Marlins sign free agent outfielder Juan Pierre

Drew Silva

Nov 17, 2012, 10:03 PM EDT

60 Comments

Getty Images

As originally reported by Craig Mish of Sirius XM and then confirmed by ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Marlins have signed veteran outfielder Juan Pierre.

Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Pierre, 35, batted .307/.351/.371 in 439 plate appearances this past season for the Phillies, successfully swiping 37 bases in 44 attempts.

The Marlins are expected to feature Logan Morrison much more regularly at first base in 2013, so there should be a good amount of playing time available for Pierre in that Miami outfield. Who says the Fish aren’t trying to build a contender? OK, don’t answer that.

*********************

UPDATE, 10:18 PM: Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Pierre is getting a one-year contract from the Marlins worth $1.6 million and will vie for playing time in left field.

Skip to Comments (60)

Email

« Newer J.P. Howell drawing interest from “a handful” of teams

Older » Marlins sign free agent outfielder Juan Pierre

More HardballTalk

Back to Homepage

60 Comments (Feed for Comments)

Fink - Nov 17, 2012 at 10:10 PM

Ok…gotta say it, but I don’t think this whole fire sale thing was necessarily a bad thing for the Marlins. Granted, just about all of their proven MLB talent was traded away, maybe they finally have come around to the realization that building your team from within is the way to go. As a Reds fan, we suffered at the hands of Dunn & Griffey roaming the outfield, and capturing most of our payroll. Then, when Bob C & Walt Jocketty came in, they began earnestly developing past draft picks, and focusing on drafting players to develop in the farm system. That saw a playoff drought of 20 years be swept aside. I’m not saying Loria is a good owner (far from it), but perhaps he tried doing the whole Yankees’ thing, and bought as much as he could, and failed….and is now going to try the other way, developing promising young players. Unfortunately, by the time this talent is ready for the MLB, the Marlins & Rays will have been contracted (hopefully!)

Log in to Reply
- 4d3fect - Nov 17, 2012 at 11:07 PM
  
  Jeffy, is that you?
  
  Log in to Reply
  - dan1111 - Nov 18, 2012 at 4:14 AM
    
    Dear Mr. “Fink” Loria,
    
    It is true that the trade might not be so bad in isolation. The problem is the context. First of all, you may consider signing one star and a couple of second-tier players to be “doing the whole Yankees’ thing,” but the thing about the Yankees is that they actually manage to put a talented team together. Secondly, trading away all of your best players after a single season would make a better team look frantic and directionless. In your case, however, it is worse: your history of doing the exact same thing suggests this is not a change of direction but was your plan all along. This is nothing more than “doing the whole Marlins thing.” Third, while young players mean hope for the future to most teams’ fans, this hope cannot exist when all confidence in ownership has been destroyed. After all of the broken promises, how can anyone be excited about rooting for the Marlins (and why would any good player choose to sign there)? Fourthly, contraction–so that is your end game? That might actually make some sense from your wallet’s perspective. But that raises the question: to what city are you going to trade your new stadium?
    
    Sincerely,
    Reality
  - 4d3fect - Nov 18, 2012 at 6:11 AM
    
    Why does no one seem impressed with Slappy McPopup?
    
    I’m crushed, I have to tell you.
- vanindeed - Nov 17, 2012 at 11:22 PM
  
  whatever makes you sleep at night
  
  Log in to Reply
- raysfan1 - Nov 18, 2012 at 12:15 AM
  
  1) Bite me.
  2) Even setting aside my Rays fandom, your hope is flat idiotic. Contraction simply isn’t happening. First, it would cost MLB over a billon dollars just in franchising value. Second, it would adversely affect TV contracts, which are MLB’s most important source of income. Third, no way the MLBPA accepts the loss of 80 major league player jobs.
  
