SIMF's Positional Breakdown '06

Southern Illinois Marlin Fan, or SIMF as we like to call him, has taken the liberty of breaking down his projections for each position for the Marlins over the coming '06 season. Let's take a look at what his brain has eeked out...

Hello all, Spike here(or SouthernIllinoisMarlinsFan). I have been quite quiet lately, computer was being molested by trojan horse viruses. I also got a DUI and I cant drive.

But hey, my boys are dancing, hopefully to the Final Four...about time a Missouri Valley team makes it there, dont you think?

Anyway, I am here to give my thoughts on EVERY POSITION that is being battled out by our hatchlings, the baby fish, the 2006 Florida Marlins.

C: It seems that this is Willingham's job to lose. Makes sense, Olivo has only shown the ability to bat at certain times, and rarely close together. He's as streaky as a 90 year olds depends. As for Treanor, well he gets defensive, but thats about it. Jourgenson has already been reassigned to minor league camp, and Brett Hayes was hurt. Hopefully he gets well soon, he will be the guy in a year and a half IMO. Now on to Willingham. Everyone and their mother has a serious jones for this guy, and it is understandable...he puts up good #'s from the plate. It sucks he is as useful as a gargoyle statue behind the plate, but from all accounts he can hit. I seem to be the only skeptic. He put up good #'s in the minors, from the start...when he was a college product older than the competition. Then he put up great #'s in Albaquerque, in the Pacific Coast League, where Joe Dillon looked like Joe Dimaggio. In his first stint in the majors, he sucked offensively and defensively, struggling to hit .200 and showing little power. It was a minimum # of plate attempts, but it was a minimum # of plate attempts against seasoned MLB pitching. Then, his second stint, he hit well...still, in minimum attempts, but better...against other late season callups that were once again below his skill level, and he still failed to flash any real power like everyyones predicting.

Prediction: Willingham wins job, struggles to do anything useful as he is garbage behind the plate and is not the hitter everyone thinks, bitchslapped back to Carolina before May

1B: This is a more contested battle, mainly because Stokes and Jacobs are having a round of "anything you can do I can do better". Still, Stokes is unreliable and the organiztion knows this, Jacobs has shown he can do it at the MLB level. Albeit shortly. Still more than Stokes has shown.

Prediction: Jacobs wins the job, Stokes is sent back to the AA or AAA, if he stays healthy he is traded at the deadline

2B: It's Ugglas job, since theres no one else to do it and we have to keep him on the roster anyway, unless we want him to go back, which wouldn't be good since theres no one else to do it. Way to go Dan.

Prediction: Uggla's the man, at least for half a season

3B: Cabrera, nuff said.

SS: HanRam comes in with stiffer competition than anyone thought, as Andino has been fighting tooth and nail. That shows me that Andino's struggles are more to do with the situation he was called up to do last season than actual lack of talent. But still, Uggla is not a long term answer, HanRam is a potential superstar, and Andino has the ability to become a great defensive 2B.

Prediction: Hanley wins, Andino goes back to AA to work at 2B, if he shows promise and hits well, he gets to promoted to AAA for a month(give or take), if he cuts it there for a certain period of time, Andino relegates Uggla to utility duty.

LF: This is a real head scratcher, because our beloved organization rarely thinks ahead when it comes to position prospects. Still, this is a battle, IMO, between Reggie Abercrombie and Chris Aguila. Aguila has never gotten a fair shake, or at least in alot of opinions he hasn't. All things considered, neither has Abercrombie, but he is my choice here. He has more upside right now, and really there are not many options.

Prediction: The job is yours Mr. Abercrombie, I hope your as stylish on the field as the clothes you share your name with.

CF: Another battle in which Aguila will be embroiled in, but once again, he falls short. We need a leadoff hitter, and Eric Reed can hopefully fill that mold. He has the speed, and he is the top rated defensive OF in our system.

Prediction: Eric Reed, Need for Speed

RF: Jeremy Hermida...do I really need to go on?

