Though the Marlins are baseball's worst team at 2-11, their rotation has hung in pretty well with a collective 3.52 ERA. Kevin Slowey, Ricky Nolasco, and rookie Jose Fernandez have led the way. Tonight, they have Alex Sanabia facing the Nationals at Marlins Park. The latest on Miami's team:
- Giancarlo Stanton probably has more trade value than the Rays' David Price currently, ESPN's Buster Olney writes based on conversations with about a half-dozen team officials. That seems a given, with Stanton under team control for an extra year. Olney's early "educated guess" at the front-runners for Stanton: the Rangers, Mariners, Tigers, and Cardinals. Stanton, 23, has missed several games with a bruised shoulder, which he will test today with a few swings according to Craig Davis of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. As of Sunday, the Marlins were not interested in trading Stanton, tweeted Peter Gammons of MLB Network. In a poll of over 13,000 MLBTR readers last Thursday, 40% felt Stanton would be traded during this season, while about 31% expected the Marlins to wait until the offseason.
- "There's more downside than upside" in the Marlins' decision to promote Fernandez to the big league club to start the season, writes Jim Callis of Baseball America (subscription required). Callis feels Fernandez is subject to increased injury risk, and finds the team's failure to wait 12 days before promoting him to be short-sighted. Fernandez only made one start prior to April 12th, at which point the Marlins could have purchased his contract and controlled him through 2019 instead of 2018. Even if you feel the Marlins will just trade Fernandez once he gets expensive, he would've had more trade value with an extra year of control.
- "The Marlins made a strong financial offer, and more important, they had a plan for me," reliever David Aardsma told Daniel Barbarisi of the Wall Street Journal, adding, "They made that clear to me, that if I pitch well, I have an opportunity to claim a role." Barbarisi's article is a good read, as he followed Aardsma through the process of being released by the Yankees and landing with Miami. The Marlins' bullpen has been one of the league's worst, with five relievers sporting ERAs over 5.00.
