Florida Marlins' player Hanley Ramirez signs autographs before taking batting practice at the team's new ballpark in Miami, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011. The Marlins new stadium, 19 months into construction, had its first seat installed. After the installation, several players took batting practice at the stadium. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)
JUPITER — Catcher John Buck signed a free-agent deal with the Marlins in November because of their promising pitching staff. On Friday, he was convinced he made a smart decision.
Buck couldn't contain his enthusiasm after catching starters Josh Johnson and Javier Vazquez and reliever Leo Nunez on the Marlins' first day of workouts.
"I don't think Josh was even pushing himself. I think he could probably win 15 games just off that bullpen (session),' Buck said. "The thing I noticed about him, it doesn't seem like the ball is in the air that long. It's like he is handing it to you.'
The Marlins don't have Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee - the vaunted aces of division rival Philadelphia - but they're convinced they have the franchise's best starting rotation since the 2003 World Series team.
"It's not quite the Phillies, but it's pretty damn good,' a National League insider said.
Johnson, an All-Star, had the league's lowest ERA (2.30) last year. No. 2 starter Ricky Nolasco led the Marlins with 14 wins. Vazquez, who pitched for the New York Yankees last season, usually is good for 200 innings. Anibal Sanchez led Florida in starts and innings, and Chris Volstad lost just one of his 13 starts in the second half.
All five are proven starters, something the Marlins couldn't say about their rotations that opened recent seasons. Those groups included reclamation projects (such as Mark Hendrickson) and youngsters still trying to build a career (such as Andrew Miller and Rick VandenHurk).
"If the Phillies say they got the ace, we've got the ace, too. Everybody on this rotation is an ace,' Sanchez said.
That's not quite true. But the Marlins are encouraged because Sanchez and Volstad - who will slot into the bottom of their rotation - were the team's best starters in the second half of 2010.
Sanchez still is trying to fulfill the potential he showed as a rookie in 2006, when he won 10 games and threw a no-hitter. He arrived in Jupiter last week bristling with confidence from his first injury-free season.
Volstad, a first-round pick in 2005, bounced back from a rocky start last year to go 8-1 after the All-Star break. He underwent Lasik eye surgery just before arriving at camp.
The only hiccup so far this spring involves Nolasco. He is being held out of bullpen sessions because of a sore right thumb that he aggravated during exercises Thursday.
"The doctor said it's not serious,' manager Edwin Rodriguez said.
Johnson (back and shoulder) and Nolasco (knee) have completely recovered from injuries that ended their 2010 seasons in September.
"People want to say Roy Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball. I will take Josh Johnson against Roy Halladay any day. There's no favorite in that game,' backup catcher John Baker said.
Johnson doesn't mind the pre-season hype surrounding the Phillies, whose rotation goes from Halladay to Lee to Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton. In the last four years the Phils won four straight division titles and reached the World Series twice. And they added Lee over the winter.
The Marlins haven't been to the playoffs since '03.
"They deserve the credit they've been getting,' Johnson said of the Phillies. "We can say we're sick of hearing it. We have to go out there and get outs and win games. That's flat-out it.'
As solid as the Phillies look on paper, Marlins players pointed out that few if any experts picked San Francisco last spring to win the World Series. If Marlins starters can stay healthy all year, players say, the team can make a serious run in the division.
"I'm not just saying it because I'm a Marlin, but you can legitimately say we can match up against every single one of (Philadelphia's starters),' Buck said. "I don't think there are many teams that can say that.'
'; var reportAbuse = function( reportAbuseLinkElement, commenter, commentArticleId ) { var body = escape(jQuery('#comment-' + commentArticleId).text()); var commentData = { title: commenter, commentId: commentArticleId, commentBody: body }; jQuery( jQuery( "#" + reportAbuseLinkElement ).parents().get(0) ).hide(); jQuery( jQuery.tmpl( reportAbuseFormTemplate, commentData ) ).insertAfter( jQuery( "#" + reportAbuseLinkElement ).parents().get(1) ); jQuery( '#reportAbuseForm_' + commentArticleId ).submit( function( event ){ if( !isValidReportAbuseForm( this, commentArticleId ) ) { event.preventDefault(); } } ); jQuery( '#suggestRemovalClose_' + commentArticleId ).click( function( event ){ closeReportAbuseForm(this); event.preventDefault(); } ); } var isValidReportAbuseForm = function( reportAbuseFormElement, commentId ) { reportAbuseFormElement = reportAbuseFormElement; // Make sure we're a Prototype Element object // Validate before submitting the form //var commentId = reportAbuseFormElement.down( 'input[name="suggestRemove"]' ).value; var valid = true; var emailRegex = /^[a-zA-Z0-9][\w\.-]*[a-zA-Z0-9]@[a-zA-Z0-9][\w\.-]*[a-zA-Z0-9]\.[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z\.]*[a-zA-Z]$/; var articleCommentsName = jQuery("#suggestRemovalName_" + commentId).val(); var articleCommentsEmail = jQuery("#suggestRemovalEmail_" + commentId).val(); var articleCommentsComment = jQuery("#suggestRemovalComment_" + commentId).val(); if( articleCommentsName.length */
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment