The Rule 5 Draft took place on Thursday morning, and with the Marlins bargain shopping for players, they were expected to be active during the draft. Marlins fans remember the Rule 5 Draft from 2006, in which the Marlins landed all-star second baseman Dan Uggla. The Marlins have not had much success in the draft since.
Rule 5 players, obtained for $50,000 each, must open the season on a team’s 25-man roster or be returned to their original club. But Miami hopes both players can stick and produce.
On Thursday, the Marlins selected three players in the Rule 5 Draft. The team selected two players in the MLB Phase of the draft, outfielder Alfredo Silverio from the Los Angeles Dodgers and pitcher Braulio Lara from the Tampa Bay Rays. The team selected Tyler Kehrer from the Los Angeles Angels in the Triple-A phase.
Alfredo Silverio is the most intriguing pick for the Marlins. Silverio had a breakout season in 2011 for the Dodgers Double-A team, posting an impressive .306/.340/.542 line with an impressive .382 wOBA. Silverio also scored 90 runs and collected 42 doubles, 18 triples, 16 home runs and 85 RBI in 132 games with double-A Chattanooga in 2011, earning Southern League All-Star honors.
On Jan. 23 of this year, he was involved in a one-car accident in the Dominican Republic. Silverio in the accident suffered injuries to his back, shoulder, elbow, and neck. He was reportedly suffering from concussion-like symptoms six weeks after the car crash.
“The Dodgers just showed me pictures of the car. He’s lucky he’s alive,’’ said Marty Scott, the Marlins’ vice president for player development.
The good news for the Marlins, Silverio was recently taking batting practice in the Domincan Republic. Hopefully that is a positive sign for his career going forward. Silverio has not been cleared to throw the ball, as of yet, as a result of his Tommy John Surgery.
“If we get him healthy as quickly as we can, not rush him, he’s a possible DL guy to start the year,” Scott said.
“He’s a project and you bring him in but tool-wise and the grades we had on him and the fact that he has recovered from the concussions and the Tommy John, it’s very promising.’’
This is what Baseball America had to say about the Marlins pick:
Showed the potential for five average or better tools, but missed all of 2012 after a car accident resulted in a concussion and an elbow injury. If healthy, could be the safest bet to stick on big league roster.
Silverio will likely start the season on the disabled list, but will have to be active for at least 90 days for the Marlins, or they will have to return him to the Dodgers.
The Marlins also selected Braulio Lara from the Tampa Bay Rays. Lara is an intriguing prospect, as he is a left-hander with plenty of zip on his fastball. He has however struggled with command in the minor leagues. Last season, Lara, 23, was 6-10 with a 5.71 ERA (112.0 IP/71 ER) in 25 games, including 21 starts, with single-A Charlotte in the Tampa Bay Rays system. Lara has a career 4.41 ERA in his minor league career.
This is what Baseball America had to say about the Marlins pick:
Lara has a lean, athletic build that produces a mid-90s fastball and a hard, downer curveball. He went 6-10, 5.71 in high Class A in 2012 so while the stuff is excellent, he’s a long ways from being ready to help a big league club.
Lara is a solid pick, but he is a less likely candidate to stick with the Marlins. He has never pitched above High-A and it would be a stretch to see him succeeding in the Majors, but with the Marlins likely to be out of contention early, Lara will have a chance to make it work with the Marlins.
In the minor league phase, the Marlins selected left handed pitcher, Tyler Kehrer from the Angels Double-A team. I do not know as much about Kehrer as the other prospects, but his raw numbers in the minors do not look too good, as he walks way too many hitters.
The Hangover: The Best Reactions from The Day After
By · CommentsAs usually happens with grieving processes confusion and anger has begun to give way to humor for lots of Marlins fans. Here’s a roundup of some of the best reactions of the past 24 hours.
- Another rebranding is suggested for the team in the wake of the latest trade.
- Some people are hoping Bud Selig will “force” Loria into selling the team.
- Billy doesn’t seem too upset about the whole thing, though.
