2023 Game Thread

[fish16]

Yet another 0-6 from wendle and stallings. Would love to know our record when both start the same game

[Todd]

I just want to say also….

If anyone here is a diehard Marlins fan and they just enjoy watching the games from the comfort of their homes I TOTALLY get it. Please do and enjoy.

But I can’t stand hearing people who go to less than 2 games a year bitch, moan and complain about the location of the stadium, time of games etc etc

Go on a fucking weekend and get their 90 min before first pitch and I guarantee you will sail in and out of the ballpark. If you say it’s impossible, you’re lying because as I’ve said, I do it at least a dozen times a year.

I live in St. Louis and made my first trip to Miami this year, finally. And I loved it.

And I hope to go again next year. And the year after. And to infinitum.

[Namaste]

So the difference in the game was Soler’s moon shot going foul

[Erick]

Might not make the playoffs this year because we can’t beat this trash Mets team.

[rmc523]

the brightline is not super cheap nor is it all that convenient of a location to get to the game. we're talking driving to the brightline station in either fort lauderdale or boca, getting on the train, then going from the train to the bus or an uber, from the uber into the game, back on a bus or uber at an undetermined time for the train ride home, then from the train back to the car to drive home. did it once for a heat game a few years back. the closest one to my house would be the boca station and the only train before the game leaves at 4:30. not happening

I believe they have a shuttle between the Miami station and the park now, even if it's not convenient, so at least there's that, and I think they've arranged for a train to leave X minutes after game end.

I’ve never understood this “they don’t care about Broward” thing.

Do you realize how far/long people in Los Angeles/New York travel to go to baseball games?

It used to take us an hour and 40 minutes to drive to Dodger games.

When I lived near Poughkeepsie, NY, it took almost 2 hours to go to a Met game.

There is zero travel time excuse for a Marlins fan who lives in Broward County to not attend 2 or 3 games a year.

2 or 3. Out of 162 games.

It's not about distance, as they can't do anything about that anymore. It's about things like start times, ease of access, marketing, etc. - the 395 to 95NB exit is finally getting a second lane, but it was terrible and dangerous getting onto it because of the massive line - you have to go over 5 lanes immediately into a long line.

id say putting your ballpark in little havana, doing nothing to make the experience from the traffic filled highway to the parking garages better, and then moving your start time up 30 minutes is a pretty good indication that they dont care about broward fans. i used to go to 15-20 games a year in the old stadium and it was the perfect middle ground for dade and broward/palm beach fans and it was super easy to get in and out of. It's why i stopped going to heat games too. Getting there and then getting in and out of there is awful. I dont blame them for moving down there because they really had no other choice, but dont blame fans from further north for not going to the games now when it is miserable to actually get there, plus the owner doesnt seem to give a flying fuck or have enough money to run the team, so im not going to reward that with my money.

It's a self-fullfilling cycle......the team hasn't been good enough to warrant people going. The owner won't invest without a return, so if people don't come, he doesn't spend. The ballpark is in the middle of a neighborhood, so not exactly a "lets hang out near the park" area.

[rmc523]

So the difference in the game was Soler’s moon shot going foul

Yeah, I don't know how they can call it fair, then get together, call it foul, and THEN go to review for the "on field" call to stand....

[rmc523]

We didn't need to win out, but losing last night stung. Hopefully they can come back and win tonight. If we win all of the remaining series, I think we'll be ok.

[Lee Stone]

The team's refusal to advance baserunners (particularly a runner on first with no outs) will be the death of them. Team refusal to play Edwards over Wendle hurts big time too.

[rmc523]

The team's refusal to advance baserunners (particularly a runner on first with no outs) will be the death of them. Team refusal to play Edwards over Wendle hurts big time too.

Yeah, I don't understand those decisions either.

[lou]

If we sort statcast by expected xwOBA over 200 PA, here’s where the core lands. This is overall rank in baseball for offensive performance.

20 - Soler (95th percentile)
35 - Sanchez (91st percentile!)
43 - Burger (88th percentile, CHW are dumb)
56 - Arraez (85th percentile)
98 - Bell (73rd percentile)

That is really really awesome to have 4 guys in the top 60 overall hitters, and notably Jazz is not there (way way down because of lefty issues, 40th percentile). Arraez also scales up IRL because he doesn’t have the hard hit profile at all and he is a perpetual overachiever with the bloops, as well as Sanchez who is even better when not facing lefties obviously. Sanchez is legitimately awesome.

