Why one Marlins player says MLB ‘messed up’ DH decision. And Rays rally to beat Miami
If Garrett Cooper had his way, he would be in the Miami Marlins’ starting lineup every day. There would be a universal designated hitter, allowing National League teams to lengthen their lineups and not have to worry about wasting at-bats when the pitcher has to step in the batter’s box.
Alas, that neither of those situations are the case in the 2021 season.
The league and the MLB Players Association did not agree to include the universal DH as part of its health and safety protocols for 2021, a reversal from their decision for the shortened, 60-game 2020 season — a decision Cooper vehemently disagrees with.
“I think MLB messed up by not incorporating it,” Cooper said.
Why’s that?
“You ruin momentum, you ruin lineups, you put these pitchers at risk that don’t need to be at risk of having our one and two and three and all these guys that are out there dealing and you know, one bad swing [could result in an injury],” Cooper said. “It’s not good for the game, and I don’t think it ever will be if they continue to not have the DH. So I’m a big component of the DH. It gives a lot more opportunity as an offensive club to run different things, to have another hitter in there. The small-ball mentality of having a pitcher bunt — I mean, who wants to watch a pitcher bunt? It’s not part of the game that I’d like to see.”
That decision puts the Marlins’ lineup in a bind on a daily basis.
With no DH, the Marlins have essentially four players (Cooper, Jesus Aguilar, Corey Dickerson and Adam Duvall) to play three spots in the field (first base, left field, right field). Aguilar is primarily at first. Dickerson is primarily in left. Cooper will bounce between first base and right field. Duvall can play both corner outfield spots.
But the simple math tells the story: manager Don Mattingly has to keep at least one of his top hitters out of the lineup every game.
Not ideal for a team looking for any avenue to find run support for a young-yet-talented starting pitching rotation.
Cooper was the one out of the lineup on Opening Day, entering as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and drawing a walk.
On Friday, with the Marlins facing a left-handed starting pitcher in the Tampa Bay Rays’ Ryan Yarbrough, Mattingly sat Dickerson and had Aguilar at first base and batting third, Cooper in right field and batting fourth and Duvall in left field and batting sixth.
Dickerson, meanwhile, had the Marlins’ big hit from that quartet. His two-out, pinch-hit RBI double that scored Jazz Chisholm Jr. from third base in the seventh inning sparked a three-run rally in an eventual 6-4 loss to the Rays at loanDepot park. Joey Wendle gave the Rays the lead for good with a three-run home run in the ninth. The Marlins (0-2) and Rays (2-0) close out the three-game series at 6:10 p.m. Saturday.
Mattingly said he has a general plan for how he is going to make sure the four get enough at-bats throughout the season, but it’s not always the easiest decision, especially when everyone in the group except for Dickerson is a right-handed hitter.
“It’s actually tough,” Mattingly said. “It’s tough to make sure that you’re finding at-bats for everybody. If you get through a set of three or four guys in a row, then you can look at matchups. Who’s the best matchup for each guy?”
In Cooper’s perfect world, though, they all would eventually be in the lineup every day when the National League gets the designated hitter.
Game notables
▪ Pablo Lopez threw five scoreless innings in his first start of the season. He held the Rays to two hits and two walks while striking out four. Between Lopez and Sandy Alcantara, Marlins starting pitchers have worked 11 scoreless innings to begin the 2021 season.
▪ Chisholm, Rojas and Starling Marte each had two hits. Chisholm’s triple and Rojas’ two-run single in the seventh were the bookends to Miami’s three-run rally for their first lead of the season.
▪ Magneuris Sierra, pinch-running for Jesus Aguilar in the eighth, scored Miami’s fourth and final run when he stole second and made it home on a Brian Anderson single paired with a Rays throwing error.
▪ Anthony Bass gave up four runs in the ninth on the three-run home run to Wendle and a Francisco Mejia sacrifice fly that scored Manuel Margot, who tripled.
▪ The Rays’ first two runs came on solo home runs off Marlins relief pitchers. Austin Meadows hit his second home run in as many games, opening scoring Friday with a solo shot to right off Richard Bleier in the sixth inning. Meadows’ home run on Thursday gave the Rays a 1-0 win on Opening Day. Margot then doubled the Rays’ score with a no-doubt home run to left off former Rays pitcher John Curtiss.
Sixto Sanchez update
Top Miami Marlins pitcher prospect Sixto Sanchez underwent an MRI in Miami on Friday after experiencing discomfort in his throwing shoulder on Wednesday.
The diagnosis: mild inflammation in the back of his right shoulder. He’s going to have a few days rest and then start rehab “with a slow progression on a throwing program,” according to the team.
The discomfort surfaced while he was throwing a simulated game at the Marlins’ alternate training site in Jacksonville. The team removed him from the game after about two innings as a precaution. He was scheduled to throw five innings.
All things considered, Mattingly took the news as positive and is hopeful Sanchez will contribute to the MLB club at some point this season.
But in the short-term?
“We’ll have to find that fifth starter,” Mattingly said. “That’s for sure.”
The two primary internal candidates are prospects Nick Neidert and Daniel Castano. Until then, Miami is using a four-man rotation of Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez, Elieser Hernandez and Trevor Rogers.
Marlins react to MLB moving All-Star Game from Atlanta
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on Friday announced the league will relocate the 2021 All-Star Game and MLB Draft from Atlanta to a to-be-determined site.
The decision comes about a week after the passage of S.B. 202, a Georgia law that President Joe Biden criticized, saying that it will restrict voting access for residents of the state.
In a statement, Manfred said moving the All-Star Game was “the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport.”
“Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” Manfred said.
In a separate statement later Friday, Marlins CEO Derek Jeter said the following:
“The act of participating in our country’s election process is our civic responsibility and instrumental to our country’s foundation. We should promote increasing voter turnout as opposed to any measures that adversely impact the ability to cast a ballot. In November, the Marlins proudly set out to promote the vote with our Election Day Feed the Polls initiative, providing meals to voters as our local election officials conducted free and fair elections. We support the Commissioner’s decision to stand up for the values of our game and not hold this year’s All-Star Game in the state of Georgia.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2021 at 5:14 PM.
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