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Hermida Traded to Boston
It has been a disappointing tenure in Miami for Jeremy Hermida. The potential was there for the former 11th pick but it just never materialized. In 2009, Hermida hit .259 with 13 home runs and 47 RBI; his OBP was just 348 and he K’d 101 times. It was frustrating for most Marlin fans to see Hermida possess a laser arm in RF but make some bone-headed mistakes out there in fielding the ball.
So, the Marlins pulled the trigger on a trade – with another familiar franchise the Boston Red Sox. In return, the Marlins received Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez, both lefties from the Red Sox farm system.
After making 2.2M this past season, Hermida was up for arbitration and could stand to make more money heading into 2010. Not a valuable move for the Fish considering they have options for the outfield position. Perhaps the Marlins will keep Cody Ross around as a result; they could just go with Brett Carroll who has shown great defensive prowess as well as grit on offense.
This is a move about the future though. Hermida was not going to be a part of it. It is debateable what role Jones and Alvarez play though, too. Still, this is a typical Beinfest move – get pitching in return to continue to build up the assets you have on hand.
Marlins Hire St. Claire as New Pitching Coach
Randy St. Claire has experience both as a big league pitcher and as a pitching coach. He has spent 7 years with the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals. The Marlins pegged him as their man for getting this young pitching staff to rise to the next level as they finished 10th in the NL for staff ERA.
With young talent like Josh Johnson, Andrew Miller, Chris Volstad, and Sean West all standing over 6′7″, there is a high ceiling for these pitchers. Mark Wiley has been a steady hand – he was able to reshape Dontrelle Willis’ career and it was evident that his touch was needed for this Marlins’ staff after the Joe Girardi era ended with dumping Rick Kranitz on our hands for another year. So, Wiley came back and the Marlins pitching staff took some steps forward. This season, however, it seemed that Wiley had run his course despite the Marlins finishing 2nd in the NL East (87-75) with the lowest payroll in baseball. Wiley was shocked seeing as the team had performed well, but he did leave a clue about why he may have been dismissed:
“I felt like I did what I could do. I felt like I didn’t want to put too much pressure on young kids early in their career.”
Perhaps there wasn’t enough accountability on the young pitchers? Volstad did allow far too many home runs despite having a strong start to the season, it just was an unbearable problem and he was sent down.
Don’t get upset for Wiley though, he has accepted that special assitant position within the front office staff and will stay employed by the Marlins. This is a classy move for the Fish as they retain a guy who has helped their rotation out immensley over the years. The question remains, what will Randy St. Claire bring to the position? What kind of things will he do in order to help this young staff?
“I just think it’s communicating, whether working with young or old pitchers, and being open to what they feel,” he said. “It’s trying to get them comfortable and confident.”
That doesn’t sound a whole lot different than the laidback approach Mark Wiley prefers. The question has to be, why was Wiley let go? St. Claire did work with this current ownership group when they were working in Montreal together, so they know what to expect from him. He was sacked by the Nationals earlier in the year when the pitching staff was not showing much progress. It would have been nice, however, to have some talent on that staff to see what could be done. Should Marlins fans be alarmed?
It seems that worst case, we have a younger version of Wiley in house now with St. Claire. It also should be noted that St. Claire was not necessarily the top choice of the Marlins brass as other candidates were snatched up. Wiley also gets to linger as he takes a cushy job upstairs. St. Claire will now have to find a way to tap the potential of the forest of pitchers that is Josh Johnson, Chris Volstad, Sean West and Andrew Miller. If his tenure this year in Washington is any indication of what is to come, we may be in for more misses than hits.
Marlins had good run
Well, despite their best efforts the Fish were not able to pull off a stop into the post season. The Rockies got hot, the pitching grew cold. All in all, the Marlins put together a winning season, which is a great achievement for this franchise considering most did not give them a chance to compete. Instead of the Marlins in the celled, it is the Mets.
You can’t feel too bad about the Marlins coming up a bit short. It’s times like these that help you appreciate the championships a bit more, giving more perspective. It also sets up the future nicely as players like Chris Coghlan and Hanley Ramirez show us how great they are. The future is bright and for the Marlins to even have one is a treat in itself.
MarlinsNation Twitter Updates for 2009-09-12
- @MLBBoca Might go tonight. Hit me up if you are going. in reply to MLBBoca #
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MarlinsNation Twitter Updates for 2009-09-10
- His Name is Dan Uggla just unleashed a bullet into the upper deck. Citi can pay for that one, too. 4-0, #Marlins. #
- Tommy and Rich are making me laugh. They are ragging this Met fan who was yelling at the Marlins dugout. He mispelled we're on his sign. #
- @MLBBoca Hey there, MA! Haven't seen you on in a while. How's it goin? in reply to MLBBoca #
- By the way, tomorrow night seats are $20. http://marlins.com/floridaresidents #
- Too funny, now their interviewing the fan. Very New York type of guy – gotta love it. #
- @camdoug1 LOL! Good call, my friend. in reply to camdoug1 #
- @MLBBoca I'd like to go tomorrow night, but not likely because i have my Fantasy Football draft. Are you going? Maybe Saturday or Sunday? in reply to MLBBoca #
- @camdoug1 He's among the top hitters in the NL right now with a .305 average. PRobably bumped up to .309 with his two hits tonight. in reply to camdoug1 #
- @MLBBoca Let me know. Maybe we can finally take a game in together. in reply to MLBBoca #
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