I find this so sad, he was the definition of "happy-go-lucky" when he came up and through his career here... I hope he is ok. At least he got the Tigers to give him that big contract before his pitching went too far south.

 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basebal...0,1081278.story

beat me to it...this is extremely weird, hope Willis is ok and gets his act together.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...sp&c_id=mlb

Dontrelle is a product of the Marlins pitchers getting overused in 06, and his control has also gone out of wack. I don't really believe i can attribute all of his fall to being overused, I don't really know how somebody of the caliber we saw in Dontrelle can fall so far so fast. Really hope he can become comeback player of the year in the next 1-2 years

Dontrelle is a product of the Marlins pitchers getting overused in 06, and his control has also gone out of wack. I don't really believe i can attribute all of his fall to being overused, I don't really know how somebody of the caliber we saw in Dontrelle can fall so far so fast. Really hope he can become comeback player of the year in the next 1-2 years

 

I disagree totally with this point.

 

In 2003 he pitched 160 innings (plus another 36 in the minors), in 04 he pitched 197, in 05 236, in 06 223, in 07 205.

 

Over the course of his career he has shown to be an innings eater. I dont know the real reason why Dontrelle has lost it all, but it certainly isnt for being overworked in specifically 06.

Poor Dontrelle. He really seemed to love the game and just being out there. I really hope he can get his head on straight and figure out how to pitch again.

sounds mean but at least we got the most we could get for him.

Dontrelle is a product of the Marlins pitchers getting overused in 06, and his control has also gone out of wack. I don't really believe i can attribute all of his fall to being overused, I don't really know how somebody of the caliber we saw in Dontrelle can fall so far so fast. Really hope he can become comeback player of the year in the next 1-2 years

 

Dontrelle is a product of having a fluky delivery which tends to get out of whack. His mechanics devolved to the point where he just can't pitch consistently anymore. That, and his stuff really isn't anything too special, so once the league figured out his delivery, he was done.

 

If anything, this is just a sign that his mental makeup just isn't there. He is a max-effort guy and I think that's wonderful, but he tries so hard that he doesn't deal well with adversity.

 

Like everyone I'm hoping he turns it around, because he's one of the most likeable guys out there. I just don't see it happening.

sounds mean but at least we got the most we could get for him.

 

You're damn right it sounds mean. Because it's mean. Knock it off.

 

I wish him the best, and I look forward to the day that he can make a comeback. I sincerely hope that day comes.

Maybe a bit selfish, but I hope Dontrelle is in the Marlin's rotation for 2011.

his comeback will happen with the marlins

You guys, I just read this on ESPN and I must say I totally empathize with the D-Train. I've been taking anxiety meds for like, the last decade(TMI?). Even medicated, when you are stressed at work (which he and I both are), it's very hard to deal.

 

I hope he gets a good prescription that helps him function...I got his back forever!

He'll make a great used car salesman.

 

There's no reason to bring him back to the Marlins. We don't need the headaches.

Dontrelle is a product of the Marlins pitchers getting overused in 06, and his control has also gone out of wack. I don't really believe i can attribute all of his fall to being overused, I don't really know how somebody of the caliber we saw in Dontrelle can fall so far so fast. Really hope he can become comeback player of the year in the next 1-2 years

 

Dontrelle is a product of having a fluky delivery which tends to get out of whack. His mechanics devolved to the point where he just can't pitch consistently anymore. That, and his stuff really isn't anything too special, so once the league figured out his delivery, he was done.

 

If anything, this is just a sign that his mental makeup just isn't there. He is a max-effort guy and I think that's wonderful, but he tries so hard that he doesn't deal well with adversity.

 

Like everyone I'm hoping he turns it around, because he's one of the most likeable guys out there. I just don't see it happening.

 

Dontrelle's mechanics got screwed around with by 37583392201 people... it's a case of "too many cooks spoil the broth" and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"... these pitching coach's wanted to be the ones to go out there and give Dontrelle this "new, repeatable delivery" and Dontrelle lost that deception he had from being herky-jerky with average stuff.

 

Sdonke's wrong though, we held onto Dontrelle a year too long if it came down to getting the most for him (reasonably speaking), and it's not being a jerk of him to say that, yes Dontrelle's a great guy and was a great face for the franchise while he was here, but are you a Dontrelle fan first, or a Marlins fan first? We ALL wish Dontrelle all the luck in the world, and it'd be great for him to get everything back together and get back to 2005 form for us again, but it looks like 'Trelle is Mark Fidrych 2.0

PWG: Yeah, it is mean.

 

If you think of the Marlins in a very general way, of course you want them to win and get the most out of their trades of the players that you love. Especially as a Marlins fan, we have to care about the replaceable team that our owners have given us and not about individual heros. However, the reaction to a Marlin legend dealing with a serious, elusive problem should not be: well, at least we exploited him. We should care about him as a player because he was a Marlin.

