Marlins Townhall Conference Call Today

[KnuckleBalls]

Larry Beinfest, President of Baseball Operations, and Mike Hill, Vice President & General Manager, will be hosting the Marlins' first ever live Town Hall Meeting Conference Call on Thursday, January, 21st from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. They will be discussing the team and the upcoming season and you will have the opportunity to ask questions during this live call. The conference call is free and open to all fans! The phones lines will open at 5:30 p.m. this afternoon. Don't miss it and make plans to dial in!
In order to participate:

1. Dial 1.877.269.7289
2. Enter PIN# 15393
3. Lines open at 5:30 p.m. ET

Can't make the call? A full audio archive will be available on marlins.com. Check back periodically for the archived call.
--------------------
bumped

[Omar]

Running Quotes
--------------------
"We love Leo Nuñez as our closer." - Beinfest
"We were just a few wins away from the playoffs." - Beinfest
--------------------
Asked about Nuñez not being able to pitch more than three days arrow, Mike Hill said that we should be able to use him as often and in whatever way we want next season
--------------------
"Not sure we have a hole over there." - Beinfest in reference to third base

Mentioning Cantu playing third predominantly. Beinfest thinks Sanchez and Morrison are both major league ready at 1B.
--------------------
"Signing free agents would take away from other areas of allocation." - Beinfest
"Don't look for any big free agent signings at first or third base." - Beinfest
--------------------
"What's being done to keep Cody on the team?" [Question]
"Cody's not going anywhere." - Hill
"Cody will be our starting right fielder." - Hill
--------------------
Will the Marlins pick up a vet pitcher (mentioned Sheets by name):

"We're pretty much at our max on our payroll. There's not much room for flexibility. There's still somethings we'd like to do." - Beinfest
"We're looking for experience in the bullpen. We're working on some things for the bullpen on major and minor league contracts." - Beinfest
--------------------
"What are the odds of Mike Stanton competing for a starting OF job this spring training?"

"He will be in major league camp and we'll take our look at him. More than likely you'll see him go down to the minors for more seasoning, but he's definitely on the cusp." - Hill
--------------------
Lou, is that you?!?!?
--------------------
"What would be the starting lineup...on Opening Day?" Real/fake Lou

Coghlan LF, Maybin CF, Ross RF, Cantu 3B, Hanley SS, Uggla 2B, Morrison/Sanchez 1B, Baker/Paulino C
--------------------
Bench question - no mention of bringing back Amezaga (I just died inside)
--------------------
Looking for a lefty bat to replace Gload
--------------------
Thoughts on Brian Sanches as a closer?

"Leo Nuñez is our closer." - Hill
--------------------
Donnelly wasn't offered a major league contract
They've had no contact with Kiko Calero

[Bobbob1313]

Coghlan LF, Maybin CF, Ross RF, Cantu 3B, Hanley SS, Uggla 2B, Morrison/Sanchez 1B, Baker/Paulino C
--------------------
Bench question - no mention of bringing back Amezaga (I just died inside)

confirmation of Carroll as 4th OFer and Bonifacio as super utility Amezaga man and not a starter is so for me. Pretty much cements me as an "A" for the offseason.

[Omar]

"How will Rick VandenHurk be used in the coming season?"

"He's definitely in that mix to be a starting pitcher." - Beinfest
Mentioned his new slider as a sign of his improvement
Next three spots after JJ and Nolasco are open

Mentioned Miller, RVH, Volstad, Penn (missed a name or two)
--------------------
Can Brett Carroll start? Will Amezaga be back?

blah blah blah blah platitudes
"I wouldn't rule anything out for Brett. It's going to be tough for him to break into this lineup." - Beinfest
"Profiles more as a fourth or fifth outfielder on this team." - Beinfest
"The knee was significant and continues to be so." - Beinfest
"We made some business decisions that we were forced to make." - Beinfest
On Amezaga - "He would be welcome back in a heartbeat. We'll see if we can work something out. We've kept in contact and he left here on super terms. One of my favorites." - Beinfest (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
--------------------
Uggla Long Term Deal

"One at a time!" - Beinfest
--------------------
"Our starting pitching competition should be a lot of fun to watch." - Beinfest
--------------------
"We feel that we have depth in our bullpen, young depth." - Hill
"We're looking to see if that veteran piece is still out there to add to our bullpen." - Hill
--------------------
Signing off for now - questions have been sucky

[FishFanInPA]

I think Beinfest/Hill just said Gload went to SF.

[Namaste]

Ross in RF and not Hermida in RF makes me joker smile

[BigGameFish]

Ross in RF and not Hermida in RF makes me joker smile

this

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Not really anything new or earth shattering in what they said.

I also don't see this "starting pitching competition" that Beinfest is talking about. The only way it could be as wide open as they are talking about is if they are willing to completely ignore contracts which I don't see happening. I mean, if this was really a "wide open competition", we could have a 3-4-5 of Volstad-West-VandenHurk (all three making major league minimum) and have two guys making over $3 million combined (Sanchez and Miller) sitting in AAA? Not going to happen.

[nny]

Sanchez is out of options.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

That's another reason. This is not a wide open competition like he's talking about. The only real competition I see for the rotation is between Miller and West for the lefty spot in the rotation.

[lou]

Not me. It was Fake Lou. I did get that call though, and hung up as I had shit to do tonight.

I would have asked, "Are you guys going to bat Maybin at the top or bottom." Then started cursing when they said bottom. Actually that's a good way to know if it's ever me on any radio/phone/in person. There will be a lot of cursing when something dumb is said.

[Big Z]

Wonder how much Thome, Giambi or Giles would cost to bring off the bench as our Left handed pinch hitter

[m26555]

Wonder how much Thome, Giambi or Giles would cost to bring off the bench as our Left handed pinch hitter

I would absolutely LOVE Thome, but you've gotta think he'd be too expensive for us judging by the fact that he OPSed .847 last season.

[wanks1212]

Thome's strictly a DH at this point in his career. He hasn't played more than 3 games at first base since 2005, and didn't play in the field at all in 2008 and 2009.

[nny]

And he told the Dodgers he wouldn't play the field outside of the extreme of the extreme cases

I like giambi though