There's no '$' in Bullpen

Over at Fish Stripes, Michael Jong plots the Marlins' bullpen performance versus payroll for the past five years: 

It is not a pretty picture. The team has spent a ton of money (mostly on Heath Bell and soon Juan Carlos Oviedo, once his suspension ends). And the bullpen has been much worse in 2012, though the fielding-independent stats suggest the bullpen is not entirely at fault. Jong argues that the steady FIP- stats (which is weighted against the rest of the league; in other words, the Marlins bullpen has been 6 to 10% better than the average MLB pitcher in each of the last five years).

Be warned.

Clearly, the Marlins have overpaid for relievers this year. Besides giving Heath Bell top dollar, the Marlins traded Cameron Maybin two years ago for Edward Mujica and Ryan Webb (Maybin's WAR in 2011-2012: 4.9; Webb and Mujica's combined: 1.4!). 

All those dollars could have been used to address actual areas of need. The Marlins have been forced to play a converted outfielder (Emilio Bonifacio) and a Quad-A guy (Justin Ruggiano, whose .457 BABIP suggests is bound for a big crash) in centerfield. They could have kept Maybin, or used Bell's money on a free agent like Yoenis Cespedes, and probably get the same results out of the bullpen this year. Paying top dollar for a "proven closer" will get good press in December, but it often comes with opportunity costs that end up hurting the team in the long run.

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Cameron Maybin

A few months ago someone agreed to occasionally guest post for us here, and I'm just going to bait that person right now.
Cameron Maybin thus far in 2011:

.279/.334/.416, 3.2 WAR

Not a bad slash line, but not great. And the advanced numbers suggest he still has terrible plate discipline and might be getting lucky this year:

7.7 BB%, 22.5 K%, .352 BABIP

I'm still not upset the Marlins traded him, even if they got hosed (the players they got in return have a combined 0.6WAR: 0.5 for Edward Mujica, 0.1 for Ryan Webb).

Cameron Maybin is not Adrian Gonzalez.

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Maybin Will Be Okay

Following his tumble into the outfield wall in Atlanta, we were fearing the worst for Cameron Maybin, who had to be carted off the field. However, X-rays taken after the incident came back negative, and Maybin could even play in the final weekend of the season should he choose to. From Joe Frisaro's mlb.com recap:

"My left leg and my lower back are pretty sore," Maybin said. "It could have been a lot worse. Nothing broke. I was just in pain. I'll be all right. Just a lot of pain right now." 

Moral of the story: Don't mess with the Twitter bird.


Image via sun-sentinel.com

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Angry Twitter Bird Strikes Again

Marlins centerfielder Cameron Maybin joined Twitter last week. In the seventh inning of tonight's game against the Braves, Maybin injured his leg leaping against the wall on a Brooks Conrad triple. He had to be carted off the field and may have broken his leg.

We're wishing Maybin a speedy and full recovery, but also warning Mike Stanton (@mikestanton27) one more time: avoid the Twitter, for your safety. Seriously hoping we can finish the final five games this season quietly and without incident.

UPDATE: But we could think of a few people on the team who should join Twitter.

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Heads Up

@CamMaybin

UPDATE: Crap.

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What He Said

Rob Neyer on the Cody Ross waiver claim:

Anyway, the big winner here is the Marlins, who really should (finally) just let Maybin play. Maybin didn't hit much last year, and he's hit less than not much this year.

In the majors, that is. Maybin's still only 23 and he's triple-slashed .325/.401/.477 in 115 Triple-A games. Before that, he was nearly as good in 114 Double-A games. His minor-league track record suggests that he'll eventually hit. Maybe he won't. But the Marlins need to quit fooling around and find out.

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Crowdsourcing

Cody Ross stole home last night against the Cubs in a double-steal with Cameron Maybin. Watch the video here. It was a well-designed gamble, as Tommy Hutton explains on the replay. According to the Sun-Sentinel, it was the ninth steal of home plate in Marlins history. My, question, though, is whether this was the first double-steal of home plate in team history. Anyone have any idea?

