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Hanley had a 4.6 WAR in 2010 which was his "bad" year before this one. That is a cornerstone piece. Yea its not 08-09 insanity rates, but let's not get dramatic because 2011 is a complete disaster. Hanley ain't Soriano.... (yet). Johnson certainly is when healthy. Everyone agrees its not ideal to have to rely on them, but don't sell them short because you are frustrated either. If they were healthy, the team probably wins 1-2 more games a month and is hovering .500, which is pretty much what they were expected to do. The Marlins have a nice core to build around with those two, Stanton, and a good collection of 'complimentary' guys with Nolasco, Anibal, Buck, Gaby, Bonifacio, and a really nice young bullpen. Maybe Dominguez and Coghlan. Morrison is fringe cornerstone as far as I am concerned (.274 BABIP, going to hit 20+ HR in a partial/injured season at 23/24 years old), but he fits into either category. Payroll is pretty open moving forward with no albatross Uggla contract. They are in pretty good shape despite their current W/L and lame farm system. This is far from a debbie downer situation. This is at least a .500 core when healthy and under club control for years for the most part. They can easily find rotation upgrades in free agency, in addition to a potential bonkers Pujols/Prince/Reyes type moves.
As for in house, there is more to do besides a big Stanton deal. They aren't as big of deals, but I think it would be smart to give Anibal a reasonable 3 year contract as replacing those innings in free agency is likely more expensive based on his upside (it's hard to imagine he is 27 years old). He has been healthy for 2 years now so he's just as big of a risk of signing any pitcher these days. I would give Bonifacio a 3-4 year deal because it will be so low he'll be worth it just as a premium bench player. I would resign Dobbs and attempt to resign Infante (I don't think he should be guaranteed a starting spot and would be best served as a 400-450 PA super utility mix in with Dominguez/Bonifacio/Coghlan type). It's also probably smart to give Mujica a 2-3 year deal. He's had a sub 1.00 whip in basically his last 150 innings, and realistically could be seeing some saves in the future. As with Bonifacio, that deal would be so cheap why wouldn't you do it.
We'll see what they do. I never said it was an either/or situation and that money is ear marked for whatever need the team has, but the point is, if they are going to do a Pujols/Prince/Reyes deal, there are obviously other holes on the team and they will have to spend at least another $15-20 million past them to shore up the rotation and depth for bench/2B/3B/CF. They can't just sign a top 3 free agent and ignore everything else and that's going to push $100. I don't know if Loria has it in him, but adding Pujols/Prince/Reyes, Ozzie Guillen, Mark Buerhle/Edwin Jackson/keeping Javy Vazquez, and signing 2-4 other 'little' guys like Betemits, Infantes, Dobbs, and Crisps, would be one hell of a statement.
As for in house, there is more to do besides a big Stanton deal. They aren't as big of deals, but I think it would be smart to give Anibal a reasonable 3 year contract as replacing those innings in free agency is likely more expensive based on his upside (it's hard to imagine he is 27 years old). He has been healthy for 2 years now so he's just as big of a risk of signing any pitcher these days. I would give Bonifacio a 3-4 year deal because it will be so low he'll be worth it just as a premium bench player. I would resign Dobbs and attempt to resign Infante (I don't think he should be guaranteed a starting spot and would be best served as a 400-450 PA super utility mix in with Dominguez/Bonifacio/Coghlan type). It's also probably smart to give Mujica a 2-3 year deal. He's had a sub 1.00 whip in basically his last 150 innings, and realistically could be seeing some saves in the future. As with Bonifacio, that deal would be so cheap why wouldn't you do it.
We'll see what they do. I never said it was an either/or situation and that money is ear marked for whatever need the team has, but the point is, if they are going to do a Pujols/Prince/Reyes deal, there are obviously other holes on the team and they will have to spend at least another $15-20 million past them to shore up the rotation and depth for bench/2B/3B/CF. They can't just sign a top 3 free agent and ignore everything else and that's going to push $100. I don't know if Loria has it in him, but adding Pujols/Prince/Reyes, Ozzie Guillen, Mark Buerhle/Edwin Jackson/keeping Javy Vazquez, and signing 2-4 other 'little' guys like Betemits, Infantes, Dobbs, and Crisps, would be one hell of a statement.
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