| Christopher Reina. 10th December, 2008 - 7:19 pm
 2008 Record: 84-77
2008 Pythagorean Record: 81-80
FIC Rank: 21st
3rd place in NL East
2008 Payroll: $21.8M, 30th in MLB, 16th in NL
Cost per win: $260k, 1st in MLB, 1st in NL
Despite trading away Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, the Marlins made a 13-game improvement from 2007 and finished the season over .500 for the first time since 2005. They were in first place for 42 days, though none past the end of May.
They were potent offensively because of the long ball, hitting 208, which was third in the MLB. Their bullpen was above average and were 24-19 in one-run games.
* Individual FIC Rank, Season FIC and Reina Value appear in parenthesis next to each player's name.
The FIC is a statistical system that attempts to objectively rank all players and the Reina Value determines how that performance relates to their contract.
A player with a positive Reina Value outperformed his contract while a negative one means he likely was overvalued.
Catcher
Matt Treanor (1,231st, -6, -45%) was unable to duplicate the .749 OPS in 2007, as it dipped to .607. The Marlins were 31-29 in his starts.
John Baker (549th, 51, -28%) made his professional debut in 2008 and finished the season with a very good .839 OPS. Baker, who figured prominently in 'Moneyball', had a righty/lefty split of .904/.635 and had a BAbip of .367, which will of course be difficult to duplicate.
First Base
Mike Jacobs (282nd, 104, +659%) had a slugging percentage over .500 and an OBP under .300 (Tony Armas and Dave Kingman are the only other two players in history to accomplish that feat). Jacobs also hit 32 homers and drove in 93 runs, but Florida dealt him this offseason for Leo Nuñez.
Wes Helms (972nd, 6, -84%) once again could not duplicate his seasons of 2005 and 2006 when he hit .814 and .965 respectively. In 2007 and 2008, Helms has hit .665 and .646 and was much better against lefties.
Second Base
Dan Uggla (213th, 130, +952%) produced similar power numbers as he has in each of his first two seasons in the big leagues, but he increased his on base percentage to .360. He still strikes out too frequently (171 in 619 plate appearances) and is an adventure defensively, but is 21st in homers (90) over the past three seasons and 10th all-time in homers hit during the first three seasons of a career.
Third Base
Jorge Cantu (178th, 145, +950%) tied his previous career high for OPS that he set in 2005 on a bad Tampa Bay team, as he hit .277/.327/.481. Cantu hit 29 homers and though he was an unmitigated disaster defensively at third base, he represented one of the best bargains in the game and in some ways was the Carlos Pena 07 of 2008.
Shortstop
Hanley Ramirez (28th, 246, +3,203%) hit for an OPS over .940 for the second consecutive season, as his on base rose nearly as much as high slugging percentage dipped. There have only been 29 seasons from a shortstop in which they have slugged .540 or better and Ramirez now holds two of them, while Alex Rodriguez has seven and Ernie Banks has five of them. His threat on the bases dropped from two consecutive seasons of 51 steals to 35 and should likely continue to decrease. Ramirez will need to eventually make the move away from shortstop, as he had the worst fielding percentage at the position. Without question, however, Ramirez is one of the finest young hitters in the game.
Left Field
Josh Willingham (291st, 101, +579%) hit for an OPS over .800 for the third consecutive season, which is not too bad for a catcher-turned-left fielder and just slightly trails rivals like Hideki Matsui and Raul Ibanez while ahead of Eric Byrnes and Carl Crawford. The Marlins dealt Willingham to Washington with pitcher Scott Olsen for Emilio Bonifacio, Jake Smolinski, and P.J. Dean.
Luis Gonazlez (419th, 72, -50%) continued his gradual decline with a drop in OPS for the fifth consecutive season, down to .749. Though he hit eight homers in 341 at bats, this was the first season since 1994 in which he failed to reach double digits in that category and he will not return to Florida in 2009.
Center Field
Cody Ross (331st, 92, +413%) had an .804 OPS and played a good center field, though he also saw time in right and left. He hit .335/.411/.653 in limited time in 2007 and not surprisingly he was unable to duplicate those numbers, but his production was very promising, as was his play in July and August after a dreadful April and an unrealistically superb May. Ross had a .911 OPS against lefties and .756 against righties.
Alfredo Amezaga (559th, 49, -55%) played just four different positions in 2008 after playing seven different positions for the Marlins back in 2007. He hit .264/.312/.367 and while he was inconsistent, he did have an impressive September.
