The Sports Xchange
MLB Team Report – Miami Marlins – INSIDE PITCH
Placido Polanco was scheduled to return to action March 6 after being sidelined a few days because of a tight back, but he was pushed back at least a few days.
Placido’s return would be a huge relief for the Marlins. They signed him to a one-year, $2.75 million contract in December even though he played in just 17 games after the All Star break last year for the Philadelphia Phillies.
“Obviously, he’s a guy who has been banged up a little bit in the past. We want to make sure we take care of him,” manager Mike Redmond said March 3.
“We need him to be healthy for us during the course of the season. If we have to hold him back a little bit in spring training to make sure we get him when it counts, during the season, that’s what’s going to be most important.”
Polanco said the stiffness he felt after practice on March 2 was not the same discomfort that bothered him the past three years.
“It’s not bad,” Polanco said. “If it was the season today I could play today.”
Polanco won three Gold Gloves, at second base in 2007 and 2009 and at third base in 2011. But he time on the field has diminished — from 153 games in 2009 to 132 games in 2010, 122 in 2011 and 90 last year.
“We’re definitely going to have to monitor him,” Redmond said. “He and I have talked several times about letting game know how he is feeling. I feel like we are on the same page and have a good program for him.”
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MLB Team Report – Miami Marlins – NOTES, QUOTES
–RHP Ricky Nolasco was named the Marlins’ Opening Day starter on March 7.
Nolasco, 30, struck out six Mets in 3 2/3 innings and has allowed just one unearned run in 5 2/3 innings this spring. He’s one of the remaining members of the rotation after Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle were traded to the Blue Jays over the winter.
The Marlins are scheduled to open the season on the road April 1 against the Washington Nationals.
Nolasco posted a 12-13 record and a 4.48 ERA last season in 31 starts.
–RHP Jacob Turner, who slated to open the season second in the rotation, had a rocky spring debut on Feb. 28: He allowed six runs in one-third of an inning against St. Louis. His fastball was clocked at 87 miles per hour. “He just looked uncomfortable from the start for whatever reason. Maybe he was little bit nervous, a little bit amped up,” manager Mike Redmond said. Turner bounced back March 5 with two hitless innings in a B game against the New York Mets.
–RF Giancarlo Stanton had a productive five games with the Marlins before leaving the team to play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. Stanton was 6 for 15 (.400) with a homer and 4 RBI. While he has been limited to an average of seven games over each of his last two springs because of various injuries, he has been healthy so far this spring. He attributes his endurance to a new work-out regime this past winter in California. “If anything, I ran a lot more. I changed up the work outs. I did have a different offseason. Just more running in general,” Stanton said.
–OF Justin Ruggiano, the front runner to start in center field, is continuing to make progress in his effort to resume activities. He has been sidelined nearly two weeks with a tight lower back. The Marlins hope Ruggiano can play his first game in the second week of March.
–RHP Jose Fernandez’s long-term future will depend how the Marlins deal with super-agent Scott Boras. “We’re excited to represent Jose,” Boras said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post, confirming that is representing Fernandez. “He has a ceiling for young pitchers that’s one of the highest in the game. He’s a rare talent.” The Marlins haven’t had too many Boras clients since Loria took control for team in 2002. Their most prominent was Pudge Rodriguez, who signed a one-year, $10-million contract in 2003 and helped the Marlins win the World Series.
–Prospect Kolby Copeland received a 50-game suspension for refusing to take an offseason drug test.
The 19-year-old batted .280 with no home runs and four stolen bases in 62 games with rookie ball and Low-A Jamestown. Baseball’s drug programs at the major- and minor league levels stipulate that refusal to submit to or comply with testing is considered a positive test for disciplinary purposes. A MLB spokesman told ESPN that six of the 105 minor league drug suspensions in 2012 were because a player refused to take a test.
His suspension will start at the beginning of this season. He is on the roster of Batavia of the New York-Penn League. –Former Marlins All Star 3B Mike Lowell doesn’t agree with Miami’s explanation for trading five key players to Toronto. The front office made the trade in November because officials said team was coming off a 93-loss season. “I understand that the team lost a lot of games, but I think it would be hard to say they lost a lot of games because of Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson,” he said, referring to the three main Marlins players sent to Toronto. Lowell, a Miami resident, said the biggest disappointment was the suddenness of the moves, less than a year after the excitement of opening a new $515-million ballpark. “I think the ownership has to understand at least where the fans are coming from because I don’t think the fans are totally wrong in that situation because there was so much excitement over the stadium, over the team, and it seemed like it was just a rental,” he said.
BY THE NUMBERS: 90 — Games played in 2012 by Placido Polanco, who played in just 17 games after the All Star break because of a sore back.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “Would you love to still have them? Absolutely. That’s just the way it goes. The Twins are losing 13 guys, so I feel fortunate that we are only losing three. I consider us lucky.”
–Manager Mike Redmond on three players who left the team to participate in the World Baseball Classic: RF Giancarlo Stanton (USA), RHP Steve Cishek (USA) and RHP Henderson Alvarez (Venezuela).
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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.
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