Gonzalez: Can the Florida Marlins win with Emilio Bonifacio?

If you anagramp-up Bonifacio…“Can Boo If I” spits out.

To Bonifacio…for all the buzz about Gaby Sanchez moving from first to third at Triple-A New Orleans, it’s looking less and less likely Bonifacio is going anywhere. Are the overall numbers still disappointing? Yes. Even aftera 1-for-3 performance with a triple and sacrifice fly that knocked in the deciding run in the eighth, Bonifacio’s OPS remains .601. His on-base percentage (.298) has been south of .300 since May 22. He’s been error-prone at third, a position he hadn’t played before this spring.

Yet for all that, I thought manager Fredi Gonzalez had a telling quote about him afterthe game: ” Boni, even through all the stuff he’s been going through, at the beginning of the year and hitting .900 and people expecting him to hit .970, he comes every day to work and he’s getting better. He’s got a nice little hitting streak going. He’s hitting a little over .300 from the right side…He’s doing fine. He’s one of those guys you characterize as a winner because he’ll find something to do during the course of a game to help you win a ballgame.”

Can’t really disagree with Gonzalez here. We haven’t seen many games from Bonifacio like he had that first week, but for all his shortcomings—and he has his share—he does seem to do at least one thing a game that makes you say, ‘Ok, let’s keep him in there a little longer and see what he can do.’ If nothing else, I’m impressed by the fact he’s shown no signs of being a “me” player.