2010 Spring Training Rotation Thread

[lou]

So Hensley is kind of good

10.1 IP, 0.00 era, .39 whip, 7 K, 0 BB

If nothing more, I'd say this is locking up a bullpen spot.

[wanks1212]

Should Florida Marlins starter Chris Volstad open the season in the minor leagues?

by Joe Capozzi

The Marlins certainly aren’t ready to give up on Chris Volstad, who has struggled this spring with a 9.82 ERA in three games. But with less than three weeks in camp, it’s a real possibility – especially with the emergence of Clay Hensley and Hayden Penn — that Volstad could be the odd man out of the starting rotation.

Both Hensley and Penn are legitimate candidates for the rotation, with Hensley an option for a long reliever who can spot start.

To me, it seems clear that the Marlins plan to have Anibal Sanchez in the rotation behind Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco. New pitching coach Randy St. Claire just about said so during an in-game interview today with Fox Florida’s Craig Minervini.

“We’ve got five 5, 6 (pitchers) back there battling for one of those two (rotation spots),’’ St. Claire said before catching himself. “Well, we’ve got three spots but I think Anibal Sanchez has been throwing the ball real well so we’ve got two, three spots open.’’

My guess is Rick VandenHurk is in the rotation, too, despite his six-run inning against Washington on Tuesday. Before that inning, Vandy hadn’t allowed a run in eight innings this spring.

That would leave Volstad battling for the fifth spot with Hensley, Penn and Andrew Miller.

Volstad’s next start — Saturday in Viera against Washington — is a big one in terms of his immediate future.

Stay tuned…

Marlins-Mets in Puerto Rico
Major League Baseball will host a press conference tomorrow with the Marlins and Mets. Chances are, they will make official the Marlins’ “home” series being moved from Miami to San Juan against the Mets from June 28-30.

Pitching plans
Ricky Nolasco will start Thursday night against Oliver Perez and the Mets. That game starts at 7:05 p.m. at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter.

Anibal Sanchez starts Friday against Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals. That game starts at 1:05 p.m. in Jupiter.

Chris Volstad starts Saturday against the Nationals at 1:05 p.m. in Viera.

http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/marli...minor-leagues/

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

I think Capozzi is getting way too far ahead of himself. I highly doubt the front office is going to chose one of two retread starters, one who hasn't thrown a pitch in the majors since 2008 and the other who has a career ERA of almost 9 over a guy who has the higher ceiling and has had some success in the majors. Yes, Penn and Hensley have pitched well this spring but, hello sample size. You have to look beyond the results sometimes.

[Metes]

Wouldn't we be doing that by giving Volstad a rotation spot?

[AdamRavs]

I think Capozzi is getting way too far ahead of himself. I highly doubt the front office is going to chose one of two retread starters, one who hasn't thrown a pitch in the majors since 2008 and the other who has a career ERA of almost 9 over a guy who has the higher ceiling and has had some success in the majors. Yes, Penn and Hensley have pitched well this spring but, hello sample size. You have to look beyond the results sometimes.

Look at volstad's results from last yr and this spring.. Thats enough to to at least consider starting him in the minors and giving the other guys a shot if they are pitching better.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

If you're going to add last year for Volstad, let's not forget to do that for Penn and Hensley. And where were Penn and Hensley pitching at the end of the year last year? Both were in AAA. Hensley hasn't thrown a pitch in the majors since 2008. Penn has a career ERA of almost 9 and sucked so bad in the majors last year that we dfa'd him and he cleared waivers. Can you honestly tell me that you would be comfortable giving either of them a rotation spot based off of 10 innings or less of facing not-fully-major-league teams in games that don't count?

Like I said in the game thread the other day, you have to look beyond just the results in spring training. 10 innings or less is wayyyyy too small of a sample size to give up on the guy with the highest ceiling. It's also too small of a sample size to expect Penn and Hensley to keep this up.

[Swifty]

Yeah, considering last year for Penn and Hensley is just dumb. Under that standard, no one would ever make the leap.

