Miami Marlins Spring Training and prospects for 2012 regular season - MLB Feature
A win against Miami Hurricanes at the new Marlins Park followed by two immediate defeats against Detroit Tigers and New York Mets. A new signee Jose Reyes, a powerful hitter and National League Batting Champion in 2011 could not justify in a game against
Tigers the $106 million six year contract he has just been awarded.
Pitcher Mark Buerhle had a decent time at Marlins Park getting seven outs, but Alex Sanabia against Tigers was thrashed big-time who gave away two earned runs and in total conceded three runs. As for the hitters, Jonathon Niese in a 7-0 win to New York Mets
proved enigmatic to be hit by the Marlins that none of their hitters scored a run against him.
Marlins’ manager Ozzie Guillen is having his first season with the club and the fact last season team exhibited their all-time worst performance with 90 losses against 72 wins, he finds an arduous task at hand. Picking out players from Minor League and finding
the right mix of opening day rotation are some of the areas he has to work out. As the club spends $58 million on players, inclusion of expensive Jose Reyes is certainly going to delimit acquisition options for the team.
Availability of one of the best shortstops, Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez is a plus, but the same can easily be their greatest drawback. While overwhelmed by the desire to get Reyes in the offseason, diversification of the roster has perhaps been overlooked
in the midst. If a fairly reliable shortstop in the form of Ramirez was available, money spent on Reyes apparently gives an impression of poor allocation of resources. Conversely if one or two quality pitchers were added and rotation was strengthened, the
club will be able to avoid defeats they have started to pile up in Spring Training.
Now when Reyes has become a part of camp, it remains unguaranteed if he will repeat dream last season performance, something for which he has been inducted. If his last outing against Tigers is anything to go by, one can hardly envisage the same show. Numbers
of instances memory can retrieve when one see a club failing to draw desired performance from a previous year star performer it so passionately went after before season.
When one sees induction of Reyes in the context of mix of pitchers employed in a game against Mets including Sean West, Tom Koehler, Rob Rasmussen and Corey Madden, all showed little composure on the mound, one imagines the extent to which they need a genuine
ace as opposed to a shortstop. Of course, making judgment after one match looks a bit premature, avoidable walks and committing the same mistakes repeatedly indicate paucity of reliable pitchers with the Marlins. Sean West alone conceded four walks in his
Spring Training game while incurring three earned runs and similarly Rob Rasmussen ended up on almost the same figures.
Before the start of training, pitchers rated as top prospects for Marlins included Chris Hatcher, Charlie Lowell, Adam Conley and Jose Fernandez. While they have yet to substantiate those ratings with performances on the ground, some of them actually possess
the credentials to lead the side to victories. Charlie Lowell has some issues with consistency if he gets going, he will be hard to stop. Second to the list may be Adam Conley, who if streamlines his fastballs and change-ups can easily qualify as a starter
even against tougher opposition.
Thus even while the club faces back-to-back losses, many prospective stars have yet to step in and one will look forward to them breaking the losing streak as the side will be looking to improve their performance during Spring Training.
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