Fish Bites

Start your day off right with Fish Bites!

– First off, tonight’s game versus the St. Louis Cardinals. Ricky Nolasco takes the mound again against former Marlin Todd Wellenmeyer. Wellenmeyer is not someone you would call a “good” pitcher; “replacement level” seems like a better term for him. Meanwhile, Ricky is looking to strike out some Cardinals, not walk them, and hopefully go into the seventh inning or more, given what Chris Volstad did the bullpen yesterday. If we come out poorly this series, our chances of competing for a playoff spot will be thoroughly erased, so let’s try to get this series off on a good note.

– The Miami Herald reports that the Marlins won’t be raising ticket prices for next season. That’s obviously good news for the people who will be getting out there next year, but the problem is that it won’t help get any more people into the seats. And as Craig over at FishStripes points out, if prices are flat here, they’ll go up somewhere else. We’ll see if that’s the case.

– In the same piece, the Herald congratulates Gaby Sanchez on his first career big league home run, and Marlin Maniac would like to congratulate Gaby as well. Well done, and we’re looking forward to many more when they come!

– Sticking with the Herald, Barry Jackson mentions quickly that the Marlins may have some interest in locking up Josh Johnson long term. All the more reason for us to watch his workload, right?

– Apparently John Baker has won a Heart and Hustle Award. All the more power to you, Bake.

– Did you hear about the Arizona man who stole Kiko Calero’s identity? Odd stuff. The guy was caught, so all is well hopefully.

– Harvey Fialkov mentioned something quickly over at JCR’s blog at the end of Saturday night’s game that was profoundly puzzling.

"FYI, manager Fredi Gonzalez said that even if the Marlins are mathematically eliminated from the playoff race he has no intention of shutting down ace Josh Johnson. However, he admits he’d rather err on the side of caution with Johnson’s innings, it being just 25 months since the 25-year-old fireballer underwent Tommy John surgery. I* understand their concern but I can’t see babying their ace while still in a pennant race."

Huh? Fredi’s worried about Josh Johnson’s innings, yet refuses to shut him down even if the team is out of the race? How does that make any sense? Pick a side, Fredi!

Oh, and while I was unable to watch the Marlins game on Saturday night (only listened to the radio coverage), I did not hear that Rich and Tommy mentioned JCR’s blog. Congrats on the mention! However, they seemed to have bashed the negativity of the comments section, something that has earned the irk of the regulars on JCR’s blog. I’d say if the those guys commenting on JCR’s blog would maybe post a bit more intelligently and without capitalizing for emphasis every third word, maybe they’d be looked upon a bit better. This is no potshot to Juan or his posts, just the trolls who like to yell a lot on their posts in his blog.

By the way, have you noticed how, since Dan Uggla has gotten his batting average past .240, there’s been little bashing of him and they’ve moved on to bashing Jeremy Hermida? At least they picked out a decent target now, although they’re still mostly bashing his league average bat.

– Over at MLB Trade Rumors, Tim Dierkes has the scoop on free agent third basemen this offseason. In case you didn’t notice, that’s a position of need on the team.

– At Beyond the Box Score, Justin Bopp’s got graphs about winning versus attendance/win. Guess who ranks last?

– At The Book blog, MGL bashes Jerry Manuel for having Tim Redding bunt with runners on first and third and one out. May not make sense to you at first, but let him explain it, it works.

– Finally, Dave Studeman has a great piece on WAR vs. Win Shares, particularly Win Shares Above Bench (WSAB. Studes’ interpretation of Win Shares). Particularly, lot’s of love for Kenny Lofton, exactly the type of guy who should be Hall of Fame worthy (he’s on the fringes), but will most certainly not get attention.