It would appear that the race for the center field position on the Florida Marlins is becoming more clear. On Tuesday the Marlins optioned Cameron Maybin to Double-A Carolina thereby eliminating him from contention for the highly prestgious position. The young Maybin (sent over from Detroit in the deal with Andrew Miller) was batting an awful .188 in Spring Training but certainly has a bright future in baseball. Cody Ross will most likely start on opening day against the Mets only because lefty Johan Santana is the starter . Ross and Alejandro De Aza appear to be the front-runners for center but Alfredo Amezaga could potentially get some starts over the course of the season.
My prediction is that the Marlins will shuffle the position between the De Aza, Ross, and Amezaga with De Aza and Ross receiving the majority of the starts depending on the opposing pitcher.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Marlins Center Field Race Coming to a Close
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Marlins made the right call here. Maybin clearly isn't ready for the Majors. The worst thing they could do is let him get hot for six weeks in Carolina and then recall him. Please just leave him at Double-A the whole year. If he's tearing it up, a promotion to Triple-A will suffice. But he's still a raw talent.
What amazes me is that the Marlins still have yet to acquire even a stop-gap option in center field since Juan Pierre's departure.
In the last two years, here are who the Marlins have started in center field:
Alfredo Amezaga - 135
Reggie Abercrombie - 81
Cody Ross - 46
Alejandro De Aza - 34
Eric Reed - 10
Brett Carroll - 9
Jeremy Hermida - 6
Todd Linden - 3
Outside of Hermida, these are all fifth outfielders at best. Marlins CFs hit .228/.298/.344 in 2006 and .260/.317/.366 in 2007. These are below-average numbers for a utility infielder, let alone a starting center fielder.
Simply pathetic. You have to actively try as a front office to get a collection of people that bad.
Post a Comment