The Sports Xchange
MLB Team Report – Miami Marlins – INSIDE PITCH
Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said the team hopes to gradually increase its payroll in coming years, but he can’t foresee the team ever having a $100 million payroll again as it did in 2012.
That means the Marlins will compete for the foreseeable future through the same blueprint they’ve used for years: fielding a squad of young and affordable players.
Miami goes into the 2013 season with a payroll of around $40 million.
Marlins Park, the team’s new $515 million ballpark that opened in 2012, was supposed to mark the end of the Marlins’ history of frugal payrolls. However, the team last season lost 93 games and “tens of millions of dollars” last year, according to Loria.
Loria said he envisions slugger Giancarlo Stanton as the franchise’s centerpiece, but the Marlins are not ready yet to commit to making a long-term offer to the slugger.
“I don’t think this is the year to go to Giancarlo with an offer,” Loria said. “We have to let him play it out, let him feel more comfortable.”
Loria also didn’t promise that Stanton would not be traded in the near future.
“He will be here this year, and I’m hopeful he will come here the next year,” Loria said. “He’d be the young giant in the ballclub, but you can’t make promises in this game because strange things happen all the time.”
The Marlins have been handicapped in their efforts to sign free agents because of their policy against giving no-trade clauses. They’re in a tougher bind since they traded Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle in November, 11 months after each signed multiyear contracts with Miami.
Loria opened the door on the possibility of allowing no-trade clauses.
“It ties us up, but who knows what will happen down the road,” Loria said. “There are some free agents who may demand it, but we have to wait and see.”
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MLB Team Report – Miami Marlins – NOTES, QUOTES
–C Jeff Mathis broke his collarbone when he was hit by a foul tip in the Marlins’ Grapefruit League opener Feb. 23. Manager Mike Redmond said Mathis could out six weeks.
Mathis, who came to the Marlins in the 12-player trade with Toronto, is supposed to offer Miami veteran depth behind the plate. Now, the Marlins are looking outside the organization for catching.
Rob Brantly, who made his major league debut last year and played in 31 games, will open the season as Miami’s starting catcher. If the season started today, Kyle Skipworth, who has never played above Class AA, would be the leading candidate to be the Marlins’ backup catcher.
–1B Casey Kotchman played in his first game for the Marlins on Feb. 26 and hit a grand slam in his first at-bat. Kotchman cut his left ring finger on Feb. 18 when he ran into a pitching machine during a defensive drill. He needed four stitches.
–OF Justin Ruggiano said his lower back felt better than ever on Feb. 26, and he hoped to get in his first game soon. He was shut down Feb. 22 after feeling tightness.
“Given that it’s a long spring training, they’re kind of babying me through it right now, but the improvement I’ve had in the last five days is amazing,” he said. “Now I’m just going to have to learn how to maintain it so it doesn’t keep happening.”
–RHP Jose Ceda said he was encouraged with his first session of throwing to live hitters, and he hoped to pitch to hitters again on Feb. 27. Ceda threw live batting practice Feb. 24, the first time he had done that since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. He said it felt “a little sore but OK,” which he also said was normal because of scar tissue.
“It was a little was a little weird, but, you know, it was my first one,” said Ceda, who has a chance to win a bullpen spot in camp.
–RHP Jose Fernandez said he expects to pitch in a “B” game Feb. 28. He was held back a few days after feeling tightness in his right hamstring. “It was not a big deal. It was kind of tight,” he said.
Fernandez threw a bullpen session Feb. 25, but the Marlins are not sure when, or even if, he will pitch in a regular spring training game.
“We got a lot of guys in camp that are trying to make the team,” pitching coach Chuck Hernandez said. “He’s got time.”
BY THE NUMBERS: 1 — RHP Henderson Alvarez allowed one hit over two scoreless innings in his Marlins debut Feb. 24. Alvarez, who came to Miami from Toronto, will slot fourth or fifth in the rotation.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “I love this ballclub and I like what we’ve down now. I know it’s a little painful for a lot of people, but, no pain, no gain.” — Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, speaking Feb. 25 for the first time about the team’s controversial November trade with Toronto.