  Log in to Reply
  - historiophiliac - Nov 18, 2012 at 10:04 AM
    
    I found 1) to be a compellingly cogent argument.
  - raysfan1 - Nov 18, 2012 at 2:52 PM
    
    Thanks. Sometimes the visceral response is most appropriate.
- thejotapee - Nov 18, 2012 at 12:17 AM
  
  I’d agree with you, if they were capable of developing there prospects and could hit on their 1st round picks. Quick stat for you: Since This current Ownership group took over (2002), the Marlins have had 16 first round draft picks. They are:
  
  ’02 – Jeremy Hermida, OF
  ’03 – Jeffery Allison, RP
  ’04 – Taylor Tankersley, LHP
  ’05 – Chris Volstad, RHP
  ’05 – Aaron Thompson, LHP
  ’05 – Jacob Marceaux, RHP
  ’05 – Ryan Tucker, RHP
  ’05 – Sean West, LHP
  ’06 – Brett Sinkbeil, RHP
  ’06 – Chris Coghlan, OF
  ’07 – Matt Dominguez, 3B
  ’08 – Kyle Skipworth, C
  ’09 – Chad James, LHP
  ’10 – Christian Yellich, OF
  ’11 – Jose Fernandez, RHP
  ’12 – Andrew Heaney, LHP
  
  You can argue that they whiffed on every single one of them from ’02-’09. Coghlan had a great rookie year, but has stunk since, and he would be considered the best of that bunch. Yellich, Fernandez, and Heaney show promise but it remains to be seen what kind of Pro’s they’ll become. They problems with this team go a lot deeper than just Jeffery Loria. They’re scouting department deserves a lot of the blame for why this team hasn’t been able to make the playoffs in 10 years. I’d venture to say that the Marlins have had no choice but to have a fire sale and trade for other teams top prospects because they clearly haven’t been able to develop there own….
  
  Log in to Reply
  - paperlions - Nov 18, 2012 at 10:26 AM
    
    This is all true….but I would argue that the REASON that the problems go a lot deeper than Loria is Loria himself. Like most teams that are bad at drafting and talent development, they have been cheap with respect to their scouting department, their analytical department, and pretty much everything else. Many teams with horrible farm systems have horrible farm systems because they haven’t spent the necessary money to hire enough or good enough scouts, hired people to develop proprietary analytical tools to use in predicting future success, or hired good decision makers that are on the cutting edge of decision making approaches.
- mojosmagic - Nov 18, 2012 at 9:42 AM
  
  Dude you are so far off base in isn’t even funny. Loria conned Miami to get a new stadium, went young and cheap for years, signed a few stars for a year to sell tickets and now that he has what he wants he dumps them all. The word cheap doesn’t begin to describe this lowlife.
  
  Log in to Reply
  - Old Gator - Nov 18, 2012 at 9:19 PM
    
    Jotapee’s excellent list of Feesh draft misfires begs another question: why, having drafted these kids, did the Feesh fail so appallingly to develop their talents? Or perhaps we should be asking if there was something particularly toxic about playing for this organization so that once the ones who reached the show began playing professionally, their early promise evaporated and they fell out of the league? Tankersley and Hermida, especially, showed some serious potential during their first year or two at the major league level, then just plateaued and/or declined precipitously. I still feel that Andrew Miller was an enormously talented kid who got rushed into the majors at least a year too soon and had his confidence destroyed by bad coaching and mismanagement.
    
    I think it’s probably true that, as the kid told Sproule in Blood Meridian, what’s wrong with this organization is wrong all the way through it.
- Old Gator - Nov 18, 2012 at 12:34 PM
  
  If it weren’t Sunday morning and I didn’t have some freshly ground San Cristobal Island shade grown in volcanic soil Galapagos coffee and one of my fresh baked Meyer lemon marmalade poppyseed wholegrain muffins aeromatizing the kitchen from the toaster, I might not be too insouciant to go look up for how long Scrooge McLoria and his blighted franchise are committed to occupying Macondo Banana Massacre Field.
  
  I do recall thinking at the time the details of the agreement were made public that he wouldn’t outlive it, though.
  
