Hanley Ramirez and company have the Marlins looking like contenders (AP Images).
By Harold McIlvain II
Heading into today’s action, the Florida Marlins (23-15) are two-games up on Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. These are the same Marlins that finished 18-games back in the league and concluded the season 20-games shy of playing .500 baseball.
Leading the division in mid-May doesn’t mean too much, but the Marlins are shaping into a team that could continue to make noise in what was suppose to only be a Mets-Phillies race this year, and the team didn’t hurt those chances by recently signing 24-year-old super-star Hanley Ramirez to a six-year, 70 million dollar contract.
Ramirez, who some consider the best player in all of baseball, has put up great numbers over the past two years (125 runs, 29 home runs, 81 RBI, 51 stole bases and a .332 last year), and he is continuing to do so far this season. But not in his usual order in the lineup. Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez has recently shifted Ramirez to the No. 3 hole in the order and the move seems to paying early dividends.
Ramirez is still producing and the move allowed second baseman Dan Uggla to drop from the second hole to sixth in the order, where he has since produced. Uggla is 14-for-32 with eight homers and 16 RBIs in his first 10 games in the six hole.
Staff ace Scott Olsen, 24, has started the season looking like the prospect scouts had said he would be, as he sports a 4-1 record with a 2.63 ERA. Young players are making a big impact on the club, but veteran Mark Hendrickson has made a difference on the team so far this year. Hendrickson (5-1) has a a 3.56 ERA in 48 innings of work.
The bullpen has picked up any short comings from the starts this year as it sits in the top 10 in terms of ERA. Set-up man Renyel Pinto has been lights out, permitting just two earned runs in 25-2/3 innings (.70 ERA). Opponents are hitting .169 against him. Closer Kevin Gregg has seven saves and has a 2.89 ERA. Rounding out the bullpen, Logan Kensing, Justin Miller and Doug Waechter have allowed 13 earned runs in 48-1/3 innings.
The team is off to a hot start dispite missing three members of the starting rotation. The Marlins are currently without the services Josh Johnson, Anibal Sanchez and Sergio Mitre.
Johnson, 12-7 record with a 3.10 ERA in 157 innings of work in 2006, is expected to be back in September while Sanchez, 10-3 record with a 2.83 ERA over 114-1/3 innings in 2006, hopes to return around the All-Star break. Sanchez has lights out stuff, and that was evident back on September 6, 2006 when he pitched a no-hitter against the Diamondbacks. Mitre, who looks to return sometime in June, should be able to solidify the back end of the rotation.
The Marlins currently have the lowest payroll in all of baseball at 21,836,500 dollars, sitting 21,984,098 dollars away from the second-to-last Tampa Bay Rays.
Filed under: Sports | Tagged: Florida Marlins, MLB
