More Roster Changes Coming?

[Swifty]

I'd like to see them try and get a non LOOGY lefty reliever who they can actually use more than 40 innings, but if Ohman is all they can get, why not if it's cheap.

This would be my preference as well.

[nny]

Our scouts are watching all season and watching potential free agents as we headed toward the off-season. Our scouts had seen Javier pitch, know the player, did not see a drop off in velocity and saw the same competitor that we’ve seen in the last decade.

uhhhhhhh

[CrimsonCane]

Apparently, our scouts don't have radar guns or internet access.

[Swifty]

What should we do? Should we not listen to our scouts? They're our scouts!

[Party]

Must have been a tough decision for Beinfest. The general public says his velocity dropped, however the scouts do not agree. These are the times that try men's souls.

[Ramp]

Maybe it's the old school scouts that use the clap of the glove, not radar gloves.

[Party]

They also relayed their information to Beinfest via Western Union smoke signals.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

A little more on this subject;

Once again in the National League, Vazquez is looking for a bounce-back season. The Marlins' scouts watched him pitch late in the year and didn't see any dropoff in his velocity.

"I had a really tough year last year," Vazquez said. "I can say that I don't know what happened to my velocity. Now, I'm working with a physical therapist in Puerto Rico. I've always worked hard with my offseason program with my arm. I guess I'm to the point in my career where I'm 34 now and I have a lot of innings in my arm. I have started working with my physical therapist on my exercising and stretching."

According to an MRI he took during his physical, Vazquez is completely healthy.

"I feel good. My arm feels great," Vazquez said. "I can't say right now that [2010] was injury related, because it wasn't. In the MRI, everything was clean."

Marlins site

Our scouts didn't see the drop in velocity but Vazquez pretty much said there was a drop off and that it wasn't injury related? Maybe our scouts are not who we thought they were.

[Erick]

Now we know why Mike Hill barely talks...

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

With most of their heavy lifting done, the Marlins head to Orlando next week looking for a left-handed bat off the bench and perhaps a seasoned left-hander for the bullpen. Scott Cousins, Bryan Petersenor minor-league signee Josh Kroger potentially could fill the former role. Some otheravailable names: RickAnkiel, Ryan Church, Jim Edmonds, Willie Harris and Delwyn Young.

The Marlins already have added a couple of young, left-handed relievers via trade in Dustin Richardson and Mike Dunn, and prospect Daniel Jennings will via for a big league job as well. The Marlins don’t consider Dunn a lefty specialist. Some lefty relievers still on the market: Joe Beimel, Randy Choate, Brian Fuentes, Pedro Feliciano and Dennys Reyes. The Marlins don’t appear to have interest bringing back Will Ohman.

Disregard Justin Upton rumors

[Chewford]

I'm sure we'll find a winner somewhere with the rich history of lefty specialist who can't get out lefties or righties that our team has.

[Jay]

Get me some Ryan Church

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

The Marlins have made so many moves this off-season, they might be tempted to skip baseball's winter meetings and spend the week at Disney World.

But the Marlins, one of baseball's busiest teams since October, plan to continue tweaking their new-look roster when the meetings open Monday at the Swan and Dolphin Resort in Lake Buena Vista.

"I think a lot of the major things that we wanted to accomplish, we've attacked those areas and we feel pretty good about it. But you're never done. You always want to try to improve as much as you can and add as much depth as you can,' Baseball Operations President Larry Beinfest said.

Florida's priorities include more bullpen help (especially a veteran left-hander), a left-handed bat off the bench and options for improving their outfield.

That sounds like a minor to-do list compared with what the Marlins have done since they ended an injury-filled 80-82 season.

In three trades, they acquired infielder Omar Infante and four relievers with big-league experience - right-handers Ryan Webb and Edward Mujica and left-handers Dustin Richardson and Mike Dunn.

They also signed two free agents: catcher John Buck and right-handed starter Javier Vazquez.

And last week, Florida also re-signed right-hander Burke Badenhop and cut loose catcher Ronny Paulino and reliever Jose Veras. Those moves freed up a spot on the 40-man roster, a vacancy that can be filled at the Rule 5 draft Thursday.

It's all part of owner Jeffrey Loria's dream to raise a championship banner when the team's new ballpark opens in Miami in 2012. But some observers doubt the Marlins will even reach the playoffs this season.

"If I'm being realistic, no, I don't think they're a playoff team this year. I don't think they can compete in the East with the Phillies right now," said former closer and current MLB Network analyst Mitch Williams. "But I think looking down the road in two or three years, they absolutely could be.'

"They've got what I consider the most important aspect - good pitching. I do believe they have to shore up their bullpen and find a closer that is a legitimate closer. If they do those things, you never know. Hey - there's nobody in the world who thought the Giants were going to win the World Series.'

Loria said last month the Marlins would like to use the Giants' blueprint: pitching and defense. Florida used that formula to wins its last championship in 2003.

But they'll also need to overcome the loss of Dan Uggla, who led the team with 33 homers before being traded to Atlanta for Infante and Dunn. They used money saved on Uggla's salary to sign Buck and Vazquez.

"There was a lot of industry-wide criticism at first that they didn't get enough for Uggla in the deal, but I like what they've done so far,' said Jim Duquette, the former Mets general manager who's an analyst for Sirius XM Radio.

"When you put it in a broader context and look at how they spread their money around and spent it, it made a lot of sense.

"I'm not sure they have replaced all that power, but there's some young talent you can expect to develop further this year.'

Still, Duquette predicts the Marlins will finish no higher than third place in the East, behind Philadelphia and Atlanta.

While the Marlins won't be major players at the meetings, there will be plenty going on.

Marlins promising more maneuvers at meetings

[Valid]

Get me some Ryan Church

I'd prefer Edmonds. He'd probably be too expensive, though.

[MiamiHomer]

The Marlins are discussing free agents Joe Beimel and J.C. Romero as they look to add left-handed relievers to their bullpen, according to MLB.com's Joe Frisaro. Ron Mahay could be another possibility for the Marlins, who have about $1.5MM to spend on a reliever. Florida will have some competition for Mahay's services, as the Red Sox are also interested.

MLBTR