Marlins Agree to Terms with Jeff Baker on 2 Year Deal

[fauowls44]

Via Jon Heyman's Twitter. $3.7 million total.

Looks like we may be platooning at 1st after all. A Jones and Baker combo at first could be pretty productive.

This also makes it unlikely either Lucas or Wigginton starts the year with the Fish.

[tjfla]

Baker can also play 3B. This move pretty much means Moran will be staying in the minors till mid 2015(Which is a good thing)


Jennings is still trying to talk Loria into letting Dobbs go. About 3/4 teams have asked on him however Loria still seems to want to hold onto him and then work in the Minors next year

[HUGG]

.298/.353/.522 career vs. lefties (.326/.379/.628 in 2013)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-OYKd8SVrI[/ame]

[lou]

Also a backup plan to Furcal and McGehee. Pretty solid move.

Now if only they can get rid of Dobbs and replace him with R. Johnson.

RHP - Bugosevic
LHP - Baker, Lucas, R. Johnson

That is an interesting bench with a lot of platoon split options

[Mainge]

I like

[emkayseven]

real fuckin solid offseason so far

[fauowls44]

Agreed. I think they did a pretty good job improving the offense on a tight budget and without giving away any arms. I'd still like to see them add another bullpen arm or two to the mix, but I think this team should be at least 10-15 games better than last year.

[lou]

Agreed. I think they did a pretty good job improving the offense on a tight budget and without giving away any arms. I'd still like to see them add another bullpen arm or two to the mix, but I think this team should be at least 10-15 games better than last year.

Bullpen? They have a top 10 bullpen, if not top 5. It's literally the last thing they need. They need a 5th SP and longterm infielders.
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real fuckin solid offseason so far

Stanton wasn't signed longterm or traded for mother load. The stopgaps are nice, but they didn't do the only important thing.

[fauowls44]

Bullpen? They have a top 10 bullpen, if not top 5. It's literally the last thing they need. They need a 5th SP and longterm infielders.
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Stanton wasn't signed longterm or traded for mother load. The stopgaps are nice, but they didn't do the only important thing.

Well I'd like another lefty out of the pen. Not sold on Jennings yet. And while they need long-term infielders, the they were never going to address that this offseason...not with Moran and maybe Dietrich in the system, and they are clearly giving Hech every opportunity to develop.

5th starter is a need and there are still plenty of options out there at the moment.

As for Stanton, the only chance the Marlins have at convincing him to sign long-term is to show they can put a better team together. If this team performs, maybe (a big maybe at that) Stanton changes his opinion on staying a while.

[lou]

Throw $90 million in Stantons face last month, they got him for 6.

They also have Flynn, Dayton, and Olmos on 40 man for lefties if Jennings gets sent down. I don't think lefties is an issue at all. Now, if you want to sign someone who is better than Koehler (as Cishek, Ramos, Capps, and Caminero are pretty much locks, Caminero as he is out of options and have love him), that's pretty much the only upgradeable spot in the bullpen.

[fauowls44]

Throw $90 million in Stantons face last month, they got him for 6.

I have to think that if that was really the case, they would have done it by now.

[lou]

I have to think that if that was really the case, they would have done it by now.

Yea right like Loria is going to offer real money. That's the problem. Clowns.

[fauowls44]

Yea right like Loria is going to offer real money. That's the problem. Clowns.

He gave Hanley "real money", so yes, I think they would offer Stanton that deal. The real issue in this case is Stanton and his desire to play here...not if the Marlins are willing to pay him.

[lou]

Jennings said this offseason they hadn't offered him a deal so this is moot. Also, Stanton's deal projections are another $20-25 over what Hanley got. Not chump change.

Stanton's not turning down $90 guaranteed with his injury history, having made a combined $3 million the previous 6 years, and only had a guaranteed arbitration tender for 2014 moving forward. It's to much money to leave on the table when he has not made any. Maybe that ship has sailed since he has some guaranteed bucks, but maybe they could throw out a 4-5 year deal for $75-100 and make it work.

They blew it. He may not want to stay here longterm, but he is not forsaking his financial future just to not play in Miami for 3 extra years before he turns 30. Don't kid yourself about Loria giving Hanley, JJ, Nolasco, and others some contracts. He is cheap and has no vision. Every other team in baseball, every other team, would have signed him by now because the risk in him NOT becoming what is expected and losing value on him is worse than the risk of him flailing.

That's why this offseason is a failure. Some nice stopgaps, but they missed the big picture and focused on the details.

[fauowls44]

I'm not disagreeing with the characterization that Loria is cheap or lacks vision...that's no secret. However, I do think you are off base when you say they "blew it". First of all, just because they didn't offer a contract doesn't mean that they didn't discuss it. For all we know (as I suspect), they were told not to bother.

Also, it's not entirely true that every other team would have extended him by now. There are plenty of teams that may not have handed him a ton of cash yet. He's a great talent, but there's still questions if he's worth giving a big extension at this point. Don't get me wrong, I would take the chance on him, but it's not my money. The Marlins have been burned by plenty of long-term deals (granted mostly on deals negotiated by Loria), so I can understand being a bit gun-shy about handing out $90 million+ to a guy coming off a down year and has not stayed on the field consistently. That's not even taking into account that he's apparently given them no indication that he wants to be here long-term. It's real easy to say "It's the Marlins and Loria, so they must have blown it", but I just don't think it's that simple. Personally, I think if had let it be known he wanted to be here or would be receptive to a long term deal, something would have been done this offseason.