Mike Stanton Wants to Be a Major Leaguer Now

[Bobbob1313]

We have a starting outfield of Coghlan, Maybin and Ross.

One of them sucks, Morrison goes to LF and you shuffle it around. Morrison sucks, Carroll starts. Carroll sucks you've got to try Petersen or Cousins first, don't you? If only for the fact that none of those guys matter like Stanton does.

I'd rather see like 4 guys fail and have us have crap outfield production before I see Stanton fail.

The long term is more important than what Stanton might be able to give you this year. There are serious questions about him, and he needs time to recognize legit breaking pitches.

With a 20 year old who has 300 PAs above A+ ball, I put zero into Spring Training also.

I'm not saying "See you in 2012".

I'm saying "Kill people in AA and we'll probably call you up to AAA in July, and if that happens we'll see you this September for 20 PAs so you can pick up a handful of ML paychecks and wear whatever funny outfit that Wes Helms makes you wear and then probably see you again in June of 2011, but things could change if you are embarrassing people in AAA at the end of this year and we might speed up that timetable. But we're not making any promises. We want you here when we win the WS in 201? in our new stadium, not for our 2-games-short-of-the-wild-card run in 2010."

[Nick]

Carroll sucks you've got to try Petersen or Cousins first, don't you?

No you don't. Not if Stanton is clearly outplaying those two in the minors. I say something happens to Maybin or Ross than Carroll gets the first chance to fill in. If he can't hack it then we go for whoever is playing the best in the minors, whether that be Stanton, Cousins, or Petersen. I don't think Morrison is a legitimate option in the outfield at this point, I guess I could be wrong though.

[Bobbob1313]

I understand what you guys are saying, I just think long term is more important than this year. He's too valuable to take a chance on.

[Swifty]

If he's playing well, it's not taking a chance.

[lou]

THe problem with that mindset is as much as you say he's on his own schedule, you're still sending him to AAA regardless and saying we'll see you in 2012.

Let's say Stanton finishes with a strong spring, goes to AA puts up numbers you'd expect of him, and come June 1 Maybin sucks or is hurt, or Ross' hammy finally comes back to haunt him, or Gaby or Morrison is ineffective at the ML level and the other isn't setting AAA on fire.

Then what do you do? Do you bring him up? I say that he is rapidly placing himself into the "first to get the call for long term injury or ineffectiveness" camp, and that's A-OK with me. Given what we have at the ML level, he doesn't need to break camp with us, but if something funny happens on the way to awesome, I would hope that Stanton is the first guy we look to to pick up 250-350 AB's.

I know that instinctively the call is for Carroll, but good ML teams often have enough talent to fill in a lost starter (not a star, a starter) but the problem is almost always not how to replace the starter, but rather how to replace the player that replaced the starter. Carroll's got a nice niche as a 4th OF guy and lefty starter (and he should stick there), Cousins or Petersen can be the 15 day DL replacement, but Stanton almost has to be the answer if someone gets seriously hurt or seriously sucks.

Let's assume Stanton does "what we expect" of him. He's going to NOLA in June and then it'll be his job to lose in Spring Training 2011 versus Petersen/Cousins/Jai's last hurrah. Latest would be June 2011. It's neither here nor there for 2012, but that's the timetable at this point assuming the best case scenario.

You're asking for a pretty strong widespread failure of Maybin, Gaby, Morrison, Carroll, Jimenez/Lamb/Barden/etc, Bonifacio (cause you know he would get first slot to slap his way into the lineup and if he could be .270/.330/.400 that's not "terrible"), Petersen, Cousins, probably even Jai Miller (on the 40), nothing on waivers/easy trades like a Cody Ross circa 2006, AND potential injuries, to resort to Stanton in 2010.

If we're assuming Baker, Uggla, Hanley, Cantu, Coghlan, and Ross will be fine when healthy, we're literally looking at two corner positions (Ross shift CF) from a group of 8-10 guys who should be able to pass as our 7-8 hitters. And I mean, hedging out bets with Maybin and Morrison here (despite the fact I think Morrison is a summer player), i.e. two top 30 "prospects" in baseball, is pretty damn solid. Let alone Gaby, Carroll, Petersen, maybe even Jimenez or Bonifacio, could be passable in platoon gigs. Hell, "The Contingecy" might even work out versus lefties at least. There is depth here even if it's not "100% proven" and does not have superior potential like Stanton does.

Stanton doesn't need to be protected this offseason on the 40 man too. I think putting him on there is silly with the amount of pitchers we have around, unless you are supremely confident he immediately hits .250/.325/.475 and you have a spot for him to play everyday, which we won't unless there is the aforementioned player failure and probably at least 1 major injury elsewhere. I think that's a lot to ask for, for a guy who has pretty severe contact problems despite the bombs. Maybe he's good enough and is an Andruw Jones prodigy, would LOVE to be shown wrong, but the conservative approach is much smarter despite the upside potential. His development is crucial to this organization as he is the true powerhouse 40 HR clean up hitter which costs $180 million in free agency. We need him to be a monster the second he comes up and never look back. Rushing him in a panic when it's likely someone else would be ok, and nominal trade targets all over baseball, coupled with this team making/breaking on the young pitching and not whoever is batting 7th, is just to much for me personally. He needs to be ungodly special to be called up basically. I'm just very cautious of unleashing him in 2010. There's so many reasons not to.