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Ruh Roh

Joe Frisaro speculates today in a blog post that everyone's favorite whipping boy, Emilio Bonifacio, could be making a return to the leadoff spot if Chris Coghlan or Cameron Maybin cannot boost their OBPs in the near future. Obviously, Ted and I think this is a HORRIBLE idea. Boni may be fast, but he is not a major league hitter. In 78 plate appearances through 19 games at AAA-New Orleans this year, Boni has 19 strikeouts to 3 walks with a line of .257/.286/.351. To sum it up in three words: Do not want.

Frisaro does note that this is but one possibility, as the Marlins are also considering batting Gaby Sanchez leadoff, promoting Bryan Petersen, or promoting Mike Stanton in June which allows the team to push his arbitration back another year. All of which seem preferable to reviving the Emilio Bonifacio Experiment.¹ Let's just hope either Cogz or Maybin put it together so it doesn't come to this. It's not noon yet, and already I need a drink just thinking about it...


¹Worst band name ever.

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Ah memories...

Thanks to Tom Verducci for reminding us:

Part of the charm of Opening Day is that anything seems possible, including the idea that Emilio Bonifacio actually can hit. You might remember Bonifacio; baseball history always will. On a beautiful, sun-splashed day in Florida last year, the Marlins' Opening Day leadoff hitter smacked four hits, scored four runs, stole three bases and raced around the bases with the first Opening Day inside-the-park home run since one by Carl Yastrzemski in 1968.

Bonifacio never hit another home run in 2009 - or much of anything else. He hit like it was, well, 1968. There were 155 players last year who were given enough playing time to qualify for the batting title. Bonifacio had the worst OPS of all of them.

Keep that in mind when you begin your hand-wringing over the Marlins' 7-1 Opening Day loss to the hated Mets. Cameron Maybin is probably not that bad.

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The Near Future

Hanley is getting reinforcements.

The Marlins may or may not make the playoffs this year, but regardless, the prospect of having Chris Coghlan, Cameron Maybin, and Hanley Ramirez at the top of the lineup for the next four or so years has me salivating. Coghlan has put it together, hitting .309 with a .382 OBP after racking up 47 hits in August. If Maybin can produce the way he has in the minors (he hit .319 with a .399 OBP at Triple-A New Orleans this year), then he and Coghlan will make a formidable 1-2 punch in front of Ramirez at the 3-hole. The trio could be as successful as Ramirez, Dan Uggla, and Miguel Cabrera were at the top of the lineup in 2006. Here were their numbers for that year:

                                                                  
              PA  AB   R   H HR RBI BB   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS OPS+
   Dan Uggla 683 611 105 172 27  90 48 .282 .339 .480 .818  112
Hanley Ramirez 700 633 119 185 17  59 56 .292 .353 .480 .833  116
Miguel Cabrera 676 576 112 195 26 114 86 .339 .430 .568 .998  159

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/6/2009.

Then there's Maybin's defense. I am quite happy to have these three guys locked in for the next few years.


Unrelated: Congratulations to Brett Hayes on his first career tater tot. Incidentally, he hit his home run off of Victor Garate, who was making his big league debut. Surely Tim Kurkjian took notice of this. This afternoon, the Fish go for their fourth sweep of the Nats this year, with Anibal Sanchez taking the hill against J.D. Martin.


AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez via ESPN.com

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Meet the September Callups

Welcome back, now can we please keep Emilio Bonifacio out of the outfield?

Last night, the Marlins recalled Cameron Maybin from Triple-A New Orleans and DFA'd Luis Ayala (so much for that experiment). By making the move before September 1, the Marlins can add Maybin to the postseason roster if they make the playoffs (which is technically still possible). Today begins the first round of September callups, who are listed below. I'll update this post with names and commentary as more callups are announced.

The First Wave
Burke Badenhop, P
Rick VandenHurk, P
Brett Hayes, C

We already know plenty about Badenhop and Henricus, as they have both spent some time with the big club this year. Since the Marlins missed out on the Brad Penny derby, VandenHurk will likely get a start on Wednesday against Atlanta. With Volstad being sent down to the minors and the rest of the staff struggling, one would hope these two could contribute some quality starts and/or effective long relief if needed, but that may be asking too much (there's a reason they weren't on the 25-man roster...). Hayes seems merely a seat-filler at this point, he may get a start here and there to give Paulino and Baker a rest, but both seem well-rested due to their platoon situation.

