That post title isn’t entirely accurate because sometimes, he says things like “I’m Milton Bradley, you know what I’m saying.” And sometimes he also does really questionable things…

But for the Marlins purposes, Bradley makes way too much sense for next season. He’s on his way out in Chicago, as they’ve suspended him for the season. Can’t see any way he won’t be traded, and the Cubs can’t get a ton back for him now that they have no leverage. Why shouldn’t the Marlins make a run at him? I mean, I know he’s a “malcontent” and all that, but I don’t think he’s as bad as his reputation.

He obviously doesn’t handle his anger in stressful situations well, as shown with the bottle incident in LA in 2004 and with the ump in 2008 (who reportedly called him a “piece of shit”), but it’s not like he’s going after people for no reason. He’s created a self perpetuating cycle where people know they can get to him easily, so they try to get under his skin. I would guess he takes more shit than most players simply because he doesn’t handle it well.

But playing in Landshark Stadium mitigates those types of circumstances at least somewhat. Not a lot of pressure here, no media types needling him, and no fans shouting whatever the Cubs fans were shouting (you have to assume there were more than a few racial slurs from everything I’ve heard about the bleachers at Wrigley).

I think it makes a lot of sense for the Marlins to make a run at him.

My perfect world scenario is bring him in and bring Nick Johnson back. That gives you 4 legitimate .375+ OBP guys in your lineup. In this scenario you are trading Uggla, Cantu and Hermida and getting the Cubs to cover most of his 2010 salary (though none of his 2011 salary, which creates some obvious potential problems down the road).

Salary projection for 2010:

C John Baker $415,000 (.770 OPS)
1B Nick Johnson $5,500,000 (.840)
2B Emilio Bonifacio $415,000 (.630)
3B Chris Coghlan $405,000 (.780)
SS Hanley Ramirez $7,000,000 (.970)
LF Milton Bradley $2,000,000 (.850)
CF Cameron Maybin $405,000 (.750)
RF Cody Ross $4,200,000 (.790)
B Gaby Sanchez $415,000
B Wes Helms $950,000
B Ronny Paulino $880,000
B “Veteran 1B/LF Bat” $750,000
B De Aza/Jai/Raynor $405,000

SP Josh Johnson $5,500,000
SP Ricky Nolasco $4,250,000
SP Andrew Miller $2,000,000
SP Chris Volstad $415,000
SP Sean West $415,000
RP Matt Lindstrom $1,600,000
RP Reynel Pinto $850,000
RP Dan Meyer $415,000
RP Rick Vanden Hurk $415,000
RP Brian Sanches $415,000
RP Burke Badenhop $415,000
RP Tim Wood $405,000

$40,800,000

I don’t think any of those projections for the batters are unreasonable at all. That gives you a lineup with one major hole that can, conceivably be replaced in house if they want to take a chance with Gaby at 3rd and shift Coghlan to 2nd (unlikely). Otherwise, that looks like a pretty solid lineup top to bottom. I think you’ve got to expect that Milton and NJ are only going to get about 450 PAs a piece, so you basically need to hope BC can do a decent imitation of a starting major leaguer when Bradley goes down and hope the “Ross Gload” of 2010 can do the same.

With one absolute rock (Hanley) and two pretty good players who load up on OBP at premium offensive positions (Bradley and NJ) and a bunch of average or better for their position guys (Bake, CC, Cody), you can take the chance with actually going defense first at 2nd with Boner. It might hurt your offense (Well, it will hurt your offense), but then you’re going to be above average defensively everywhere on the infield except 3rd, where CC is going to be at least average with the bat and with the potential for more of what we’re getting this season rather than the slight step back I expect.

I like that team so much that we really don’t need to even worry about treading water next year. That could be a playoff team.

And actually, now that I think about it, Logan Morrison is probably ready to be cool against RHP right now at the major league level. So you use him to spell Bradley and NJ 3 times a week against RHP (Bradley doesn’t hit RHP as well). You get his feet wet at this level and hey, if he breaks out and starts bombing people you’ve got fantastic injury insurance if Bradley or NJ goes down for an extended period of time.

I’ve said it a couple of times already, but trying to buy low on Bradley and sending them some kind of package of B prospects makes so much sense for the Marlins that I’m going to be sad when he’s playing for, like, Philadelphia next year.

