Posted January 24, 200916 yr I was going to post this in the Andrew Miller thread, but think it's interesting enough where people may miss it as a response. The problem I saw was, whose going to be the 5th if Miller is hurt a month? So I did what we always do in April, count the off days and see how many times we actually need a 5th starter. Last year, we needed a 5th starter 3 times in April. This year, it's TWO before MAY 3rd. The rotation is Nolasco, Johnson, Volstad, and Anibal, in that order, and every pitcher below is on full 4 days rest. I don't want to argue how I ordered them, it's example purposes only and doesn't matter. 6 Nolasco 7 Johnson 8 Volstad 9 OFF 10 Anibal 11 Nolasco 12 Johnson 13 OFF 14 Volstad 15 Anibal 16 Nolasco 17 Johnson 18 5th Starter 19 Volstad 20 Anibal 21 Nolasco 22 Johnson 23 OFF 24 Volstad 25 Anibal 26 Nolasco 27 Johnson 28 5th Starter 29 Volstad 30 Anibal 1 Nolasco 2 Johnson 3 5th Starter 4 Volstad 5 Anibal 6 Nolasco 7 Johnson 8 5th Starter 9 Volstad 10 Anibal And repeats consistently here on out. Talk about awesome. This helps us in a few ways. 1 - Lets Miller heal completely from his "shockwave" knee therapy, with ::cough:: "rehab" starts in AA for the month of April. 2 - We can carry 8 RP, and don't have to DFA an extra reliever until at least May 3rd. This is really good news for Cruz, Kroenke, and Meyer. I think we break camp like this: SP - Nolasco, Johnson, Volstad, Anibal RP - Lindstrom, Nunez, Proctor, Pinto, Kensing, Cruz, Kroenke, and Meyer Minors - (AAA options on 40 man; Tank, Tucker, Trahern, Vanden Hurk, Badenhop) DL - A. Miller (or even AAA/AA, he has options) DFA - J. Delgado Meyer or Cruz get the April 18 (@ WAS) and 28th (@ NYM) starts. Boom, done. Really liking this arrangement. I love being able to hold Cruz, Kroenke, and Meyer, and only having to 'lose' 2 starts if one of the 5 starters is hurt for the first month.
January 24, 200916 yr Thanks Lou, I guess that keeps many of us safe next time we see a bridge. However many of us would have prefered Sanchez to be that 5th starter. Actually what is great is that Miller can start the season in the minors due to still available options. No need to rush him at all for any reason
January 24, 200916 yr Sweet, I knew wed be able to go a little while a with a 4 man rotation and get by but till may 3rd is great. Plus may 3rd is m birthday.
January 24, 200916 yr thanks for the research and the great post MarlinsLou. I wondered if we could use a 4 man rotation for the majority of April like we did at the beginning of the season last year until Olsen entered, but never thought it was a real possibility. I'm surprised you see a guy like Tankersly starting off the season in AAA as well as Tucker, but if they aren't middle reliever ready, then i guess they need to stay in the minors. We will still need that 5th starter on those 4 days, so I still believe we need to keep Badenhop or Tucker in the majors.
January 24, 200916 yr Author I'm surprised you see a guy like Tankersly starting off the season in AAA as well as Tucker, but if they aren't middle reliever ready, then I guess they need to stay in the minors. We will still need that 5th starter on those 4 days, so I still believe we need to keep Badenhop or Tucker in the majors. Tucker is not a starter. And the problem is Cruz, Kroenke, and Meyer are out of options. If they aren't on the 25 man roster, they are gone and we lose them. There is no question Tank and Tucker are probably better longterm candidates than those 3, but we have no fear of losing them this season. This configuration, with only needing a 5th starter 2 times before early May let's the Marlins evaluate the three for 2 1/2 months from when pitchers and catchers report, with a month of that being in the majors, to when we 'need' to carry a 5th starter and reconfigure the pen. If all three stink, the Marlins can easily call up Miller, Tank, and Tucker after the May 2nd game and not feel bad about not giving these fringe arms opportunities to succeed. It's kind of a perfect situation. We lucked out with this schedule.
January 24, 200916 yr Vanden Hurk in my opinion is gonna come in this spring training and win the 5th spot..... I think this guy is ready to start contributing.....