More Callups
Andy Gonzalez, SS
Andrew Miller, LHP
Chris Volstad, RHP
Gaby Sanchez, 1B

Gonzalez becomes the de facto backup shortstop, since the only other option is Emilio Bonifacio. The Marlins recalled Miller from Triple-A. He will probably be used in long relief situations, though he could get a spot start in an emergency. Volstad will probably be used the same way. As for Sanchez, it's probably the bench for him.

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It is time to bring back Cameron Maybin

Tonight, facing Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels, Fredi has decided to bench Jeremy Hermida, move Cody Ross to right field, and play Emilio Bonifacio at center. The reason ostensibly being that Hermida does not hit well against lefties (true), and Bonifacio would be an improvement. While B-Face is technically an improvement over Hermida (.325 OBP vs. Hermida's .277 against lefties), this should not be a permanent solution. It is time the team called up Cameron Maybin. Before he was sent down to Triple-A New Orleans in May, Maybin was OBPing a paltry .265 against lefties. After almost 70 games in New Orleans, he is OBPing at a .415 pace.

And while we're at it, great jersey at the Triple-A affiliate...

If the Marlins are serious about minimizing deficiencies in their lineup, they will have to at least consider inserting someone other than Hermida or Bonifacio into the everyday lineup. They have morphed into a two-headed out-making machine, and while I don't wish to denigrate them or scapegoat them, they clearly represent one of the biggest holes in the everyday lineup. B-Face is very fast, but if he cannot get on base, then he is useless to the team.

The Marlins do need him as a middle-infield replacement (since Alfredo Amezega is on the DL), so this might mean sending down a pitcher and carrying 13 position players. Then again, the Marlins could also bring up Brett Carroll (I'll defer to Craig's argument in favor at FishStripes), giving themselves a solid defensive replacement, as well as someone who can hit the ball.

They can do all of this when the rosters expand to 40 in September, but the Marlins need to win games in August, too, so why wait?

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FAIL

Well, that wasn't how I expected things to go...

On the plus side, Ted stumbled upon this last night:


Not to pile on Hermida here, but at what point do the Marlins consider calling Cameron Maybin back up and moving Cody Ross to right field? Hermida hasn't been terrible (his OPS+ is currently 92, which is only slightly below average), but Maybin has been putting up much better numbers in triple-A New Orleans (.415 OBP and 6 triples). Also, Maybin appears to be a better leadoff option than Chris Coghlan. The Marlins made a logical move trading for Nick Johnson in order to bench Emilio Bonifacio, will they apply their logic to Hermida, the one-time future of the franchise?

One other thought: start Josh Johnson in right field on days he doesn't pitch. Can't argue with that power...

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Reasons For Optimism

I would consider myself an optimist, but I won't lie. It is very hard to feel optimistic about the Florida Marlins these days. About a month ago, they finished off an 11-1 opening two weeks of the season and they were the talk of the league. Since then? Eight wins, twenty-two losses. Thirty games, spanning thirty-two days, and the club played .267% ball. Wow. Add on to that the misery of the two latest defeats, when the team had a great chance to secure a big pick-me-up, only to falter late, again. But, instead of piling on or waxing poetic about this miserable stretch, I will briefly note things that we should be optimistic about.

• In Andrew Miller's two starts since returning from the disabled list, he's totaled 12 IP, 4 ER, 13 K's, and a 3.00 ERA. If he can keep it up, that will be a huge boost to the rotation. Josh Johnson and Chris Volstad are pitching well and adding a third player who can deliver quality starts gives the team a much better chance to succeed. It also helps to have a good lefty to throw against the Mets and Phillies and their lineups filled with left handed and switch hitters.
• Since Cameron Maybin was sent down to AAA, he has done well, hitting .357% in eight games played. Joe Frisaro explains he could be called back up as soon as today. Whether or not that happens, he should be back sooner rather than later, hopefully with renewed confidence. (Personal thought, when he comes back, he should be inserted into the leadoff spot. He will see better pitches and should ve focusing on getting on base. The eight spot can really ruin you mentally, although I do suggest throwing Bonifacio down there and seeing what that does.)
• The law of averages suggests that guys like Dan Uggla will get hot. He is not a .200% hitter. Even in his worst season of 2007 he posted a .245%. Pretty soon he will get hot and start spraying the ball around and out of the yard. The average and production will climb.

Okay, that's about all I got. Bottom line, this team just needs to win. It needs to find a way. Winning this series against the Rays would be a good start.