 

Caring about the Marlins for me is synonymous with caring about each Marlin. I want the Marlins to win. Who doesnt want the Marlins to win? But, we are fans for more than just this simple minded reason. We are fans because we care about players and we care about personalities and we care about stories. In that light, this story sucks. That Dontrelle can never save a team like he did for us in 2003 does not make me think: at least we won in 2003. That Dontrelle can't make another over the top smiley commercial with kids does not make me think that, well, at least he had those sweet commercials when he was with the Marlins and not with Detroit.

 

If you care about the Marlins without caring about the players that they employ you like a uniform or Jeff Loria. I've been a Marlins fan for 15 years, and I can tell you that of all the attractive things we have to offer, the owners and the uniforms have traditionally not been among the top two of them. I feel terrible for Willis because he gave me memories, and I feel terrible for the Detroit fans who couldn't share those.

I would love to see D-Train make a comeback as an outfielder ala Ankiel. When I saw him last year in Lakeland after his demotion he didn't seem to be the guy he was a few years earlier, he seemed like if he could be any other place in the world he would do so gladly. Also he hasn't been as fan friendly as I recall him being with Fla, he usually doesn't acknowledge fans or sign autographs, I know he used to be really good about this. I would love for him to get whatever he needs to get worked out fixed and see that famous smile of is again.

PWG: Yeah, it is mean.

 

If you think of the Marlins in a very general way, of course you want them to win and get the most out of their trades of the players that you love. Especially as a Marlins fan, we have to care about the replaceable team that our owners have given us and not about individual heros. However, the reaction to a Marlin legend dealing with a serious, elusive problem should not be: well, at least we exploited him. We should care about him as a player because he was a Marlin.

 

Caring about the Marlins for me is synonymous with caring about each Marlin. I want the Marlins to win. Who doesnt want the Marlins to win? But, we are fans for more than just this simple minded reason. We are fans because we care about players and we care about personalities and we care about stories. In that light, this story sucks. That Dontrelle can never save a team like he did for us in 2003 does not make me think: at least we won in 2003. That Dontrelle can't make another over the top smiley commercial with kids does not make me think that, well, at least he had those sweet commercials when he was with the Marlins and not with Detroit.

 

If you care about the Marlins without caring about the players that they employ you like a uniform or Jeff Loria. I've been a Marlins fan for 15 years, and I can tell you that of all the attractive things we have to offer, the owners and the uniforms have traditionally not been among the top two of them. I feel terrible for Willis because he gave me memories, and I feel terrible for the Detroit fans who couldn't share those.

It's not mean. No one says they wanted D-Train to fail. We're just saying it was lucky for us. It's what happened.

 

If I say "Well, atleast it was only me in the car during my car accident and not me and my girlfriend", does that mean I am being a meanie head to myself? No, it's just thankful that, while something bad happened to me, it didn't happen to someone else as well.

 

No one is happy that D-Train is falling apart, we're just thankful for ourselves, as it could have seriously hurt us.

PWG: Yeah, it is mean.

 

If you think of the Marlins in a very general way, of course you want them to win and get the most out of their trades of the players that you love. Especially as a Marlins fan, we have to care about the replaceable team that our owners have given us and not about individual heros. However, the reaction to a Marlin legend dealing with a serious, elusive problem should not be: well, at least we exploited him. We should care about him as a player because he was a Marlin.

 

Caring about the Marlins for me is synonymous with caring about each Marlin. I want the Marlins to win. Who doesnt want the Marlins to win? But, we are fans for more than just this simple minded reason. We are fans because we care about players and we care about personalities and we care about stories. In that light, this story sucks. That Dontrelle can never save a team like he did for us in 2003 does not make me think: at least we won in 2003. That Dontrelle can't make another over the top smiley commercial with kids does not make me think that, well, at least he had those sweet commercials when he was with the Marlins and not with Detroit.

 

If you care about the Marlins without caring about the players that they employ you like a uniform or Jeff Loria. I've been a Marlins fan for 15 years, and I can tell you that of all the attractive things we have to offer, the owners and the uniforms have traditionally not been among the top two of them. I feel terrible for Willis because he gave me memories, and I feel terrible for the Detroit fans who couldn't share those.

 

Neither Sdonke nor I said anything negative about Dontrelle. Dontrelle is a great guy and all that jazz... but you know what, Dontrelle got paid. It's not like we sent him to the KC Royals, we sent him to a World Series favorite, something we most definitely were not.

 

How is it being a jerk to say "Hey, we were going to lose Dontrelle anyways, but at least we didn't wind up with nothing but memories"

 

Short answer, it's not.

 

If it wasn't Dontrelle... say it was Carl Everett... or Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent or any number of abrasive players, you'd be singing an incredibly different tune. Dontrelle's different because he's likable.

He's also gotten out of shape. That was a pretty big thing.

If I say "Well, atleast it was only me in the car during my car accident and not me and my girlfriend", does that mean I am being a meanie head to myself? No, it's just thankful that, while something bad happened to me, it didn't happen to someone else as well.

 

You confused this by putting self-sacrifice in here...It's more like when your girlfriend has an accident and dies. Immediately after at her funeral, you say, well, I did get the best years out of her, and least I wasn't in that jalopy!

