Post by fish on Sept 25, 2023 15:42:25 GMT -5
Coming off of a season that saw the Marlins suffer the first 100 loss season since President of Baseball Operations Matt Andersen
took over, the Marlins entered the 2007 off season continuing their focus on developing the farm system and making smart
financial decisions that will allow the Fish to go all in in the next few years as some of their prospects start to make their South
Beach debuts. The primary focus was on adding some stop gap starting pitching, some quality depth to the bullpen and catcher
help, something that the team has been devoid of for the last few seasons. Let's look at the additions:
SP Jose Rosado -Rosado is a 32 year old that hasn't really lived up to his talents yet, in Baltimore. He was a first round draft
pick back in 1994 and has a lifetime 4.66 era. The Marlins are primarily looking for someone who can eat innings as the
young pitchers that are close start moving in to the rotation. They signed him to a 4.75/year contract for the next 3 years,
so there's very little financial risk, and while the Marlins were in on other pitchers, Rosado was the only one they were able
to sign to what they considered a reasonable offer.
C Ed Taubensee -Taubensee comes in to give the Fish a leader who they are hoping still has some quality baseball in him. He'll
play most days vs. righties, splitting chores with Miguel Olivo, who's been servicable the last couple of seasons, but who the
Marlins see more as a top flight backup than a guy that can handle a pitching staff every day. Taubensee is just keeping the
seat warm for Salvy Perez, who made it all the way to AAA as a 16 year old last year and looks to be in a big league uniform
in the next few seasons.
MI Royce Clayton -Clayton comes in and will handle the SS duties this year for the time being, hopefully replacing some of the
speed that left when Orlando Cabrera was allowed to walk in his free agent year. Clayton is a glove first infielder, he may find
his way to the top of the lineup with this group, but ideally the Marlins would identify a running mate in the middle for Johnny
Peralta and Clayton would be able to slide back up in to a bench role.
RP's Rod Beck and Dave Mauerer -Beck comes back for a second stint in Marlin teal after being traded to the Astros prior to the
2006 season. Beck is three saves shy of 250 and will get a chance to reach the milestone as he'll serve as the closer for the Fish.
He's coming off of a stellar year nabbing 23 saves with a 1.31 ERA and was signed to a reasonable one year deal. He'll probably
end up on the block at the trade deadline, but for now he gives the Marlins a shut down arm at the back of the bullpen. Maurer
comes over to serve as a left handed setup guy. He's coming off of a solid year in Houston where he had a 3.49 ERA while showing
pin point control. The Marlins committed 2.25 mil/year for four years to Maurer, so they see him as a longer term fit.
Trades:
Only one deal to report as the Marlins took on some salary from the Twins in an effort to add some reward points. The Marlins added
two more relievers in lefty Billy Wagner and righty Scott Linebrink. Linebrink is signed to a 1.5 million dollar deal for the next six
years, and even though he struggled through last year, he's only one year removed from a 2.87 era in Seattle, and his periphials
certainly look like he's a good bounceback candidate. There's not a lot of financial risk here and this is the type of risk that the
Marlins are wise to take at this point of the rebuild. Wagner has plenty of talent, and should give the Marlins two very good lefties
with Maurer, but he doesn't come cheap. At 7 mil per year the next two years, he'll need to perform at an extremely high level for
the Marlins to have any opportunity to move him. That being said the Marlins have plenty of cash if they need to cut bait at any point.
The Twins also sent along 1B Tony Clark, a three true outcomes type of hitter with lots of power and lots of miss to his swing. He's owed
8 mil over the next 4 years and Andersen hopes he can hold down a part time DH spot at least for a while. The Marlins needed the
development points, they took some financial risk, but they have the payroll room and cash to absorb it.
The DRAFT:
In a system bereft of young hitters, the anticipation was that the Fish would focus on bats in the draft this year. Instead Andersen
continued to focus on taking best available player, which led him to drafting 3 starting pitchers and 5 relievers in the first 3 rounds.
At pick 4 the Marlins took big Jake Arrieta, a starter from TCU who they view as a top of the rotation arm. He has the build to be
an innings eater, and while the Marlins have lots of arm talent in the minors, there's some question of whether they had a true 1,
so they're hoping Arrieta fills that role.
With their second pick they took tall lefty Danny Duffy. A high schooler, Duffy has 5 pitches and dominant off speed stuff, he projects as a 2/3
starter, but will need some development. With their first pick of round 2, they took another high school pitcher in Trevor Cahill. There's some
reliever concern with Cahill, but he'll get plenty of time to work in the Marlins pitching lab to see if the Fish can unlock more there. The relievers
selected were Ryan Brasier, Jeurys Familia, Will Smith, Marcus Walden and Hunter Strickland. All of them have back of the bullpen talent, and
Brasier has the looks of a shut down closer. They'll all start at A Kissimmee and join the whole bevy of hard throwing relievers that the Marlins
have been adding the last number of drafts.
