September 2020 game thread

[fish16]

Opening day next year-

C- Needs to be an impact addition here. Cannot go into another year with Alfaro. I would go all out for a prospect for prospect deal for Keibert Ruiz from the dodgers organization. They have C depth.
1b- Cooper & do we bring back Aguilar or deal him? Lewin didnt impress this year but also dont want to potentially block his ascent with no DH available next year
2b- Diaz/Jazz? What do you do with those 2?
SS- Rojas
3b- Anderson
LF- Bleday
CF- Marte after his option is picked up. I would choose between him and dickerson and move 1. Cant have a small market team like us have $20 million tied up in 2 outfielders who are good but not great when we have so many prospects on the cusp of the big leagues
RF- Sanchez/Monte

SP- Sixto, Sandy, Pablo, Cabrera, then any number of options with Rogers, Meyer?, Garrett, Neidert, etc.

While I want to go full on young rotation I wouldnt be shocked or upset to see us sign a modestly priced steadying veteran in the rotation just to give us an innings eating option. Rogers has shown promise but i think he was really rushed this year out of necessity and he could benefit from another full year in the minors. Garrett didnt impress me at all with his stuff. Neidert didnt show much in limited time. Meyer i doubt would go straight to the big leagues. And who knows whether Cabrera is actually ready for a full year in the big leagues. Jeff Samardzjia is a guy who i think has been continuously underrated and as a 1 year flier type i think could pay huge dividends and allow us to not have to rush guys while also being able to get legit big league talent.

RP- Pick up Kintzler's option, sign a shit ton of 1 year flier types like Boxburger, give me 1-2 legit impact bullpen arms on decent but short term deals.

[fish16]

Agreed.

I would honestly like to sign a veteran pitcher. I would love Trevor Bauer.

If Eliaser is good next year we can trade for a impact bat like Marte.

Wow I completely forgot about elieser. I highly doubt we go after a guy like Bauer but someone who is not just a complete flier on but has a track record of success but we would able to get relatively cheap and short term to just provide steady innings so we are not completely reliant on young guys. I just mentioned him but samardzjia on a 1 year small deal would be great. His peripherals have always been pretty good, he wouldnt be expensive, and it would not surprise me at all to get a good year from him. Also although he has been injured a little the last few years he has always been pretty decent at getting deeper into games which would help the bullpen next year and i think his pitching style would translate well in our park.

[Nick]

Opening day next year-

C- Needs to be an impact addition here. Cannot go into another year with Alfaro. I would go all out for a prospect for prospect deal for Keibert Ruiz from the dodgers organization. They have C depth.
1b- Cooper & do we bring back Aguilar or deal him? Lewin didnt impress this year but also dont want to potentially block his ascent with no DH available next year
2b- Diaz/Jazz? What do you do with those 2?
SS- Rojas
3b- Anderson
LF- Bleday
CF- Marte after his option is picked up. I would choose between him and dickerson and move 1. Cant have a small market team like us have $20 million tied up in 2 outfielders who are good but not great when we have so many prospects on the cusp of the big leagues
RF- Sanchez/Monte

SP- Sixto, Sandy, Pablo, Cabrera, then any number of options with Rogers, Meyer?, Garrett, Neidert, etc.

While I want to go full on young rotation I wouldnt be shocked or upset to see us sign a modestly priced steadying veteran in the rotation just to give us an innings eating option. Rogers has shown promise but i think he was really rushed this year out of necessity and he could benefit from another full year in the minors. Garrett didnt impress me at all with his stuff. Neidert didnt show much in limited time. Meyer i doubt would go straight to the big leagues. And who knows whether Cabrera is actually ready for a full year in the big leagues. Jeff Samardzjia is a guy who i think has been continuously underrated and as a 1 year flier type i think could pay huge dividends and allow us to not have to rush guys while also being able to get legit big league talent.

RP- Pick up Kintzler's option, sign a shit ton of 1 year flier types like Boxburger, give me 1-2 legit impact bullpen arms on decent but short term deals.