I’ve got to get to sleep, so I won’t be waiting for an article to be written on the game, but Marlins win on Dan Uggla’s bases loaded, two out single in the bottom of the 11th.

Up and down game, neither team could keep a lead, but the Marlins managed to come out on top despite Chris Volstad’s shaky start.

The offense got more than 10 hits for the 8th straight game now, the longest such streak in the majors, and you really have to like how this offense has looked since the addition of Nick Johnson.

Emilio Bonifacio damn near won it all in the 10th, but Bo Porter made a terrible decision to send Hermida and the throw beat him by about 20 feet. And yet, the Marlins actually might have gotten screwed on that, as Hermida’s foot got on the plate before Pudge got the tag on. Glad that one didn’t come back to bite them.

49 games left, 28 to get to 88, which is the bare minimum for a wild card since 2003. Still keeping a closer watch on the division at this point. Phillies win in extras as Kevin Gregg (GREEEEEEEGG) blew the game for the Cubs, so the Fish are still 3.5 back. 2.5 back in the Wild Card, though Colorado is currently losing so they could be two back by tonight. Would love to have the opportunity to jump ahead of the Rockies this weekend, so take care of the Stros in the next two.

@

And the roller coaster continues.  The Washington series sweep was about as low as I have felt all year, but the Marlins came right back with a shocking sweep of the Phillies at Citizens Bank to bring the team back in the hunt for October.  The Marlins (58-53, 4GB NL East, 3GB WC) are back at Land Shark Stadium to host the Astros for the first time this year in a four game series.  The bats showed life in the Philadelphia series, lead by Chris Coghlan who now leads the Marlins in most consecutive multi-hit games with eight.  In the past week, Coghlan has gone 15-29 for an average of .517 followed up by Nick Johnson clogging the base paths behind him and resulting in the increase in runs.

The Houston Astros (55-56, 6GB NL Central, 6GB WC) are still sticking around the standings after a series win over the Brewers on Sunday.  For the Astros, they are looking to finally win at Land Shark Stadium where they have dropped their last five to the Marlins. The offense has been getting great production from Carlos Lee who is 10-24, (.417) this past week.

Let’s take a quick look at the matchups:

8/10/09, 7:10 PM ET

Brian Moehler, RHP (7-7, 5.23)

Rick VandenHurk, RHP (1-1, 4.29)

8/11/09, 7:10 PM ET

“Game of the Series”

The Marlins do get to miss Wandy Rodriguez, but get to face off against Roy Oswalt.  Oswalt has been sharp this year but landed on the disabled list due to lower back pain.  This will be Oswalt’s first game back, and he is 5-4 with a 3.24 ERA in 11 career starts against Florida.  For Volstad he just needs to avoid the home run.  He was giving the big lead in Washington his last time out, but that quickly disappeared due to the long ball.

Roy Oswalt, RHP (6-4, 3.61)

Notable Marlins vs. Oswalt:

Jorge Cantu – 2-5, 2HR, 5RBI’s, .400

Hanley Ramirez – 8-19, 2 2B, 2HR, 3RBI’s, .421

Wes Helms – 7-19, 4 2B, 1HR, 5RBI’s, .368

Jeremy Hermida – 5-12, 2HR, 3RBI’s, .417

Chris Volstad, RHP (8-9, 4.48)

Notable Astros vs. Volstad

Lance Berkman – 0-3, .000

Miguel Tejada – 0-4, .000

8/12/09, 7:10 PM ET

Bud Norris, RHP (2-0, 1.69)

Ricky Nolasco, RHP (8-7, 4.86)

8/13/09, 7:10 PM ET

Mike Hampton, LHP (7-9, 5.30)

Sean West, LHP (3-4, 4.88)

First things first, go over to NLEastChatter’s homepage and check out the “Chatter Up!” between myself and Matt F, the Braves Baseball Czar.
Now, what a win!

The legend of Ross Gload continues to grow.

Ricky Nolasco kept the Braves’ bats in check and Ross Gload blasted a walk-off home run to beat Atlanta, 4-3, on Tuesday night before 13,128 fans at Land Shark Stadium.

Heading into the top of the ninth tied at 2, the Braves broke the stalemate when Garret Anderson led off the inning with a solo homer to right field off reliever Leo Nunez. The home run was Anderson’s eighth of the season.

