Marlins Sign Mike Morse to a Two Year Deal

[dim]

This is the hitter I wanted all along. He's the perfect cleanup hitter to protect Stanton, he's going to be a much better overall player at 1B than he was being Adam Dunn lite in left field, and he doesn't cost us any more prospects. He made too much sense all along and I was actually sad when we went after LaRoche first. Now knowing that Morse cost a good $14 million less than LaRoche, I don't see why we wouldn't have been on Morse the entire time as opposed to a contigency plan. I guess front offices see LaRoche as the better player (and the guy who has more experience playing 1B), but I'd rather have Morse next season period.

Great deal. This entire offseason, outside of having to trade Andrew Heaney, has been very very positive. Front office has done a good job making this team a legitimate contender for next season (even if it meant depleting our minors). Very excited to see this lineup next season...

Gordon
Yelich
Stanton
Morse
McGehee
Ozuna
Salty
Hech

I'd personally put Ozuna 5th and McGehee 6th but this is what I think the Marlins will end up doing. Still the lineup is looking good, the replacement starting rotation without Jose for half the year looks manageable, and if we could patch together a half decent bullpen we could have a really nice year.

[HUGG]

Patch together a half decent bullpen?

I mean, bullpens are never 100% predictable, but ours should be pretty damn good, shouldn't it?


Would definitely help if they don't throw the 3rd most innings in the NL again.

[nny]

Cant complain at all on the price. Less than Kendry Morales got.

I'm still trying to figure that contract out.

[Namaste]

So LaRoche cost $13 million more for roughly 1.2 wins over 2 years.

nny/Hugg/whoever, are Morse and Jones similar at 1B defensive wise or will Morse be worse?

[Nick]

I don't know the answer to that question, but Jones was pretty bad last year.

You would think Morse being a former middle-infielder he'd take to 1st base just fine.

[tjfla]

Patch together a half decent bullpen?

I mean, bullpens are never 100% predictable, but ours should be pretty damn good, shouldn't it?


Would definitely help if they don't throw the 3rd most innings in the NL again.

Ya pen is actually a big strength

Dyson/Crow/Dunn/Other LHP?/Ramos/Morris/Capps/Cishek

Arquimedes/Ramsey/Rienzo in the minors

[nny]

It's a small sample size for Morse (he has about 1 season worth of IP at the position) but he's at -2 UZR/150 and -2 DRS/150 in his career.

Jones has a -5.2 UZR/150, -9 DRS/150 for his career.

So Morse is likely something like 0.5 WAR +/- 0.5 better, assuming Morse continues to perform at that level.

[HUGG]

Jones was better than Morse at 1B last season though, according to UZR/150, for what its worth (probably not much).
--------------------
Morse has played 1B really well in the seasons he has barely played it and poorly in the 2 years he was used with any regularity:

2011 723.1inn -8.0 UZR/150
2014 336.1inn -4.1 UZR/150


2006 10inn 7.5 UZR/150
2007 28inn 13.0 UZR/150
2008 46inn 19.0 UZR/150
2009 60inn 15.4 UZR/150
2012 5inn 0.0 UZR/150
2013 51inn 35.9 UZR/150

[nny]

I WANT TO BELIEVE

[Bobbob1313]

I mean, even if he's -4, it's still likely a pretty big upgrade over what they got from 1B last season, overall, right?

[thatnewguy]

Also to be fair, the defense isn't why you signed Morse in the first place. Jones and Morse are both shitty defensively and one is significantly better offensively so...

[lou]

I mean, even if he's -4, it's still likely a pretty big upgrade over what they got from 1B last season, overall, right?

Brandon Moss had a .234/.334/.438 slash last year, a -11.1 Def rating on fangraphs, and a 2.3 WAR

Morse hit .279/.336/.475 last year. Got to imagine better defense than that at 1B. Obviously ballpark plays into this a lot and suspect Morse's slugging will drop, but this could be a real good deal. I think I am warming up to this being a bit more than a 1 win upgrade over Jones.

Hopefully the infield does enough to keep them afloat to July.

[marlinsfan24]

ESPN had it right. 2 years $8M. Only it's $8M per season.

[dim]

Not a steal anymore but not a bad deal either. I was thinking 2 years $20 million would be what needed to happen to get it done. 2 years $16 million is fine.

[BigGameFish]

I also agree that disappointment is looming McGehee. If I had to predict things going wrong next year, that would be #1 on my list. And there is just way too much talent ahead of him in the order for a below average output from him. I wouldn't be surprised to see him batting 6th, 7th, or 8th eventually.

My lineup would be:

Gordon
Yelich
Stanton
Morse
Oz
Hech
McGehee
Salty
P