codyross.org

Ross goes three for three today with three singles, two RBI’s and two runs. How can you improve on that?  There was also a nice article on the Marlins board about Cody and the year ahead. YES the Marlins got their stadium deal done. Congrats go out to Samson and the Marlins for finally getting this feat passed in a somewhat confused Miami situation. Politics as usuall clouded the end result but was obtained with concessions that I will not go into. Bottom line is, the Marlins get their stadium that took 12 years to obtain……This seemed like such a no brainer.  Its not even worth talking about. Deal done. Great. Go Miami Marlins in 2012. We all have to wonder if Ross will even be with the Marlins in 2012. If Ross performs like he should for the comming year, It might be doubtfull if the Marlins keep him next year. The Marlins are  known for bringing up young players and keeping the payroll down, not giving out long term contracts and using cheap players.. If all goes well for Cody, he will out-price himself as a Marlin. To make predictions and I hate making predictions, Ross will remain a Marlin thru 2010 and at that point his numbers will be too good for the Marlins to afford him. Carroll and other outfielders will be prime at that time and Ross will be on the trading block. Don’t get me wrong, Ross is well liked in Miami and with the stadium deal he might be a fixture in the team mix for the future. Right now the Marlins stars are Hanley and Uggla. After this year, that will change. Hermida and Ross will have  break out seasons. There, I said it. Hermida is doing very well in spring training, and if he keeps it up, he will be a strong force in the Marlins line up. I still think he is a marginal left fielder, but if he gets his bat together, he is worth keeping. Ross should shine this year with ample playing time.  30 homeruns and 100 rbi’s is not too much to ask from the guy that has worked his ass off to get where he is.  Stay tuned…………

Sorry I missed this game as I was trying to find work for my loggers. I went to the Marlins site to get the skinny and the person that wrote the Marlins summary did not even mention Cody’s name. Gees he went three for four with a home run and two RBI’s. Ross was a triple away from the cycle and his name was not even mentioned.  It was not our buddy Joe  but some chick that wrote a lame account of the game. Get rid of her. Please. I can even do a better job. Anyway, Cody has his best game of spring training going 3 for 4 with a single, double, and a home run in the 8th inning I think.  It was the first game for Cody to go more than 5 or 6 innings. I realize that the Marlins are trying to find their fourth outfielder but give Cody a break. Most of Ross’ hits are in the late innings as proven today. An 0-2 count Ross hits one out. Second of spring training.

The USA just lost to Japan in the semi-finals of the World Baseball Championship tournament. USA needs to get out of the whole tournament in the future unless some things change. It is evident that this is the only logical time to play the darn thing. Problem is, the USA does not treat this as a world event. Rightfully so with so much more at stake in the regular season. Why would New York give up Santana for some  tournament that really means nothing to New York.  Teams have invested millions of dollars for the best players in the world. Why would they risk injury to a player going to that tournament. Face it, the Marlins lost Amezega and Lindstrom for a while. What was the point. The Marlins will have to change their whole strategy on the 25 man roster because of those  injuries. Was it worth it? No, not to the teams that had players get injured. Why on earth would you subject a star player to the pressures of World Series play in March? Japan, Korea, Venusuala, Dominican Republic and Cuba live for this tournament along with everyone else in the world except the US. Johnson treated the last game  with Japan as a spring training gameI I know he had pressures to play so and so and not overplay other players and get this guy in because we brought him here. Give the pitchers their innings. It goes on and on. Its about protecting the players and the teams they represent. NOT the USA. This whole thing reminds me of the Olympics when professional athletes could not compete in the Olympics. That cut out at least half of the US stars that made money because they were the best in the world at what they did and got payed for it. The USA team just needs to exit and not compete unless some things drastically change.