Rafael Soriano tried to shut the door in the ninth but could not. The Braves closer walked Cody Ross on four pitches before John Baker sacrificed Ross to second. That’s when pinch-hitter Ross Gload blasted a 3-1 pitch into the right-field seats to give the Marlins a 4-3 win.

Nolasco squared off against Atlanta’s talented right-hander Jair Jurrjens in a battle for sole possession of second place in the National League East. The Marlins starter had another quality outing, holding the Braves’ hot offense to just two runs on seven hits over seven innings while striking out five. Jurrjens was stingy on the mound as well, allowing two runs on seven hits over six innings while striking out five.

The third inning was rough for both starters as Atlanta’s Martin Prado continued his hot streak at the plate, driving in Ryan Church with a single to left field. The Marlins answered in the bottom half when Hanley Ramirez drove in Nolasco and Emilio Bonifacio with a one-out double off the left-field scoreboard.

The Braves evened the score when Nolasco gave up a leadoff homer to Chipper Jones in the top of the sixth. Jones finished the game 1-for-4.

Gotta go with Gload for the CCHOTG. First career walk off home run comes in a game against a divisional foe the Marlins were battling with for a wild card spot. Huge home run.

There’s been a lot of chatter of Hermida being moved to Cincy, and after that crap he showed tonight, I’m gonna pack his bags and buy his ticket. I’ve always been a Hermida supporter, but that play in the eighth where he was caught not paying attention and was picked off by Escobar following a one out single was a microcosm of the guys entire career: a great play, followed by one of the most mindnumbingly terrible baserunning gaffs you’ll ever see.

Maybe I’m being too harsh on the guy; we did win, after all. But man, that was infuriating.

Jeremy’s awfully lucky we didn’t need to bring Scott Olsen up tonight.

Got the horse going tomorrow, and you have to love the chances of winning the series with JJ. That would be huge, especially with the rumors that Beinfest is looking to make a move swirling around. Just hope it’s not Cody.

Pavano back in Teal and Black?

According to a pretty reliable source on SoFlaMarlins.com, the Indians and Marlins are close to a deal to get Pavano back to South Florida. He says the details are being worked out, but that both sides want to get it done.

This guy he been on top of a lot of Marlins rumors thanks to a contact at FoxSports, and usually scoops Ken Rosenthal. He was all over the Manny stuff last year before it was being reported and has also been all over Cody Ross rumors recently, which have then come out, so take it for what it’s worth, I suppose.

Obviously want to avoid rumor mongering, just passing along what I’m hearing. Pavano would be a good fit.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ge-tradenews072509&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

The Tigers have some interest in reacquiring outfielder Cody Ross from the Marlins and playing him in right field. Florida looked like they’d be in seller mode after being swept by the Phillies but have played well since and are on the lookout for bullpen help, with the Red Sox trying to interest them in Takashi Saito. If the Phillies acquire Halladay, though, the Marlins may stage a selloff, with outfielder Jeremy Hermida a likely bat to move. Triple-A infielder Gaby Sanchez might also be available.

Eh, not really sure there’s any reason for the Marlins to move Cody right now as he’s their 2nd best everyday player and certainly has more value ot the team than in a trade.

He’s pretty convincingly a better player than Nate McLouth, and the package the Pirates got for him wasn’t all that impressive. You want more than a couple of C prospects for a guy like Cody, who is really one of the better CF in baseball.

Also, not sure why it keeps being reported that we are looking for bullpen arms. None of the guys in the pen looks like he doesn’t belong, and in a worst case scenario (Ayala and Donnelly implode, Kiko’s arm falls off) we’ve got Lindstrom in the wings who could make the kind of impact he did in the 2nd half last year. In all honesty, the bullpen should be the least of our worries.

But then again, the front office seems pleased with Bonifacio’s work this season, so who knows what’s going on in their heads. Either way, this Braves series should decide once and for all whether the team is buying or selling.

Speaking of Bonifacio, the Gaby Sanchez’s time in the Witness Protection Program doesn’t seem to be ending, as he’s been up with the team and had a number of opportunities to see time over the last week and hasn’t had a single at bat.

One reason the Florida Marlins are still in contention is that NL batting leader Hanley Ramirez is doing a much better job this season of hitting in clutch situations.