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MLB Team Report – Miami Marlins – ROSTER REPORT
PROJECTED ROTATION:
1. RHP Ricky Nolasco
2. RHP Jacob Turner
3. RHP Nathan Eovaldi
4. RHP Henderson Alvarez
5. LHP Wade LeBlanc or RHP John Maine or RHP Kevin Slowey or RHP Mitch Talbot or RHP Tom Koehler
Trading away Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle resulted in a void of experience in the rotation. Although Nolasco leads the franchise in career wins, he is known for frequent bouts of inconsistency. He went 12-13 with 4.48 ERA in 31 starts in 2012.
There’s lots of promise in Eovaldi, Turner and Alvarez, but they went a combined 15-32 in 2012. The team is counting on all three to make significant strides in 2013. The final spot will go to LeBlanc or one of a group of non-roster invitee veterans coming back from injuries. The most exciting pitcher in camp is RHP Jose Fernandez, but he will start the year at Class AA Jacksonville.
PROJECTED BULLPEN:
RHP Steve Cishek (closer)
RHP Jon Rauch
RHP Ryan Webb
LHP Mike Dunn
RHP Jose Ceda
RHP Michael Wuertz or RHP A.J. Ramos or LHP Dan Jennings
RHP Chad Qualls or RHP Chris Hatcher or LHP Braulio Lara or LHP Scott Maine
Cishek goes into camp as the closer, a job he earned in 2012 after RHP Heath Bell’s midseason demotion. The team signed veteran Rauch to add veteran depth.
Webb and Dunn are locks, leaving three spots up for grabs. Contenders include Maine or veteran non-roster invitees Qualls and Wuertz. Lara, a rule 5 draft pick in December, has never pitched above Class A level.
PROJECTED LINEUP:
1. LF Juan Pierre
2. 3B Placido Polanco
3. 1B Logan Morrison
4. RF Giancarlo Stanton
5. CF Justin Ruggiano
6. C Rob Brantly
7. 2B Donovan Solano
8. SS Adeiny Hechavarria
Manager Mike Redmond will have interchangeable parts in his batting order. He will try all kinds of combinations in hopes of reversing the team’s woeful clutch hitting from 2012.
Pierre is expected to be a fixture in the leadoff role, and Stanton will bat fourth. A big question will be whether anyone in the lineup can offer protection for Stanton, who finished second in the National League with 37 home runs last year.
If Morrison’s right knee isn’t ready, Casey Kotchman, Austin Kearns or Joe Mahoney could start at first base.
TOP ROOKIES: Of all the players in camp for the Marlins, the most attention will be given to the organization’s two top prospects. RHP Jose Fernandez, the 14th overall pick of the 2011 draft, will start the season at Class AA Jacksonville, but he could join the Marlins this year if he pitches as well as he did last year. Fernandez, 20, went a combined 14-2 with a 2.02 ERA in 27 starts between low Class A Greensboro and high Class A Jupiter.
OF Christian Yelich, the Marlins’ first-round pick (23rd overall) in 2010, will start at Jacksonville, too. He batted .312 with 15 homers and 77 RBI for Greensboro in ’11. He followed that up by hitting .330 with 12 homers and 48 RBI for Jupiter in the Florida State League. He’s a left-handed hitter who projects to play left field or center field.
MEDICAL WATCH:
–1B/LF Logan Morrison (right knee surgery in September 2012) hadn’t been cleared to run at the start of spring training. He might not be ready for Opening Day.
–RHP Jose Ceda (Tommy John surgery in April 2012) threw off the mound for the first time in late January, and he threw live batting practice Feb. 24.
–C Jeff Mathis (broken collarbone) was hurt Feb. 23. He is out until early April.
–RHP Jose Fernandez (right hamstring tightness) was slowed in late February, but the ailment wasn’t considered serious.
–OF Justin Ruggiano (sore lower back) was slowed in late February, but the ailment wasn’t considered serious.
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