Tag Archives: Dan Haren
Marlins Rising Recap: Derek “Double-D” Dietrich goes yard to defeat the Nats 2-1
Game Recap:
In a matchup that featured two new off-season acquisitions getting the starting nod in Max Scherzer for the Nationals, and Dan Haren for the Marlins. The game went as predicted. A dazzling pitcher’s duel between those two starters to start the game, combined with excellent bullpen work by both teams. Set up for Dietrich’s walk-off blast in the 9th, lifting the Marlins to a 2-1 victory over the Nationals on Tuesday afternoon at Roger Dean Stadium.
Box Score:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| WSH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| MIA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 0 |
W: S. Dyson
L: B. Billings
Red’s Recap:
Marlins Rising:
Dan Haren
- 25 of 35 pitches thrown for strikes; Faced one batter over the minimum for 3 innings of work. Keeping hitters at bay with his pin point control all afternoon, allowing just 1 hit while picking his way through the Nats line up, tallying 3 strikeouts too boot! Rebounding in a big way from his start last week. Who said this soft-tosser was ready to retire?
Tom Koehler
- Steady as he goes. Not pretty, but not bad. The always not-so shabby Koehler worked another TK like 2 innings. Contributing one walk and one strikeout to his stat line while allowing zero earned runs. Picking up exactly where he left off last season. As he continues to battle for his spot in the rotation.
A.J Ramos
- 3 strikeouts in one inning of work, while allowing one hit. Enough said. The kids still got it! Cishek might want to watch his back if he is going to be giving up more HRs to Dan Uggla with Ramos pitching like this.
Dee Gordon
- Leadoff bunt single to start the game, steals second on the next pitch and is driven in by Christian Yelich’s RBI single to center. This is exactly why we got him. Get on, and flash those wheels!
Derek Dietrich
- After coming off the bench midway through the game to replace Dee Gordon, Double-D came up big. Blasting a huge walk-off homer to LF. All you can really say here. What he lacks in his glove on the field, he makes up for when he connects like this at the plate. Hang with um muscles!
Marlins Falling:
Giancarlo Stanton
- 0/3 at the plate; killed a first inning rally by grounding into a bases clearing double play. While K’ing up swinging twice in his next two plate appearances. It’s not easy rocking the big G at the plate.
Jeff Mathis
- 0/3 at the plate; striking out swinging once, and hit a weak fly ball and ground ball for outs to round out his day, as he left 4 runners on base. Don’t make it too easy for Salty, Mathis!
Steve Cishek
- Who did he let hit an RBI double off of him? Oh, that’s right, it was Dan Uggla. Remember that guy Dan Uggla, Steve? Ya, thought you did, shame on you.
Up Next: Mets vs. Marlins today at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, FL. First pitch is slated for 1:05 pm as aces Matt Harvey and Henderson Alvarez get the starting nod. Make sure to check back in tomorrow at www.marlinsrising.com to get your full marlins recap of whose stock is rising and whose is falling.
Follow Jason Tate on twitter @MarlinsRising and at http://www.marlinsrising.com to recieve news and analysis on the Miami Marlins.
30 Teams in 30 days: Miami Marlins
After finishing 2014 with a 77-85 record the Marlins made some bold moves in the offseason to try and orchestrate a push for the playoffs in 2015. They resigned Giancarlo Stanton to a record breaking 13 year deal worth $325 million dollars.
In addition, they brought in pitching ace Mat Latos to help bolster the top half of their rotation. If Jose Fernandez can come back in June, as is projected, the Marlins will have three top end pitchers in Mat Latos, Jose Fernandez and Henderson Alverez. A little deeper into the rotation Miami replaced starting pitcher Nathan Eovvaldi with Dan Haren and statistically it’s a fairly even swap.
The one area in which Miami looks worse than they did last year is in their relief pitching. The Marlins lost a solid reliever in Chris Hatcher. Dan Jennings who was a top end reliever for the Marlins last…
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Important Position Battles: NL East
By Jim McCormick
Spring Training is an important time for managers and GM’s alike, as it is the perfect time to see how a player can perform. While stats don’t always translate to the regular season, evaluators will use the time to judge the player’s work ethic and how they impact the clubhouse. Heading into the spring, each team has positions that may have too much talent or players at the position that have not played good enough to lock up the position. Today, I will look at some of the important position battles for teams in the National League East.
Atlanta Braves:
knoxnews.com
Positon: Second Base
Players Involved: Alberto Callaspo, Jace Peterson, Philip Gosselin
Entering the 2014 season, the Braves started off the season with Dan Uggla as their starting second baseman. Uggla was released by the Braves in July of 2014 after he struggled in his…
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Who will become Lucky #5 in the Marlins rotation when the dust settles
Assuming the Marlins don’t shop the recently committed Dan Haren before the season starts, the battle for the 5th spot in the Miami Marlins rotation just got exciting in the form of unpredictable.
After showing up at camp on Friday in Jupiter, FL to report for the Marlins pitchers and catchers workout, Dan Haren has made it clear he is here to stay, only fueling the fire with regards to the internal battle to find a 5th starter for the 2015 Marlins opening day rotation. Now that he has voiced his commitment to the team, Dan Haren may not be the one who’s caught up battling for the last spot in the rotation. Rather the battle for the last spot now could come down to watching the kind of numbers Brad Hand, Tom Koehler and David Phelps can put up, in hopes of solidifying the last spot in the rotation. We can assume that Dan Haren will now slide into the 4th spot in the rotation, barring any kind of injury, the Marlins are unlikely to send a much needed savvy veteran down to Triple-A or take his “Man-Card” from him by making him a long reliever, instead of the consistent work horse he has always been. Significance being, that there will be a new internal battle for the 5th spotin the rotation that will take place between Tom Koehler, David Phelps and the only lefty in the bunch Brad Hand.