Also, to Bob. The Orioles were basically quoted at saying we're keeping him down because we want that extra year of service time down the road. They knew they weren't going to contend. I don't think Wieters is a "production" example. That one is clearly "all financial." The Marlins MAY contend this year, so a decision with Stanton would easily reflect, they think he will go Chris Coghlan/Miguel Cabrera on us, and not Cameron Maybin/Jeremy Hermida. I just find that INCREDIBLY unrealistic, even if Stanton mashes the crap out of AA/AAA due to his heavy heavy contact issues and veterans knowing they can get him to bite on bullcrap.

[Swifty]

I completely forgot about Bonifacio.

You're right, never mind, I retract my Stanton argument. We're not seeing him until mid year next year unless we have a serious rash of injuries.

[Bobbob1313]

Even if you want to put him ahead of Petersen, Jai, Cousins and the rest, we'd still need one of Coghlan, Maybin, and Cody AND one of Gaby and Logan to fail for him to be an option and if that happens, we aren't making the playoffs anyways.

There is so much benefit in leaving him down.

[AdamRavs]

Cogs to 2nd.. Deal Uggla at the deadline.. Stanton up at that point

[Ramp]

Cogs is not playing the infield

[Bobbob1313]

Then we suck.

[AdamRavs]

Well I know he is not but he SHOULD be

[Party]

Hey look, we agreed on something.

[Big Z]

Good stuff

Production may overtake patience when it comes to deciding if Mike Stanton is big league ready.

The way the Marlins 20-year-old outfield slugger is performing has the Marlins considering carrying him on their Opening Day roster.

"Funnier things have happened," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Obviously, we'll sit down and make sure it's the right move, the right decision. But for me to say, "absolutely not," I can't do that right now. I can't say that he's not going to make the team. I can't absolutely tell you, 100 percent that he won't. We'll sit down and decide how that plays out."

There is a temptation to promote Stanton right now, especially after the way he's produced. On Wednesday against the Astros in Kissimmee, the right fielder crushed a two-run homer off Wandy Rodriguez and he added an RBI groundout. Overall, he is batting .333 with two home runs and five RBIs.

Another factor are some health issues in the outfield. Cameron Maybin and Cody Ross have been nursing left groin strains. If say, Maybin, is slowed down to the point where he isn't going to be either ready -- physically or performance wise -- then Ross could move to center field. In that scenario, Stanton could factor in playing right field.

"There are a lot of guys who came up in the big leagues as 19 and 20 year olds who have had Hall of Fame careers," Gonzalez said. "I'm not ruling that he's not going to make the team."

From an organizational standpoint, the plan entering Spring Training has been to start off Stanton in Double-A, where he had 299 at-bats in 2009.

For the Marlins to promote Stanton this quickly, a number of factors must be addressed.

"Generally players will tell you when they're ready or not," Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest said. "I know that he's looked good. It's hard not to love him, and look at what he can do in his future. But we've got to do what's best for him. Is the breaking ball recognition and all the things that we want him to be confident in, are they ready to go?"

There are some health issues, too. In the Arizona Fall League, Stanton was sent home with lower back stiffness. And he's had an issue with his left shoulder, which is repeatedly iced after games.

Then there is the fact that in 299 at-bats at Jacksonville last year he hit .231, although he had 16 homers and 53 RBIs.

"There are a couple of things with Mike. He didn't dominate in Double-A," Beinfest said. "Then he's had a little bit of an injury issue. We wanted to make sure that he's strong, and he feels good. The rigors in the Major Leagues are tough on these guys. He's had some shoulder things off and on. We want to make sure that he's healthy, first and foremost. We want to make sure that he's comfortable."

The Marlins have had a strong track record of promoting young players. In 2003, Dontrelle Willis was 21 when he was called up from Double-A, and Miguel Cabrera was 20 that same year.

"How did we know when Dontrelle and Miguel were ready?" Beinfest said. "Or Hanley [Ramirez] and those guys in '06. Sometimes you are right, and sometimes you're wrong. Generally, they'll tell you."

One thing that is clear is Stanton projects to be in the big leagues, at least some point in 2010.

"It's all coming. He really wants to do well," Beinfest said. "He's a great kid. He's a student of the game. He's learning very quickly. His learning curve is shorter than the other guys. He's getting it. There are a lot of positives. Let him keep playing, and we'll see what happens."

Would the Marlins rule out Stanton being on the Opening Day roster?

"We never do," Beinfest said.

[Ramp]

Stanton making the team out of ST would be retarded. Such small sample sizes and then he didn't even have a good AA campaign (I know he was young).

Let him dominate AA for 2 months, then call him up if need be

[Mike Stanton]

Yes, yes I do want to be a Major Leaguer.