Archive for Odds and Ends
Miami Marlins Staff Still Lacking Bench Coach
Posted by: | CommentsEditor’s note: As I mentioned in the site update earlier today, we are debuting a new writer on Marlins Daily. The new writer is David Polakoff. If the name sounds familiar, David runs the best Marlins forum on the internet, SoFlaMarlins. You can follow David on Twitter here.
After hiring Tino Martinez as their hitting coach last week, the Marlins’ on field staff is beginning to take shape. New manager Mike Redmond will have fielding guru Perry Hill back as the first base coach, with Joe Espada returning as the third base coach. Reid Cornelius, the former Marlins hurler who has been the team’s bullpen coach for the past few seasons, will be returning to the staff in some capacity, either as the pitching coach or bullpen coach. With the exception of Perry Hill, all of these coaches have one thing in common: relative inexperience.
Hill, of course, has been with the Marlins on multiple tours of duty and has been coaching for some time. Beyond Hill, Reid Cornelius and Joe Espada are the two most experienced coaches on the staff, with both having been minor league coaches until their promotions for the 2010 season. Martinez is a first year coach, whose prior experience includes Spring Training special instructor and YES Network color commentator, and Redmond has two years of managerial experience in A-ball under his belt. The bench coach position is an important hire for the Marlins, and they would be wise to go with an experienced hand in the position.
Recently it was reported that Redmond had mentioned Don Wakamatsu as a possibility. Wakamatsu is a former big league manager and is currently the bench coach for Toronto. Joe Frisaro recently noted Ron Hassey as a name that could merit consideration. Hassey is currently the Marlins’ AAA manager and was a big league coach in the mid-1990s as well as the Mariners’ bench coach from 2005-2006.
Beyond those names, however, the others that have been surfacing are more inexperienced names. In the same article, Frisaro mentions Mike Mordecai, Andy Fox, and Dave Berg. Mordecai managed for a year in the minors with the Marlins organization before going to coach high school baseball. Berg is currently a manager in the Marlins’ system. Fox, the most experienced of the group, was a Marlins first base coach from 2007-2009, but the team fired him after the season. A final name that has come up is Mike Lowell; MLB Network Radio noted that Redmond and Lowell made an agreement to name each other bench coaches if and when one of them became a manager.
With such an inexperienced staff, the Marlins would do well to find an experienced coach to sit alongside Mike Redmond in 2013. There are plenty of former managers – Jerry Manuel, Larry Bowa, Willie Randolph, Jerry Narron – who would likely appreciate an opportunity to rebuild their reputation and take the reigns as bench coach. Given the overwhelming youth of the coaches, this team could use a baseball lifer on the bench.
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When Ozzie Guillen Loves Fidel Castro, Professional Journalism Dies A Little Bit
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(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
In an article written by Sean Gregory on Time Magazine’s website, Ozzie Guillen professed his love and respect for Fidel Castro. Or something like that. The details never seem to be all that important for anyone trying to hastily scrap together an opinion piece.
Gregory knew this. He knew exactly what he was doing when he opened with, “‘I love Fidel Castro,’ Blurts Ozzie Guillen…” before launching into two full paragraphs of fluff before finally returning to add context to the opening sentence, burying any explanation for Guillen’s strange comment behind a paywall that few would ever bother opening their wallets for. And they shouldn’t have. Outside of the Castro comments, there was exactly nothing in that entire Time piece that would be considered interesting or revelatory. Without manipulating that one quote, Sean Gregory basically wrote nothing, and nothing doesn’t get headlines or mouse clicks.
So, then, it’s understandable that this is how he would write his first three paragraphs:
“I love Fidel Castro,” Blurts Ozzie Guillen, the new manager of the Miami Marlins, in his Jupiter, Fla., spring-training office before an early-March team workout. During a typically stream-of-consciousness Ozzie oratory, he has covered some favorite topics, such as his passion for bullfighting (“You’re giving the animal an opportunity to kill you”), disdain for sports shrinks (“You’re 4 for 4, you don’t need psychology. You’re 0 for 4, you… need a f—ing guy to get you ready to play?”) and the benefits of brutal honesty (“I told my wife, ‘I don’t like the perfume you’re wearing.’ She was mad, but meanwhile, I don’t have to sleep with her every night and smell that s—”).
Now he is riffing on politics. And yes, the new jefe of the Miami baseball team, which will start playing in a sleek new stadium in the Cuban community of Little Havana on April 4, just professed his adoration of the leader reviled by his new neighbors.
After a second of reflection, the most unfiltered figure in baseball, if not sports, wants a do-over. “I respect Fidel Castro,” says Guillen, a Venezuela native who also says he respects Hugo Chvez. “You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that mother—— is still here.”
Sure, it’s ultimately the reader who’s charged with understanding what he/she has just read, but after distracting the reader with an overabundance of asides and parenthetical quotes in the first paragraph, Gregory uses the entire second paragraph to hammer home a point that, by the third paragraph, is already proven to be untrue, anyway.
DISQUS Installed for Simpler Commenting
Posted by: | CommentsWhen SB Nation launched their team blogs a few years ago they created a certain feature that totally zonked WordPress, Blogger and other blog platforms. It was their easy-as-ever commenting system, which users took advantage of by simply writing their thoughts and then clicking “post.” Once you were logged in, you were able to comment as much as you pleased. Obviously, WordPress doesn’t have that and it really gets tiring writing my name and email every time I want to comment on an article.
