Spring Training 2012: The Games have Begun

[TheMendozaLine]

@DKnobler

Carlos Zambrano: "Having Heath Bell, realizing you're not the only crazy on the team, it's good."

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[Ramp]

shwing

[MiamiHomer]

Baseball Tonight was at Marlins camp today. During the taping of Kurk and Kurkjin talking about the Marlins you saw Heath Bell run across in the background.

[Jorge18]

Videos of Johnson, Zambrano and Nolasco's bullpen session.

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports...tinel+Blogs%29

They look pretty good to me.

[Omar]

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Carlos Zambrano says his spring training is off to a good start as he tries to come back from the worst year of his career.

The three-time All-Star's first throwing session Wednesday included plenty of strikes and one brushback pitch — to Ozzie Guillen. The Miami Marlins' manager was leaning on a bat near home plate, watching Zambrano work, when a fastball came whizzing his way.

Guillen let out a yelp and dodged the pitch with a frantic skip.

Zambrano wore out his welcome with the Chicago Cubs because of a combative personality, so there are likely more brushbacks to come. He had a series of run-ins with teammates, management and umpires before his 11-year career with the Cubs ended last August.

Times Union

Some new images, courtesy of the Times Union as well:

[Mainge]

Holy shit does Zambrano look dark.

/racist

[Namaste]

This team loves the black jerseys

[Jorge18]

This team loves the black jerseys

As do I.

[Chewford]

As do I.

And my axe.

[Miamarlin21]

Cishek changed numbers.


And Jorge, I saw him first. So step off bitch.
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So did Scott Cousins, to number six.
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AND Infante too. He now does number 12.

[emkayseven]

love the guillen stirrups

[Miamarlin21]

First day article by Frisaro:

Ozzie on owners, and first-day in review
JUPITER, Fla. — Working for a passionate owner is nothing new for Ozzie Guillen.

Guillen experienced it in Chicago with White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. And he is in a similiar situation in Miami with Jeffrey Loria.

“My relationship with Jerry is still great,” Guillen said. “What can I say about Jerry, nothing. Jerry’s a great man.”

In Miami, Guillen is back with the Marlins, where he was their third base coach in 2002-03.

“Before, it was different,” Guillen said. “I was a coach and Jeffrey didn’t [care] about me. Jeffrey loves baseball. So does Jerry Reinsdorf.”

There is a downside, Guillen says, to working with an owner with a strong love for the game.

“Sometimes it’s not easy to work for people who own the team, and on top of that, they are baseball fans,” Guillen said. “It’s not easy because sometimes they think they know more than you, when you’re manager.”

Guillen jokes that the farther away people sit for the field, the less they know the game. He mentioned this to Loria, who quipped back, “I sit in the first row.”

Guillen countered, “but you don’t write the lineup card.”

Being questioned comes with territory for managers.

“It happens with everyone,” he said. “Even my wife second guesses me. I don’t care. I’m going to do the best I can to try to win the game.”

Worth noting:

* Reliever Edward Mujica talked four days ago to Juan Carlos Oviedo, who remains in the Dominican Republic until he is granted a visa. Oviedo is on the restricted list, and the Marlins are not sure when he will join them in Spring Training.

“I talked with him like four days ago,” Mujica said. “He’s in the Dominican. He’s waiting for his visa. We’ll see. He says the first week of March he might be going to the embassy and hopes he can get his visa.”

* Guillen spent part of the first workouts riding a golf cart to all the back fields at the Roger Dean Stadium complex. About all the ground he had to cover, he joked: “I didn’t think I needed an Easy Pass to get to these fields. I don’t know how [Jack] McKeon did it.”

* Hanley Ramirez trimmed down in the offseason, losing about eight pounds. He is down to a lean, 227. He credits it to eating right and working out properly.

* Steve Cishek has a chance to win a late-inning setup shot, while Wade LeBlanc is being considered for long relief. Because he has an option remaining, LeBlanc would be sent to Triple-A New Orleans if he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster.

* A sleeper relief pitcher to keep an eye on is Evan Reed.

* Sean West, a first-round pick in 2005, is out of options. So the left-hander is in a situation of having to make the Opening Day roster or risk being lost by the organization.

* Full-squad workouts begin on Sunday, but there is a chance Jose Reyes will be at camp on Thursday.

* Workouts on Thursday are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET. They are open to the public.

– Joe Frisaro

[TheMendozaLine]

Guillen jokes that the farther away people sit for the field, the less they know the game. He mentioned this to Loria, who quipped back, “I sit in the first row.”

Guillen countered, “but you don’t write the lineup card.”

Zing. Burn. Ouch.

[Omar]

This team loves the black jerseys

Those are the practice unis
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Sean West hoping surgery saves career with Marlins

JUPITER -- Of the five pitchers chosen by the Marlins in the first round of the ballyhooed 2005 draft, Sean West is the last man standing. But West's days with the club could be numbered, too. The tall lefty is out of minor-league options and, in his words, said spring training is "make it or break it time" for him as far as the Marlins are concerned.