  Log in to Reply
  - protius - Nov 18, 2012 at 3:25 PM
    
    Nobody cares what you’re eating, douche bag.
  - Old Gator - Nov 18, 2012 at 4:28 PM
    
    Glad you’ve just empowered yourself to speak for everybody else, Pwotywuss. Sounds like you’ve been out gazing upon the face of Agamemnon a bit too long, became a trifle dozy and went face first into the pond.
    
    And just so you won’t feel too lonely, here’s Agamemnon to keep you company down in your basement while you’re biting the glans off your Bud longnecks:
    
    http://proteus.brown.edu/greekpast/admin/image.html?imageid=3108856
    
    By the way, I just pulled a tray of caramelized roasted beets and sauteed beet greens out of the oven. I suspect, meanwhile, that you’re down to your last Twinkie. Pity about that.
  - protius - Nov 18, 2012 at 5:16 PM
    
    Washed up hack:
    
    You have been aptly described as a pedantic blow hard by Paperlion. He was being kind. I would have called you what I normally describe you as, i.e., a drunken pig.
    
    I don’t have to empower myself you pompous, monkey sock. The only people who give a shit what you eat, are the four ass kissers who thumbed you up. The rest of us think that you’re a condescending douche bag.
    
    Why don’t you stick your tray of caramelized beets up your ass, and go molest a student, just like you used to do in the good old days.
  - cur68 - Nov 18, 2012 at 6:32 PM
    
    Holy shit, but someone fell off their medication wagon hard today. I do believe we need a “Special Valentine” dart over here, STAT. Better stand back, y’all: after protius gets darted he gonna stagger around smashing into stuff quite a bit before the potent and heady mixture of thorazine, lithium, ritalin and haldol brings him down. Don’t nobody wanna get trampled by this giant asshole.
    
    Seriously though, protius: where are these legions of supporters you are supposed to have? I have as yet to see even one make a passing comment in your support. Judging by your never-drying-up supply of homophobia, childish taunts and now pedophile insults (hey! a new low!) I can see why. The stink must be too hard for them to bear.
    
    One thing you can be certain of, even paperlions probably loathes your ass and citing his and Gator’s differences probably isn’t going to get him joining you in your little pit-bog of douchery. You’d do yourself a huge favour if you shut up while the adults are talking.
  - Old Gator - Nov 18, 2012 at 7:06 PM
    
    I doubt if there are medications for what ails Pwotywuss. I doubt if it’ll be possible to treat two extra Y chromosomes for another generation of fecal stem cell research. With so little funding available in these trying economic times, imagine trying to convince the Guggenheim Foundation that Pwotywuss’ problem actually merits the necessary expenditures. It’s just the nature of his breed. Speaking of which, I suspect he just got over the fence from the pitbull thread a few days ago, and has been sniffing the dumpsters before he found his way back here. Don’t worry, though. Lowlife control will be along any time now. He’ll be darted and locked back up in his yard where he can run out the doggy door and bark through the railings at passersby whenever he wakes up from his most recent bellyful of kibble.
    
    Incidentally, wittoo Pwoty, the beets came out real well. Here’s the recipe:
    
    Slice three or four medium to large beets into eighths. Drizzle with olive oil, toss with crushed minced garlic (four to five cloves), a little balsamic vinegar and a dash or two of balsamic glace, salt and pepper. Place on foiled baking pan and roast at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the thick stems off the beet greens and boil them for a few minutes, until tender, in a pot of salted water. Drain, cut leaves into three or four pieces. Heat some olive oil, a couple of roughly chopped shallots and shaved garlic in a pan, and saute the greens until very tender. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve alongside or tossed with the beets.
    
    And since Agamemnon didn’t do much to quell your seizures, let’s try a picture of Herman Melville: http://www.greatwhatsit.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/melville.jpg
  - protius - Nov 18, 2012 at 8:28 PM
    
    Cur:
    
    Instead of coming to the aid of your pompous, drunken buddy; why don’t you go and find a woman you can hold on to. I heard she left you for a man.
    
