ESPN talks to Scout X

ESPN reports various musings from Scout X, a big-league scout with a couple of interesting considerations for the 2010 season. Among them:

He thinks Matt Cain has a better six- to eight-year outlook than Tim Lincecum.

He also likes Phil Hughes over Joba Chamberlain for Yankees fifth starter.

Nothing else really stands out.

Fantasy Impact: It's becoming fairly typical for those doubting the diminutive Lincecum and his unique pitching rotation. We still find the best analysis of his mechanics to be much less of an indictment than what the doubters are saying.

Hughes vs. Chamberlain is certainly a tossup. Neither is a good fantasy option due to their low sample size and MLB inconsistency, but they both deserve flier picks due to playing for the Yankess.

Steve Phillips on the Cubs

ESPN's Steve Phillips believes the Cubs closer situation is a battle that will eventually be won by Carlos Marmol. According to Philips, Marmol has the better stuff and is the better pitcher when compared with current Cubs closer Kevin Gregg. Phillips voiced his opinion numerous times on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball as Marmol pitched a perfect eighth and Gregg struggled through the ninth.

Phillips also had a bit of a run-in with Lou Piniella this week and apologized to the Cubs manager for his criticism of Piniella's perceived handling of Kosuke Fukudome.

Florida On My Mind

ESPN lists what to watch in MLB for 2009. The list is a good one, but perhaps the best item on it is the Florida Marlins and their pitching staff.

I can't get Bobby Cox's words out of my head. It was the last week of September. And here's what he said: "You know who's got the best starting pitching in our division? It's the Marlins. And it's not even close." Nobody, of course, was saying that about that team a year ago, when the Fish were getting ready to roll out a rotation that had won a total of 23 games the year before. But now, they have Ricky Nolasco, Josh Johnson, Chris Volstad, Anibal Sanchez and Andrew Miller lined up.

They have a collection of supersonic bullpen arms. They have Cameron Maybin moving into center. And Logan Morrison is just over the horizon, with the minor-league teenage home-run champ, Mike Stanton, right behind him. So despite all the Marlins' questions and inexperience, this is one dangerous team. I'm not sure if an 84-78 team qualifies as a "surprise" the way, say, the 2008 Rays did. But when a franchise with a sub-$40 million payroll looms as a major contender, that's always a "surprise" in my dictionary.
-- Jayson Stark

What team reinvents itself year after troubling year like the Florida Marlins? I think back to James Earl Jones soliloquy about America and baseball in Field of Dreams.

America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again.

So have the Marlins, and they're still coming up with ways of reinventing themselves.