Marlins Designate Dustin Richardson For Assignment

The Marlins designated lefty reliever Dustin Richardson for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Dewayne Wise, tweets the team.  Center fielder Chris Coghlan was optioned to Triple-A to open a 25-man spot.

Today's series of moves reflects poorly on a pair of mid-November deals made by the Marlins.  Richardson was the Marlins' return from Boston for lefty Andrew Miller, who had been a big piece of Florida's Miguel Cabrera trade with Detroit.  Miller was non-tendered by the Red Sox, so any team could have jumped in and signed him.  But he re-signed and is flourishing in Triple-A, to the point where many teams tampered and tried to convince him to opt out of his contract according to Peter Gammons.  Richardson, meanwhile, had a 3.66 ERA, 9.8 K/9, 5.6 BB/9, and 0.6 HR/9 in 32 Triple-A innings.

Coghlan, the 2009 Rookie of the Year, was the Marlins' Opening Day center fielder despite never having played the position as a pro.  His demotion comes on the heels of a .230/.296/.368 line in 298 plate appearances.  Confidence in Coghlan was presumably part of the reason the Marlins found Cameron Maybin expendable in November; Maybin is hitting .259/.322/.413 for San Diego.   

The Marlins traded a superstar to Detroit in Miguel Cabrera in December of 2007, and Dontrelle Willis added value to the package.  They received Miller, Maybin, Burke Badenhop, Dallas Trahern, Eulogio de la Cruz, and Mike Rabelo in return.  If Richardson finds a new home they'll have nothing to show for Miller, while the Maybin thread leaves the Fish with relievers Ryan Webb and Edward Mujica.  Badenhop is part of the Marlins' big league bullpen as well.