    You’re as ego centric as he is. I don’t need your approval, or the approval of any one else, so save your infantile whining for your mother.
    
    Your pal is as Paperlion described him, a pedantic blow hard, and nobody gives a shit what he eats. No body gives a shit what either of you two jerk offs do for a living.
    
    Stop trying to impress people with how much better you are than everyone else. No one needs your approval, and I couldn’t care less if you liked or don’t like what I call you. You fucking douche bag, so suck it.
  - historiophiliac - Nov 18, 2012 at 8:32 PM
    
    You mean Brian Wilson.
  - protius - Nov 18, 2012 at 8:34 PM
    
    Hey drunken pig:
    
    Why don’t you tell the readers how many times you’ve been accused of molesting students? How many times you were arrested for being drunk, or for domestic violence? You should be the last person on earth to judge other people.
    
    Maybe I should post a link to your arrest record, or some old mug shots.
  - Old Gator - Nov 18, 2012 at 9:12 PM
    
    Awww Pwotywuss, no matter how badly you wanna be bad, no matter how hilariously predisposed to hysterical fecalspeak you are, you’ll always be adorable to me – much like my son’s cute little pet trapdoor spider, charging out of his burrow in the corner of his terrarium at the least provocation to sink his fangs pointlessly into a number two pencil point and slather it with drool. No matter how far your rhetorical flatulence descends into juvenile futility and repetitive impotence, no matter how painfully obvious you make your inferiority complexes, rich and varied a selection as it is, I’ll always love you just because of your irrelevance.
  - cur68 - Nov 18, 2012 at 9:54 PM
    
    Oh hey, wait. Protius has been reading my “blog” thingy. I don’t even read that anymore! Shit, I guess you told me. Yup. Divorced etc, that’s me. Ladies everywhere: I AM SINGLE! Got a great education, a good job, more money than I can spend by myself and I make the right kind of enemies (stupid ones). Thanks for the platform to put that out there, prot. Glad to know that’s relevant to your status as a giant asshole. A status you are going put of your way to confirm with every post, I might add.
  - Utley's Hair - Nov 18, 2012 at 10:02 PM
    
    Trollin’, trollin’, trollin’…keep that protius trollin’…
    
    But really, Gator, do you really have to keep forcing protius to read your posts? That’s not fair to him or his plethora of proteges who are losing out on his attention.
  - Old Gator - Nov 19, 2012 at 9:35 AM
    
    Ut: a new morning! And blog tectonics keeps shoving this thread relentlessly beneath the threads that came after it, so as attention to this particular concatenation of his ravings wanes, the Wuss can go back to regaling the rats and roaches in his basement about his glory days excavating Troy, Catal Huyuk, Rio Bec, Borabudur and Cahokia. They won’t be deprived at all. But I think it’s kind of you to worry about them that way. Hokay, on to the next eruption of Mount Wuss, wherever and whenever that might be.
    
    Meanwhile, I have to go bake some wholemeal biscuits and whip up a batch of my world famous rich yet lowfat sausage gravy.
randyt03 - Nov 17, 2012 at 10:24 PM

I think he signed knowing he’ll get traded soon anyway

Log in to Reply
- dcfan4life - Nov 17, 2012 at 10:38 PM
  
  Wait, even the great Juan Pierre didn’t get a no trade clause…? lol
  
  Log in to Reply
- dan1111 - Nov 18, 2012 at 4:16 AM
  
  Signing with the Marlins is the best way to play anywhere but there!
  
  Log in to Reply
  - historiophiliac - Nov 18, 2012 at 10:07 AM
    
    Kinda like player roulette? You don’t know where you’ll end up?
xmatt0926x - Nov 17, 2012 at 10:28 PM

What the bleep?? You’d think after his surprisingly good year for the Phillies that he could get a deal with a team with more of a chance than the Marlins, especially if it’s going to be for just about minimum salary. Then again, maybe he wanted to be in that area full time since he’s played there in the past. Who knows. Best of luck. He does all the little things well. The Phillies shouldn’t have let him go.

