Overworked reliever Renyel Pinto was placed on the DL today with what’s being a called a strained left hamstring. Not sure if he’s actually injured but I’m confident he could benefit from the time off. He hasn’t been himself lately. This decision is timed with the return of Doug Waechter who can continue providing decent middle and long relief.
The Marlins have another day off today — perhaps a chance for the Marlins offense to regroup. Thankfully, Ricky Nolasco saved the team on Sunday (on the mound and at the plate).
We are going to be live-blogging from the “House That Steroids Built” as the Florida Marlins face the San Francisco Giants. The fun starts at 7:15 Pacific. Stay tuned. More
Once again the Fish offense stayed very quiet but thanks to great pitching the Marlins managed a 2-1 win over the Cubs.
The Marlins wasted no time in bringing up newly signed Paul Lo Duca. The Fish have been carrying 13 pitchers and they desperately needed another bench player. Justin Miller was the unlucky DFA and will head to AAA.
I’ve been wondering why Lo Duca and not Dallas McPherson and my only guess is that the Fish felt that having another veteran presence (and a catcher at that) would be better than a high-strike out power hitter. But, as I’ve said before, “In Beinfest We Trust”.
Meanwhile, the team found a new way to lose: offense is back but bullpen blew it. 3.5 games out is not the end of the world, but it’s mid-August and momentum is head in the wrong direction.
Word from the the Miami Herald is that the Marlins are about to sign Paul Lo Duca and send him to AAA. The 36 year old Lo Duca‘s performance has diminished significantly this year (age? no steroids?) and he was recently cut by the Nationals after hitting .230.
This is a low risk move for the Fish as he will start off in AAA and if somehow he figures out how to hit or if Matt Treanor‘s condition worsens, Lo Duca will be be a nice fit.
It’s all about the pitching.
It’s pretty obvious now that if the Marlins want to win the division, they’re going to have to get great starting pitching. Thankfully, we know have 5 good starters to work with.
Seems like everyone now thinks the Manny Ramirez deal is dead. The hangups range from the Marlins not willing to give up better prospects to the Marlins demanding more cash to John Henry hating the deal. We’ll know for sure in about 2 hours.
Update: Jason Bay is about to go to Tampa so the 3-way Manny deal is dead as currently constituted.
Update 2: Now it looks like the Pirates and Red Sox cut the Marlins out of the deal and closed it with LA instead. Alas, it was fun while it lasted.
The good news it that the Marlins just strengthened their bullpen by acquiring Arthur Rhodes from the Seattle Mariners. The terrible news is that they gave up Gaby Hernandez. More details to follow. More
I don’t think this is a bad deal. At 21, Gaby has yet to show the talent everybody was looking for. His record this year hasn’t been that great (5-8 this season with a 6.47 ERA in 17 starts for Triple-A Albuquerque and Double-A Carolina). As the Marlins pitching depth has increased, it may just be that Gaby’s star has dimmed a little.