Future Former Marlins 2

Sean West, LHP

Acquired: Drafted in the supplemental first round of the 2005 draft, part of the haul of five pitchers taken by the Marlins in the first round that year, including Chris Volstad, Ryan Tucker, Aaron Thompson and Jacob Marceaux.
Will he live up to the hype? West missed all of 2007 with a torn labrum, so he already has a major red flag. However, he did manage to put together a good year at high-A Jupiter, posting a 2.41 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, and .224 BAA over 100 2/3 innings. It looks like he'll spend this year at AA Carolina, where he could springboard himself into the 2010 rotation with a good year. Beyond that is anybody's guess.
How long do we have him? He'll likely be around for awhile, as he has yet to make his big-league debut. There's always a chance the Marlins could deal away a prospect or two at the trading deadline if they feel they need a few pieces for a playoff run, but the odds of that happening are low (the only example I can think of came in 2003, when the team shipped Adrian Gonzalez to Texas for Ugueth Urbina). Baseball America recently ranked him as the 96th best prospect in baseball, and the top pitcher in the Marlins system, so the Fish would have to be given a pretty good offer to give him up, I suspect.
Future Reason for Leaving the Marlins: Let's go out on a limb on this one. West will be traded for prospects to Milwaukee in 2013, but unfortunately none of these guys will be included in the trade.


Image via mlb.com