Log in to Reply
Old Gator - Nov 17, 2012 at 10:59 PM

Nice to see Peanut Head back in Macondo, but on the other hand, sorry that this is the best he could do – unless, of course, he just likes it here and is willing to put up with playing for swine like Scrooge McLoria and the Chihuahua in order to be in south Florida.

In the context of this current jovial iteration of the team, Pierre fulfills the need for a VETERAN PRESENCE and will definitely show the rookies and prospects a thing or two about what it means to play the game right and play it hard. In terms of the likelihood that the Feesh are going to catch a whiff of the Strange Attractor after the second week of next season, though, he’s just a tinkle in the ocean.

Log in to Reply
- cur68 - Nov 18, 2012 at 2:56 AM
  
  *sigh* I’d like to believe The Ophence is a + move…but he’s not. He needs a supporting cast. Still, this raises a good question. Now that The Ophence is a Feesh what are the Phills gonna do for runs?
  
  Log in to Reply
- Utley's Hair - Nov 18, 2012 at 11:30 AM
  
  Now can you send the Iron Giant up here? Please?!?!?
  
  Log in to Reply
kiwicricket - Nov 17, 2012 at 11:28 PM

Pierre and his lettuce arm are going to be painful to watch in that enormous outfield. Loria continues to make other teams better.

Log in to Reply
1972wasalongtimeago - Nov 18, 2012 at 12:10 AM

I’m back in if they sign Luis Castillo next.

Log in to Reply
thejotapee - Nov 18, 2012 at 12:24 AM

Maybe they should go sign Alex Gonzalez, Luis Castillo, and Derek Lee as well. Or maybe they shouldn’t have let any of them go in the first place…

Log in to Reply
purplekoolaid1 - Nov 18, 2012 at 12:45 AM

He going to vie for playing time in left field against who? LeBron James?

Log in to Reply
crisisjunky - Nov 18, 2012 at 1:20 AM

And amazingly, on the (roughly) 10th anniversary of his arriving in SoFla for the first time,
beginning five straight seasons of 162 games played. wow.

Log in to Reply
ishwishfish - Nov 18, 2012 at 1:47 AM

dontrelle willis is available

Log in to Reply
1943mrmojorisin1971 - Nov 18, 2012 at 3:13 AM

Where was AA? Juan Pierre is just like Rajai Davis except Juan has a ‘J’ in his name.

Log in to Reply
- 1943mrmojorisin1971 - Nov 18, 2012 at 3:13 AM
  
  ……..F*CK.
  
  Log in to Reply
  - 1943mrmojorisin1971 - Nov 18, 2012 at 3:15 AM
    
    Weed should totally be legal everywhere, but that’s just like my opinion, man.
  - dan1111 - Nov 18, 2012 at 3:56 AM
    
    I thought the original comment was brilliant–until I realized you didn’t do it intentionally!
  - 1943mrmojorisin1971 - Nov 18, 2012 at 4:36 AM
    
    Dammit.
canadabaseball - Nov 18, 2012 at 3:19 AM

Marlins had to clear cap space for there big signing Juan pier let MLB memes cover the rest

Log in to Reply
- skerney - Nov 18, 2012 at 7:27 AM
  
  How many errors can you count in this comment?
  
  Log in to Reply
  - historiophiliac - Nov 18, 2012 at 10:10 AM
    
    It wouldn’t be Sunday morning if you didn’t have a cup of coffee and read over the drunk posts from the night before.
- Old Gator - Nov 18, 2012 at 4:32 PM
  
  What are you talking about? The guy was y’clepd Peanut Head in the first place because they couldn’t find a cap that was small enough to fit his head.
  
  Log in to Reply
henryd3rd - Nov 18, 2012 at 8:59 AM

Well I guess we can all relax now. The Marlins have shown that they are serious about being competitors in the NL East. Pierre has experience, he can pitch, field, run, relieve and he’s also a reliable pinch hitter.

