c/o Herald

 

LOS ANGELES -- Derek Dietrich said you can hear the chatter in the Jacksonville Suns clubhouse. Sooner or later, many of the Marlins’ top prospects know the phone call from the big leagues will come this season.

 

For Dietrich, a 23-year-old second baseman rated the franchise’s eighth-best prospect, that call came at 1:50 a.m. Wednesday. It was not only earlier than the front office was planning but even sooner than Dietrich was really expecting — and a product of a major-league-leading 12 players going on the disabled list less than 35 games into the season.

 

“I knew if I continued to compete and stay consistent every single day — whether it was Single A, Double A, Triple A, wherever I was playing — I’d have an opportunity to help out the Marlins at some point in the season,� said Dietrich, who was acquired in the offseason from the Tampa Bay Rays in the Yunel Escobar trade.

 

Like right fielder Marcell Ozuna, who was called up a week earlier, Dietrich spent most of last season playing in the Single A Florida State League.

“Way back in spring training one of my goals was to [make it here this year],� Dietrich said. “Now it’s to contribute and stay here.�

Whether that happens for Ozuna or Dietrich remains to be seen, but Marlins president of baseball operations Admin Beinfest said the club is going to make sure both players get a good look.

 

“I don’t even know who is here anymore,� Beinfest said after the Marlins scored just one run during a three-game sweep earlier this week by the Padres in San Diego. “It’s been a bad run. It kind of started [the] first day of spring training when [catcher Jeff] Mathis broke his collarbone, and it hasn’t really stopped since. It’s been anything from hamstrings to whatever freak injuries — getting slid into. It’s been a little bit of everything.�

 

Game of survival

 

Beinfest said the Marlins, who open a three-game series Friday night against Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium, always intended to bring up their top prospects at some point later this season. But with the loss of two starting pitchers in Henderson Alvarez and Nathan Eovaldi, two middle infielders in Chris Valaika and Donovan Solano, and All-Star right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, Friday night’s starter and top prospect Jose Fernandez, Dietrich and Ozuna were all pressed into duty earlier.

 

“I don’t know if it messes up the plan,� Beinfest said when asked if he’s concerned players are being brought up too early. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I don’t think anybody thought that Derek Dietrich would be here today, but eventually he was going to be here. Eventually, Ozuna was going to be here. Eventually, [outfielder Christian] Yelich will be here, [outfielder Jake] Marisnick will be here. [Pitcher Justin] Nicolino. Eventually, they’ll get here.

 

“But right now, we’re so buckled by the amount of injuries to key players we’re just trying to [survive]. I don’t know if we’ve taken a step back and asked if this is going to mess up the master plan. We’re trying to make sure [manager Mike Redmond] has 25 guys every day, which has been tough. He’s been short a lot. It’s been tough to keep up with it.�

 

As stressful as the first two months of the season have been, Beinfest said the bigger headache is “coming when we start to get healthy and then we have to make room [on the 40-man roster].�

 

“Like the Dietrich case, we spent a lot of time talking about it and the implications of putting him on the roster now,� Beinfest said. “He’s going to remain on the roster, starting it early. He didn’t need to be added until this winter, maybe even September if we would have brought him up. But we did what we had to do.�

 

With 11 players on the disabled list, including six on the 60-day disabled list, when can the Marlins expect some players to start coming back? Beinfest said he’s hopeful “none of this will bleed into July, and we’ll have them all back sometime in June.�

 

‘slow process’

 

“[First baseman Logan Morrison] has been playing as a designated hitter in extended spring training,� Beinfest said. “[First baseman Casey] Kotchman is getting closer to a rehab assignment. That could be seven to 10 days out. Alvarez had the little hiccup, but he’s going to resume throwing. Eovaldi is throwing. I’m hopeful none of those guys have to wait until [the All-Star break], that they all come back earlier.

 

“But in those two pitchers’ cases, we really thought it was the outside, a month deal. It didn’t work out that way, and we had to make sure they were 100 percent healthy and got whatever was ailing them out of there and then wrap them up. It’s been a slow process.�

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/10/v-fullstory/3389717/miami-marlins-Admin-beinfest-on.html#storylink=cpy

 

 

 

It's not very encouraging when the team seems to not know what's really going on with guys like Alvarez and Eovaldi.

 

One thing that boggles my mind is that despite having all of those guys around for ST, we're not calling those guys up when there are injuries. Instead, we're starting the arb clock on guys like Fernandez, Ozuna, and Dietrich. Considering this team is in complete rebuild mode that's not very smart, since you're having them play now in a year that doesn't matter, while costing yourself future control over them when the team might actually be good. Although at this point I'm not convinced that anyone in the FO cares.

 

It's also increasingly clear that they don't have a 'plan', despite what Beinfest says

There's this new thing called "setbacks" that players can have during injury recovery.

A handy dandy excuse for why another awful year doesn't signal the need for a new front office......

Bring up all the kids and start their clocks early then sell the team in the next few years so the contracts are somebody else's problem.

Dietrich: "I knew if I continued to compete and stay consistent every single day - whether it was Single A, Double A, Triple A, wherever I was playing - I'd have an opportunity to help out the Marlins at some point."