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Off Day Items

The Marlins are off today, but there are a few things worth mentioning.

Cameron Maybin was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans after yesterday's ballgame. I suppose it's the right move as he is struggling and should not be in the lineup now. He's also the kind of player that isn't suited for a reserve role. He needs to get at-bats and work things out, and now he can do that without being a drag on the everyday lineup. He got off to a slow start at Double-A last year before turning it around and having a great September at the major-league level. Hopefully history repeats itself and he can join the club in July or August and provide a similar impact.

Taking Maybin's spot on the roster is pitcher John Corona Koronka, who has been called up from New Orleans to make Tuesday's start. This move was a bit curious, as it seemed like the bullpen arms of Dan Meyer, Burke Badenhop, or Hayden Penn could have made this start without necessitating a roster move. But, the team will need a fifth starter soon and if Koronka was the guy for that, then this was the time to do it (based on his pitching schedule). The team might have also specifically wanted a lefty and did not want to jeopardize another prospect (Sean West) by throwing him into the fire too soon. In Koronka's last three starts in New Orleans he has gone 16 innings and allowed just 3 ER.

Andrew Miller made a rehab start last week at Single-A Jupiter. Miller went four innings, giving up one run on four hits with three Ks and one walk. He is scheduled to pitch for Double-A Jacksonville tonight, whereupon he could return to the rotation. The Fish will need Miller to put up some quality starts while Anibal Sanchez is on the DL.

When the Marlins return to Miami on Friday, they will officially open a 3-game series with the Dodgers at Land Shark Stadium. Naming rights to the former Dolphin Stadium were sold to Anhueser-Busch, who owns the beer. Land Shark is marketed as a part of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville brand, which means fans will likely hear more Buffett songs at the stadium (not necessarily a good thing). Also, Marlins fans will probably get a break from hearing tired jokes about the Marlins player-development model, as everyone else will probably make fun of the Jimmy Buffett connection (for good reason). Dave thinks Dolphins owner Stephen Ross (who also owns the stadium) should have named the stadium Hurricane Reef Stadium, since Hurricane Reef is a superior beer with South Florida roots.

It's the 13th anniversary of the Marlins first no-hitter, thrown by Al Leiter. On May 11th, 1996 he shut down the Rockies, striking out 6 while only walking 2 and hitting Ellis Burks with a pitch. Al also got two double plays from the defense. The Marlins won 11-0, helped by home runs from Charles Johnson and Terry Pendleton. Cheers to Al.


Image via BaseballReference.org

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Welcome

Joe Frisaro informs us that the Marlins have called up Chris Coghlan from Triple-A New Orleans. His natural position is second-base, but I doubt the Marlins are worried enough about Dan Uggla's start to bench him at this point. Ted loves Coghlan, and would not mind seeing him take the 3B job from B-Face, but Frisaro notes that Coghlan played left field on Thursday night, possibly giving the Fish an opportunity to sit Cameron Maybin and shuffle the outfield. I'm not so sure about that move, but as the Marlins reiterated to me when I faxed them my resume after Joe Girardi was fired, they are not interested in my insights.

At any rate, he had posted a .418 on-base percentage in New Orleans, so I think he deserves a shot in the everyday lineup.

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The Honeymoon is Over

With a full month of play finished, I think it's time we took a look at the everyday lineup and identified a few of the weak links. Though Dan Uggla is off to a somewhat slow start, batting .202 and OPSing .696 (OPS+ 82), the two weakest spots in the order are Cameron Maybin and Emilio Bonifacio. Their lines so far this season:

	AB		R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
Bonifacio	112		17	30	6	7	28	.268	.311	.330	.641	69
Maybin	77		9	16	3	7	29	.208	.282	.325	.607	59

Maybin's numbers are worse, but considering his spot in the order (usually eighth) and the fact that he is a franchise player, I am comfortable with keeping him in the everyday lineup a bit longer and letting him adjust to major league pitching (he had less than 100 career PAs heading into this season).

Bonifacio's situation is more interesting. As much as I would not like to let Ken Rosenthal win this argument, a .311 OBP is simply unacceptable in the leadoff spot. Combined with his 28 strikeouts, Bonifacio's production has been abysmal. Simply put, if he stays in the leadoff spot and continues at his current pace, Hanley Ramirez will not have enough RBI opportunities.

