Oct/082
What They Are Saying…The Mike Jacobs Trade
Let’s get a feel for what the innerwebs are saying about the Mike Jacobs trade…
Rotoworld: A nice pickup for the Marlins, as Nunez is 24 years old, cheap and has posted a 3.42 ERA with a 63/25 K/BB ratio in 92 innings over the past two seasons. He’ll likely slide into a setup role initially, but could be in the mix for saves at some point in 2009.
MarlinBaseball.com: Philly and Tampa had the two best bullpens in the playoffs and that contributed to their runs to the W.S. Bullpen strength and depth is huge. Trading for bullpen help is always a pain in the ass at the deadline (please see: Brian Fuentes 2008). Getting a just-turned 25 year old who has already shown a great ability to set up is so exciting.
Season Ticket: I’m not one to bet against Larry Beinfest. My concern is that, if Sanchez plays first, then Jorge Cantu will go back to third base, where he struggled. In a perfect world, the Marlins would find a taker for Jeremy Hermida, whose intangibles don’t match his skill level. And I still believe that Hanley Ramirez could be playing leftfield in a year or two.
Royals Authority: In my opinion, trading Leo Nunez for Mike Jacobs is a low risk, low cost insurance policy in case the September 2008 Ryan Shealy disappears and Kila Kaaihue hits .228 in Omaha next year. In the end you have two questions to answer: Mike Jacobs or Ross Gload? Can you replace Leo Nunez in the bullpen?
Royals Review: Jacobs has legitimate power and should be an upgrade over Gload. Unfortuately, that isn’t really a useful standard. Losing Nunez isn’t a disaster, but considering the Royals already had upgrades over Gload on hand, and that 1B/DH is the easiest position to fill, the trade just seems, in a best case scenario, pointless. Questions about Moore’s ability to build a lineup unfortunately must continue. C
It looks like most Marlins fans are looking at this deal as addition by subtraction and I think Royals fans are left sitting there scratching there heads.
Oct/080
Hot Stove Poll Up
I put a new poll up for the Hot Stove. Any time a deal goes down involving the Fish, I will try to get the pulse of the fan and display the results once the polls close. You can participate in the latest poll by visiting the home page, right in the middle sidebar. Thanks for participating! (Sportech Homepage)
Oct/080
Big Jake Dealt to Royals – Official
Clark Spencer is reporting that the Marlins are close to completing a deal that will send Mike Jacobs to the Kansas City Royals for relief pitching prospect Leo Nunez. As was reported earlier in the week, the Fish have been in talks with KC all week and almost had a deal done until they questioned the health of the pitching prospect they were going to receive in return. Here is a small breakdown of the prospect we would be getting in return…
Nunez, 25, went 4-1 with a 2.98 ERA in 45 games last season and would likely compete for a set-up role. The 25-year-old native of the Dominican Republic has pitched four seasons in the majors – all with Kansas City – and has a career record of 9-7 with a 4.92 ERA.
Nunez really stepped up this season, becoming Joakim Soria’s primary setup man. Nunez came up from the minors at midseason in 2007 and made six starts before the team moved him to the bullpen in September, after which he struck out 12 and walked none in 10 1/3 innings. Baseball Prospectus gives Nunez a good outlook…
When evaluating Nunez’s PECOTA forecast, which pegs him for a 1.42 WHIP and 4.99 ERA, keep in mind that PECOTA evaluated Nunez in his 2007 role of swingman; if Nunez sticks at the back end of the bullpen, as it looks like he will, he could very well push his 90th percentile projection for WHIP (1.20) and ERA (3.42), due to the significant improvement in performance that pitchers historically experience upon moving from the rotation into the bullpen full-time.
Update 1:43 PM: It’s official. The Marlins have acquired Leo Nunez from the Royals for Mike Jacobs. Nuñez, expected to be a key member of the Marlins’ bullpen, was 4-1 last season with a 2.98 earned-run average.
This now opens up the first base job to Gaby Sanchez. Jorge Cantu is also expected to get a look as well.
Quite frankly, Jake wore out his welcome here. I wish him luck with his third big league team.
Oct/082
Who Is Carlos Rosa?
That failed trade the Marlins explored last week involving Mike Jacobs and the Kansas City Royals (still seems like an odd landing place for Jake) involved a minor league pitcher named Carlos Rosa. Mike Berardino revealed that today in his article for the Sentinel. The man who has been on the DL since August 1st seems to be getting mixed reviews. The MinorLeagueBall blog takes a good look at Carlos Rosa.
Rosa went 4-2, 1.20 with a 42/7 K/BB in 45 innings for Double-A Northwest Arkansas this spring. He made two appearances with the Royals and looked quite good in 3.1 innings, fanning three with one run allowed. His Triple-A numbers were less impressive, though not bad at all for the Pacific Coast League: 4.09 ERA with a 44/12 K/BB in 51 innings, 51 hits allowed.
Check out this video of Carlos chucking up a no hitter through eight innings against the Travs.
Oct/080
Team Report
We all know the Marlins head into the long off season with a record number of arbitration eligible players set to make more money. While there are 15 arby players, not all of them will return with the Fish next year. With a little help from Yahoo Sports, I will break down our off season outlook…
Free Agents: OF Luis Gonzalez, C Paul LoDuca, LHP Arthur Rhodes, LHP Mark Hendrickson.
The only one from this group that I expect to return is Arthur Rhodes. Rhodes is still effective even as he gets older. Problem is he can’t give you more than a few batters a game. Rhodes was a huge asset down the stretch last year when Renyel Pinto started struggling. A one year offer seems fair for Rhodes who deserves a Kevin Gregg 2008 type salary, considering he was much more effective than Gregg.
Arbitration-eligible: 2B Dan Uggla, RHP Kevin Gregg, LHP Scott Olsen, RHP Ricky Nolasco, 1B Mike Jacobs, LF Josh Willingham, 3B Jorge Cantu, RF Jeremy Hermida, CF Cody Ross, INF Alfredo Amezaga, RHP Josh Johnson, C Matt Treanor, RHP Joe Nelson, RHP Logan Kensing, 3B Dallas McPherson.
We already know the story on most of these guys. I do expect the majority of these guys to be back and battling in Spring Training for starting jobs. Kevin Gregg, Mike Jacobs and Scott Olsen are 80-90% gone and guys like Dan Uggla would be traded only if the Marlins are blown away by an offer. That being said Hermida should get another shot in Spring Training to prove he is worth sticking around. Cantu should be back as well. I also expect McPherson to get a legitimate shot out of Spring Training for third base.
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