Random Marlins Notes

[General]

Jeremy Hermida (hip flexor) sat out Thursday's game and is unlikely to return until this weekend.
Dan Uggla batted second for the Marlins, with Hermida injured, and the team actually showed some life. Manager Joe Girardi said Hermida would return to his usual spot in the batting order when he is healthy.

[General]

Owner Jeffrey Loria said Friday that rumors of the Marlins potentially trading Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera are "ridiculous."
``We are not shopping players," Loria said. "We're rebuilding a team here.''

[General]

Gaby Sanchez went 2-for-3 and hit his fifth homer for low Single-A Greensboro on Friday.
Sanchez, the New York-Penn League MVP a year ago, is batting .457/.537/.914 in 35 at-bats. Although he was primarily a catcher at the University of Miami before being drafted in the fourth round last year, he's being used as a first baseman right now. A switch back to catcher hasn't been ruled out, but the Marlins might not to take away from his promising bat.

[General]

Scott Olsen surrendered two runs -- one earned -- in 5 1/3 innings tonight to take a loss to the Nationals in his season debut.
Olsen walked six and his own error led to the unearned run, so it wasn't a great performance. We like his chances of contributing in NL-only leaguers, but since his only start next week will come in Philadelphia, he's not going to be a very good play

[General]

Even though the Marlins are facing a right-hander, Josh Willingham is batting cleanup ahead of Mike Jacobs on Sunday.
Willingham had been hitting fourth against lefties and fifth against righties. Since he has outproduced Jacobs so far, it might be a permanent switch, giving his value a modest bump.

[General]

Matt Herges blew a save and took a loss against the Nationals on Sunday when he yielded three runs in the top of the ninth inning to give Washington a 7-5 lead.
Chad Cordero successfully protected the two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth. Alfonso Soriano started the ninth with a double and was immediately sacrificed to third. Nick Johnson then grounded to shortstop Hanley Ramirez who checked Soriano at third before throwing wildly to first. The throw got by first basemen Mike Jacobs, allowing Soriano to score and Johnson to move to second. After Ryan Zimmerman walked, Nick Johnson tried to go to third on a throw that got away from the catcher but was thrown out for the second out of the inning. Ryan Church then stepped up and delivered a two-run homer to give the Nationals the lead. Herges will continue to split the closing duties with Joe Borowski for now, but a few more outings like this and he may lose that privilege

Starting in left for the ninth time in 11 games, Josh Willingham went 2-for-4 with a double against the Nationals on Sunday.
With catchers Miguel Olivo and Matt Treanor on the roster, Josh Willingham appears to have established himself as the Marlins' primary left fielder. Olivo has received seven of the 11 starts hehind the plate, with Willingham and Treanor splitting the other four. Since it will mean more starts per week, we'd prefer Willingham to be playing left for the Marlins with Olivo and Treanor splitting the catching duties

[General]

Marlins placed outfielder Jeremy Hermida on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 12, with a strained hip flexor.
Surprising news. Hermida was taking batting practice and running over the weekend, and the Sun-Sentinel reported today that he'd be back early this week. Chris Aguila will continue to act as the primary right fielder until Hermida returns. Matt Cepicky should see limited action behind him.

[RockSports17]

Owner Jeffrey Loria said Friday that rumors of the Marlins potentially trading Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera are "ridiculous."
``We are not shopping players," Loria said. "We're rebuilding a team here.''

Well did they really need to rebuild the team? Ah no. Loria is an idiot.

[General]

Reggie Abercrombie went 3-for-5 and hit his first major league homer Wednesday against the Reds.
It was a solo homer off Michael Gosling. Abercrombie was in an 0-for-20 slump before going 5-for-8 the last two days. Expect to be an everyday player for as long as his production justifies the assignment.

[Fishercat]

That Abercrombie HR was a ****ing huge bomb. My goodness.

[General]

Scott Olsen surrendered two runs -- one earned -- in 6 2/3 innings of work to earn a victory in a 4-3 win over the Phillies on Friday.
Olsen struck out just one and put 10 men on base, but he pitched out of several jams to keep the Marlins in the game. We think he'll have value in NL-only formats this season, but that Olsen has a 7/8 K/BB ratio after two starts might mean he's in a for a few rough outings. He'll face the Cubs next week

[General]

Jeremy Hermida (hip) has been taking batting practice and running the past few days.
Hermida is eligible to come off the DL on Thursday, but that's an off day for the Marlins. He expects to be back in the starting lineup for Friday's game

[General]

Miguel Olivo singled and homered to drive in two runs against the Phillies on Sunday.
Olivo is batting .286 with three homers and four doubles in 42 at-bats this season. With Josh Willingham startingly almost exclusively in left field, Olivo will get the majority of the starts behind the plate.

[RockSports17]

Heard Willis has been ignoring the trade rumors, which is good. Glad to see that things like those don't distract him.

[General]

Jeremy Hermida (hip) ran prior to Monday's game and could head out on a minor league rehab assignment soon.
Hermidia could be in the starting lineup on Friday if he can play pain free during the brief rehab assignment.