Florida Marlins
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PrintBaseball America's Top 10 Prospects lists are based on projections of a player's long-term worth after discussions with scouting and player-development personnel. All players who haven't exceeded the major league rookie standards of 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched (without regard to service time) are eligible. Ages are as of April 1, 2008.
Scouting reports for the Top 10 Prospects
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| TOP TEN PROSPECTS |
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| BEST TOOLS |
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| PROJECTED 2011 LINEUP |
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| TOP PROSPECTS OF THE DECADE |
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| TOP DRAFT PICKS OF THE DECADE |
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| LARGEST BONUSES IN CLUB HISTORY |
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Stop us if you've heard this before: The Marlins continue their push for a new baseball-only stadium but haven't let that fruitless pursuit interrupt their quest to stockpile young talent for the future.
While the major league club suffered through an injury-marred season under first-year manager Fredi Gonzalez, dropping to 71-92 and last place in the National League East for the first time in eight years, the top levels of the organization enjoyed rare stability. Owner Jeffrey Loria followed the disappointment of 2007 by locking up four key members of his baseball operations staff through 2015.
Loria promoted general manager Larry Beinfest to president of baseball operations, with assistant general manager Michael Hill moving up to the titular role of GM. Beinfest and Hill will retain the same basic duties, with the new titles merely an attempt to head off potential inquiries about future positions elsewhere. Player-personnel guru Dan Jennings and scouting-and-development czar Jim Fleming also received identical extensions as Florida doled out uncommon security to its leading baseball thinkers.
This was Loria's way of letting his top advisers know he believes they're on the right track, even if the results on the field in 2007 failed to show that. Despite fielding the majors' second-lowest payroll at $32 million, the Marlins again boasted some of the top young talent in the game. Hanley Ramirez, in particular, built on the gains of his rookie-of-the-year season, putting himself in the same sentence as Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins for shortstop supremacy in the National League.
On draft day, the Marlins picked 12th and added a player who one day could play alongside Ramirez as Miguel Cabrera's eventual successor: California prep third baseman Matt Dominguez. They signed Dominguez, who hails from Beinfest's alma mater, Chatsworth (Calif.) High, for $1.8 million just before the Aug. 15 deadline.
It was the first time since taking Jeremy Hermida with the 11th overall selection in 2002 that Florida had gone away from its pitching-first approach to the draft. Scouting director Stan Meek called out names of position players with his first four selections, adding California prep outfielder Mike Stanton in the second round, Fresno CC catcher Jameson Smith in the third and UC Irvine outfielder Bryan Petersen in the fourth. Internationally, the Marlins proceeded cautiously amid stunning inflation but did sign Venezuelan shortstop Miguel Torres for $250,000.
The attempt to restock the organization with position talent seemed wise, especially considering the mound-heavy flavor of the Marlins' Top 10 Prospects list. Their best five prospects and six of the top eight are pitchers. Four of those arms came from the first and supplemental first rounds of the 2005 draft: Chris Volstad (No. 1), Ryan Tucker (No. 3), Sean West (No. 4) and Aaron Thompson (No. 8).
In the minors, Florida again struggled to produce victories as many of its top prospects were pushed along or even promoted to the majors. The farm system produced a cumulative mark of 323-367 (.468), with no affiliate reaching the playoffs and only three managing winning records. That was a slight improvement over 2006, when the affiliates won at a .465 clip and just one topped the .500 mark.
| Scouting reports for the Top 10 Prospects
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| Pre-Order the 2008 Prospect Handbook 30 scouting reports on every team |
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