"I would really like to stay with the this team and make an impact with these guys," he said. "My goal is to start with this team and finish with this team."

That's not going to be easy. Barring injury, the five-man starting rotation is set. Most of the bullpen spots are accounted for, as well. But injuries do happen and the long relief role is up for grabs. Though he has virtually no relief experience (three relief appearances in 94 career minor-league outings), West says he's up for that job.

What gives the southpaw hope is the renewed life in his arm, which underwent repair after last season. West said Dr. James Andrews performed an elbow cleanup and the results have been spectacular -- just as Andrews predicted they would be.

"I was in (the hospital) bed, just regaining consciousness, and he comes up and says, 'I've done a lot of these, but I've never seen one that's going to impact a player's career like yours,'" West recalled. "That felt good to hear that, coming from him."

West, 25, can vouch for Andrews' work. He said his arm hasn't felt this good since he was in high school.

"I can't even explain how good my arm feels right now," West said. "I have that a zip on the ball again. It’s coming out like it did in high school. It’s an amazing feeling, expecially going into a camp like this."

West was on the rise at one time. He made 20 starts for the Marlins in 2009, going 8-6 before fading into an afterthought. West has only five weeks to show the Marlins he still belongs. If not, there's a strong chance he'll wind up somewhere else.

Fish Bytes

[TheMendozaLine]

Courtesy of CBSSports.com

JUPITER, Fla. -- Ozzie Guillen's first words were the most telling.

"I believe when you come happy to work, it makes stuff easy," he said Wednesday, as his first Marlins spring training officially opened.

Well then, this should be easy, because there's absolutely no doubt that Ozzie Guillen is coming to work happy this spring. And no doubt that he wasn't happy at the end in Chicago.

His wife knows it. She told Guillen the other day, "You have your smile back."

Joey Cora knows it. Guillen's longtime coach, who moved with him from the White Sox to the Marlins, noticed in recent days that Guillen was anxious for spring training to start.

"This is the first time in a while that he really wanted to start spring training," Cora said. "He couldn't wait to start. He's excited. Very excited."

The first day of spring training isn't the time to judge whether this Ozzie/Marlins marriage is going to work. But on the first day of spring training, it's already obvious that Guillen needed this change every bit as much as the Marlins believed that they needed it.

It feels wrong to say that Guillen is reenergized, because it never felt like Guillen had lost his energy. It feels wrong to say that there's a big change in Guillen, because he's always been this way.

"He's just as loud as he always is," said pitcher Mark Buehrle, who also made the move from the South Side of Chicago to South Florida.

He's still fun. He's still funny. He's still Ozzie.

"I love to have fun," he told the Marlins pitchers and catchers in their first meeting of the spring -- held on the practice field, with television cameras rolling.

Guillen is also telling the Marlins that he's not always the crazy guy they saw on television.

"Don't believe what you hear," he said. "Don't judge me, because you don't know me."

We do know him, and we'll learn even more about him this year, with a team that added talent and also expectations. And remember, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria always expected his teams to make the playoffs, even before this winter's spending spree.

There could be conflicts to come. Guillen joked Wednesday that he'll ask Loria -- who sits in the front row near the Marlins dugout -- to help him with decisions on double switches and pinch hitting.

But Guillen also said he doesn't expect the owner to second-guess him with any regularity.

There may be no big problems. Already, Hanley Ramirez has said he's fine playing third base, and Carlos Zambrano has said that it's a "new season, new team and I'm just happy to be here."

As for Loria, Guillen is his guy, the guy he wanted, the guy he wants to love every bit as much as he loves his players.

"Not because he's a personality," Loria said Wednesday. "Because he's a person."

Loria made a surprise appearance at Wednesday's workout, but he ceded the stage to his manager, preferring to make his own opening-of-camp remarks on Sunday when the full squad works out for the first time.

Of course, Guillen's problems in Chicago weren't really with ownership. He often referred to White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf as a father figure, although he said Wednesday, "I respect Jerry more than he knows -- and more than I should. He fired me two times."

Guillen sees a similarity, saying, "Jeffrey loves baseball, and so did Jerry Reinsdorf. They're two baseball lovers."

The problems in Chicago were different, many of them the result of conflict between Guillen and general manager Ken Williams. Guillen said that much of the stress came from the question he constantly found himself asking: "Do you want me or not?"

There's none of that here, not now and perhaps not in the future.

Loria loves Guillen, and club president David Samson said Wednesday, "It really is a perfect fit."

And the players?

As Guillen said Wednesday, "Most of my problems are not with players. Most of my problems are with Major League Baseball."

I do wonder how some of the Marlins players will react to Guillen's sometimes brutal honesty. The White Sox players knew him so well, and those who were new could always rely on a Paul Konerko or a Buehrle to help them understand what mattered and what didn't.

But perhaps that won't be necessary here. Perhaps this Marlins team is as perfect for Ozzie as he is for them.

"He's funny," second baseman Omar Infante said. "That's what we need."

He's funny, and he's ready to have fun.

If that really does make stuff easy, then Ozzie Guillen should be just fine.