January 24, 200916 yr i bet we will see 5 spot come out from spring trainng if guys that are hurt are able to play but what i see we wont need 5 starter untill april 18 maybe someone can get off injury list by than
January 24, 200916 yr Vanden Hurk in my opinion is gonna come in this spring training and win the 5th spot..... I think this guy is ready to start contributing..... And then what, have 5 starts where he shows above average stuff but fails to get past the 5th inning without letting the game out of hand?
January 24, 200916 yr I'm surprised you see a guy like Tankersly starting off the season in AAA as well as Tucker, but if they aren't middle reliever ready, then I guess they need to stay in the minors. We will still need that 5th starter on those 4 days, so I still believe we need to keep Badenhop or Tucker in the majors. Tucker is not a starter. He very well could be.
January 24, 200916 yr Vanden Hurk in my opinion is gonna come in this spring training and win the 5th spot..... I think this guy is ready to start contributing..... That would be nice, but I have yet to see much from the kid that makes me believe he will ever be consistent.
January 24, 200916 yr VandenHurk has very good stuff, he just needs to learn how to get through innings quicker and to keep his pitch counts down.
January 24, 200916 yr VandenHurk has very good stuff, he just needs to learn how to get through innings quicker and to keep his pitch counts down. I really haven't seen any indication that he is ever going to. It's amazing that some people already think Tucker is destined for the bullpen but not Vandy.
January 24, 200916 yr VandenHurk has very good stuff, he just needs to learn how to get through innings quicker and to keep his pitch counts down. I really haven't seen any indication that he is ever going to. It's amazing that some people already think Tucker is destined for the bullpen but not Vandy. Well, the reason many people are sending Tuck to the pen is not because he can't get better as a starter but because they believe his stuff is more suited for the pen.
January 25, 200916 yr If Miller can be healthy for SP (or any time before May 2nd), I'd almost rather let him start and stash Anibal in AAA to continue shaking off rust (unless, of course, he kills in ST). This schedule really allows us to pick our top 4 and use them almost exclusively for the first month. Just a thought.......
January 25, 200916 yr VandenHurk has very good stuff, he just needs to learn how to get through innings quicker and to keep his pitch counts down. I really haven't seen any indication that he is ever going to. It's amazing that some people already think Tucker is destined for the bullpen but not Vandy. I hope you're wrong, but I tend to agree. He has gone down to the minors many times, to which he has actually improved this problem, only to come to the majors and have another setback. If Vandy can correct this one issue, i can see him taking over into the rotation sometime in the near future with the kind of potential and the stuff he has. I really want to see VandenHurk succeed because i see so much that he could do for us.
January 25, 200916 yr Not to gloat but i SOO Called This. Hopefully Miller is back ASAP so our rotation can stay strong and we can keep the Win total up
January 25, 200916 yr VandenHurk has very good stuff, he just needs to learn how to get through innings quicker and to keep his pitch counts down. I really haven't seen any indication that he is ever going to. It's amazing that some people already think Tucker is destined for the bullpen but not Vandy. Well, the reason many people are sending Tuck to the pen is not because he can't get better as a starter but because they believe his stuff is more suited for the pen. That's probably true, while its also probably true that Vanden Hurk is more suited for AAA. There's definitely reason to believe that Tucker could be a great bullpen arm but, especially for a team like us, we could use another quality starter more than we could use another fireballer in the pen. Whether or not Tucker could be that guy or not remains to be seen but I'd like to give him a shot. Once he converts to a reliever full time, its much harder to go back and this organization hasn't even attempted to have some of our converted starters return to the rotation even in times of desperate need.
January 25, 200916 yr Its going to be Vanden Hurk or Tucker @ 5th, probably Vanden Hurk is my guess, he always impresses at the beginning then slowly fails.
January 25, 200916 yr I dont know the schedule but if we ever need a 5th starter for a game against Atlanta then The Incredible Hurk is your man! If Im right he has faced them 2 or 3 times in his 1st start since being called up and dominated them each time
January 25, 200916 yr Vanden Hurk have good games and bad but bad games got him sent down it look like he was not ready to be start yet maybe with him playing last year in big league and spring trainging he be help as 5 started to pitching staff
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