The Chicago White Sox have acquired Cabrera. That is, Orlando Cabrera from the Angels.
But that’s not the story here.
Looks like they’re focused on an all-Cabrera left side of the infield as their GM Ken Williams claims that this deal clears some financial room ($3MM) for another deal. And that deal is:
“We’re not done yet. We’re still trying to land a big fish,” Williams said.
You know who which fish he’s talking about.
We’ve been debating here what to do with Miguel Cabrera and here is one view:
The more I think about it, the more I am OK with trading Cabrera (assuming the trade is for value).
With all this Cabrera talk, did anybody every realize that trading him might not be the a bad thing for the club? First, they can get a lot in return (and are apparently asking for a lot). Second, given the Marlins’ revenue constraints, is Cabrera really worth the cost?
Take a look at these stats… Is Cabrera really that far ahead of Hanley or Uggla?
| Player | POS | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | TB | BB | SO | SB | CS | OBP | SLG | AVG |
| Cabrera | 3B | 157 | 588 | 91 | 188 | 38 | 2 | 34 | 119 | 332 | 79 | 127 | 2 | 1 | .401 | .565 | .320 |
| Ramirez | SS | 154 | 639 | 125 | 212 | 48 | 6 | 29 | 81 | 359 | 52 | 95 | 51 | 14 | .386 | .562 | .332 |
| Uggla | 2B | 159 | 632 | 113 | 155 | 49 | 3 | 31 | 88 | 303 | 68 | 167 | 2 | 1 | .326 | .476 | .245 |
Now, if you are the Marlins, you can keep Cabrera for now but can you keep him in the future (and will you want to?). In the long run (even with a stadium) it will be impossible to keep Cabrera and Ramirez (in addition to young pitchers like Olsen, Nolasco, Sanchez, Mitre, and Johnson). In fact with many of those joining the team at the same time, it seems that down the road the Marlins will hit a time when these young talented players will all be arbitration eligible during the same year and their salaries will increase exponentially. Even with a stadium, the Marlins will never have a revenue stream like the Yankees or Red Sox which will allow them to sign and keep all those players. In other words, Cabrera will either get traded some day or be lost to free agency. Alternatively, the Marlins could plan to keep Cabrera in the long run but that would mean planning on losing one of the other young talented players. Would you keep Cabrera, a player who has shown himself to be lazy and indifferent at times and who for two seasons now has been completely unable to control his physical conditioning and declining defensive skills, or do you keep the guys that hustle and will be able to do something other than hitting? Last I checked baseball does not maintain separate defensive and offensive squads. The concern is that while Cabrera will become the equivalent of Pavel Bure — offensively flashy, defensively useless, and always a member of a losing team, guys like Ramirez and Uggla are dedicated and hardworking.
That leaves the last question — do you keep Cabrera now, knowing that he will be gone in the future? That depends on whether you can get the trade value you want. This team has many holes that need to be filled in. After last year, we can all admit there is much room for improvement. Trading Cabrera is the most efficient way to fill those holes while securing this team’s on-field future.
2013 update: Yes, I was wrong. Sucks.
I have an administrative/design question for all of you. Which theme do you like for this website?
Today will mark the end of an era for the Florida Marlins.
At some point today, Jeff Conine’s name will be announced for the last time as a player in Joe Robbie/Pro Player/Dolphin Stadium. If you haven’t heard already, Niner announced that he will retire at the end of this season.
He is the only player to have played for the inaugural team and the two World Series Championship teams. In his seven years (1993-97 and 2003-05) Conine hit .290 with 120 home runs and 553 RBIs. Statistically, his name appears in the top-10 of many career lists including batting average (5th), games (2nd), at bats (3rd), runs (3rd), Hits (2nd), total bases (2nd), doubles (4th), triples (7th), home runs (5th), RBI (2nd), and singles (2nd). He was even named the MVP of the 1995 All-Star game, wearing that great teal hat (photo on right).
When he comes to bat today (and hopefully, he will) Marlins fans should stand up and give the loudest and longest ovation ever seen at a home game. With all do respect to other Marlins “legends” (Miguel Cabrera, Luis Castillo, and Mike Lowell) no player meant more to this franchise. He helped build this franchise we all love so much and was there to guide it through the early years and through its two championships.
There will always be only one Mr. Marlin. Now batting, Jeff Conine.