All we need to do is hide that big S on his chest so no one will know that his real name is Clark Kent.

They have got to be kidding me.

Log in to Reply
ncphilliesguy - Nov 18, 2012 at 9:26 AM

Beast Mode! This is a good deal for Juan (he made 800 K on a minor league invite last year) and he can be traded to a contender at the deadline. I am hopeful he will come work for the Phils organization after he retires, I love the guy. He does have a wet noodle for an arm, though, and I watched him in BP last year, I think I have more power. But no one will set a better example for the Marlins young players, he still can find his way on base, and is a great baserunner. I think he can still be an effective 2 hitter in the majors, maybe not full time on a winning team, but still.

Log in to Reply
- kkolchak - Nov 18, 2012 at 11:34 AM
  
  Traded for WHAT at the deadline? A ham sandwich and an order of fries?
  
  Log in to Reply
mojosmagic - Nov 18, 2012 at 9:36 AM

I guess Loria now has to decided to rebuild by going old.

Log in to Reply
greymares - Nov 18, 2012 at 10:25 AM

all this whining and this is still a better team than the METS.

Log in to Reply
AlohaMrHand - Nov 18, 2012 at 10:57 AM

They just added some power to that lineup eh?

Log in to Reply
jagsfan11 - Nov 18, 2012 at 1:16 PM

Juan signed a Juan year deal

Log in to Reply
Carl Hancock - Nov 18, 2012 at 3:49 PM

Juan didn’t want to pick the team he’ll play for next so he wanted the Marlins to decide that for him. It’s some sort of Free Agent Russian roulette, sign win the Marlins and then see where you end up when they trade you.

Log in to Reply
- Old Gator - Nov 18, 2012 at 4:34 PM
  
  You wind up hanging upside down from the conveyor belt in Scrooge McLoria’s Sylent Green facility, along with Chris Coghlan and Bryan Peterson. Recycled fabricants are a cheap source of protein, you know.
  
  Log in to Reply
thejotapee - Nov 18, 2012 at 9:54 PM

I contend that if the ’03 Marlins would have remained in tact, that team would have been a perennial playoff contender for 5+ years. Imagine this team that one a World Series title together for 5 years:

1. Juan Pierre, CF
2. Luis Castillo, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, RF
4. Derek Lee, 1B
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Juan Encarnacion/Josh Willingham, LF
7. Pudge Rodriguez, C
8. Alex Gonzalez, SS

Josh Beckett, RHP
A.J. Burnett, RHP
Brad Penny, RHP
Dontrelle Willis, LHP
Josh Johnson/Carl Pavano, RHP

This team could have been special. Theycould have won MULTIPLE World Series titles. But of course after ’03, there cleanup hitter (Lee) was traded, and they let their most important player, their glue guy and captain of the team (Pudge) go to Detroit, traded everyone else two offseasons later, and the rest is history. That young pitching staff wasn’t the same when Pudge left. I’m sure most of you will disagree, but many of these guys weren’t even even in there primes when the ’03 Marlins won the title. This was and will always be the most heartbreaking of the three firesales.

Log in to Reply
- mojosmagic - Nov 18, 2012 at 11:39 PM
  
  True.
  
  Log in to Reply
- historiophiliac - Nov 19, 2012 at 7:42 AM
  
  Pudge isn’t the only one we picked up from there. BTW, thanks again for that.
  
  I have to say, there was quite some time when no big names wanted to come to the D. I loved Pudge before that (watched him in the minors even) but was so thrilled when he joined the Tigers. It was a turning point for us. People can laugh at the value of mentory mentorness, but he really made a difference for us — and Rogers too. They were the bright spots of a very painful 2006 WS for us.
  
  Log in to Reply

Leave Comment

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Not a member? Register now!

« Newer J.P. Howell drawing interest from “a handful” of teams

Older » Marlins sign free agent outfielder Juan Pierre

More HardballTalk

Back to Homepage

More HardballTalk

Latest Posts

Top Posts

Subscribe