The Bullpen

Are the Marlins getting their advice from Dave Dombrowski and the Tigers? Just askin'

Our Closer and the Infamous Miggy trade

         Let's hope this is the low-point of the Marlins' season. Two blown saves -- after starting pitchers do a great jobs and the hitters give you enough runs for a win -- are a real kick in the gut. And so it's natural that the team follows that up with a complete collapse in a 11-1 loss, saving the heartbreak of another blown save.
         Friends have been calling for Cishek replacements, with a heavy dose of sarcasm. One suggests we pick up Kevin Gregg, who reportedly was just released by the Reds. I suggested Heath Bell, who retired this spring after being released by Nats. Another buddy asks: "Is Ugueth Urbina out of jail yet?" (Yes, released in 2012, according to the NYT after serving five years for setting workers afire, but he hasn't pitched since 2005.)
          This brings me back to the trade that will live in infamy: Miggy to Detroit. One of the washouts the Tigers sent us was Andrew Miller. We dumped him to the Boston Red Sox in 2010 for Dustin Richardson.
           Well, guess what: Miller (with proper coaching?) is now a super-star closer with the Yankees -- 13 saves so far this year, with a 0.00 ERA. Somebody -- not the Marlins -- had the bright idea of converting him from a starter to a reliever.
           And what about Richardson? Well, the Marlins quickly dumped Richardson without compensation. And where is he now? He signed as a free-agent this spring with the Dodgers -- having never made it to the Big Leagues. So we could probably pick him up for a song.

Blown saves

As the great Yogi Berra once said: "It's deja vu all over again."

ARG

               Well, for several days I've been thinking of posting a smart-ass follow up to my post on firing the pitching coach: Basically, as soon as I wrote that post, the Marlins started pitching started turning itself around. After a start of a season that was truly miserable, the starters went through a stretch of 7-10 days of ERA below 2. And -- ahem! -- I was going to take credit for this by lighting a fire under Chuck Hernandez, who must have read my posting and decided he needed to fire up the pitchers.
              Well ... ... Sunday afternoon, after Latos had another good outing, I was writing the post in my head when in comes Cishek to blow it all away. As of Monday morning, the Marlins have 3 saves in 10 opportunities -- the worst ratio in the Majors.
              Pitching remains such a mystery.
              Latos btw is now 1-3 with an ERA of 4.72 but is on an upswing. DeSclafani is 2-3 with ERA of 2.50 in Cincinnati.

We Have Met The Enemy ...

... and he is us.
      I gripe a lot about management and its decisions, BUT ... they've spent a ton of money on his team over the past winter and going into Saturday, they had won three in a row. Five of us went to Saturday's game -- getting $21 cheap seats in the home run porch behind Stanton.
      A Saturday 4:10 game, a new improved team on a hot streak, and the listed attendance was 18,129. They didn't even open the upper deck -- on a Saturday. I doubt if more than 10,000 were in the stands, though a ton may have been crowded into the Clevelander for a beer-tasting special.
      After seeing four games on the West Coast in ballparks with far higher attendances, I have to think that ultimately no team with such dismal fan support can prosper in the long run.
      Anyway, we saw a great game, with the center field sculpture twice coming to life. Go Marlins.

Fire Chuck Hernandez!

Pitching Coach Chuck Hernandez

    We fans know Loria. He's seething, he's moaning. He has to do something. Such a dismal start after he spent a ton of money on this team.
            Baseball is still sometimes a game of mystery when teams come/don't come together. It's early in season .. Stanton has to adjust to pressure of biggest contract ever and I hope/think he can do so successfully, but there are a lot of parts to team. 3B, 1B and C big question marks .... 2B doing a lot better than I expected.
    But Loria is not a patient man. I'm tempted to wisecrack that he might soon sell everybody to Blue Jays, but my gut tells me that if things don't change pretty quickly, the easiest change will be Redmond. Right? You can't blame upper management for assembling this team, so somebody has to take blame.
    But Redmond has always struck me as a pretty steady, smart guy.
    So what to do? Rather than throw him under the bus, let's look for someone else. The Marlins have the worst ERA -- by far -- in the majors.
    Their starting pitching is utterly miserable. Their closer has had a rough start. So if Loria feels like dumping, why not pick the pitching coach?
    Must be his fault, right?  He just isn't telling the staff to throw good pitches. Or strikes. Or avoid home runs. (What the hell do pitching coaches talk about? I always think of that meeting on the mound in Bull Durham, in which the coach says, "Candlesticks always make a nice gift.")
     It was management that grabbed Latos in exchange for the young Anthony DeSclafani, Phelps for the always disappointing Eovaldi, Haren for Andrew Heaney (disappointing last year in his Marlins debut). And you can't blame management, right?
    But ... but ... Last night Eovaldi shined for the Yankees, giving up one run in seven innings. Heaney is the top minors prospect with the Angels and DeSclafani (2-2, 6.27 ERA last year with Marlins) is now 2-0 with 0.86 ERA with Reds.
      So maybe Marlins pitching coach is not getting full potential out of his staff. Or maybe  everybody should just stay cool for a while. Season is still young.  Who knows? If baseball weren't so complicated, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

You Can't Have Too Much Pitching

My analysis of starting pitching for 2015

1 -- Henderson Alvarez -- 12-7 with 2.65 ERA in 2014. What's not to like.  And he's only 24.

2 -- Jarred Cosart -- 4-4 and 2.39 with Marlins last year after a poor start with Houston. Also 24. Big upside but how consistent will be. In other words, um, he's a gamble?

3 -- Dan Haren -- 34 -- 13-11 with 4.02 last year. 3.77 lifetime. Has produced for 176-186 innings each of past three years. Probably a dependable inning-eater, but that's about all.

4 -- Mat Latos -- A Cincy fan says -- "he's good, when he's healthy, and he's not healthy quite a bit." So a question mark.

5 -- Tom Koehler -- 28 -- 191 innings last year 10-10 3.81. Probably another Haren.

Waiting in the wings:

David Phelps -- 28 -- 0.95 in 19 innings this spring. Last year with Yanks, 5-5, including 17 starts, with 4.38 ERA in AL, likely to be lower in NL. I'd like to see him get a chance  as soon as someone falters.

Jose Urena -- 23 -- Starting season in AAA -- 13-8 3.33 in AA last year. Organization says he has a lot of upside, as does the next guy.

Justin Nicolino -- 23 -- Also starting in AAA. Last year 14-4 2.85 in AA last year.

And oh yes, maybe at some point Jose Fernandez will be back. -