Ramirez drove in three runs with a pair of two-out hits, leading Florida to an 8-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday and helping the Marlins win their third straight series at Chavez Ravine.

Ramirez was 2 for 4, raising his career average at Dodger Stadium to .344. He’s hitting .348 overall this season and .427 with runners in scoring position — second in the majors. Last season, the two-time All-Star shortstop had a .239 average in that department.

“He led off his first three years in the major leagues and won a Silver Slugger. Now we’ve put him in the three hole and he’s driving in runs,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “This guy can do anything on the baseball field. If you ask him to play center field tomorrow, he may win a Gold Glove. He’s that talented.”

Chris Volstad (8-9) allowed four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. The 22-year-old right-hander was helped by three double plays, one of them in the first when Orlando Hudson took off from first base on Andre Ethier’s long drive to center fielder Cody Ross and couldn’t get back in time after having to retouch second.

Hanley is not a fan of getting hit, but he did take home his first CCHOTGA for his troubles.

Tempted to give the Hero award to Burke Badenhop for protecting Hanley, who has been vocal about teams going after him this season. He’s been hit 5 times and has made sure everyone knows he’s unhappy with it. Good to see Burke protecting the star. He said after the game he “let one get away”, but we know better. Hat tip to Burke.

I didn’t actually get to watch any of this series, but it’s nice to see the team take two of three, though would’ve liked to have held on Saturday for the sweep. Either way, a 5-1 road trip has them 3.5 heading into a big series against the Braves this week. I’ll probably be at at least one of the games, maybe more, and hopefully there’s a decent crowd.

Every series from here on out is big, but if the team can take care of the Braves by Thursday, don’t be surprised to see a move on the trade deadline on Friday. Here’s to hoping they put up a better fight than they did against the Phils last week.

1 ) Bonifacio

2 ) Helms

3 ) Hanley

4 ) Cantu

5 ) Uggla, 2B

6 ) Ross, CF

7 ) Paulino, C

8 ) Carroll, RF

9 ) Johnson, P

This is just absurd. Why even bring Gaby up if you aren’t going to start him the one time you face a lefty and want to get both Hermida and Carroll out of the lineup. The guy has .333/.426/.537 career MiLB line against LHP, if he’s ever going to get a start, tonight would be the night to do it.

So basically, they are turning him into Andy Gonzalez minus the position versatility and one at bat per week. Unbelievable.

I swear, these night games are going to be the death of me. Or at the very least, I’m gonna lose my job.

Rick VandenHurk pitched six strong innings to earn his first win in more than a year, leading the Florida Marlins to a 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Monday night.

VandenHurk (1-0), making his first start since last July, allowed two runs and five hits, struck out four and walked two. He picked up his first victory since he pitched five innings in a 4-0 victory over Atlanta on June 22, 2008.

Hanley Ramirez homered for the Marlins, who put together a two-run rally in the seventh to snap a three-game skid. Leo Nunez pitched the ninth for his fifth save in eight chances to complete the combined five-hitter.

Vandenhurk looked great up until the 6th, when he gave up the back to back shots, though there were some hard hit balls. As always has been the case with him, he loses control as the game goes on. Still, nice to pick up a win, even if we tried as hard as we could to lose it.
In honor of the first victory in the history of this blog, I have the immense pleasure of introducing our Player of the Game award, known by it’s official name as the Craig Counsell Hero of the Game Award, the much prettier, more datable version of the Scott Olsen Mugshot Memorial Award.

This isn’t a game that had a lot of deserving nominees, so I’m going to go with the guy who went 0-4 but who nonetheless saved the game with a runner on 3rd in the 8th inning by picking Emilio Bonifacio’s throw in the dirt.

Hip Hip

JORGE!

Also, I’d like to start doing a little run down of the Marlins minor league affiliates various exploits, so here’s a little rundown of the team’s games tonight as well as the performances of notable prospects (Courtesy of Tealandblack.net):

GCL Marlins: DNP

Jamestown Jammers lost, 8-7
-Chase Austin (rd. 5): 2-5, run scored, 2 Ks (.279)
-Dustin Dickerson (rd. 6): 1-3, run scored, 1 BB (.316)

Greensboro Grasshoppers lost, 5-1
-Mattison: 2-4, run scored, 1 K (.240)
-Galloway: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 K (.282)
-Smolinski: 1-3, (.260)
-Skipworth down to .199
-Koehler: 6 IP, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (3.09 ERA)
-Jennings: 1 IP, 3 K (2.85 ERA)

