Late Sunday night, the Marlins did what many expected by signing shortstop Jose Reyes. Reyes will more than likely bat leadoff for the Marlins, with Hanley Ramirez moving to either third base or center field. I think third base makes more sense for Hanley, as he appears to be too big to play center field. Buster Olney tweeted the following late Sunday night:
Buster_ESPN Buster OlneyEven in spring training last year, there were members of the Marlins' staff who thought Hanley had gotten too big to play SS.
Moving to Florida doesn't help or hurt Reyes fantasy value, as his main asset is his batting average and speed, and he can steal bases for any team. With Reyes leading off, and possibly Emilio Bonafacio batting second, and Hanley third, outfielder Mike Stanton will have plenty of RBI opportunities, and plenty of fastballs too.
I was watching Hot Stove on the MLB Channel last evening and Foxsports Ken Rosenthal reported that Hanley "prefers to stay at shortstop" but will handle the discussion with the Marlins front office in a professional manner. Could he get traded this offseason?
The Marlins are also talking to pitcher Mark Buerhle and first baseman Albert Pujols, and after signing Heath Bell and Reyes, and their aggressiveness tells us that they want to prove that their 90 loss season in 2011 was a fluke.
Update: The Marlns are rumored to have made Pujols a 10 year offer. I have to think this pushes the total value over $200 million and will push the Cardinals to up their offer. This is getting interesting.
More thoughts on the Hot Stove after the jump, but make sure you are reading MLB Daily Dish and Baseball Nation for all of their offseason coverage as well. The folks over at MLB Daily Dish are cranking out article after article this offseason, and has all the Winter Meetings coverage you need.
Speaking of Pujols, his age came up again in a tweet from SI.com, and soon to be CBS Sports MLB Insider, Jon Heyman:
If albert pujols wants to beat $200M 9-yr cardinals offer, he should produce birth certificate. skepticism abounds over 31 claim
I am of the belief that where there's smoke, there is fire, and the question of Pujols age has come up so often the last year and a half, that there has to be something to it. There are too many baseball writers, with solid front office contacts, who are questioning Pujols age. I wonder if we will ever find out.
There was talk yesterday that C.J. Wilson has received at least one 6 year offer, and last night Jim Duquette tweeted the identity of the team making that 6 year offer:
Last year, the Nationals overpaid Jayson Werth and now this? I am not sure Wilson deserves 5 years, let alone 6 years. He has been a solid starter for the last two years though, but he just turned 31 years of age, so giving him a 6 year deal is crazy. Nationals fans should hope this is just a rumor.
Yesterday, we heard that the Phillies were interested in signing third baseman Aramis Ramirez to play third, and in turn, they would deal current third baseman Placido Polanco. It seems that ARam is plan B if they cannot re-sign shortstop Jimmy Rollins, but according to CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury, the latest meeting between the Phillies and Rollins agent "did not go well". Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. walked away from signing Cliff Lee to a long term deal two seasons ago and ended up trading him, so this move doesn't surprise me with Amaro.
Speaking of the Phillies, they signed 4th outfielder Laynce Nix to platoon in left field with John Mayberry Jr. As soon as I read this news, I wondered how Domonic Brown likes playing in Lehigh Valley, PA, because that is where he will be spending most of the 2012 season. Does he get traded in 2012?