Andrew Miller: Not Better Than Dontrelle

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

I believe his wife in a Dukie, too. More bad karma.

[Miamarlin21]

Andrew tonight:

Miller, A (L, 1-8) 4.0 9 3 3 1 3 0 6.01

He's now 1-8 with a 6.01 ERA for the Suns.

[Todd]

Me no like.

[Big Z]

I wonder how much longer we will experiment with Andrew, He can't dominate anywhere, wow, sucks how someone can let so much talent go to waste.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

It wasn’t Milller Time at Miller Park tonight.

Andrew Miller’s line score in Florida’s 6-2 loss to the Brewers: 4 runs on 8 hits in 4 1/3 innings. His earned run average in eight games (six starts) this year is 8.19.

Miller is 10-18 with a 5.81 ERA in 57 games for the Marlins since he came to Florida in the December 2007 trade with the Tigers.

He is out of options. That means he either makes the Marlins’ opening-day roster in 2011 or they trade or release him before the end of spring training.

Miller was the sixth overall pick in the 2006 draft and a key piece of the eight-player trade that sent Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to the Motor City.

“I obviously would love to get it together and come into spring next year and pitch my butt off and make the team and eventually look down the road, look back at this and kind of laugh at where I was. But I’m not worried about it,” Miller said about his future.

“I’m worried about me as a pitcher and getting better and putting myself in a position to succeed. Hopefully it comes sooner rather than later. That (what the Marlins will do with him) is the last of my worries. I’m worried about getting back to where I think I can be and moving forward with that and turning into the pitcher that I think I can be, which to this point in my career I haven’t really lived up to.

“I’ve showed flashes of it. But I’ve never been consistent with it. You can talk to any pitching coach I’ve had, it’s not for lack of effort and work. I truly believe that one day, I don’t know whether it will click or be gradual, but one day its gonn abe there and Im gonna keep busting my butt to find it.”

I’m not sure the Marlins want to give up on him just yet. But his future will definitely be a subject of debate this winter when the baseball ops folks get together.

Manager Edwin Rodriguez was asked before tonight’s game if he thinks Miller might be better suited to pitch out of the bullpen.

“I haven’t talked to any of the front office about this but we do have conversations, the coaches,” he said.

“I have seen that before, a starter unable to throw strikes and then you put him in the bullpen and all of a sudden their concentration level is better. Not knowing when he’s going to pitch, I think that helps. Sometimes it’s more mental than mechanics. That could be an option for him. He’s got the power arm to do that. But then again we (Edwin and the Marlins front office) have not talked about this.”

What should the Florida Marlins do with Andrew Miller?

JCR also has an article on the Sun-Sentinel's site talking about Miller being out of options. Are you guys 100% positive that he is not out of options?

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Here's JCR talking about it.

Miller has one more scheduled start Wednesday in Atlanta to prove to the front office he remains a worthwhile project. The Marlins thought they had a future front of the rotation starter when they acquired Miller from the Tigers in the Miguel Cabrera/Dontrelle Willis trade at the 2007 Winter Meetings.

Now 25, Miller as a Marlin is 10-19 with a 5.81 ERA, 121 walks and 174 strikeouts in 217 innings spanning three seasons. He's out of options, meaning the Marlins cannot remove him from the 40-man roster without exposing him to waivers.

Morrison on-base streak done at 42 as Marlins ousted from playoff race
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And, for good measure, here's the Miami Herald.

Miller's time with the Marlins could be just about up.

The lanky southpaw, who has been a huge bust since joining the Marlins in their trade with the Tigers that sent Miguel Cabrera to Detroit, is down for one more start this season.

After that, he'll be out of options, which means the Marlins can't simply ship him back to the minors for more fine-tuning next season without first passing him through waivers.

If the Marlins don't feel Miller is qualified for their rotation, they could attempt to trade him. They also could move him to the bullpen, though manager Edwin Rodriguez said he hasn't heard that option discussed.

Whatever the outcome, it's safe to say that Miller has fallen far short of expectations with the Marlins, who had high hopes for him and outfielder Cameron Maybin, who was included in the Detroit trade.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/2...#ixzz10VtwirsE

[Miamarlin21]

I think Miller out of the bullpen would be disaster. You need to throw strikes if you come out of the pen and strikes he does not throw.

[Namaste]

He is without a doubt, The Worst.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

He is not suited to be a starter, either. He's so inconsistent and things can to bad quickly, you need to be able to pull him quickly or you'll end up killing your bullpen. His last start is a great example.

So I guess we're back to Capozzi's question, what do you do with him?

[Swifty]

His value clearly isn't where it was 3 years ago, but he's not completely worthless - as in, it'd be fine to lose him on the waiver wire next spring - so we are in a tough spot.

I think that in terms of 2011/12 the top 3 spots in the rotation are locked in with JJ/Nolasco/Sanchez. That leaves 4 arms for the final 2 spots. Miller/Volstad/Sanabia/West. Complicating things is the overly demonstrated love our FO has for the veteran 5th starter, so it may end up being 4 arms for one spot. I don't feel any more or less comfortable with any of them out there. Part of me still likes Miller and is curious to see what happens with him, but at some point curiosity has to give way to results.

I think we could probably get the most in return for Sean West, but if Miller can get you a two year stop gap option at catcher (like Pudge) or be a reasonably important piece to something big (like Doumit) then you go ahead and deal Miller and revisit the back end of the rotation problems next year.

[nny]

Rather irrelevant since we very likely won't be keeping him, but I posted before he'd be making ~1.4m. But because he spent majority of the year in the minors, he should actually making ~850k next year. 5/6th of the year, he was making 900k, 1/6th 1.8m = 1.05m salary on the season.