I don't think you can just give guys spots. Make them earn it at AAA. One guy goes off at AAA and you move somebody out. You start out 2021 with the Cooper/Aguilar DH/1B Combo. Lewin tears up AAA and you trade Cooper or Aguilar. 2nd Base same thing, I'd lean toward giving Berti the nod at the beginning of the season, unless Jazz or Isan has a monster Spring. Isan or Jazz tear it up in AAA, you call them up and move Berti to the utility role. You keep Dickerson, and maybe even bring in another 1 year rental to man RF, or just go with Brinson/Sierra. Bleday/Monte/Sanchez. One of those guys tears up AAA, you move Dickerson/Brinson.

The dream would be to bring JT back. Not sure how realistic it is, but we should have some money to spend for the next few years at least. Gotta make savvy bullpen moves, and then hopefully when Cooper/Dickerson etc. become tradeable, that'll be a focus I'm sure.

[Nick]

Wow Wainwright calling out the flat-earthers on the Cardinals.

[Maddawg]

Well, Jeter & Hill have work to do this off-season. Let's see what they do & how serious they really are at bringing a winner to Miami, or just raking in cash now that the payroll is embarrassingly low. Will the union start squawking about the payroll ?

[fauowls44]

It just sucks that they didn't have Marte for this series. He definitely could have made a difference in games 1 and 2.

Overall, a great year. They have work to do, but they are on the right track.

First order of business will be to decide what to do with Mike Hill who's contract is up after today. Was this season enough to earn a new contract? I think so, but I guess we will see if Jeter agrees. I think the move would be to give him a new 2 or 3 year deal like they did with Mattingly.

[fish16]

I don't think you can just give guys spots. Make them earn it at AAA. One guy goes off at AAA and you move somebody out. You start out 2021 with the Cooper/Aguilar DH/1B Combo. Lewin tears up AAA and you trade Cooper or Aguilar. 2nd Base same thing, I'd lean toward giving Berti the nod at the beginning of the season, unless Jazz or Isan has a monster Spring. Isan or Jazz tear it up in AAA, you call them up and move Berti to the utility role. You keep Dickerson, and maybe even bring in another 1 year rental to man RF, or just go with Brinson/Sierra. Bleday/Monte/Sanchez. One of those guys tears up AAA, you move Dickerson/Brinson.

The dream would be to bring JT back. Not sure how realistic it is, but we should have some money to spend for the next few years at least. Gotta make savvy bullpen moves, and then hopefully when Cooper/Dickerson etc. become tradeable, that'll be a focus I'm sure.

Is there a DH next year? I thought no and then maybe a possibility it comes back for 2022. that's a big difference and it will be a huge impact as to what our choices end up being.

Completely disagree on Berti. Absolutely cannot be a starter opening day unless there are several injuries. Decent bench guy with nice speed, but you gotta give it to Isan or even Jazz before him. Especially given the place on offense we need to improve- slugging. We cant continue to try to paper cut teams to death with singles and speed. We need power and impact bats. Who knows if Isan ends up developing or Jazz fulfills his potential but you gotta give them the shot when the alternative is Berti's low ceiling. In this day of baseball you need to be able to score in bunches without always needing a timely hit or without needing to always string together 2-3 hits. That's where the improvement is going to be- we need to find a way to have a more exlplosive offense.

As far as the OF goes, im super interested in seeing what they do, especially if there is no DH. I'd assume Jesus Sanchez gets at least a few more months to develop in AAA and even if he's ready Bleday wont be up the first month for service time reasons, but even with that we have a bunch of guys and we are going to have to figure out what to do about it. We have Dickerson, Marte, Harold Ramirez, Sierra, Brinson, Harrison, Bleday, Sanchez, Jerar not far behind. Then a little further down in the system you still have Misner, Burdick, Connor Scott. Cooper is probably a 1b but if you keep Aguilar what does that do for him? I think we will end up moving Dickerson and Aguilar to give more opportunity for Cooper every day at 1b until lewin is ready. Then i really think they keep only Marte instead of Dickerson and reinvest the Dickerson money elsewhere.