Bench: Helms, Harris, Aguila, Olivo, Amazega

SP: There are 5 spots, and we know Willis, Vargas, and Moehler have 3 of them. Of the other two, it's a battle between Ford Pinto, "String Bean" Scott Olsen, Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Brad Penny version 2 Josh Johnson, and Sergio Mitre. Sergio Mitre has no business in the rotation, the bullpen, MLB, MiLB, or even being a hot dog vendor at a ballpark at any level. He is flat out garbage.

Prediction: Willis, Moehler, Olsen, Johnson, Vargas...until the allstar break, and then we get to see Willis, Johnson, Olsen, Nolasco, and Vargas.

Pen: The hardest part is to predict this mess. Boworski sucks, but Bowyer is not quite ready yet. Other notables include Kensing, Resop, Messenger, Bump on the forehead, Matt Herges, Kerry Lightenberg, Tankersly, Garcia, Delgado and MeGrew.

Prediction: Lightenberg, Herges, Bump, Mitre, Boworski, Resop, Messenger...until the allstar break, when the we cut lose and deal some of the losers or a few get their walking papers. MeGrew will likely start the season on the DL for a sore right eyelid or other bs, just as long as we dont send him back until we see wether our other lefties are cut out for the job. Post all star break bullpen: Messenger, Resop, Delgado, Tankersly, Kensing, Bowyer, and Harvey Garcia. And this will be the 2007 opening day bullpen, minus Bostick.

Traded or released by the break: Lightenberg, Herges, Mitre, Olivo(I'm not kidding), MeGrew, Seabol, Amazega, Stokes, Bostick, Moehler
What we will get: OUTFIELD, CATCHER, and MI DEPTH in the form of prospects. An interesting trade I heard came in the form of sending Bostick and Mitre to the Astros and plucking Hunter Pence and John Anderson from their OF rich system. Possible, maybe not likely, and definantly not discussed by anyone other than a select few baseball fans.

Anyway, I did all that predicting, threw in a few snide remarks, and have come to the conclusion that this is what our 2007 team will look like:
C-Gaby Sanchez
1B-Mike Jacobs
2B-Robert Andino
3B-Miguel Cabrera
SS-Hanley Ramirez
LF-Kris Harvey
CF-Eric Reed
RF-Jeremy Hermida
Chris Aguila, Reggie Abercrombie, Dan Uggla, Ryan Jourgenson, Jose Campusano
SP-Dontrelle Willis
SP-Josh Johnson
SP-Scott Olsen
SP-Ricky Nolasco
SP-Jason Vargas
Logan Kensing, Chris Resop, Randy Messenger, Taylor Tankersly, Harvey Garcia, Jesus Delgado, Travis Bowyer

And now to the actual rant part of this very special rant:

This 2006 team will not be good. It won't be as bad as 98, and it wont be a group of laughing stocks, but it wont be good. Manager Joe Girardi has said he wants to go young, COMPLETELY YOUNG, and starting in 07 he will get his wish. This group of vetern misfits that was stockpiled is just to ease the young guys in, until a group of youngens is set to come in and takes the place of the old wankers.

We will do one thing good this season however: play spoiler. And, still, probably not even finish last in the NL East. That spot is likely reserved for the Nationals. And, realisticially, if we play our asses off we can finish 3rd, because the Mets are not as good as everyone thinks. Their pitching staff is still complete garbage, likely worse than ours, likely worst in the NL, with Wagner and Pedro being the only ones worth more than a buffalo nickel. Their offseason acquisitions not withstanding, they are the Mets and those players are sure to have a polar opposite of a break out year. As for the spoiler part, we will do our part to keep teams that piss us off out of the playoffs. And we will also give fits, because with youth comes stubborness(i.e. we wont know we arent supposed to win...hey, worked for the 2003 team).

And, my bold prediction...we will compete, maybe fall short, of at least the wild card in 2007. And in 2008, we return to where we rightfully deserve to be, the playoffs.

Thank you, and good night.