Revamping the Revamped

 

The Marlins James Hoyt pitching for the Tobasco 🇲🇽  Olmecas in 2012.

When the Fish went into Spring Training all the way back in February (Sheez does that feel like a long time ago or what), one of the main areas the Club talked about improving in was the performance out of their Bullpen according to Marlins President Michael Hill. “You look at our overall Bullpen performance”, speaking in regards to 2019, “it was not good,” said the Marlins Prez all the way back in December. According to Fangraphs, Florida’s -2.2 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) in their Bullpen ranked dead last in 2019, the only Team with a negative WAR out of the ‘Pen. Talks about ‘revamping’ ensued and soon happened. Gone heading into Spring were the Wei Yin Chen’s (and the 20 Million Dollars the Marlins decided to eat instead of sending him out to the mound). Gone were the Tayron Guerrero’s (and the 36 Walks he had in 46 Innings the previous year), along with the Jose Quijada’s (26 Base on Balls in less than 30 Innings in 2019). However, still a part of the Miami Bullpen was Adam Conley (and his 6.53-2019-ERA), Ryne Stanek’s (5.48-2019-ERA and 19 BB's in 21.1 Innings), and Drew Steckenrider (who had pitched in all of 15 Games with an Elbow Injury since the previous April). All 3 men were to play a major role for the Fish in 2020, but with ‘Steck’ never recovering, Stanek’s ERA continuing to rise, and Conley completely falling apart. Let’s just say things needed a little more “revamping”. Throw in a Coronavirus outbreak inside the Team, that included 9 Relievers, and the Marlins were forced to look for more Arms. Bullpen Arms they not only looked for, but they found.

·         Richard Bleier has been the Fish’s most reliable Left-Handed Arm in 2020. He was acquired from Baltimore for Minor League Prospect Isaac De Leon in August, 3 days before the Marlins restarted their Schedule. Bleier was expendable to Baltimore after having an ERA over 5 in 2019, even though he had pitched to a 1.73 Earned Run Average COMBINED the previous 3 YEARS. This 6'3 Florida native has been nails since being acquired by the Marlins, pitching to a 2.63 ERA during the Regular Season, while holding Lefty Bats to a .158 Batting Average against. Not to mention he picked up 3 Big Outs against the Cubs in the Wild Card Series last week.

·          James Hoyt was acquired for Cash from Cleveland on the same day as Bleier this past August, after only appearing in 9 TOTAL Big League Games the previous 2 years. Hoyt’s Career has been an interesting one to say the least. After going Undrafted, first from Boise High School, then from Centenary College in Louisiana, Hoyt was discovered by Big League Scouts pitching in the Mexican League 🇲🇽 for the Tabasco Olmecas in 2012. Hoyt went on to pitch 43 times during the Regular Season for the Houston Astros in 2017, the year they won the World Series, before not getting much of a Big League opportunity the following 2 Seasons. His big time Slider allowed him to Pitch to a 1.23 ERA out of the Marlins Bullpen in ’20, and can help him against a Braves Team this week who went 1 for 8 against Hoyt with 4 Strikeouts in September.

·         Nick Vincent was in Jupiter during the Marlins’ Covid Outbreak, after signing a Minor League Contract 1 month prior. This Big League Journeymen had a 3.33 ERA over 384 MLB Games with 4 different Clubs coming in. Vincent pitched to 2.18 ERA during his first 19 Marlin Games, picking up 3 crucial Saves along the way.

Livan Hernandez became an instant Postseason Sensation after Striking Out 15 Braves in Game 5 of the 1997 NLCS.  

I don’t think there is any denying that since the Marlins were born in 1993, there is no single Team that has given our Fish more trouble than the Atlanta Braves. That is, REGULAR SEASON trouble 😉. The 14 Consecutive Division Titles, the unbelievable Pitching Trio of Gregg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz, the Joneses (Chipper and Andruw). Heck, even when they were bad (finishing with Losing Records from 2014-’17), the Braves were 41-34 against the Marlins durring that strech. They’ve been anything but bad the last 3 years, winning another 3 consecutive Division Titles, but remember when we said they’re success only comes in the “Regular Season”. 20 Times the Braves have made the Playoffs since ’91, and have 1 World Series Tittle to show for it. Heck, the Marlins have 2 World Championships in they’re only 2 previous Playoff appearances, and they’ve never even won a Division 😉. Which leads me to my point, for all the success the Braves have had against my Marlins, they Lost the Most Important Series these 2 Teams have EVER had facing one another. The Marlins & Braves met in the Playoffs in 1997. The Fish took down Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Chipper, Andruw, and the rest of their Division Winning Team in 6 Games. The Fish just showed in Chicago, History has a way of repeating itself 🙂.

The Marlins meet the Braves tomorrow for Game 1 of their Best of 5 National League Division Series which will be played in Houston, Texas. Atlanta talked Saturday about a Simulated Game they played on Friday. The Marlins got to Houston Saturday, where a Sim Game situation with a lot of the Taxi 🚕 Squad (whose in the bubble with the 28 Man Roster in Texas) would do a Pablo Lopez (whose going on 2 weeks since his last Start) good in my opinion. The 2020 Braves bring an absolute loaded Offense into the Series. An Offense however that the same Lopez shutdown the last times these 2 Teams met. For readers since the beginning here at Son Los Marlins, we know a Pitching Staff the likes the Marlins have, can shutdown any Offense any day of the week, and twice on Sunday. Florida Pitching held a namesy Cubs Offense to a grand total of 1 Run in 2 Games. While Atlanta has a deep Bullpen, they're vulnerable in the Starting Rotation department. How many times are they gonna go to the 'Pen before they finally get got. Tick tock 🔋 Braves, tick tock 💣. The A.T.L is going down, and not in Chinatown, in H-Town.