If you keep Marte in center or left field, then you have 2 spots. I think they give monte an opportunity to start every day for at least a month or so in CF, and then move on from Sierra and let Ramirez and Brinson battle for a starting spot or a platoon role with the loser becoming the 4th OF. Then you move whatever it takes to get a legit impact bat at catcher.

C- I say Ruiz, but whatever impact guy you can get from a surplus at another area
1b- Cooper
2b- Isan/Jazz
SS- Rojas
3b- Anderson
LF- Marte
Cf- Harrison
RF- Brinson/Ramirez

One thing I would be all over the market looking for is this years Ozuna or last years Donaldson. A legit impact bat who isnt going to get a long term deal. We have the salary structure where we can give a guy a big 1 year deal and the need is about as big as it gets.

The guys i envision being dealt/let go- Urena, Sierra, Aguilar, Dickerson,

[Madman81]

i don't like having these discussions without lou

[Madman81]

i do like jazz

[fauowls44]

I don't know if they have agreed on the NL DH for next year, but I can't imagine them going back at this point. Seems like something both the owners and players can agree on.

[fish16]

As much as this sucks going out this way this team should be really happy about this year. This team showed so much promise for the future and so much to be happy for with how they played this year. Just for this year the resilience they showed when literally 2/3 of the team goes down for a month just 3 games into the season was something to really be proud of.

We have at least 2 front line rotation pieces without having even seen the most recent #3 pick and another top 100 prospect in Cabrera. We have a team with not only a lot of high character guys but legit leaders and guys who go out there and play with swagger and confidence. Monte couldnt hit himself out of a wet paper bag but his leadership and confidence for such an inexperienced guy was impressive. Jazz looks like a future electric player who is not only fun to watch but isnt a pain in the ass to be around like Hanley. He reminds me of Lindor in terms of energy and enthusiasm for the game. Sixto is confident and borderline cocky. Sandy became a leader and the palpable confidence he has in himself is noticeable compared to the last couple years. Pablo lopez is one of the highest character guys in the league and a legit good guy. There is a lot to be really excited for in the future. Now the front office needs to make necessary tweaks without disrupting the promising bigger picture for the future.

The only complaint you can really have this year is the struggles of the young hitters but even that is understandable given the fact that most of them should not have been up regardless in any semblance of a normal season. Jazz, Lewin, and Sanchez at best would have come up after maybe 3 months more of minor league seasoning. Getting them experience and knowing how pitchers will exploit their weaknesses will only help for their future development I think.

Last positive- We called up so many of the young guys and, correct me if im wrong, but we did not burn a single year of service time for any of them right? It's like we got valuable experience for Sixto, Jazz, Lewin, Monte, and Sanchez all without burning a year of service time, something that not only obviously helps our future window of contention but also like I said is going to be super helpful for their development in the offseason and next year.

[Nick]

Jon Berti is not a long-term solution. I think we can all agree on that. The fact of the matter is, though, his career big league OPS is currently 200 points higher than Jazz/Isan's combined big league OPS's. 200 points. I need to see Jazz hit in AAA. Isan had earned his big league spot. The only thing that would cause him to lose it is be completely ineffective as a hitter in 200 ABs as a big leaguer and guess what? He pulled it off. He's got to earn his way back.

[Madman81]

this season was immensely enjoyable and entertaining.

have a nice fall.

[fish16]

i do like jazz

Me too. I wish we played him more instead of Joyce or even Berti the last few weeks. He looked really impressive at the plate and god knows they needed an impact bat. I think you gotta go into spring with the expectation of him being a starter or at least as the favorite to start going into spring.

[fauowls44]

One other thing to think about is that because of the pandemic, a lot of teams will be looking to cut payroll. With the Marlins having next to no money committed next year beyond Marte and Dickerson, they could be opportunistic with trades or free agents. There will likely be more players available than usual on short term deals. Should be interesting.