- One fan is hoping to convince the government to look at Loria’s ownership issue (and with 25,000 signatures, it may happen!).
- Logan Morrison talks about playoff odds with Jon Heyman on Twitter.
- San Francisco Chronicle’s Hank Schulman gets in on the fun.
There were also several revelations that occurred, like:
- Zack Cox is now the Marlins’ 7th highest salary.
- The over/under on the Marlins’ average attendance for next year is 18,500.
- The Marlins’ ticket sale team is still hard at work.
- Nearly half of last year’s Opening Day roster has been traded.
- There are tremendous tax implications for the new Blue Jays players.
Marlins Trade Team to Toronto
By · CommentsNews is still trickling in and being confirmed, but it appears the Marlins have traded a large chunk of their starting players – and contractual obligations – to the Toronto Blue Jays. The trade will leave Logan Morrison and Giancarlo Stanton as the only two players left from the 2012 Opening Day lineup.
The deal is set to send starting pitchers Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson, catcher John Buck, shortstop Jose Reyes, and utility player Emilio Bonifacio north of the border. In return – and stop me if you’ve heard this before – the Marlins are receiving a boat load of prospects.
The details are still hazy, and with nothing official yet, we are relying on “sources” and Twitter feeds. It appears the Marlins will be receiving Jake Marisnick, Henderson Alvarez, Adeiny Hechavarria, Yunel Escobar, Jeff Mathis, and Justin Nicolino. A quick breakdown of each player:
- Jake Marisnick, 21 year old outfielder, is a former 3rd round draft pick who was rated as the 67th top prospect by Baseball America prior to the season. He possesses a lot of tools, but doesn’t yet have the stat line to show for it. He will turn 22 before the 2013 season starts. Last season, he split time between high-A and AA. In high-A, he had a .263/.349/.451 slash line with 6 home runs, 35 RBI, and 10 steals in 266 at bats. After being promoted to AA, he hit .233/.286/.336 with 2 home runs and 15 RBI in 223 at bats.
- Henderson Alvarez, 22 year old starting pitcher, was signed as an international free agent by the Jays in 2006. He posted somewhat mediocre numbers in the low minors until his promotion to AA in 2011, where he went 8-4 with a 2.86 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. Later that year, Alvarez was promoted to the big league team directly from AA, where he went 1-3 with a 3.53 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP in 63.2 innings. In 2012, Alvarez made 31 starts and went 9-14 with a 4.85 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in 187.1 innings. He walked 54 and struck out 79 batters.
- Adeiny Hechavarria, 23 year old infielder, was signed as a free agent defector from Cuba. He struggled in the low minors but had success in AAA, though it was buoyed by a particularly high BABIP in both of his stops there (.471 and .371, respectively). He was promoted to the big club last season and he hit .254/.280/.365 with 2 home runs and 15 RBI in 126 at bats. He profiles as a utility fielder at this point.
- Yunel Escobar, 30 year old shortstop, homophobe. A 6 year veteran, he is the most accomplished of the group, with a career OPS+ of 99 in his years with Atlanta and Toronto. Reports had him driven out of Atlanta in 2010 due to a bad attitude. His OPS last season was .644, a career low. He also had a homophobic slur written on his eye-black at the end of the season. Ozzie Guillen supported hi.
- Justin Nicolino, 21 year old lefty starting pitcher, was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2010 Draft. He has thus far put up tremendous numbers in the low minors, with a 1.33 ERA in 61 innings in 2011 and a 2.46 ERA and 1.07 WHIP in 124.1 innings in A ball last season.
- Jeff Mathis, 29 year old catcher who will turn 30 before Opening Day. He is a former first round pick who has been extremely underwhelming in his 8 years in the majors, with a career .198/.256/.314 slash line and 53 OPS+ for his career. A righty hitter, one would assume he will platoon with Rob Brantly against lefties.
Reports currently have the Marlins also sending $4 million in cash to the Blue Jays, and possibly having another minor leaguer (Anthony DeSclafani) headed back as well. We know there is a deal, but we don’t quite know all the details for sure. More as this gets sorted out. With this trade, the Marlins’ payroll obligations for next year will be around $30 million.
