Notes: September for Spooney?

07/04/2004 1:32 PM ET

By Joe Frisaro / MLB.com

 

MIAMI -- Maybe Tim Spooneybarger will pitch this season after all. Granted, it's a long shot, but he is holding out hope for a September return.

Battling back from Tommy John surgery, which he underwent on Sept. 9, 2003, the 24-year-old reliever has made a breakthrough in his recovery process.

 

"The last two weeks, I can't even feel like I had any surgery," he said.

 

Going through rehab at the team's complex in Jupiter, Spooneybarger is throwing without pain at a distance of 120 feet.

 

He hopes to pitch off a mound in a few weeks. Once the right-hander clears that hurdle, he will be on course to face batters for the first time since last June.

 

"It would definitely be September," said Spooneybarger of the earliest return date. "It's so hard to put a date on it. But if everything goes like it is now, then there is a good chance. I don't know exactly what the rehab is for me, but I know I don't have to build up to 90 or 100 pitches, like a starter. Maybe that will take a couple of weeks off of it, and I could come back."

 

The Marlins acquired Spooneybarger from the Braves in November 2002 for Mike Hampton. He was expected to help solidify the setup spot in 2003, but tightness in his elbow limited him to 33 games and 42 innings.

 

Barring additional complications, he should be fully healthy next spring.

 

A few weeks ago, he experienced a setback that had him entirely ruling out pitching before 2005.

 

"I threw one pitch, and it felt like my arm just tore off," he said. "I felt, 'Here we go again.' "

 

The pain was a tearing of scar tissue, a common occurrence for all players battling back from ligament-replacement surgery. A.J. Burnett went through a similar setback in Spring Training that caused him to miss the first few months of the season before being activated in June.

 

So encouraged is Spooneybarger about his recovery that he has canceled plans to go out of town for the All-Star break. Instead he wants to remain in Jupiter to continue his rehabilitation.

 

"That's three more days of throwing," he said.

 

Team meeting: The Marlins are mired in the worst stretch of the season, and general manager Admin Beinfest addressed the players after a lackluster 6-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Saturday night.

 

"Basically, I'll keep [the message] in the clubhouse," he said. "I just wanted to share a few thoughts with the team. That was done. Certainly, the message was not one of panic or anything like that. That's not what is going on here organizationally. I just wanted to share a few thoughts with the team. I don't do that very often. I had a few things I wanted to say, and they were said."

 

Beinfest feels that the team can play better, and will.

 

"We said last year [that] good teams find a way to persevere and find their way out of this, and I expect we will. We're just playing tough games. It's tough right now. There are a lot of components of the team that aren't playing up to their abilities. I expect that they will. We're going to get out of this."

 

Batting woes: Over the last 15 games, the Marlins are 4-11. In seven of those contests, they have failed to score more than three runs.

 

Opposing pitchers aren't doing anything differently, according to hitting coach Bill Robinson.

 

"When you're not hitting the ball, you don't have to vary your pitching, you just stay with your pattern," he said. "I don't think we're doing enough to make a pitcher change his pattern.

 

"You can't continue having one guy [get] two or three hits and everyone else get shut down. When you get into playing as badly as we're playing and hitting as badly as we're hitting, you get into trying too hard, trying to do too much.

 

"We're not putting enough pressure on a defense. We're maybe not working the count. We're making all the pitchers right now look like Cy Young, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale."

 

Big hits scarce: The numbers tell the story of why the offense isn't clicking.

 

When it comes to hitting with runners in scoring position, the Marlins rank 28th in the league in batting average (.239). They are tied for 24th in runs scored (261) and are 25th in RBIs (244).

 

And while the bottom of the order hasn't been knocking in runs, the middle of lineup is struggling, too.

 

With runners in scoring position, Miguel Cabrera is 22-for-98 (.224). As a rookie last year, he batted .375 (36-for-96) in those situations. Mike Lowell is batting .288, and Jeff Conine is .177 (11-for-62).

 

Mike Redmond has the top average among the regulars with runners in scoring position, at .361 (13-for-36). Luis Castillo is second, at .300. Rounding out the regulars with RISP, Juan Pierre is hitting .274, Alex Gonzalez is at .273 and Hee Seop Choi has a .234 average.

 

Community Foundation news: The Florida Marlins Community Foundation made $3,937 at the "Christmas in July" garage sale on Friday night. The money was raised through donations from fans at the game. Fans participated through a raffle, silent auction and grab bags. Last year's event raised $3,000. Proceeds benefit the "Cornerstones for Kids" programs, which work toward building a brighter future through education, the arts and baseball.

 

 

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

if we can stay in the race this could be as valuable a pickup as chad fox last year.

Nice

Nice anytime a player cancels a vacation and works on strengthening his arm, and not even pitching in a major league game for at least two months you know he is dedicated to being the best he can

Very good news....hopefully Spoony will have to relinquish his title as Disabled List Poster Boy

i hope so...we need him and he was solid last year.

Very good news....hopefully Spoony will have to relinquish his title as Disabled List Poster Boy

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Why is he the posterboy?

 

Poor guy had TJ. Leave him be.

I'd prefer he just wait and come back in the spring. Seems like the safer move to me.