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We think that if we polled Fish fans (and we may just do that soon), the majority would admit that they prefer a downtown site but they would also say that they’ll take a stadium anywhere as long as it solves the teams financial problems and ensures they stay in South Florida. We should all remember that as we analyze the latest ballpark news.
Miami-Dade county manager George Burgess contends that the downtown Miami site is just too expensive and he wants everyone to focus on the Orange Bowl site. Since Burgess has long been one of the biggest advocates for a Marlins stadium, it maybe time for reality to sink in and for all of us to just get over that downtown site.
The good news is that $38 million of the Orange Bowl renovation funds can probably be directed towards an OB ballpark. That should easily close most of the gap. Now, construction costs always exceed expectations so the sides still need to work through the cost overrun details. Initially, the Marlins were going to take care of that. But if they have to take the OB site instead of downtown, it is likely that they will push back on this issue and demand more from the County. In fact, the Miami Herald openly suggests that the Marlins might drop their own contribution from the current $207 million. This sounds like something that came from inside the Marlins organization.
In another interesting twist, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz spoke with Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber about an expansion team playing in a duel-purpose baseball/soccer stadium. It is safe to say that the Marlins would not be happy with that scenario. Hopefully the city and County aren’t dumb enough to prioritize this adventure ahead of the Marlins (as they did with the UM situation).
We have a suggestion. Miami-Dade should focus on a downtown ballpark for the Marlins. It makes the most sense for the game, the team, and MLB. Between MLB’s willingness to buy some of the land and the Marlins’ willingness to throw in more money for a good site, there must be a way to work this deal. As for the Orange Bowl, the county should wreck it and work with developers to build things that would benefit the local community (examples: supermarket, stores, library, park). This money could help offset some of the added costs of the Marlins downtown site while bringing the right kind of development to the community (instead of the ballpark which doesn’t really help). Oh, and if MLS wants in, then cut a deal similar to the one being discussed in DC where DC United wants to build a stadium on land not far from the new baseball stadium and is seeking commercial development rights around the new stadium to offset some costs.
I suggest this neutral site for the proposed Marlins Stadium…this site would have access to the Florida Turnpike and SR 836. The land is now un-developed, and would have only a moderate inviormental and traffic impact. This tract lies adjacent to Dade-Collier Airport.
With an 8-game losing streak and the ballpark situation reaching a critical point, we figured we will distract you with some breaking Marlins Mermaids news.
Yes, the ladies just shot their 2008 calendar at dusk on the site of the famous Nikki Beach nightclub. If you want to get your hands on one of those (the calendars, that is) you will want to mark your old Mermaids calendar for September 23rd when the Marlins play the New York Mets. Prior to the game, the first 10,000 fans will receive the free calendar. Make sure you show up early before the 35,000 Mets fan get to the game.
Since we are at the point when we can question and criticize this season’s Marlins, the Palm Beach Post throws us some fastballs with Fredi Gonzalez’s face all over them. They tell us this:
Girardi was widely admired by his players. All indications are that Gonzalez has gained similar respect.
and
“He talks to you like you’re his son. He doesn’t talk to you like he’s your leader. He’s more of a family-oriented manager. You know if you ever had a problem with anything he’s the first guy you’d feel comfortable going to.”
So question to all the fish fans — is the team better off with a dictator or a father figure?
“He has gotten a lot wiser. He’s real good at being the same. He knows that consistency in the chair that he sits in is probably the strongest quality you can have and he’s not going to waver from that.”
Is he too consistent? He’s a rookie manager, shouldn’t there be some kind of correction?
Or should we just say that injuries killed the season and it doesn’t matter what the manager did?
This is a Wiki for all Marlins fans to aggregate the collective history of the Florida Marlins including players, games, trades, and everything else under the Dolphin Stadium sun. You can access the Wiki directly at http://wiki.fishatbat.com or simply search in the Wiki form above.
Please help us build this Wiki by contributing your knowledge and insight into the Florida Marlins. Since we just debuted this Wiki, expect to see some style changes and bugs over the upcoming days as we fine tune the product.
Thanks,
The Fish@Bat Team
2012 Update: We’ve decided to shutdown the Marlins Wiki. There are too many sources today that already provide the same data without us having to maintain it. Thanks to everyone for your contributions over the years.
