Links for Thursday night, as interleague play keeps Dan Haren's 1.000 OPS out of Arizona's lineup….
- Following tonight's game, the Marlins optioned Cameron Maybin to the minors, tweets Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. As MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith noted yesterday, the team might avoid having Maybin become a super two player after 2011 if they keep him in the minors for a few weeks.
- Not many draft signings to pass on today, but the Blue Jays announced that they've signed their 16th-round pick, Canadian Dalton Pompey. Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun says (via Twitter) that Pompey gets a $140K bonus.
- While the Orioles have yet to discuss such a plan, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports explains why he thinks the club could hire a manager and not immediately put him in the dugout.
- Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News believes the Rangers are the frontrunners for Roy Oswalt if the sale of the team moves forward by early July.
- In a Q&A with MLB.com's Bill Ladson, Nationals manager Jim Riggleman says Roger Bernadina's performance is convincing the team they don't need to acquire a right fielder.
- Cody Ross tells Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post that he hopes the Marlins become buyers rather than sellers: "We want to get somebody to help us rather than see some of us gone."
- Pirates president Frank Coonelly met with reporters today and addressed Akinori Iwamura's DFA, Pedro Alvarez's promotion, and the team's recent trades. MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch has the details.
Cody Ross apparently doesn’t know he’s playing for Marlins, huh?
The “…he hopes the Marlins become buyers rather than sellers,” and “‘…rather than see some of us gone’,” parts say that he knows exactly who he’s playing for.
It’s a shame Hinch DHed DH. Haren can outhit some of our position players. Not that our position players can’t hit, it’s just that Haren can swing it.
I thought Leake was having a crazy offensive year for a pitcher, didn’t realize what Haren was doing.
Dalton Pompey sounds like a history professor.
I think the Marlins completely mishandled Maybin. The guy has got some real talent, but they really didn’t let him explore it in the majors. Now he has to wait until a trade to get playing time? Sheesh.
What on earth are you talking about. He was in the Majors too soon. He’ll have lots of professional playing time and will be back as soon as he straightens out his stroke.
Sure, it’s not his fault they rushed him to the Bigs, but he’s definitely responsible for his own lack of performance. Even on the Marlins you don’t get to spend the whole season trying to figure it out. That’s exactly what the minors are for.
Rushed? They intentionally kept him in the minors since acquiring him.
Maybin has dominated at every level in the minors, and while more time in the minors could help him, to be honest, he just needs to figure out major league pitching (which cannot be done in the minors).
Still not sure what you’re talking about. He’s played over 100 games in the bigs, more than 400 plate appearances. Very few other teams would have brought him up when the Marlins did, and almost none of them would have given him the time to figure it out the fish have.Clearly he doesn’t need another full YEAR in the minors, or even many months necessarily. But the show is not the place to work through a 100-game slump.
I think it’s pretty obviously what I’m talking about–and you saying that he doesn’t need a full-season more in the minors is proof of that.
Since Maybin has dominated the minor, he just needs to consistently face major league pitching. He cannot do that in the minors. If the Marlins really see him as part of their future plans, then he should be used through thick-and-thin now. That’s all.
You don’t think he’s had enough time to figure it out? 100 games as a starter?
Sending a kid his age back down to remember what it feels like to rake makes perfect sense, especially when he’s a virtual lock to become a star someday. They can prevent super-two and they can probably improve his chances of putting it all together in the Bigs sooner.
I would agree, however, they now have 3 good options in the OF–how can he crack it at any point this season (unless there is a trade)?
Once super-two is impossible, if he’s hitting like he always has in triple-A, I don’t see him being left there long. If the Marlins weren’t counting on him being a stud for them, they wouldn’t care about his super-two potential.
If he is raking and they do leave him down — or worse, use him as a backup — I’ll agree with you. Big mistake.
Right. I guess time will tell then.