Joe Frisaro reported today that Larry Beinfest is preaching patience with Maybin and Bonifacio:

In the eyes of the organization, both have terrific upside, and that's why the team is patient.

"With the young guys, they all have different time tables," Beinfest said. "It's all about making the adjustments, learning the pitchers, those types of things. It happens differently for different guys.

"It's hard to say this guy has this many at-bats, and we know for sure about him. It's not just that. You have to look at the mental aspect of the player. Is he up or down? Is he handling it? Is he making the adjustments."

Because both are handling the adversity, the team is sticking with them.

"Both of them. They're confident in their abilities, and they're working through," Beinfest said.

I have no problem with Beinfest giving a vote of confidence to the media (you certainly don't want him trashing his own players and giving them inferiority complexes). However, at some point, if either of these two does not improve their offensive production, the team must consider benching one or both of them. And they certainly have a lot of options on the table.

Alfredo Amezega is not an everyday player by any stretch, but he can play centerfield and third base, which allows him the opportunity to replace either Bonifacio or Maybin in the lineup. However, I think Maybin's numbers will pick up relatively soon as he adjusts to Major League pitching. With Bonifacio, the Marlins could move Jorge Cantu back to third base and promote either Gaby Sanchez or Logan Morrison to play first base. This has a couple of drawbacks: Cantu's defense is very suspect at third base, and if Morrison and Sanchez were sent to the minors after spring training, then it is clear the team does not think either are prepared to start yet. We shall see if the team's assessment of these two changes if Bonifacio continues to struggle.

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2009 Macropreview

We'll be making our own predictions for 2009 soon, but here is a sample of what everyone else is predicting for the Marlins in 2009.

Will the Marlins have reason to celebrate in 2009?

We compiled as much as we could find on the web, and consolidated it into one spreadsheet available here. We tried to use some discretion - no two baseball blogs are created equal, but our selection may seem arbitrary to some readers. If you find something interesting that we missed, leave a comment and we may add it to the spreadsheet.

Average Record:

Average Finish: Fourth in NL East. Baseball Prospectus pegged the Fish at last in the division with three different methodologies, all using predictive statistics. Might that be an over-reliance on past performance, considering many of the Marlins (especially the rotation) have tiny sample sizes from which to work? Even so, with the Mets and Phillies appearing loaded, it is not surprising that no one likes the Fish to win the division, but then again, the team has a history of sneaking up on people when they least expect it...

Miscellany: Jeff Pearlman thinks the Fish will grab the NL Cy and ROY (by Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin), but he dubs his predictions "Guaranteed to be 100% (not) accurate." ... On SI.com's MLB Preview, John Heyman, Ted Keith, Joe Posnanski, Albert Chen, Lee Jenkins, Melissa Segura, and Jonah Freedman pick Maybin for ROY, while Genarro Filice picks Hanley Ramirez to win NL MVP. Ben Reiter and Jenkins picked the Fish as the sleeper team of 2009 ... The Warner Report also thinks Hanley will get the MVP ... Over at Dugout Central, Thomas Wayne listed the Marlins as the fifth best team in baseball, but still thinks the Phillies are the team to beat in the NL East ... Walkoff Walk is cautious on the Marlins' young talent, but nonetheless picked Cameron Maybin to win ROY ... On ESPN, Matthew Berry and Chris Singleton have the Marlins as this year's dark horse, Maybin was the ROY pick of Jorge Arangure Jr., Eric Karabell, Nate Ravitz, Brendan Roberts, Enrique Rojas, Singleton, Jayson Stark, and Jason Grey, Peter Gammons has Josh Johnson winning the Cy, and Karabell and Rojas have Hanley for MVP. Only Singleton has the Marlins in the playoffs, winning the Wild Card.


We'll be making our own predictions later today, so stay tuned...

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Previewing the Marlins' Rookie Class

Being that the Marlins so often rely on contributions from rookies, the team almost always has at least one player on Rookie of the Year watch lists. Though this year's class won't match the 2006 class that featured three Marlins among the top four vote-getters in ROY voting (including award-winner SS1a). Nonetheless, many are expecting to see some Marlins in the hunt. Let's take a look at the Marlins' rookie class, and assess their chances of winning the award (all numerical estimates completely arbitrary).¹ One quick note, I'm only citing the most elementary of statistics, since those are the only which most ROY voters care about (mention WARP3 to a voter, and he'll probably call you a nerd and make a lame joke).

