Spring Training Roster Cuts

[emkayseven]

more:

"I feel much more relaxed and comfortable," Infante said. "The confidence that Edwin and the team has shown in me is very important. I know that I have a set position, and I feel like that will make it easier to prepare. I feel good here with the Marlins. They have made me feel welcome here, and Edwin's confidence in me as a second baseman and second hitter is very important. I have been working hard to make sure I can help this team get as far as possible this year."

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...tnerId=rss_mlb

[Beef]

Well, that just seems to imply that he is comfortable knowing he won't be moved around

[emkayseven]

from February:

There’s a chance that if rookie third baseman Matt Dominguez, 21, doesn’t make the team, Infante could be asked to move to third, where he as a career .947 fielding percentage.

But the Marlins — and Infante — prefer he stay at second.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/2...#ixzz1I6qPIvYZ

[nny]

Mets: Daniel Murphy, Scott Hairston, Willie Harris, Chin-Lung Ho, Mike Nickeas

I would argue we might not have the worst bench in our own division, as that Mets bench is really quite bad as well. Murphy is better than anyone we have, but the rest of that bench is terrible.

Hairston has a career OPS of .737 and plays really, really good defense (And was bad last year because of a low BABIP and lower power, but the "lower power" was less doubles [Which likely had to do with low BABIP] as his HR/FB wasn't much lower). Willie Harris's OPS the last 4 seasons was .736 and plays really, really good defense (And sucked so much last year because of a low BABIP).

I'd take the Mets bench over ours in a heart beat. I'd much prefer getting guys and hoping for bounce backs rather than getting known products of suck (and Dobbs sucks...if he could play defense like they could, it'd be a different story; But he can't - he shouldn't be anywhere besides first)

I mean, I think Lou is being rather dramatic. The league OPS for PH is around .650 for the past several years (Which I don't think is an accurate portrayal of bench because replacing injured guys and off days is probably the most important facet of the bench, as that's where most PA come from), and like CC said if you're good you're starting somewhere.

But I still think our bench should be better. I think a "good" bench consists of high-700, no defense players (Matt Stairs, Eric Hinske, Jason Giambi, Marcus Thames, etc etc) and low-700/upper-600 high defense players (tons) (Obviously not the entire bench, but 1-2 from each category). They're close to average starters, who aren't able to get gigs because their negatives are too high

However, our "no defense" players are of the low-700 type (And that's being generous to some). Ross Gload, Mike Lamb, Wes Helms, Aaron Boone...the last time we actually had a good one of those was Gonzo in '08. I mean yeah, Ross Gload kinda worked out for us (PH, but still finished with a .729 OPS) as did Aaron Boone (Thanks to a high BABIP, and his seasons surrounding the one with us are nothing but suck). And Wes Helms in '06 wasn't bad, and bringing him back in '08 probably wasn't bad since he was just one year removed from a really good season - But we're now talking about a guy who's last 4 years sit at a .659 OPS.

We generally don't bring in "all defense" guys and simply call up from within (BC, Boni, Cuz, etc). Cody worked out well in this area (Though I think he also had pretty good upside coming over here considering his power numbers in the minors), as did Amezaga. Boni should work out fine for defense and base running, hopefully Cuz works out but he also has below average BB/K and only average power so I don't have much hope.

Our bench likely isn't going to be as bad as Lou is making it out to be. But if you want to be a "good" team, you should want "good" aspects in your club, not hopefully-mediocre.

[lou]

I can admit I am worked up like a crackhead knowing his fix starts tomorrow, but I don't think I'm that far off. I agree with nny's mets analysis immensely and would have done that myself as I'd much prefer Murphy, Harris, or Hairston to be on the Marlins compared to our alternatives. That's really enormously better than ours. I also agree with nny that replacing guys on off days is as big or larger concern than pinch hitting, but I was just merely pointing out how poor "the bench" does in one of their roles. It would have taken a bit more time to splits out all the bench starts for a grand total of what level of offense, etc etc. And really, anyone think Bonifacio, Helms, and Dobbs time last year doing this was going to help?

Regardless, it's likely we're taking a .650 across the board for the six guys, and only Cousins knows how to play defense. It would have been nice to see the organization do anything for the bench. Going into the year penciling in Dominguez, knowing your backup catcher will be out 2-3 months, resigning Helms to a guaranteed deal, while you are starting a green outfield, and very young corner infielders, is really just crazy. I can accept half the bench being this way, but they needed to do something.

I'm expecting them to hammer waivers the next few days and April and see if they can unearth something. Hey, that's how they found Cody, and maybe Murphy/Cousins low 700s it with some slugging as some of you suggest and Dobbs has found his stroke again. I will be THRILLED to be wrong. Just probability wise, this wasn't smart from the front office. It would have been great to keep Cousins, Dobbs, and Hayes in AAA as legit "4th" options. They are in pretty important roles at the moment and this team will be relying on them with no one (gotay, come on) behind them. Again, I hope to god Brett Hayes wins a game in the 11th this weekend and Cousins makes some sick diving catch to win a game, but let's be serious here. How can you not be pretty ticked off at this when Bandehop and Sanabia, and a ton of other cool guys like Marinez, Cishek, Hill, Koehler, West, etc, are in AAA, and we have 6 automatons as position players? It's just poor poor foresight into where the roster was going to end up.