Posted March 13, 201015 yr Miami Herald Sean West didn't exactly enhance his chances of cracking the Marlins starting rotation when he experienced an extremely wild outing in Saturday's B game against the Orioles, somewhat reminiscent of one Al Leiter endured a few years ago with the Marlins during a spring training B game. West walked seven batters -- yes, SEVEN -- in only 1 2/3 innings. And they weren't exactly your typical 1 2/3, either. The first inning was "stopped" after West went walk, walk, walk, strikeout, walk to the first five batters. He pitched a relatively clean second inning, but ran into more trouble in the third, which transpired as follows: walk, strikeout, walk, walk. Cut. No mas. Get off the mound. Inning over. We haven't yet had a chance to speak with manager Fredi Gonzalez or pitching coach Randy St. Claire about West's wildness, but should have more information after today's regularly scheduled game in Port Charlotte against the Rays. http://miamiherald.typepad.com/fish_bytes/
March 13, 201015 yr Author Do you have the Box score for the game? No box score yet but some notes. West allowed one hit and struck out 3 to go with those 7 walks. He even walked one with the bases loaded. Fish won 6-4. Baker went 1-3 with 2 RBI as the DH. Stanton went 0-3 with a walk, K, and run scored.
March 13, 201015 yr Author With West, Miller, and Anibal pitching some horrible games this Spring I'm starting to wonder if Hayden Penn will be the fifth starter. This could lead to an all RHP rotation, but if West and Miller continue to pitch like trash, the Marlins won't have much choice.
March 13, 201015 yr Disgusting performance by the sounds of it from West. His next ST appearance is gonna be pretty important to see if this was just a one off nightmare or if he really should be in the Minors come April.
March 13, 201015 yr Like i said in the gameday forum, YIKES. Your not going very far with 7 walks. Not many are impressed with what Miller, West and A. Sanchez are showing. Hopefully something comes around.
March 13, 201015 yr Just thought I'd stick this here: http://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/10429314127 Same scout on #Marlins lefty Andrew Miller: "I wouldn't be surprised if they traded him." Still has great arm, command iffy.
March 13, 201015 yr Do you have the Box score for the game? No box score yet but some notes. West allowed one hit and struck out 3 to go with those 7 walks. He even walked one with the bases loaded. Fish won 6-4. Baker went 1-3 with 2 RBI as the DH. Stanton went 0-3 with a walk, K, and run scored. Did someone say... BAKER??? :elefant :elefant :elefant :elefant
March 14, 201015 yr At this point unless there is a dramatic change Our rotation is looking like JJ Ricky Volsted Anibal RVH Penn may replace any of the last 3 I just hope something kicks in with West and Miller It appears the have messed with Miller so much they have him all screwed up
March 14, 201015 yr Author If opening day were tomorrow, this would be my rotation: Johnson Nolasco Volstad Vanden Hurk Penn That's all RHP, but I don't see any alternatives.
March 14, 201015 yr You are forgetting that Penn is awful. One outing in which he managed to have nine hitters smack the ball into outs does not qualify him as an effective major league pitcher. He's never shown a thing. I had really high hopes for Sanchez coming into this season, I hope he gets everything figured out and starts 30 games.
March 14, 201015 yr Author Are you saying that Sean West and Andrew Miller aren't awful? Penn might have a small sampling size in spring training, but West and Miller have been completely abysmal. If Penn, Miller, and West continue to put up equivalent numbers for the rest of spring, Penn has earned the job. How can you justify placing West and Miller into the rotation when they are pitching so terribly in spring and have not had any success at the major league level? And then there's Sanchez. A labrum injury is so devastating that he can't be considered the same pitcher he was in 2006. He needs to prove that he can stay healthy and be effective. The bottom line is that none of West, Miller, or Sanchez should be promised or guaranteed anything. They have not yet earned that luxury. If things change and these guys start improving, then I will consider. Remember I was suggesting Penn to be in the rotation if spring training ended today. If Penn throws like garbage in his next outing, he'll join the rest of the guys in the doghouse.
