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POWER RANKINGS
Power Rankings
Date
Ranking
Previous
10/06/2009
14
15
Season in seven words: "A team after our low-budgeted hearts." ... Hero: Hanley Ramirez does everything really, really well -- or so it appears to us mere mortals. Hulk-smash slugger Dan Uggla would like to see more in the way of dirt-chewing and fist-bumping before anointing him a star ... Loserhead: If the window is open, it's probably because Matt Lindstrom couldn't close it. Hoy-o! ... Key need: It'd sure make sense to keep Nick Johnson around on a short-term deal, though good luck finding a board-certified physician willing to wave him through on the pre-contract physical ... Prognosis: Blithely and cheaply competent.
09/29/2009
15
11
They rank 29th in total and per-game attendance in baseball, despite trotting out a likable, competitive team every night. Maybe it's time to accept that Floridians simply don't care for the Marlins -- except during October title runs, when they return like a long-gone niece who just learned that a relative hit the Powerball -- and cancel the new stadium before it gets built ... Of course Nick Johnson has swine flu. Every other baseball contagion manages to inflict or infect him. Why should swine flu be any different?
09/22/2009
11
11
In the solemn tones usually reserved for the presentation of foreign dignitaries at dinner parties, Dan Uggla announced to reporters that he expects to be traded in the offseason. I wonder what it was that tipped him off: the imminent spike in salary, his loutish feud with the team's resident superstar, or that the Marlins have a cheap, game replacement on hand in Chris Coghlan? I suppose we'll never know for sure. ... I wanted to box the ears of Leo Nunez after his over-the-top celebration against the Cardinals the other day –- following a ninth inning in which he hit back-to-back batters and escaped by virtue of a double play, no less. So I can only imagine how the Cardinals, enthusiastic adherents to baseball's unwritten rulebook, must feel. Expect a Marlin to get a fastball in the ribs during the teams' first 2010 clash.
09/15/2009
11
12
Despite multiple downpours and a temporal conflict with the first Sunday of the NFL season, the reported attendance for Marlins/Nationals on Sunday afternoon was 15,065. You lie! ... For all the talk about how to fix Chris Volstad, we're ignoring the most obvious solution: Bus him to the wrong stadium. Easy-peasy, right?
09/08/2009
12
14
There had to have been some at-bats for Cameron Maybin before now, no?. ... The Dan Uggla/Hanley Ramirez chirpfest –- the former accused the latter of lollygagging –- ultimately had no effect beyond accelerating the team's desire to trade Uggla from "as fast as humanly possible" to "speed of sound times 12." One guy is the franchise; the other isn't. Who do you think is going to come out ahead in that scenario?
09/01/2009
14
11
Having an easy schedule doesn't do you any good if you don't take advantage of it. ... As wonderful as Chris Coghlan's 47 hits and 1.030 OPS in 137 August plate appearances were, I'm more impressed by his on-the-fly conversion into a left fielder. That ain't easy, and it says a lot about the Marlins' organization that they're willing to throw their young players into the deep end that way.
08/25/2009
11
10
To answer your question before you ask it: The Braves have outscored their opponents by 60 runs, while the Marlins have outscored their opponents by precisely none. The Braves boast a rotation top-four of Vazquez, Hanson, Jurrjens and Lowe, while the Marlins have been making do with Johnson, Nolasco, Volstad and a handful of gravel. ... I'm bummed about Nick Johnson's hamstring injury, which is singlehandedly responsible for the team's offensive sag over the past week. He's such an ideal fit in the second spot of the lineup, so ideally suited for that set-the-table role and so enticing to watch in it, that I don't have the heart to make the requisite delicate-as-a-fern gibe. You're on your own.
08/18/2009
10
15
I still don't entirely believe in them, but it sure seems that the planets are aligning for another late run. I direct your attention to the team's remaining schedule, which is fat with Astros, Mets, Padres and Nationals. ... The offense is cruising, with 10 hits or more in 13 straight games. ... I'm just speculating here, but John Smoltz could be a decent fit as a spot starter/long reliever. He won't cost much and can probably still get lesser-league hitters out (see the aforementioned scheduling note), plus he brings with him a cooler of intangiblicious goodies.
08/11/2009
15
17
They were swept by the Nationals, then they swept the Phillies. Your guess is as good as mine ... I've been too slow to give props to Chris Coghlan, who's as effectively flittish a leadoff hitter as you can find in the NL nowadays ... The key to their wild-card bid, as I see it, is fattening up on the Astros, Mets and Padres between upcoming series against the Rockies and Braves. They have 10 games remaining against the latter.
08/04/2009
17
18
Half the time, I love the way the Marlins go about their business. They're prospect-savvy but always willing to import a piece like Nick Johnson when they need one (the deal ends the team's inexplicable fascination with the offensively cretinous Emilio Bonifacio) ... The other half, they're a Minnie Mouse franchise, resorting to "funny" bits like parading a billy goat around the field to celebrate the Cubs' glorious past. What saddens me is the lack of creativity; if they feel compelled to go that route, at least hold a Steve Bartman impersonation contest or something ... I trust the Cubs will retaliate by reenacting the dismantling of the 1997 and 2003 World Series teams ("Beckett? Sold to the man in the sabermetric beret!") or any of the 43,457 community council meetings it took to get approval for a half-hospitable stadium.
Preseason Power Rankings
Date
Ranking
Previous
02/16/2009
18
-
Are we about to see v.3.0 of the Marlin Resurrection? Color me skeptical until the bottom-of-the-rotation trio of Chris Volstad, Andrew Miller and Anibal Sanchez proves remotely reliable. ... The physical impact of Matt Lindstrom's fastball has given rise to a thousand metaphors, most involving the obliteration of stationary objects. ... Hanley Ramirez started playing excellent -- not merely passable -- defense in 2008. He is thus now the game's best player. Only Albert P. comes close.
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