I first found out about DISQUS back when MLB Trade Rumors installed the program to their world-famous blog. I fell in love with it’s speed and easy posting features which encouraged me to finally add it to Marlins Daily. So, Marlins fans, if you don’t yet have a password you can create one in seconds by going to DISQUS.com and if you have one, comment away. DISQUS also allows you to reply and like or dislike other commenter’s posts, and that’s always fun too.
If you have a problem with DISQUS be sure to email me by clicking on the “contact” button on the right.
Pretty Snazzy, Yo!: An In-Depth Look at the New Uniforms of Your Miami Marlins
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(Photo credit: Denis Bancroft/Miami Marlins)
If you can ignore Jeffrey Loria’s unintentional patronization of the Latin community and the never-ending Pitbull concert that held your ears hostage, Friday night’s official unveiling was a surprisingly refreshing beginning to a new era of Marlins baseball. But, now that it’s all out in the open and the uncertainty of each new dreaded leak is behind us, we can get down to the business of figuring out what it is we just witnessed and whether or not we’re comfortable with it.
There’s obviously no shortage of opinions on the internet, but most of those are focused on one of two things: “I love it!” or “I hate it!” Hopefully, I can give you something a little more substantial. You see, aside from being an amateur blogger here at Marlins Daily, I also lead another life, one that takes up the majority of my time, pays the bills and keeps my internet connection turned on. I’m a professional graphic artist. And rather than bore you with an oversimplified opinion, I thought I’d take you deep inside the mind of a designer and hopefully give you a more detailed look at the rebranding of the Miami Marlins.
So, pull up a chair, fire up that bootleg copy of Photoshop (I won’t tell anyone you have it. Promise.) and follow along, after the jump, as we take an in-depth look at the new Marlins logo and uniforms and maybe answer a few of those nagging questions you have about this design.
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Your Marlins Daily Late-October Early-Shopper Holiday Gift Guide
Posted by: | CommentsEvery once in a while, I like to dive into the internet’s swimming pool of useless junk (eBay!) and see just what kind of ridiculous Marlins merchandise people are asking you to pay money for. Well, today, I found all sorts of stuff you would only buy if you were drunk at three in the morning with nobody to prevent you from doing something stupid. Let’s take a look. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be tempted to get an early jump on your holiday shopping…
8. IT’S DAVE MAGADAN’S FACE…ON A BASEBALL!
If you’ve been looking for a baseball with a black and white photo of a player who played 140 total games for the Marlins, boy, are you in luck! For the low, low price of $3.79 (plus S/H), you too can own one of the most awkward item in Florida Marlins history. There’s also the odd–yet so very wonderful–bonus of possibly most likely engaging in a bidding war with Dave Magadan, himself!
7. “TEAM OF THE AMERICA’S[sic]” MIGHT BE A BIT OF AN OVERSTATEMENT
One day, someone’s going to have to sit me down and explain how “El Equipo de las Americas” never managed to become the Marlins official team slogan. It just rolls off the tongue.
6. IS SANTA STEALING THAT KID’S GLOVE?
Nothing says Christmas like an oddly-dressed Santa Claus hovering over a young boy who fell asleep with his hand in his crotch. But, don’t let that deter you. This is more than a Christmas gift. When you give this to someone, “you are giving the gift of Baseball to you Little Little Leaguer.” And maybe when you’re done, you could give the gift of literacy.
5. IF YOU BUY THIS, I HATE YOU
True story: The Marlins gave away these stupid cowbells on a night when Cody Ross hit a game-winning home run and Willy Chirino performed for Super Saturday. It was also the night I dropped and broke my Blackberry when some dolt began ringing this ridiculous thing in my ear. If you buy this, please also buy a Florida Marlins toaster, plug it in and jump in the shower while hugging it.
4. SHOW YOUR TEAM SPIRIT WITH YOUR CROTCH
Remember when giant belt buckles were in? (Yes, Texas, those things did go out of style across the rest of the country.) Well, now you can attempt to bring it back with this oversized Florida Marlins belt buckle! You’re now just one black and teal Affliction t-shirt away from completing your Dan Uggla Halloween costume!
3. ARE YOU A FLORIDA MARLINS DIE HARD?
I think I know just the bloggers to get this plaque for…
2. IT’S A HOT DOG… AND A PIN… IT’S A HOT DOG PIN
What? You thought I was making that headline up? I’m not entirely sure the purpose this pin serves, or why anyone would have thought to combine these two things, but I’m kind of glad they did. This pin is all sorts of wonderful. It’ll go great next to my Miami Dolphins/plate of nachos pin.
1. THE MOST MIAMI THING IN THE HISTORY OF MIAMI THINGS
You know those hats they give out to a team the moment they win the World Series? This isn’t one of those. This is something somebody created on their own. And it’s amazing. The poor stitch job. The inexplicable colors. You can almost picture a guy selling this hat at a red light somewhere in Hialeah across the street from the lady selling shrimp. Or at Bayside.
There you go, folks. Your Marlins Daily Late-October Early-Shopper Holiday Gift Guide. Don’t say we never do anything for you!