 

Even if its true that you are happy you didn't croak, is it really appropriate to talk about those things when more important issues are at stake?

 

Response to the other guy: Of course it matters that I like Dontrelle. No way I would deny this. There are a few players that are integral to the history of this club, and if you don't think Dontrelle is a good one to talk about, imagine doing this kind of grave stomping if Conine got hurt after we moved him to the Orioles.

 

Point of all this: it would be disingenuous to say I don't know where you are coming from. I do. I'm also glad he got paid. The point of this though is that it sucks, and maybe other people should express that instead of expressing the positive that we can take from a sh*tty situation.

 

After writing this, I think I'm realizing that I just hate that Dontrelle has fallen...I didn't mean to get on anyone else there, so sorry.

I'm part of the camp that wishes we had gotten more for him when we had the chance. I strongly advocated trading him in the 2006 offseason and before the deadline in 2007 when his value was relatively high.

 

I won't mention names but some of the people here did not treat my negative projections about Dontrelle's career too kindly.

 

Ultimately I'd like to see him do well with some team but it is foolish to bring this three legged horse back to the Marlins just because of some emotional attachment.

If I say "Well, atleast it was only me in the car during my car accident and not me and my girlfriend", does that mean I am being a meanie head to myself? No, it's just thankful that, while something bad happened to me, it didn't happen to someone else as well.

 

You confused this by putting self-sacrifice in here...It's more like when your girlfriend has an accident and dies. Immediately after at her funeral, you say, well, I did get the best years out of her, and least I wasn't in that jalopy!

 

Even if its true that you are happy you didn't croak, is it really appropriate to talk about those things when more important issues are at stake?

 

Response to the other guy: Of course it matters that I like Dontrelle. No way I would deny this. There are a few players that are integral to the history of this club, and if you don't think Dontrelle is a good one to talk about, imagine doing this kind of grave stomping if Conine got hurt after we moved him to the Orioles.

 

Point of all this: it would be disingenuous to say I don't know where you are coming from. I do. I'm also glad he got paid. The point of this though is that it sucks, and maybe other people should express that instead of expressing the positive that we can take from a sh*tty situation.

 

After writing this, I think I'm realizing that I just hate that Dontrelle has fallen...I didn't mean to get on anyone else there, so sorry.

No, it's more like if you were a Jew living in the Rheinland who moved out when Hitler took power and said "Wow, good thing I left before it got really bad." I wouldn't be happy for those who died, but I would feel thanks that I got the best of it.

If I say "Well, atleast it was only me in the car during my car accident and not me and my girlfriend", does that mean I am being a meanie head to myself? No, it's just thankful that, while something bad happened to me, it didn't happen to someone else as well.

 

You confused this by putting self-sacrifice in here...It's more like when your girlfriend has an accident and dies. Immediately after at her funeral, you say, well, I did get the best years out of her, and least I wasn't in that jalopy!

 

Even if its true that you are happy you didn't croak, is it really appropriate to talk about those things when more important issues are at stake?

 

Response to the other guy: Of course it matters that I like Dontrelle. No way I would deny this. There are a few players that are integral to the history of this club, and if you don't think Dontrelle is a good one to talk about, imagine doing this kind of grave stomping if Conine got hurt after we moved him to the Orioles.

 

Point of all this: it would be disingenuous to say I don't know where you are coming from. I do. I'm also glad he got paid. The point of this though is that it sucks, and maybe other people should express that instead of expressing the positive that we can take from a sh*tty situation.

 

After writing this, I think I'm realizing that I just hate that Dontrelle has fallen...I didn't mean to get on anyone else there, so sorry.

No, it's more like if you were a Jew living in the Rheinland who moved out when Hitler took power and said "Wow, good thing I left before it got really bad." I wouldn't be happy for those who died, but I would feel thanks that I got the best of it.

 

OK, I think that many will agree with me that it's not really like that at all. Dontrelle's DL stint bears little resemblance to the Holocaust. I just meant that we shouldn't celebrate the possible end to a career of a guy we like. He helped us a lot, everyone loved him...That's it. I perhaps overstated that, but I didn't want to bring Adolf into it.

 

I fear sometimes we get jaded as Marlins fans because we love the trade more than the player because this is how we survive. I'm not hating the value we got for DTrain, but I just hate its the first thing we think about.

Who's celebrating the end of D-Trains career?

 

It sucks it happened, but it did happen. Better it happened in somebody elses uni than ours.

He'll make a great used car salesman.

 

There's no reason to bring him back to the Marlins. We don't need the headaches.

 

It's true we got the best years out of him- I won't argue that. I'm grateful to have had him around while we did. Sure, he only went downhill after we traded him but I don't feel its right to be cruel like this. I understand the points being made here about being grateful to have gotten out before things got bad, but at the same time, I feel for him. While many people have the same condition, they aren't guaranteed 29 mil to deal with it. I'm supportive of him and just pray he gets things together and finds peace with himself on the mound again.

Hopefully we havent seen the last of Dontrelle...