1. Cameron Maybin, CF: Future Former Marlin Maybin has the starting centerfielder job pretty much locked up, so he'll have the best chance among the Marlins' rookies to make a good impression. In September call-up action, he did not disappoint, going 16 for 32 while stealing 4 bases. Maybin strikes out a bit much for a leadoff hitter (so he'll fit in with the rest of the team just fine), and he won't put up gaudy power numbers, but he already has buzz, which makes a big difference in awards voting. When Hanley Ramirez won ROY in 2006, he hit .292, OPSed .833, hit 17 home runs, and stole 51 bases from the leadoff spot. If he can match those numbers and not embarrass himself on defense, then he'll have a great shot. I'm giving him a 40% chance.

2. Gaby Sanchez, 1B: I was pretty optimistic about Sanchez heading into Spring Training, but he has not stood out at all. As Ted pointed out, Sanchez may have to start the season. Nonetheless, FanGraphs thinks he'll be good for 15 home runs and 65 RBI if he can get into the starting lineup. That's not bad, but it won't win him ROY. I'm giving him a 12% chance, since he'll get decent protection in the batting order.

3. Emilio Bonifacio, 2B: Bonifacio has two things going against him. First, he's stuck behind Dan Uggla, and only an injury would open up the starting job for him. Second, in the words of FanGraph's Marc Hulet, "He's really fast, doesn’t walk enough and strikes out too much." I'm giving Emilio a 0.4% chance at winning ROY.


¹ John Baker and Dallas McPherson have too much service time to qualify as rookies.

Image via espn.com

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Spring Training Update

Three Up

Highly touted and bearing huge expectations, Cameron Maybin has had a solid spring and erased any doubts that he would be the opening day centerfielder and perhaps the leadoff hitter. He is 12 for 33 with one homer and looks every bit the rookie of the year candidate many believe he will be. He needs to be the new table setter of the lineup with Hanley Ramirez moving to the three-hole. Expect a lot of singles and methodically advancing along the base paths.

The aptly described, "tall, dark and Mormon," Josh Johnson has gone a total of eleven innings in his three appearances and has yielded just one run while striking out seven. He is certainly in the battle for the title of opening day starter ace. He had a solid early return from the Tommy John surgery last summer and was remarkably consistent. Consistency is usually something lacking in young pitchers and a young staff. Hopefully he can provide that and be the stopper at the top of the rotation.

Catcher John Baker has had a stellar 9-20 start at the plate with three walks giving him a .522 OBP. Nice for a guy who was our number two hitter in the lineup towards the end of last year and might find himself there again this year. He fits right in line with the front office's new philosophy at the plate (fewer K's and HR's, better BA and OBP). While he obviously doesn't have the prototypical speed for the two spot, he may be our best option to sandwich between Cameron Maybin and Hanley Ramirez.

Honarable Mention: Burke Badenhop has not allowed a run in seven innings spread across four appearances.

Three Down

Andrew Miller has had a couple rough outings. In his opener he allowed six runs in one and a third inning. He has improved each outing and says he feels he is getting more command but the season is just weeks away and we need him as the lefty in our staff. The team will probably go with a four man rotation the first couple weeks of the season, so Miller might need to be the guy who gets a couple more rehab starts in the minors.

Another player bearing some expectations this spring is Gaby Sanchez. Unfortunately, a first base job that looked like his to win is now the one he is losing. He is just 4 for 25 with six strikeouts at the plate and has made three errors in the field. I think this will be an intriguing decision to see if he makes the club. He proved he was too good for AA, and the Pacific Coast League (AAA) won't provide a tougher test (PCL is a hitting league, not pitching) if he goes there. He could start out as a bench player, but it would be a tough adjustment to getting just a several at-bats per week.

Taylor Tankersley has been given a large amount of opportunities to settle in as a lefty in the bullpen. This spring he isn't doing much to help his cause. He recently had an outing with six earned runs conceded and has only kept the scoreboard clean in two of his six appearances, all of which were an inning or less. He will always have an advantage making the club because he is a left-handed pitcher, but he may be out of options.

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