MLB Preview 2008: Florida Marlins Pitching

What does the summer ahead hold for the young Fish? Will the unestablished starting pitchers settle in and have a good year? Will the lineup sink or swim without Miguel Cabrera? Will the bullpen replicate the season they had last year or revert back to the 2006 bullpen? All these questions answered and more, NEXT!!!!!!!

Starting Rotation:

Veteran Mark Hendrickson will anchor the Marlins' starting rotation. Hendrickson is a "starting pitcher" who has only once thrown over 180 innings and started over 30 games. He is more suited in my opinion as a reliever, but had a big spring and will hopefully prove me wrong and be a durable starter at the top of our rotation.
Scott Olsen will start the year as the number four starter (due to injuries), but will be more of a number one or two. Olsen will need to come in to his own this year. This will be his third full year in the majors, and in order to stick around Olsen will need to avoid repeating his disappointing season of last year.

The third starter will be Rick Vanden Hurk the 2nd year player from the Netherlands. Last year he was known more because of what country he was born in than how he pitched. This year he hopes to control his breaking ball, which is a plus pitch, and attack the zone early in order to get ahead. The next starter, Andrew Miller, is interesting because he may end up in AAA before the season is over, or he may end up being the most dominant pitcher in the rotation. There's no doubt Miller has some nasty stuff, possessing two plus pitches (Fastball and Slider), but will his control issue come back to nip him in the butt this year. Ricky Nolasco will more than likely be our 5th starter, but will start the season in the pen because of a couple early off days. I see Nolasco as a back end bullpen pitcher, as well as most people. He is a starter more out of necessity, as the Marlins continue to have problems keeping their pitchers healthy. Look for Nolasco to transition into the pen if and when we get back Mitre, Sanchez, and Josh Johnson back from the DL.

Relief Pitching:

Coming into the 2008 season the Marlins bullpen is only rivaled to that of the Cleveland Indians. The Marlins return all seven of their relievers who closed out the year in '07. Lee Gardner comes back as the long relief/middle relief pitcher. Gardner in consecutive seasons now has posted a 0 era in spring training and was the most versatile Marlins bullpen member last year. Joining the relief corp are two lefties with some really good stuff, Taylor Tankersley and Renyel Pinto. Tankersley, a harder thrower has a good fastball and a plus slider (his out pitch), and has been mentioned as a possible closer in the future. Pinto, a converted starter, may have one of the best change ups in the game. His main problem is location, location, location. When Pinto is on he is the best pitcher in the pen, but when he's off he may be the most frustrating pitcher to watch in the majors.

The Fish will be counting on a 2006 repeat performance from Logan Kensing. Kensing was out nearly all of last year due to Tommy John surgery and will now be back healthy in 2008. In 2006 he was used as a setup man and closer and succeeded in both, at times. He will need to show some consistency, which I believe he can. The back end of the bullpen will begin with these two righties, Justin Miller and Matt Lindstrom. Miller came out of no where last year and became quite possibly the best reliever on the Marlins. At one point Miller had gone 15 1/3 innings in a row without giving up a run. Lindstrom, on the other hand, was traded for last year along with Henry Owens for Jason Vargas. The more I see of Lindstrom and Owens (currently rehabbing), the more I think we need to give some more back to the Mets. Lindstrom reached 99mph a few times and accompanies that ridiculous fastball with an average change/split and slider. He will need to develop his second and third pitches to continue being successful at this level.

Another feel good story in the pen came after many a blown save by Jorge Julio, and Armando Benitez, Kevin Gregg. Gregg came out of no where to take over the closer role after being passed up over and over by Fredi Gonzalez. Finally, Fredi got it right and Gregg went on to be the 4th Marlins closer in a row to save over 30 games after being on a different team the year before (Benitez, Jones, Borowski). The question about Gregg now is whether he will finish the season with the club. With Lindstrom, Owens, Kensing and Tankersley all possible closer options, why wouldn't the Fish dangle Gregg out there for some more prospects.

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