We can compete with changes. Bring up your pitchers when you need them instead of keeping them on the roster with no pitching time. Kind of like a roving roster. Let players stay with their spring training schedule until they are slotted to pitch. Same thing with position players. Why ping pong back and forth from Jeter and Rollins when you could leave one of them at spring training camp to get ready for the season and pull the other one up when needed. This is a three week tournament and players can be added after each pool. Do that. Don’t keep these guys away from their teams for 3 weeks or so. Switch out players when the rules allow. That brings a whole new attitude to the team. It also keeps the players on a normal schedule with spring training. I think the owners and the players would be more apt to contribute to this tournament if they didn’t have to give up players for three weeks. Bottom line: it is hard to peek when your season has just started. You play harder, you throw harder and when your body is not in shape to play at 110% your gonna get hurt. That was evident in this WBC. Change your thinking MLB or just bow out of an embarrassing showing of the greatest players in baseball.  You have all these countries thinking they can beat the the USA in baseball. It gives the USA a bad name and most of those countries have no idea what is involved in us trying to  field a team at this time of year. Get organized fellas or just get out of it. The playing field is just not fair.

Ross hit a bang off of John Maine for his first home run of spring training and added two rbi’s. Marlins went on to lose the game to the Mets 15-5. Looks like the Marlins are in dire need of left handed relievers. Pinto and Tankersley are not looking good. Tank gave up 6 runs in one inning. Pinto gave up one run while throwing 22balls out of 38 pitches. I really wished the Marlins would have kept Arthur Rhodes. Now it looks like Matt Lindstrom might be injured. He was taken out of the World baseball classic about an hour ago. No news yet. Now its looking like the Marlins have the starting rotation set but might really be hurting for set up and closer. I hate to jump the gun here, but if Lindstrom gets hurt there is no closer for the Marlins at the moment.

Cody’s defense has been perfect with no errors, no surprise and two assists. Ross has really not seen a lot of playing time as he has already nailed down right field. The Marlins are looking for their fourth outfielder. Brett Carroll and Alejandro De Aza are competing for that spot. With Amezega out for 4-6 weeks with a strained knee, Marlins might opt for a fifth outfielder. Although Andino could fill that spot if he makes the team. He is out of options and is competing with Bonifacio for the back up infielder spot. I think Bonifacio will make the team, he has great speed and his bat is getting hot. He was picked up in the Mike Jacobs trade to the Royals. The marlins would probably lean towards Bonafacio. But for the first part of the season they both might make the team to fill for Amezaga until he gets back. Things always seem to play out for the best. Yea right. Its baseball folks and there is still the possibilty for Pudge to get picked up. Giants are talking to Rodriguez also.

UPDATE: Ross was scratched from Mondays game with a sore calf …..Hanley was scratched from Mondays game with a sore shoulder…Lindstrom had an mri on Monday and has a strained rota-tor cup, Matt is done with the WBL and has been benched for 7-10 days. Great news. To top it all off Pudge signed with the A’s for 1.5 mill and 1.5 mill in incentives. That tops it all off eh! Lets hope that Baker does not get injured. Robelo the back up catcher for the Marlins is marginal at best. Pudge would have added the much needed experience behind the plate. I agree to start Baker as Pudge wanted guaranteed playing time. They could have platooned, and Pudge could have really helped the young Marlins pitching staff. I’m still haunted about the bullpen situation. Its gonna be the Marlins downfall. Its like a replay of 2006 and 2007. Unless the young pitchers can come up and perform, the Marlins will have a tough time keeping up in the NLE. For 5 mill more they could have kept Rhodes, Waechter, Miller and Gregg. Proven pitchers that left for not much money…….I agree that the Marlins have a great farm system, but most of those pitchers are too young to perform at the MLB level. Sometimes you just have to pay for insurance and the Marlins have not covered the odds of pitchers getting hurt. I am afraid they will pay the price in the 7th inning on.

Cody was hit less against the Dominican Republic but had an outstanding play in right field. Listening to the radio can sometimes get frustrating but I guess its better than nothing at all. runners on first and second, ball is hit to the line in right field, Ross makes a diving catch, gets up and throws the runner out who was already rounding third base thinking no way Ross was getting to that ball. Double play for Cody. Hermida is on a roll at the plate hitting home runs in two consecutive games.