2007 looks like another rebuilding year, but each year gets us one step closer to the Marlins hopefully building something a little more sustainable
and we should start to see more new faces as the year goes along, including young center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who some thought would
break camp with the Fish, but who will probably make his debut sooner rather than later. The Fish start the season still under the guidance of
Ivan Rodriguez, which was somewhat of a surprise, but Andersen likes how he worked with the youngsters last year, especially the development
that Khalil Greene made as the season went along, so the interim tag was removed and Pudge will continue to see if he can work his magic as
the youth movement moves forward.
took over, the Marlins entered the 2007 off season continuing their focus on developing the farm system and making smart
financial decisions that will allow the Fish to go all in in the next few years as some of their prospects start to make their South
Beach debuts. The primary focus was on adding some stop gap starting pitching, some quality depth to the bullpen and catcher
help, something that the team has been devoid of for the last few seasons. Let's look at the additions:
SP Jose Rosado -Rosado is a 32 year old that hasn't really lived up to his talents yet, in Baltimore. He was a first round draft
pick back in 1994 and has a lifetime 4.66 era. The Marlins are primarily looking for someone who can eat innings as the
young pitchers that are close start moving in to the rotation. They signed him to a 4.75/year contract for the next 3 years,
so there's very little financial risk, and while the Marlins were in on other pitchers, Rosado was the only one they were able
to sign to what they considered a reasonable offer.
C Ed Taubensee -Taubensee comes in to give the Fish a leader who they are hoping still has some quality baseball in him. He'll
play most days vs. righties, splitting chores with Miguel Olivo, who's been servicable the last couple of seasons, but who the
Marlins see more as a top flight backup than a guy that can handle a pitching staff every day. Taubensee is just keeping the
seat warm for Salvy Perez, who made it all the way to AAA as a 16 year old last year and looks to be in a big league uniform
in the next few seasons.
MI Royce Clayton -Clayton comes in and will handle the SS duties this year for the time being, hopefully replacing some of the
speed that left when Orlando Cabrera was allowed to walk in his free agent year. Clayton is a glove first infielder, he may find
his way to the top of the lineup with this group, but ideally the Marlins would identify a running mate in the middle for Johnny
Peralta and Clayton would be able to slide back up in to a bench role.
RP's Rod Beck and Dave Mauerer -Beck comes back for a second stint in Marlin teal after being traded to the Astros prior to the
2006 season. Beck is three saves shy of 250 and will get a chance to reach the milestone as he'll serve as the closer for the Fish.
He's coming off of a stellar year nabbing 23 saves with a 1.31 ERA and was signed to a reasonable one year deal. He'll probably
end up on the block at the trade deadline, but for now he gives the Marlins a shut down arm at the back of the bullpen. Maurer
comes over to serve as a left handed setup guy. He's coming off of a solid year in Houston where he had a 3.49 ERA while showing
pin point control. The Marlins committed 2.25 mil/year for four years to Maurer, so they see him as a longer term fit.
Trades:
Only one deal to report as the Marlins took on some salary from the Twins in an effort to add some reward points. The Marlins added
two more relievers in lefty Billy Wagner and righty Scott Linebrink. Linebrink is signed to a 1.5 million dollar deal for the next six
years, and even though he struggled through last year, he's only one year removed from a 2.87 era in Seattle, and his periphials
certainly look like he's a good bounceback candidate. There's not a lot of financial risk here and this is the type of risk that the
Marlins are wise to take at this point of the rebuild. Wagner has plenty of talent, and should give the Marlins two very good lefties
with Maurer, but he doesn't come cheap. At 7 mil per year the next two years, he'll need to perform at an extremely high level for
the Marlins to have any opportunity to move him. That being said the Marlins have plenty of cash if they need to cut bait at any point.
The Twins also sent along 1B Tony Clark, a three true outcomes type of hitter with lots of power and lots of miss to his swing. He's owed
8 mil over the next 4 years and Andersen hopes he can hold down a part time DH spot at least for a while. The Marlins needed the
development points, they took some financial risk, but they have the payroll room and cash to absorb it.
The DRAFT:
In a system bereft of young hitters, the anticipation was that the Fish would focus on bats in the draft this year. Instead Andersen
continued to focus on taking best available player, which led him to drafting 3 starting pitchers and 5 relievers in the first 3 rounds.
At pick 4 the Marlins took big Jake Arrieta, a starter from TCU who they view as a top of the rotation arm. He has the build to be
an innings eater, and while the Marlins have lots of arm talent in the minors, there's some question of whether they had a true 1,
so they're hoping Arrieta fills that role.
With their second pick they took tall lefty Danny Duffy. A high schooler, Duffy has 5 pitches and dominant off speed stuff, he projects as a 2/3
starter, but will need some development. With their first pick of round 2, they took another high school pitcher in Trevor Cahill. There's some
reliever concern with Cahill, but he'll get plenty of time to work in the Marlins pitching lab to see if the Fish can unlock more there. The relievers
selected were Ryan Brasier, Jeurys Familia, Will Smith, Marcus Walden and Hunter Strickland. All of them have back of the bullpen talent, and
Brasier has the looks of a shut down closer. They'll all start at A Kissimmee and join the whole bevy of hard throwing relievers that the Marlins
have been adding the last number of drafts.
2007 looks like another rebuilding year, but each year gets us one step closer to the Marlins hopefully building something a little more sustainable
and we should start to see more new faces as the year goes along, including young center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who some thought would
break camp with the Fish, but who will probably make his debut sooner rather than later. The Fish start the season still under the guidance of
Ivan Rodriguez, which was somewhat of a surprise, but Andersen likes how he worked with the youngsters last year, especially the development
that Khalil Greene made as the season went along, so the interim tag was removed and Pudge will continue to see if he can work his magic as
the youth movement moves forward.
