The Marlins Next Great Reliever

Bill James says the Marlins' saviour this year will be .... Renyel Pinto. And why not? So the dumb cluck allegedly jammed his right foot while getting out of bed in Jupiter and has a bad toe. So he hasn't had much of a spring. He's 25, 6-4. Last year, he couldn't stand the pressure, according to the BJ Handbook (my baseball bible now that the Sporting News Baseball Register seems to have vanished (I can't find it on Amazon.) In 2007, he had one save in six opportunities. (Did he blow those, or was he yanked for Gregg? Lemme look it up ... Well, ESPN.com lists him as having five blown saves.... So last year he coulnd't stand the pressure, but he's a big strong guy and his ERA of 3.68 last year wasn't awful ... (at least to us battered Marlins fans.) ....

A Bill James Trivia Question

In his excellent book, Bill James Gold Mine 2008, he says for the last seven seasons, the Marlins have had a different pitcher each year who led the team in saves. Then he asks which of these does not belong on the list (if you get this wrong, you're on the wrong blog): Antonio Alfonseca, Armando Benitez, Vladimir Nunez, Todd Jones, Chad Fox, Joe Borowski, Ugueth Urbina and Kevin Gregg.... Too easy, right? OK, try to guess this: Bill James says this year the Marlins will once again have a different pitcher leading the team in saves. Guess who.

Kim Folk

Where is Byung-Hyun Kim now that we really need him? Last year, our most successful starters were Dontrelle (10 wins, gone), Scott Olsen (10 wins, injured but recovering?), B-H Kim (9 wins, five losses, the team's best w-l percentage, and where is he now?), and Sergio Mitre (27 starts, five wins, according to Bill James book, which is hard to believe, and is kind of an injured question mark). So ... you can either say we're in deep do-do when it comes to starting pitching, or this year's crop can't be any worse than last year's, and maybe, just maybe.... well, it's spring.
-- John Dorschner

The Worst Team in the Majors 2008

The Hardball Times Season Preview 2008 is out. They ran 100 computer simulations on the 2008 schedule, "including individual player projections." And the worst team of 2008 -- drum roll, please.... is ... drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmm... The Florida Marlins!

Projected wins 63. Projected runs scored 721. Projected runs given up 892. That means they score 4.45 runs a game and give up 5.5 -- gee a one-run spread.... that means the games might be watchable ... none of these 11-2 blowouts!

If you're curious, Tampa Bay is projected to have 75 wins, Baltimore 69, Washington 70, Pittsburgh 70 and San Francisco 70.

Bad pitching, awful fielding, and we've lost Miggy ... and the experts say Hanley may have a bit of a slide in production.

But gosh, only a one-run spread per game. That's a plus, right?

-- John Dorschner

Spring

Well, slowly the baseball season comes over me.... Partly I return to baseball because I learned that there are already a tremendous number of websites dedicated to Eduardo Chivas and Jeff Lebowski, including blogspots, and so I have come to decide that perhaps the world does not need to hear from me how Chivas changed the landscape of Miami forever or how The Big Lebowski MUST BE the greatest movie of all time. And so I turn to baseball. I listen a little to the Marlins on the radio. I go to a game at Barry U, where they play decent baseball, and I see a game decided in the bottom of the ninth (and another in the 10th). I got to see the Red Sox in Fort Lauderdale, a madhouse of a traffic jam in which there are only a couple of BoSox regulars, although one is Mike Lowell, who gets a standing O from me ...
-- John Dorschner

Not too much enthusiasm

Well, for some reason, since the Detroit trade, I've really had a hard time getting into baseball this year... I've been to one ball game -- or part of one, Barry U versus Palm Beach Atlantic, which Barry won in the bottom of the ninth, after blowing a three-run lead in the top of the ninth. Except for the clank of those dang aluminum bats, it was good baseball. Next Friday I'm going with a buddy to see the Orioles and Red Sox ( more ex-Marlins!), and I'm thinking of buying a Tigers hat.... In the meantime, I'm thinking of blogging on two people: Eduardo Chibas and Jeff Lebowski. More on that later.

Luis Gonzalez?

The rumor is that the Marlins are trying to sign Luis Gonzalez to play some LF and 1B. 

 This seems like an odd move, unless there are more moves in the works. Where will Willingham play? Jacobs has not been a success so far, but are they giving up on him? What about Ross, who had such a fabulous second half?  Who is going to play 3rd? 

Gonzalez made over $7 mill with the Dodgers last year, and $10 mill with Arizona two years ago.  In his prime, in the late 90s, he was very very good. He only struck out about every 9 plate appearances. If they sign him, maybe he can teach Uggla how not to strike out.