This is a really good core (assuming Soler is back on QO which I think he will be). Effectively, this is 5 really plus starters (adding in Jazz defense for him and RHP splits), and two more good ones with Bell (defense drags him down but he is solid) and a combination of DLC 144 (60th percentile hitter) and Berti 247 (28th percentile hitter, but speed + defense makes him solid) is a pretty good 1000 PA behind them. The only weakness in these 8 guys are two of Soler, Bell, and DLC have to play in the field as how the team is constructed. Ideally that is “1” but they’ll have to live with that absent larger moves.

Not that this is groundbreaking, but the analytics really support the offense is transformed with Burger and Bell (and healthy Jazz against right handers) and it’s going to stick as these aren’t fluke performances. If they can really upgrade SS or C they are going to be in major business. Practically, Soler + a major upgrade at one of those or medium upgrade at both of those is a good offseason probably.

The non-prospect SS pool of hitters they will probably like given who they have targeted recently and would be available:

Jorge Polanco (39th overall on stat cast)
Willy Adames (74th overall)
Luis Renfigo (164 on statcast)

I know Polanco and Renfigo aren’t playing too much SS, but you can imagine them as 80+ game SS starters, they’d dabble at 2B or 3B respectively, and mixing in Berti/Amaya behind them. Adames would be an enormous upgrade offensively and defensively. He’d be amazing as a premium defender (high floor) and hitter under 30. Probably looking at a Nimmo level deal for an extension (6/$150 range) though. He only has 1 control year so something like Puk/Nardi, Amaya/Mesa Jr, and Fulton/Miller/Monteverde would probably get him in a 3-1. Or maybe just Rogers and ask for a second small piece back arm wise as Rogers has way more control.

I think the offseason plan should probably be

1 - Soler QO or 2 year deal

2A and 3A - Adames + cheap veteran catcher
2B and 3B - Renfigo/Polanco/Joey Ortiz (prospect option) + then a larger catcher upgrade, ideally Jansen

4 - Right handed reliever upgrade

5 - Are you keeping Hampson for the bench or using one of the kids


___, Fortes
Bell
Arraez
_____, Amaya/Hampson
Burger, Berti
DLC, Soler
Jazz, Edwards
Sanchez

Sandy, Eury, Cabrera
Luzardo, Garrett, Rogers/Weathers (Rogers could be a trade option)
____, Chargois, and pick two CC RHP of the mass assortment of them, and wait for Meyer midseason
Scott, Puk/Nardi, Okert/Nardi/Weathers (likely have a lefty reliever to trade)

That could be a real good team if they do it right, and there is always hey Bruce, just trade DLC here for whatever and go sign Bellinger/Bader if they really want to go for it on top of all of that.




Presently though, I agree with everyone to stop playing Wendle and play exclusively Berti and Hampson at SS prior to the 8th inning where maybe you want Wendle defensively for 1-2 innings. I get having to play Stallings (who does have a solid .676 OPS and is showing above average defense since 6/1, over 162 PA. Just a .2 WAR but I mean it's not a negative), but Wendle is atrocious. He's under a .570 OPS with effectively neutral defense since June 1st over 250 PA, -.5 WAR. Gotta stop this Marlins.

[Namaste]

We claimed Matt Moore off of Waivers. Not post season eligible.

[fish16]

We claimed Matt Moore off of Waivers. Not post season eligible.

woah, that's big. he's been really solid all year and we are desperate for bullpen arms. are we sure he is not postseason eligible if there is an "injury"? Really glad the guardians fucked us over to claim him and lopez and go a game under .500 for a few weeks and then lose him. They never had a chance to win that division but whatever.

[fish16]

regarding the HR or lack thereof last night, i get that the process was a little weird but i think that ball was clearly foul based off the replay i saw. it went pretty clearly foul, hit a railing and bounced back into fair play. I get statcast or whatever showed it being fair on the route but those are not precise i dont think in those fair/foul situations where the ball goes over the foul pole in that way. am i missing a replay that shows the ball clearly fair?

[fish16]

The team's refusal to advance baserunners (particularly a runner on first with no outs) will be the death of them. Team refusal to play Edwards over Wendle hurts big time too.

we have some of the best contact hitters in baseball. Edwards should absolutely play more but if youre looking for more steals, who do you want stealing? We have no real speed outside of berti and jazz, and jazz gets hurt way too frequently when he steals so he shouldnt be stealing at this point. Or are you looking for more hit and runs?

[lou]

woah, that's big. he's been really solid all year and we are desperate for bullpen arms. are we sure he is not postseason eligible if there is an "injury"? Really glad the guardians fucked us over to claim him and lopez and go a game under .500 for a few weeks and then lose him. They never had a chance to win that division but whatever.

Not eligible - https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transac...es-eligibility