 

Interviewer: Wow, Single A. Impressive. Are you usually that confident?

 

Dietrich: "Well, not always. Really though, have you watched Solaika and Valano play?"

 

Interview: Solano and Valaika?

 

Dietrich: "Yeah, whatever."

If that's real, he might be my new favorite player.

There's this new thing called "setbacks" that players can have during injury recovery.

 

 

A condition that most often manisfests itself when players are subject to incompetent training/jmedical staffs.

 

See also "hamstring injuries"

 

And "misdiagnosed knee injuries"

There's this new thing called "setbacks" that players can have during injury recovery.

 

A condition that most often manisfests itself when players are subject to incompetent training/jmedical staffs.

 

See also "hamstring injuries"

 

And "misdiagnosed knee injuries"What about JJ, though? New team, new trainers, same thing with him.

A condition that most often manisfests itself when players are subject to incompetent training/medical staffs.

 

See also "hamstring injuries"

 

And "misdiagnosed knee injuries"

 

 

Totally unsupported cheap-shot BS. EVERY team has guys with set-backs and unexpectedly long recovery times, and injuries that turn out to be more serious than originally thought. Medicine isn't an exact science and never will be. Not for the Marlins. Not for anyone else.

 

And, unless you're a physician who has actually treated numerous Marlins players, you're not in any position to form any conclusions about their treatment or the competence of the Marlin's medical staff or outside doctors.

 

These guys get the best medical care possible -- every team, including the Marlins is interested in keeping their guys healthy and when they're injured, getting them back in playing form as soon as possible. As are the players.

 

What exactly is the point of making totally unsupportable accusations? Obviously Loria-hatred is great fun, but this sort of ridiculous stuff takes it beyond the pale.

A condition that most often manisfests itself when players are subject to incompetent training/medical staffs.

 

See also "hamstring injuries"

 

And "misdiagnosed knee injuries"

 

 

Totally unsupported cheap-shot BS. EVERY team has guys with set-backs and unexpectedly long recovery times, and injuries that turn out to be more serious than originally thought. Medicine isn't an exact science and never will be. Not for the Marlins. Not for anyone else.

 

And, unless you're a physician who has actually treated numerous Marlins players, you're not in any position to form any conclusions about their treatment or the competence of the Marlin's medical staff or outside doctors.

 

These guys get the best medical care possible -- every team, including the Marlins is interested in keeping their guys healthy and when they're injured, getting them back in playing form as soon as possible. As are the players.

 

What exactly is the point of making totally unsupportable accusations? Obviously Loria-hatred is great fun, but this sort of ridiculous stuff takes it beyond the pale.

 

I completely agree with this.

I bet Logan Morrison doesn't disagree.

Funny thing is, with all of the major injuries over the last few years NOT ONE player has said ANYTHING negative about the Marlin's medical staff or any outside doctor or any course of treatment followed.

 

The closest thing to it was Anibal Sanchez claiming (and winning the decision) that the Marlin's sent him down while he was injured so they could pay him at minor league rates instead of his MLB rate. Not a peep about the medical treatment he received.

To be honest, watching the likes of Ozuna/Dietrich/Fernandez is the only reason I kept watching this team. Even Hechevarria and Brantly. Every time Olivo comes up to hit I go for a little walk and scratch my balls.

The closest thing to it was Anibal Sanchez claiming (and winning the decision) that the Marlin's sent him down while he was injured so they could pay him at minor league rates instead of his MLB rate. Not a peep about the medical treatment he received.

 

 

lol this is the first I heard of this. No wonder he was so happy to GTFO of here. lol.

Morrison hurt his knee repeatedly in 2011.

 

Rested and had a plasma shot.

 

After season ended and after Marlins cleared him to travel to Japan to play with MLB team, Marlins team Dr Kaplan performed arthoscopic surgery in Dec 2011.

 

Morrison played with a sore knee throughout 2012 until he was shut down.

 

Morrison consulted with reknown knee surgeon Dr. Stedman who operated on him. After surgery Morrison has been in rehab for eight months.

 

Facts are facts and the Marlins did Morrison and themselves no favor with his diagnosis and treatment.

Ya know, there's another element in this, beyond the fact that there is exactly ZERO evidence of incompetence on the part of the Marlin's medical staff or outside doctors -- the players themselves.

 

Players want to play. They've been known to overstate how good they feel. To them, it's generally better to be playing than being stuck on a DL while someone else gets an opportunity. Admirable, tough, gritty, but perhaps counterproductive. Now, teams know this and make allowances for it, but at the same time it feeds directly into any team's desire to have the player back in the line-up.

 

Morrison is a good example -- he admits repeatedly trying to play through his knee problems. Didn't work. And he is surely partly, maybe even largely to blame for how long it has taken him to come back. I doubt he tries to convince anyone that he's 90% or 95% when he's really only 75% or 80% in the future as he's personally seen the bad results of his fudging for the last couple of years.

 

He was probably sincere in his belief that he could play, but he was also wrong. Might make him more reluctant to claim that he's ready to go after he's injured in the future. And player fibbing or hedging about their real condition is no reason to blame any team's medical staff.