Postgame: Marlins Bats Quiet On Opening Day in 2-1 Loss to Braves

[MiamiHomer]

Rain delay with a retractable roof.

Stanton getting thrown out on a stupid base running error.

Ozuna thinking he caught a ball but didn't and allowing the runner to advance.

Not scoring a run after loading the bases with no outs.

Dee Gordon face planting when trying to run to first on a perfect bunt.

Only decent results was the pitching.

[Bobbob1313]

that dee gordon bunt was sort of a metaphor for how i feel about them trading for him :-/
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reposting, because I think it is relevant to the Salty discussion that we were having

John Jaso is a perfect example of how Saltalamacchia should be used.

He has a .793/.510 platoon split. He faced LHP in just 7.8 percent of his at-bats last season and 11.6 the previous. He also rates out as a negative presence defensively by both B-R and FanGraphs.

His WAR the last two years: 1.2-1.6

It's not that hard to hide a catcher who can't hit LHP.

[dim]

I was going to post this in the game day thread, but it got closed before I could post. This is in regard to Salty.

As to Bobbob's point, I've said before that I'd love to see Realmuto be on the roster by May or June if he produces in AAA. One game is no indication of how Salty will do the rest of the season, but he looks like the same hitter we saw 95% of last season, which is going to be scary when we get down to the 7th and 8th spots in the lineup late in games. Mathis is only useful on the team as a late game defensive replacement, and like Bobbob said, just sitting on the bench and being a pinch hitter/starter every weekend is just a bad use of his abilities.

Outside of Realmuto I'm not sure what we have in the minors in terms of catchers. We traded Austin Barnes, who was more likely a 2nd baseman long term anyway. Also traded Chad Wallach who was the backup backup catcher who could've maybe made the team in 2017. Basically, we traded both future catcher options outside of Realmuto this offseason.

If Realmuto doesn't pan out and Salty keeps playing like the player he is, I have no idea where we are supposed to go at catcher moving forward other than finding crap in free agency.

[Bobbob1313]

problem with Realmuto being on the roster to open the season is he doesn't have an obvious platoon advantage either way, and I don't like the idea of having him just play vs. LHP right away (given his limited exposure to the upper levels), which is the best possible way to use the combination of talents available.

that being said, if he looks like he can hold his own at AAA through the middle of May, I would have no problem calling him up, starting him vs. every LHP, using him as the late-inning pinch-hitter/replacement for Salty when the opponent brings in a LOOGY, and using him as a pinch-hitter in other spots as well.
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ideally, they would find a Ronnie Paulino or Miguel Olivo type to just mash LHP, take the defensive hit and get a .775 OPS out of the catcher spot.

[MiamiHomer]

James Walker @JamesWalkerNFL
#Marlins Dee Gordon said he slipped after his bunt. He said the ground was wet after the rain. Gordon said he's never fell before bunting.

STUPID RAIN

[dim]

Given that we have Don Kelly already on the roster, who can play every position if necessary, and Baker on the bench to play the corners and second base, I'm not exactly sure that we need Solano if Gordon is going to play everyday.

Like I said, this isn't an immediate solution, but if Salty continues to do even a modicum if this kind of game, and Realmuto plays well, call up Realmuto and carry 3 catchers. That way we'll have the ability to switch out Salty in those kind of situations against LHP and still have an emergency catcher available to use. Hell, Realmuto has prior experience playing shortstop from his high school days 9(that is what we drafted him as), so if necessary he isn't completely helpless if put out in the field.

Just something to think about moving forward. We're only at day 1 so these are all panic mode thoughts if this goes on for multiple weeks. I'm still willing to give Salty a month to not totally suck.

[nny]

Baker not hitting there was all kinds of retarded. Bunch of dumb stuff, though at least the Ozuna not-catch was funny.

I really only watched games at the start of the season last year when Salty was good. I take it games like today was basically every game last year. Now I see why so many people don't like him.

[dim]

He strikes out more than Mike Jacobs used to. I feel like that is some kind of miracle.

[Namaste]

After baking in the sun for 2 hours I got fucking soaked in the rain.


In a retractable roof ballpark.


Two bright spots today:

Me and the boys met up with Party (we even posed for a pic) and because we sat in Sec 22 Row G, my boys got to high five the entire starting lineup and I couldn't resist sticking my hand out to high five Ichiro.

Everything that needs to be said about Salty has already been said in this thread but, yeah.


Common.

[thatnewguy]

Marlins opening day. We've ran out of hotdogs, we've had an inside the parker, we've had Muhammed Ali hobble a first pitch, we've almost got no-hit, but now we can say we had a rain delay in a retractable roof park. Man, what will this team do next year?

[Namaste]

FWIW, Redmond laughed off Saltys double play in the post game.

Said, "Salty will be up in a bunch of big spots this season"

Watch his post game. He basically lols at any second guessing at his decision to keep Salty in during that spot.

Poor guy is clueless.

[Bobbob1313]

I think it's an organizational thing. They're paying him to be a starter, not a platoon guy, so he's gonna be a starter. They seem stubborn like that.

[HUGG]

Marlins opening day. We've ran out of hotdogs, we've had an inside the parker, we've had Muhammed Ali hobble a first pitch, we've almost got no-hit, but now we can say we had a rain delay in a retractable roof park. Man, what will this team do next year?

Championship ring presentation

[Miamarlin21]

They keep saying that Kelly is the "emergency" catcher. They also mention of Kelly and Baker only being able to play the infield and outfield corners, thus why Solano is needed to backup the middle. That's at least my understanding from what I've read.

[HUGG]

Yeah, Kelly hasn't played SS since 2007 (20 innings) and has played 18 innings total in his career at 2B. That's major league.

Hasn't played either in the minors since 2009.

He's 1B/3B and all 3 OF spots.

He's basically an older version of Donovan Solano, except he plays positions that make his bat even worse and he doesn't have a really strong defensive position like Solano does with 2B. I really have no idea why he's on this team. Solano can do everything he does, except play 1B I guess, but if Don Kelly is playing 1B for us, fuck it anyway.


Baker did start 13 games at 2B last season. We should probably trade Baker, given how we're going to criminally underuse him this season...and probably use him incorrectly when we do use him. We're not going to start him vs. lefties (he should be starting at 2B vs. LH, but that's never happening) and Redmond doesn't play matchup PH very often. And he's useless vs. RH.


I guess we'll need him to platoon with Bour for the 50-60 games Morse is on the DL.