Pitching, Defense and Rain Make For A Hellish Sunday Afternoon, Marlins Lose 7-2

[geemoney]

You know you've had a bad day when Pete Orr homers off of you.

[Fish and Chips]

the cards lose 3 in a row, so we might be playing them at the right time

[Omar]

Or they could be about to wake up

[Swifty]

I think Carroll and Sanchez should be playing everyday at this point, while JJ and (probably) Nolasco should be shut down

Why bother playing Gaby?

Ignoring the fact that organizationally we've given up on him, he's not part of the future, long term with us he fills the Wes Helms role, and as far as the near future, no corner will be open for him. If Cantu stays, Logan plays, if Cantu goes, Bonifacio plays. He's so deep on the organization's depth chart (and I can't say it's without merit).

Carroll, meh. He's a long term 4th OF. Ideally we have Hermida/Maybin/Ross next year in the OF, but even if we do something stupid with Emilio and keep Coghlan in left, there's only one OF in that trio that Carroll would be more deserving of PT is Maybin, and something tells me that we can't come to terms with that yet.

[Ramp]

Obviously the organization has given up on Gaby, which blows my mind, but I would like to see if he can handle being an everyday player. I suspect he can.

As for Carroll, I think he can play everyday too. I'd like to see it happen.

[Bobbob1313]

I can't wait until Cameron Maybin is awesome and Swift likes him.

[Party]

I'm sure he does.

[Bobbob1313]

What?

[Swifty]

I don't understand the fascination with Gaby.

He's 26 years old. He's been kicked off a D-1 program for steroid use. He is not good defensively. His AAA this year was solid, no question, but he's not going to take a 25 year old's .853 OPS and move it to the majors. He's not young enough that you look at his doubles and say "those'll translate as he ages" as he's basically at his ceiling in terms of body development. He's a corner player who plays bad D, getting far off that .853 OPS means we have a right handed Mike Jacobs, just without the 30 homer upside. Maybe his eye translates, but with that kind of thing you never know. Sometimes you get a guy like Hermida who should just walk walk walk and he forgets how, sometimes you get a guy like Uggla who never showed a propensity to walk just develop an eye out of nowhere. I'd rather not hang our future on a 20ish homer player who plays a corner, poorly, and may or may not walk. Cantu's in the fold already.

That all said, his homer on Saturday was the most impressive non-Hanley/Uggla homer I've seen this year. He fucking obliterated it. That's not necessarily something that screams to me "there's hope" but rather something that says, were he to become forced to occupy a supporting role, I'm encouraged we may add more power "depth." I still don't think Gaby's an everyday player, and that's one of the few areas I agree wholeheartedly with the organization.

[Ramp]

What does him being kicked off UM for steroids use have to do with anything at this point?

Edit: will read rest of your post now...

I have no seen Gaby play defense, but by all accounts in Double-A, he was an above average defensive first baseman there last year. Jorge Cantu brings nothing to the table at this point. What you see is what you get. I don't understand why it would hurt so much to give Gaby 2 weeks of playing time (I realize small sample size) and see if he can get things done offensively. I never said to hang our future on the guy, but you don't necessarily know what he can give you at this level if you don't give him even a decent chance.

[Swifty]

The steroid use has a lot to do with how you look at him as a prospect.

I could give a crap if the guy turns his body into a chemistry set. Tongue in cheek, I hope Cam does the same and puts some bulk on, but if you're looking at Gaby and see a 26 year old, you have to wonder how much more growing he can do. If he has a steroid using past, you really have to wonder how much more growing he can do and you certainly have to be worried about his body not only at its ceiling but reaching a premature break down point.

[Ramp]

I mean, UM was 6 years ago already. It's not like it was in 2007

[Swifty]

Which makes you wonder what his history was and how long he was doing it.

Again, it's not a "I don't want a user on my team" it's a situation where if his age already puts him precariously on the prospect/non-prospect fence, to me, a history of steroid use in a guy who needs to find a way to improve his homer totals as a big leaguer is not something that's encouraging.

And, of course, you have to wonder about the health effects of something like that. Gaby has had back/knee problems before, I think he's even had them this year, and that's certainly concerning.

[Ramp]

Fair enough. Still would like to see him get 2 weeks worth of at bats.