The Day After: Off Day Musings

Although the roster move hasn't officially been made yet, Mike Stanton will debut tomorrow night against Philadelphia and the Marlins have fired their best, and perhaps last, bullet at remaining in the 2010 race. The 20 year old slugger comes in expected to be the savior, rightly or wrongly, at a time when the Marlins desperately need one.

I've complied a few random thoughts on this off-day, which sees the team awaiting perhaps the most anticipated debut in Marlins history, and certainly since June 20th, 2003, when Miguel Cabrera etched his name into Marlins lore with a walk off homer for his first hit.

(1) What on earth can the Marlins do about the bullpen? I still say the bullpen is "OK." Yes, it's not a strength, but for few teams is it rarely a strength. You can look up and down the rest of the National League, quite frankly, most teams would kill to have a legitimate two deep bullpen like the Marlins. While Clay Hensley and Leo Nunez would not garner much excitement or name recognition, the two have been vital in giving the Marlins a perfect record when leading after the 7th inning.

The problem with the bullpen isn't so much that it lacks talent, let's face it, most bullpens are two or three deep at best, the problem is Fredi Gonzalez manages every game in the 7th inning as if he's preparing for extra innings and tries to squeeze an extra batter, inning, whatever, out of a pitcher that clearly doesn't have "it."

Take Sunday as an example, Tim Wood labored through the 6th inning, yet he went out there for the 7th. Up three runs and with the notoriously impatient (and currently torrid) Jeff Francoeur at the plate, Fredi stuck with Wood despite reliable set-up reliever (and sinkerballer) Clay Henlsey not having pitched since Thursday. As if on cue, Francoeur parked one, tied the game and the Mets never looked back. At some point talent catches up, so the Marlins could surely use another arm, but at the moment Fredi isn't even giving the team the best chance to succeed with the limited talent he has, Sunday as merely the latest example in a long line of allowing the inning to get out of hand before going to get his pitcher.

Which brings us to a less heralded callup from Sunday: Rick Vandenhurk. The "Holland Hammer" has dynamite stuff. A huge curveball, which he's inexplicably gotten away from throwing, and a low to mid 90's fastball with late life. He looked like a middle of the rotation starter on the way up, but something happened on the way to the bigs. In his new 7th inning role, Vandy might have found a spot to thrive.

I like him as a max effort reliever. I think that letting him just air it out for an inning and 20-30 pitches might help him find a new gear and a level of effectiveness he has not enjoyed at the major league level. Since the start of last season, this is the role I had envisioned for him and I hope he thrives. At the very least, after this stint, the Marlins will know exactly what they have in him and can either celebrate an effective reliever or can move on with the roster spot.


(2) Can Stanton really save the season? Even if you don't buy into the hype, he's not being asked to be a savior, he's being asked to replace a .225/.290/.341 (.631 OPS) line. That's Cameron Maybin's 2010 output, something Stanton should easily exceed if for no other reason than his tremendous slugging potential. Maybin set the bar so low that Stanton doesn't even need to be a phenom to make the lineup better.

Maybe we will only go as far as Stanton takes us, but making us better won't take much effort.

(3) What are we going to do about the rotation behind Josh Johnson? Ricky's been inconsistent and very hittable (6.5 K/9 & 9.8 H/9) but beyond that, all of our starters have met or exceeded expectations. Robertson has not been good, but by 5th starter standards, he's been passable (1.53 WHIP).

The name that might factor most into the rotation from this point forward is Sean West. The top prospect who was rushed to the bigs out of necessity this season is back and pitching for AAA New Orleans after dealing with some back issues lingering from spring training. He made his season debut last night and tossed 5 scoreless innings, striking out 4 and walking none. Andrew Miller is probably a non-factor for this year, and outside of Ryan Tucker, the Marlins have no higher level pitchers ready to step in. With West being left-handed, he may take Robertson's spot in the not too distant future.

(4) Do you still think the Marlins are a playoff team?

I do. RIght now, with Hanley having a very slow start (by his standards), with Coghlan just finally awakening from a two month slumber, and with the bullpen incredibly shaky beyond Leo and Hensley, we're 1 game under .500 and 4 games out of the division. We're adding the best hitting prospect in baseball and asking him to better a .630 OPS. We're adding a pitcher who should thrive as a max effort reliever, and, most importantly, we're doing this a full two months before the trade deadline. There's plenty of time, we just need to turn things around. Promoting Stanton sends the message, and we're still within striking distance of the division. At the start of the year I had us pegged at 88 wins and the wild-card, I still believe both of those are very possible.