March 14, 201015 yr what about starting Clay? he's been pitching great. I would put him ahead of Penn.
March 14, 201015 yr what about starting Clay? he's been pitching great. I would put him ahead of Penn. I was thinking the same thing.
March 14, 201015 yr Author I'd be fine with that. In the end it should go to whoever pitches the best in spring training. Outside of Johnson and Nolasco, no one has been good enough to be given a spot by default. I only bring up Penn because his name has been list among the six people in competition. So far, Clay's has not been mentioned.
March 14, 201015 yr Yeah, I know they haven't mentioned Clay as a legitmate candidate in any articles (atleast I haven't seen any). But fact is, as of today, he's been the third or fourth best starter. If Freddi is serious about starting the guys that play best I would think it currently stands as follows: 1.JJ 2.Nolasco 3.RVH 4.Clay Let everyone else get starts in the minors until we need a 5th starter...then call up the best one. Use Badenhop/Penn as the long relievers. Obviously things can change later in the spring (and damn I hope someone out of Anibal, Volstad, miller or west start pitching better). I'm definitely really concerened with our pitching. But maybe RVH and Clay actually see success in the bigs this year.
March 14, 201015 yr I think Vanden Hurk will be our 5th starter, and I think he will be more than capable as a 5th starter. I foresee an ERA of under 4.50, which is above average for a 5th starter. I can't see Miller or West being in the rotation. They walk too many guys.
March 14, 201015 yr This sucks. A few years ago, I thought that by 2010 we'd have a super legit rotation. I wish we had the payroll to have signed a veteran #4, maybe a Jon Garland type. Then you would have had JJ/Ricky/?/Veteran/RVH. And I'd be okay with taking my chances on someone (probably Volstad) to fill the #3 slot. As it is, we have 3.5 giant question marks out of 5.
March 14, 201015 yr With West, Miller, and Anibal pitching some horrible games this Spring I'm starting to wonder if Hayden Penn will be the fifth starter. This could lead to an all RHP rotation, but if West and Miller continue to pitch like trash, the Marlins won't have much choice. Well, let's look at this. First, Anibal is making the rotation and will be given a longer leash because he's making the money. He's going to need to fail miserably after 8-10 starts for the team to replace him. Which leaves us needing a 5th starter three times until May 9th. I don't think it matters who "wins" that job as it's literally spot starts/demotions for RP. We just need 1 of West/Miller/RVH/Penn(I guess) by the second week in May to figure it out. We're pretty chill with the lack of needing starts. But that does bring up an interesting thing with Penn. He DOES NOT have options, while the other 3 do. Maybe you keep him on the big club if he has a good spring through April 24th as the last hurrah, and have him and Hopper work as long relievers/duel starters on the 5th starter days and see if Penn decides he wants to reach his prospect status (81st BA prospect 2006, one spot behind Josh Johnson) and if in successive years, we revive a top pitching prospect (Meyer, BA #43 2005) into something MLB worthy. April 5th - JJ 7th - Nolasco 8th - Anibal 9th - Volstad 10th - JJ, 5 days 11th - "5th starter", home game versus LAD 12th - Nolasco, 5 days 13th - Anibal, 5 days 14th - Volstad, 5 days 15th - JJ, 5 days 16th - Nolasco, 5 days 17th - Anibal, 5 days 18th - Volstad 5 days 19th - "5th starter," away game versus Phi 20th - JJ, 5 days 21st - Nolasco, 5 days 22nd - Anibal, 5 days 23rd - Volstad, 5 days 24th - "5th starter," away game versus Col 25th - JJ, 5 days 26th - Nolasco, 5 days 27th - Anibal, 5 days 28th - Volstad, 5 days 30th - JJ, 5 days May 1st - Nolasco, 5 days 2nd - Anibal, 5 days 4th - Volstad - 6 days 5th - JJ, 5 days, and then the rotation settles into normal scheduling, and the 5th starter starts in May are more than likely @ Wash, NYM, @ St. L, and PHI unless they start giving JJ/Nolasco an extra day off here and there. But regardless that's when the normal schedule starts.
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