If you're a major league player competing for a job, you're as good as your most recent body of work.

[AdamRavs]

If you're going to add last year for Volstad, let's not forget to do that for Penn and Hensley. And where were Penn and Hensley pitching at the end of the year last year? Both were in AAA. Hensley hasn't thrown a pitch in the majors since 2008. Penn has a career ERA of almost 9 and sucked so bad in the majors last year that we dfa'd him and he cleared waivers. Can you honestly tell me that you would be comfortable giving either of them a rotation spot based off of 10 innings or less of facing not-fully-major-league teams in games that don't count?

Like I said in the game thread the other day, you have to look beyond just the results in spring training. 10 innings or less is wayyyyy too small of a sample size to give up on the guy with the highest ceiling. It's also too small of a sample size to expect Penn and Hensley to keep this up.

If we had better options at the time last yr.. Volstad would of been sent down too! He did NOTHING to earn a guaranteed spot.

Also I don't hate Volstad I just don't think we should just give him a spot cause two yrs ago he had a good season. You talk about ceiling maybe he hit it already?

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Yeah, considering last year for Penn and Hensley is just dumb. Under that standard, no one would ever make the leap.

If you're a major league player competing for a job, you're as good as your most recent body of work.

Oh, so we can't look at what Penn and Hensley did last year but we can with Volstad? How does that work?

[Swifty]

It works like this:

Volstad sucked last year, he sucks this spring. Ergo, it is not a stretch to conclude the player sucks right now.

Penn and Hensley came into camp under the same situation as Volstad: fighting for a job. They responded. They were in the minors last year, and Penn struggled in 2008 in the bigs, but we thought enough of both of them to keep them around. They have pitched well in 2010, ergo, it is reasonable to provide them the opportunity to continue to pitch well.

Makes a lot more sense than blaming rain, or working on a slider, or saying that since they were minor leaguers last year they have to be minor leaguers this year.
--------------------
PLUS: Hensley pitched well in the rain today, that HAS to be taken into account.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

If we had better options at the time last yr.. Volstad would of been sent down too! He did NOTHING to earn a guaranteed spot.

Also I don't hate Volstad I just don't think we should just give him a spot cause two yrs ago he had a good season. You talk about ceiling maybe he hit it already?

Well, you're saying that Penn is better. We had him last year. Why didn't we call him up if he was a better option than Volstad?

And Volstad is 23. He is no where near hitting his prime. You can't give up on a guy because he went through a sophomore slump (a not uncommon event) in the majors at age 22.

[Nick]

I think Hensley over Miller is a no-brainer at this point, I'm gonna have to see more of both Penn and Volstad this spring before I would even consider kicking Volstad out of the rotation at this point.

With that being said Volstad needs to know that he's on thin ice. I don't care what excuses he has he just needs to start pitching better.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

It works like this:

Volstad sucked last year, he sucks this spring. Ergo, it is not a stretch to conclude the player sucks right now.

Penn and Hensley came into camp under the same situation as Volstad: fighting for a job. They responded. They were in the minors last year, and Penn struggled in 2008 in the bigs, but we thought enough of both of them to keep them around. They have pitched well in 2010, ergo, it is reasonable to provide them the opportunity to continue to pitch well.

Makes a lot more sense than blaming rain, or working on a slider, or saying that since they were minor leaguers last year they have to be minor leaguers this year.
--------------------
PLUS: Hensley pitched well in the rain today, that HAS to be taken into account.

But Volstad has not completely sucked this spring or have his last two outings where he had a bad inning in one and was working on a new pitch in the other made you forget that he had a very good first start against the Mets?

And, if you are just looking at this spring and this spring alone, do you really feel comfortable handing out jobs with a sample size of 10.1 innings or less? That's insane. Especially since they're not even facing a lineup entirely composed of major leaguers. You can't just look at stats.

[McLevin]

Volstad's been "working on new pitches" since last season and that's why his stats have been bad guys, he's actually really good

get on the same level as mba and I

[Beef]

Let him work on those pitches in minors and see if guys who have their pitches down can succeed in the majors?