t read Florida Marlins blogs, preferring only to read the negative stuff, as it motivates him. Well then, let me help Logan Morrison in his motivation. I have a few negatives I’d like to share with him, and hopefully he can prove me wrong on these. Put these on your bulletin board LoMo! The defense [...]

As part of our Unofficial LoMo Day here at Marlin Maniac, I’ll be compiling some of the good that Logan Morrison has brought upon the Marlins, its fans, Philadelphia Phillies fans (apparently), and everyone in general. Collectively, let’s just call it the good of Logan Morrison. Feel free to add anything you guys want in the comments section! The bat (with stats!) It wouldn’t be Marlin Maniac without some focus on how strong Logan Morrison was statistically. Last season, he came in and blew the roof off the place, hitting .283/.390/.447 over the course of 287 PA once taking over [...]

I was scouring my favorite team-specific baseball sites to find something to sink my teeth into today, as January is typically one of the slowest baseball months of the year. I stumbled into Crashburn Alley, an excellent Philadelphia Phillies blog run by friend of the Maniac Bill Baer, and saw this post pertaining to one of our favorites, Logan Morrison. Apparently, Logan is a big hit not just with Marlins fans, but with baseball fans in general and especially Phillies fans. In fact, they seem to adore him as much as we do, which is rather strange if you ask [...]

Yes, it is time once again for another edition of Joe Frisaro’s MLB.com inbox, as answered by yours truly, with my snark included. What do we have in store for this week in questions? Let’s dig right in. I was watching the MLB Network and the broadcasters were discussing what might happen if Albert Pujols doesn’t sign a contract extension with the Cardinals. They mentioned possible clubs if he didn’t return to St. Louis, and one of the teams was the Marlins. With Florida about to move into a new ballpark, is it possible that the organization would be looking [...]