Jupiter Hammerheads lost 2-1 in 10 innings
-Burns: 2-5, 2 doubles, 1 K (.263)
-Mense: 2-4, 1 R (.232)
-Valentin: 1-2, 1 Double, 1 RBI, 2 BB (.244)
-Allison: 8.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (3.71)
-Harvey: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (3.33)

Jacksonville was idle

New Orleans Zyphers lost, 3-1
-Maybin: 1-4 with a double, (.343)
-Lindsey: 1-2, 1 R, 2 BBs (.260)
-Sanchez: 0-4 (.284)
-De Aza: 2-4, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 K (.289)
-Collazo: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (3.54)
-Mobley: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K (3.68)

Also have to post up this picture from the Times-Picayune of  Oklahoma RedHawks center fielder Julio Borbon absolutely robbing Gaby Sanchez of a home run tonight.

And speaking of the minors, starting pitcher Andrew Miller has been sent to AAA New Orleans. He was absolutely dreadful in his last few starts and seems to have lost the consistency his new delivery had brought him.

MIAMI — The Philadelphia Phillies finished with a flourish Sunday. As Jimmy Rollins squeezed a routine popup for the final out, he delivered a one-legged dance kick.

With that, the Phils waltzed back to Philadelphia riding their longest winning streak in three years.

Unbeaten rookie J.A. Happ pitched seven innings and the first-place Phillies won their eighth game in a row by beating the Florida Marlins 5-0.

Happ (7-0) escaped a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the sixth to help the Phils win for the 12th time in the past 13 games. The winning streak is their longest since taking nine in a row April 30-May 9, 2006.

“We have a lot of confidence, and I have a lot of confidence in the guys,” Happ said. “It makes it fun to have them go out there behind me.”

Happ helped himself with a two-out single to start a three-run rally in the second inning. Rollins had three hits by the third and came within a home run of the cycle, while Raul Ibanez doubled home two runs to help the Phillies complete their second three-game sweep in Miami this season.

Marlins got swept by the Phillies on sunday, scoring just 4 runs in the 3 game rain shortened series, with all of those coming on Friday night.

The chicken littles are coming out and saying the season is pretty much over with the Marlins falling 7 games back of the Phils, but the fact remains they are just 4.5 back in the Wild Card and there is a ton of baseball left.

Sure, it was a disheartening way to lose a series, with almost nothing going right (and our best chance to win, Josh Johnson’s start, was cut short by rain; more on that later), but the only thing that is over is the series. At some point, they’ve got to turn it around against the Phillies, they aren’t that much better than the Marlins.

It’s a shame that the first three games we’ve covered on this blog have featured the Scott Olsen Mugshot Memorial Award, but we’ve gotta give it out after today, so receiving their second of the year is the collective known as the Marlins offense.  Andrew Miller looked like a surefire winner following his 2.2 IP, 4 run, 4 BB peformance, but when the bullpen held those up and the offense couldn’t manage anything, the Bats snatched victory from Miller’s hands.

About JJ’s rain shortened start, he’ll probably resume his normal spot in the rotation and pitch this Friday, though it is possible they may elect to use him on Wednesday against SD.

Also, I have to note the irony of the start on Saturday being rained out a few hours after the groundbreaking for the new roofed stadium; Samson and Loria couldn’t have asked for a better coincidence.

I did make my way out to the groundbreaking, though Rab covered it all in his post, I do want to say that they couldn’t have expected that many people to show up. I was there 45 minutes before the gate opened, and I wasn’t anywhere near close enough to see or hear anything of consequence, and with the oppressive heat, I had to leave. It was nice to say I was there, but it wasn’t worth it to stay for me.

A few random notes:

Samson announced we will see new uniforms for the team when they make it into the stadium. Him and Loria seem to love Orange, but my dream is that they keep the home whites with pinstripes, as I think those are some of the classiest threads in all of baseball.

The seats in the new stadium will be blue, it has been confirmed. Would’ve liked to have seen teal, though the front office seems to not care for that color. It’s a shame, as the fans seem to like the colors.

I’ll do a trade deadline preview, a stadium breakdown, and try to get a stadium countdown up soon so keep an eye for that stuff.