Update: It does appear the Marlins are getting DeSclafani in the deal. Drafted from UF in the 6th round of the 2011 draft, he made his debut as a 22 year old in A ball last year. In 28 games (21 starts) spanning 123 innings, DeSclafani went 11-3 with a 3.37 ERA and 1.38 WHIP.
Miami Marlins Staff Still Lacking Bench Coach
By · CommentsEditor’s note: As I mentioned in the site update earlier today, we are debuting a new writer on Marlins Daily. The new writer is David Polakoff. If the name sounds familiar, David runs the best Marlins forum on the internet, SoFlaMarlins. You can follow David on Twitter here.
After hiring Tino Martinez as their hitting coach last week, the Marlins’ on field staff is beginning to take shape. New manager Mike Redmond will have fielding guru Perry Hill back as the first base coach, with Joe Espada returning as the third base coach. Reid Cornelius, the former Marlins hurler who has been the team’s bullpen coach for the past few seasons, will be returning to the staff in some capacity, either as the pitching coach or bullpen coach. With the exception of Perry Hill, all of these coaches have one thing in common: relative inexperience.
Hill, of course, has been with the Marlins on multiple tours of duty and has been coaching for some time. Beyond Hill, Reid Cornelius and Joe Espada are the two most experienced coaches on the staff, with both having been minor league coaches until their promotions for the 2010 season. Martinez is a first year coach, whose prior experience includes Spring Training special instructor and YES Network color commentator, and Redmond has two years of managerial experience in A-ball under his belt. The bench coach position is an important hire for the Marlins, and they would be wise to go with an experienced hand in the position.
Recently it was reported that Redmond had mentioned Don Wakamatsu as a possibility. Wakamatsu is a former big league manager and is currently the bench coach for Toronto. Joe Frisaro recently noted Ron Hassey as a name that could merit consideration. Hassey is currently the Marlins’ AAA manager and was a big league coach in the mid-1990s as well as the Mariners’ bench coach from 2005-2006.
Beyond those names, however, the others that have been surfacing are more inexperienced names. In the same article, Frisaro mentions Mike Mordecai, Andy Fox, and Dave Berg. Mordecai managed for a year in the minors with the Marlins organization before going to coach high school baseball. Berg is currently a manager in the Marlins’ system. Fox, the most experienced of the group, was a Marlins first base coach from 2007-2009, but the team fired him after the season. A final name that has come up is Mike Lowell; MLB Network Radio noted that Redmond and Lowell made an agreement to name each other bench coaches if and when one of them became a manager.
With such an inexperienced staff, the Marlins would do well to find an experienced coach to sit alongside Mike Redmond in 2013. There are plenty of former managers – Jerry Manuel, Larry Bowa, Willie Randolph, Jerry Narron – who would likely appreciate an opportunity to rebuild their reputation and take the reigns as bench coach. Given the overwhelming youth of the coaches, this team could use a baseball lifer on the bench.
Marlins Daily Site Update
By · CommentsGuys, it’s been a while since there has been a post on Marlins Daily. We apologize for that. I am just getting back into posting lately after a long hiatus and Dave Gershman is working on something big, on which he will have an announcement on very soon.
As a result of all this, I will be taking over the site from David, while David will still be associated with the site, he will not be making as many posts as he has in the past. There will be some changes coming to the site with the changes. If you guys remember my days as the editor of Marlin Maniac, the site will head in the direction of how I ran that site.
Some of the changes I will be bringing over include analysis of every move the Marlins make this off-season, and moves that the Marlins could potentially make in the future. Marlins Daily will also be all over any breaking news for the Marlins this Hot Stove this season.
In season, Marlins Daily will have extensive game previews, weekly live game chats, and recaps for each and every game in the 2013 season. Expect some brand new fresh content every day on Marlins Daily.
To make sure the content is flowing on a daily basis, this is the structure everyone should expect on a weekly basis, similar to what I had on Marlin Maniac:
Monday- Weekly Recap on all the posts from the previous week. This will make sure none of the Marlins Daily content goes unseen.
