Marlins Sign Rafael Furcal to One-year Deal

[HUGG]

ok "Mainge"

[dim]

We could be .500 in June...if we sign good players at 2B, 1B, SS, and 3B.

But that's not happening, so we're gonna suck.
--------------------
If we played the game of guess whose starting lineup this is (Marlins or Zephyrs), and I gave you the names Morrison, Dietrich, Furcal, Hechavarria, and Solano, I'm not sure the answer should be Marlins.

[Erick]

We could be .500 in June with the current team.

[HUGG]

I think its possible too, I was just being a dumbass.

49-51 in the last 100 games of 2013 and they should have a better team, on paper anyway, to open the season

[dim]

I love our starting pitching, so I don't think we'll be awful. But the lineup is still a hitter or two away from being a capable major league starting lineup. The only hitters on the team who are likely to post OPS' over .750 are Stanton, Salty, and Yelich.

[Mainge]

We could definitely play 60 games of close to .500 ball with this team.

[dim]

I do think the team defense would be really awesome with Furcal and Hech up the middle and an outfield of Yelich in LF, Ozuna or Ruggiano in CF and Stanton in RF with Marisnick waiting in the wings.

If this team could produce like the 20th best offense in baseball, THEN we could be .500. I'm still inclined to see this offense as one of the three worst in baseball, even with the positive Salty signing.

[marlinsfan24]

I like the signing because it moves Solano into a utility player and I still strongly believe that Dietrich should start the season in Triple-A.

[emkayseven]

I don't believe Dietrich is ready, and I don't think the Marlins do either. He needs some more time. It's clear they want to actually assemble a baseball team here this time. To me the fact that they like Mathis, signed Salty over sticking with their golden boy Brantly, are supposedly going after Uribe/another 3B says to me that they want to improve defense and add pop to the lineup. This isn't the same MO as the Marlins who would just play any player anywhere just to get a bat in a lineup, or sign a fast black guy just to be a leadoff hitter (though I can guarantee Furcal will be our leadoff hitter - ugh). It seems a little like they're putting an actual team together with forethought - we have some hitters but let's add more power, we have guys who can play 2B but let's get a better defender, and so on. To me it's NOTHING like the Polanco or Pierre deal, in the former we had nobody to play there (Dietrich had played all of 34 games above A ball, Solano was the starting 2B), and in the latter we had guys who weren't ready (remember the chief complaint was that we should just open with Yelich or Ozuna out there - I'm fine with the way things turned out and at least they started benching JP midway through the year).

[Jay]

Why did Furcal not play last year?

[Big Z]

Why did Furcal not play last year?

Tommy John surgery. I hope/assume he still has that lightning speed he used to have, I mean he did rest his legs for an entire year.

[Jay]

Ok, figured it was injury but wanted to know the type. TJ is so routine now .

[Big Z]

Ok, figured it was injury but wanted to know the type. TJ is so routine now .

Good thing is that he's playing 2nd base, so he's not going to be using his arm much anyways.

By the way, if we're able to resolve our offensive woes through FA without giving up any of our young prospects, that would be phenomenal.

[Mainge]

Good thing is that he's playing 2nd base, so he's not going to be using his arm much anyways.

By the way, if we're able to resolve our offensive woes through FA without giving up any of our young prospects, that would be phenomenal.

That seems pretty unlikely.

[emkayseven]

gotta figure we're close to the payroll cap, right? with salty's contract and bell's money?