Cameron Maybin (818th, 18, +0%) was the centerpiece of the Miguel Cabrera trade and in 32 at bats, he hit .500/.543/.563. In 390 at bats with the Carolina Mudcats in the Southern League, Maybin hit for an OPS of .831 with 13 homers. With Willingham cleared, Maybin will be giving every opportunity to play everyday in 2009.
Right Field
Jeremy Hermida (527th, 54, +14%) saw his OPS drop from .870 to .729 in 2008. His strikeout rate ballooned and he finished with 138 K's to just 48 walks, while he also had 10 fewer doubles despite 73 more plate appearances. Hermida had a home/road OPS split of .584/.851 and after putting up decent numbers through July, he struggled to a crawl to end the season. He did, however, fare better defensively in 2008 than he did in 2007.
Starting Pitching
Ricky Nolasco (25th, 250, +3,698%) led the Marlins' starters in every major category (ERA, wins, WHIP, K/9, K/BB and innings). Roy Halladay, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana were the only three other pitchers to throw at least 200 innings with more than 185 K's and fewer than 50 walks. It was an underrated season and the fact that the Marlins were 21-13 in his starts was a big reason why they were within shouting distance in the NL East.
Scott Olsen (130th, 171, +1,711%) had a 4.20 ERA, which was a significant improvement from his 5.81 in 2007, though not quite as good as his 2006 when he was ninth in NL ROY voting with a 4.04 ERA and 166 K's in 180 innings. His strikeout rate has decreased to 113 in 201.7 innings and he gave up a very troublesome 30 homers. The Marlins did an excellent job of selling high, trading him to the Nationals, as he is unlikely to be able to maintain a .261 BAbip and when that gets back up to .300, his ERA will in turn go back to the 5.00's.
Mark Hendrickson (261st, 111, +125%) continues to lose his effectiveness over lefties and settles into his position as the very little Big Unit. He was a couple years away from playing with LeBron James in Cleveland and by the time he reached a diamond full time he was in his late 20's. This season, he struck out 81 batters in 133.7 and had a 5.45 ERA.
Andrew Miller (351st, 87, -19%) was included in the Cabrera trade and struggled in his 20 starts, posting a 5.63 ERA. After going on the DL with patellar tendinitis, he went to the minors for a stint and when he came back up in September he was relegated to the bullpen where he also struggled.
Josh Johnson (285th, 103, +653%) returned from Tommy John surgery this season and managed to make 14 starts with an excellent 3.61 ERA while striking out 77 batters in 87.3 innings. Those numbers are even more impressive when considering his BAbip against was .339. He will be just 25 next season and is capable of a breakout season in 2009.
Chris Volstad (354th, 86, +349%) made his big league debut in 2008 and had a 2.88 ERA in 84.3 innings of work. He struck out just 52 batters and had a WHIP of 1.328, but pitched extremely well with runners on.
Anibal Sanchez (623rd, 41, +4%) completed his comeback from surgery on his torn labrum to start 10 games in the second half of the season. He had inconsistent results, though he only had two truly bad starts. Most promising about his return was the improvement in his strikeout rate; he struck out 50 batters in 51.7 innings, compared to 72 in 114.3 innings back when he had a 2.83 ERA in 2006.
Relief Pitching
Kevin Gregg (157th, 156, +148%) had a 3.41 ERA and closed 29 games for the Marlins, one year after saving 32 with a 3.54 ERA. His drop in his strikeout rate is concerning, but wasn't enough for the Cubs not to deal for him. He also had a .251 BAbip, which is unrealistic to expect again.
Matt Lindstrom (398th, 76, +204%) had another solid season, making 66 appearances and had a 3.14 ERA, though like Gregg, his strikeout rate dipped. He also saw his WHIP increase to 1.448. He had a 1.86 ERA in the second half and will be penciled in as the Marlins' closer in 2009.
Joe Nelson (446th, 68, +133%) missed the entire 2007 season and came back to post a 2.00 ERA and had 60 strikeouts in 54 innings.
Renyel Pinto (513th, 57, +28%) had a 4.45 ERA in his third season, which represented a career high. Mysteriously, he was completely ineffective against lefties, giving up a .900 OPS.
Logan Kensing (521st, 55, +17%) had a 4.23 ERA and as many strikeouts (55) as he had innings (55.3). But he also had a troublesome WHIP of 1.500.
Doug Waechter (449th, 67, +131%) moved south from Tampa Bay after sitting out in 2007 after shoulder surgery and he had a 3.69 ERA.
Arthur Rhodes (467th, 63, -33%) came over from the Mariners at the deadline and had an excellent 0.68 ERA in 13.3 innings. |