Wednesday- Marlins Way: This segment will be a link dump to all Marlins news from across the internet, including other Marlins blogs and the Marlins beat writers.
Friday- Marlins Way: Around the NL East: This segment will be a lot like Marlins Way, but instead of links about the Miami Marlins, we will take a look at some of news floating around about our closest foes.
Also, expect to see to see a Marlins off-season update twice weekly. Along with this, I will post some sort of analysis piece on an almost daily basis. With the Miami Marlins struggles in the past two seasons, there is a lot to sort out on how the team can improve in the 2013 season, and hopefully become strong contenders very soon.
I hope you guys will join us on the ride for the new Marlins Daily website. This will be your one-stop site for all Marlins breaking news, fun facts, game recaps, and analysis.
If you have not already, please follow Marlins Daily on Twitter, you can also follow me on Twitter as well.
We will also be featuring a brand new writer today, so we are looking forward to that as well!
Scouting Report on Austin Brice
By · CommentsWritten by Spencer Schneier (@Baseball_Spencer)
Brice has an unnatural looking delivery, featuring a high leg-kick, and keeping his back stiff which causes him to have to throw across his body with some head-whip. Brice was never a full-time pitcher until entering the Marlins system, which is probably why his mechanics are still so raw. The leg-kick allows him to get a big stride and push off the mound, so he should be able to add some velocity as he fills out and cleans his mechanics up.
Brice has strong legs that he leverages to be able to sit 92-93, but because of his sloppy mechanics he struggles to maintain velocity. He has broad shoulders that he has yet to fill out, and when he does he should be a strong presence on the mound.
As I mentioned Brice really needs to work on his stamina. In the first inning he sat 92-93, but tired himself out and ended up sitting 88-89. He is still very raw on the mound, and his pitchability suffers more than anything because of it.
Brice’s fastball was hard to grade, as there were two versions of it that I saw: 1st inning fastball, and everything after that. In the first his fastball was 92-93, with late life and some arm-side run. I would have graded it as a 55/60 pitch had he maintained that the whole game. After the first inning however, he didn’t throw one fastball I would grade as league average. The ball lost velocity, and lacked any kind of movement or life. I think if he can clean up his mechanics and work on consistency that this pitch could be an above-average one, featuring good velocity and movement.
Checking in on Chris Volstad
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Chris Volstad probably giving up another home run
Back in January, Miami quietly dealt 5th starter Chris Volstad to Chicago, and in return recieved the embattled Carlos Zambrano. The Cubs also picked up most of Zambrano’s $18 million dollar contract, giving Miami all the more reason to take a chance of Zambrano, and ship the perenially underwhelming Volstad off to Theo Epstein. While the trade has not worked out exactly as planned for the Marlins, who hoped to use him as they competed for a playoff spot, it has gone quite well compared to how it’s turned out on the Cubs side.
One Month of Rob Brantly
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September is a very important month in the baseball calendar. One may argue that it’s the most important of the baseball season, for teams both contending for a playoff spot as well as those who know they’ll be watching from their couches come October. The Miami Marlins are a team in the latter category, but that doesn’t mean this final month of the 2012 season can’t be a valuable one.
Case in point: catcher Rob Brantly. Read More→
Marlins’ Future Lies in Jupiter
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OF Christian Yelich
Remember that old childhood playground insult, “boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider?” Horrendous grammar and insinuations of impossible space travel aside, it remains a classic verbal barb. But for the Miami Marlins, much of their future does in fact lie in Jupiter.
Jupiter, Florida, that is.
Despite falling just short of a Florida State League championship, the single-A Jupiter Hammerheads were one of the more intriguing Marlins affiliates to watch in the 2012 season. With the debacle that has occurred at the major league level this season, it’s sometimes easy to overlook the fact that there are plenty of players for Marlins fans to get excited about at the minor league level. And much of the most impressive developments from this system have taken shape on the Hammerheads’ roster. Read More→