Tom Koehler: (Leading Right-Handed Candidate)
Koehler is the lead horse in the race for the 5th spot going into the spring. Based on his stat line from last year where he registered a win-loss record of 10-10, while recording a career high in IP (191.1), ERA (3.81) and K/9 (7.20) striking out 153 total batters. All the while, walking just 3.35 batters per nine innings pitched. Although he tends to wear down in the late innings proven last year by Koehler going 7 strong innings just 9 times over 32 games started. However, he did end the season with 17 quality starts out of those 32 games, where he went six or seven innings for the Marlins and gave up just 3 runs or less on those occasions. Meaning, if he can come into the spring with an improved fatigue rate and a better feel for his arsenal of pitches than there will be no questions asked about who will land the 5th spot in the rotation.
Brad Hand: (Lefty Favorite)
Even though Hand doesn’t have the strongest starting resume when compared to the likes of Tom Koehler and David Phelps, he made a case to be looked at this spring by the Marlins organization based on the numbers he was able to put up after returning to an injury riddled Marlins rotation in July of last season. Making just 14 starts done the stretch, 8 of which were quality starts and compiling a 3.80 ERA, while striking out a total of 43 batters in just 83 innings pitched after being recalled from Triple-A New Orleans. Giving him a 4.66 K/9 ratio, but its his .323 BABIP over those 83 innings that is cause for concern going into spring training, proving that he still hasn’t developed a consistent put away pitch at the major league level. Thus, instead of heading into the spring with a solidified spot in the Marlins rotation, Hand will have to prove he has developed an advanced feel for his off-speed offerings to keep hitters at the major league level at bay, if he wants to land that back-end 5th spot in the Marlins Big league rotation.
David Phelps: (The Underdog Righty)
I think by all accounts it’s safe to assume that Phelps will either start the season at Triple-A New Orleans as a starting pitcher or will end up falling into the same profession as he did with the Yankees. Meaning, if he makes the major league roster out of spring, it will likely be as a long reliever with the chance of receiving spot starts here and there as needed. He will, like the others get a chance though at the starting spot based on what he was able to accomplish in his 17 starts last season for the New York Yankees. Only winning 5 decisions of those 17 starts, but posted a 4.28 ERA with a 6.80 K/9 ratio in his 96.2 innings pitched when he toed the rubber as a starter for the Yankees. For Phelps to come out of spring training as the 5th starter in the marlins he will need to show complete control in his repertoire of pitches and come out with an improved mound presence translating to dominance on the mound that will hopefully cast shadows upon Brad Hand and Tom Koehler, allowing Phelps a true chance to complete for the last spot in the rotation.
With everyone final factored into the equation, and assuming the rotation is already preset with Mat Latos, Henderson Alvarez , Jarrod Cosart, and possibly Dan Haren (in no particular order) these final three pitchers listed above will have their work cut out for them when spring training games beginning next month. So make sure to pay extra attention to the screen when these pitchers take the mound for the Marlins, as they will be bringing their best stuff in hopes of earning that final spot in the rotation.
Assessing Nathan Eovaldi: Pitchability vs. Flatability
Will Nathan Eovaldi be missed as a FISH? Or will he be one that is happily relinquished to another? This is a guy that stands at 6’2″ and 215 lbs. spitting straight fire from his right arm registering upwards of around 97-99. That’s enough to get anyone hyped up about buying a ticket on the Eovaldi express. However, after last season and playing the role of Ms. Cleo looking into the future, you won’t find me standing in line to join that ride. Despite his unbelievable arm strength and ability to throw with max effort for 6 innings (if he makes it that long) he lacks something big league analysts like to call “pitch ability”. You know, that one tool needed to not just make your pitches dominant, but unhittable.
Through 2014 we saw a lot of “flatability” in this guy. Meaning you saw a guy take the mound whipping up his best combination of velocity and movement, but ending up with pitches being put on a platter. Because without that tool called “pitchability” this is what we get. A guy, who even with an above average FIP rating of 3.37 in 2014 he had a jacked up BABIP that stood at .323, strung together with a K% that declined from 2013 from 17.3 to 16.6 in 2014. I know what you’re thinking, 97-99 MPH, hard off-speed and these are the numbers we are looking at? All of these numbers reflect the unwanted tool in a pitchers arsenal, “flatability”.
Those of us who watched Nathan pitch this season would be remiss if we called it anything else. Don’t get me wrong he was great through 3 innings and even on most occasions getting us through 6 strong , but you would be inattentive if you didn’t see how many times that upper 90’s fastball looked like a beach ball, even on a 6″ monitor, causing his HR/FB ratio to raise up to 6.6%. Add to it his slider that was hung like the Hit-A-Way tool to hitters and belted some 400 feet into orbit and he ends up with a disastrous WAR rating of 0.7 for the 2014 season. Showing continuous signs of a lack of “pitchability”, not being able to put hitters away.
Everything being equal, Nathan valiantly served a depleted Marlins rotation that started 13 different pitchers in the 2014 season. He was a guaranteed starter who totaled around 200 innings. Will he be missed? Yes, for his durability and pure fact that his roster replacement could end up being another gopher ball pitcher in Dan Haren, who carries in a HR/FB ratio of 11.9%.Leaving you to debate the real question. Are we happy to have him relinquished to another team? We will just have to wait and see what the 2015 seasons brings. But if Nathan toes the rubber strutting “pitchability” over “flatability” then it could be lights out for opponents in the AL East.
Marlins Rising 