A mild surprising disclosure about Marlins’ 2021 pitching staff. And details on Mike Hill
In projecting next year’s starting rotation, Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly said Tuesday that three pitchers are “kind of locked in.”
The first two — Sandy Alcantara and Pablo Lopez — are obvious.
But if you thought the third was ballyhooed rookie Sixto Sanchez, guess again.
Mattingly said Tuesday that he envisions Elieser Hernandez as the third pitcher who can be projected for a rotation spot.
“The guys you can kind of pencil in are Sandy, Pablo and Elieser, who is progressing and is going to be totally healthy,” Mattingly said of the three right-handers.
“I think Elieser is another guy you got to say, this guy is kind of locked in…. In my mind — and obviously we’ll make this decision as an organization — but I think the first three guys you lock in knowing those are three guys we’ve seen a track record now. They’ve got experience. You are not going to say we need to develop these guys in any way.”
Though a strained lat muscle prematurely ended Hernandez’s season on Sept. 5, he was very good in six starts, closing with a 3.16 ERA. If Hernandez had a qualifying number of innings in 2020, his 6.80 strikeout-to-walk ratio would have ranked second in the National League at the time of his injury.
Mattingly mentioned Sanchez, left-hander Trevor Rogers and Nick Neidert among those who will compete for the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation. He also mentioned arbitration-eligible Jose Urena, noting “he will be 100 percent healthy” after a right forearm injury that sidelined him for postseason. But it’s unclear if Urena will be tendered after another disappointing season that included the arm injury and a bout with COVID-19.
Right-hander Edward Cabrera, an elite prospect whose mild shoulder issue earlier in the summer kept him from being a 2020 starting pitching option, also is expected to compete for a 2021 rotation spot.
As for Sanchez, “Sixto showed what he’s capable of,” Mattingly said. “There was some downside to that and some areas where he needs to grow. That will be more discussions. Trevor Rogers is in the same boat. You see the upside; you also see things that would have helped him continue to develop.
“The guy that kind of got pushed out due to COVID was Nick Neidert,” Mattingly added. “Another guy who was kind of right at the edge of that fifth spot in spring training. He comes back, gets COVID, that kind of changed the whole kind of year.”
Sanchez, considered the Marlins’ top pitching prospect, was 3-2 with a 3.46 ERA in seven regular-season starts and threw five shutout innings in a playoff start against the Cubs but struggled in his other postseason start, against Atlanta, allowing four runs in three innings.
Rogers went 1-1 with a 6.11 ERA in seven starts but struck out 39 in 28 innings.
Braxton Garrett, Daniel Castano, Robert Dugger and Jordan Yamamoto would seemingly face longer odds to open the 2021 season in the rotation.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Gary Denbo, the Marlins’ director of player development and scouting, is as close to CEO Derek Jeter as anyone in the front office and has Jeter’s implicit trust. But we’re told Denbo isn’t in the mix for the vacant president/baseball operations job.
“Gary has done a great job where he is right now,” Jeter said when asked if he’s under consideration for Hill’s former job. “You look at how you build an organization; you have to have a great scouting department and a great player development department. Gary deserves a lot of credit for what we’ve been able to do to this point. Where he is right now is where he is most important.”
MLB Network contributor Craig Mish mentioned former Cubs general manager Jim Hendry (now a special assistant to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman) and Yankees vice president Tim Naehring as two potential possibilities to replace Michael Hill in the Marlins’ front office.
▪ Jeter said the Marlins intend to exercise outfielder Starling Marte’s $12.5 million team option, as expected… A decision is pending on closer Brandon Kintzler, who has a $4 million team option with a $225,000 buyout.
▪ What did Jeter think of top middle infield prospect Jazz Chisholm during his 21 appearances this season?
“Jazz, everyone knows how I felt about Jazz,” Jeter said. “When I first saw him in the Arizona Fall League when he was playing in another organization, he’s someone that stands out on the field.
“He can do a lot of things to beat you, whether it’s offensively, defensively, on the bases. It’s kind of an unfair assessment for people to look at what a lot of players, especially our young hitters did this year, because you play baseball every day for a reason.
“When you’re a player used every day and in a position where that’s not happening, it’s tough to get a fair assessment. We have high expectations in Jazz. He has high expectations in himself. Jazz, like everyone else, has to get better… because we have a lot of competition in our organization now because the players in our organization have gotten better.”
Chisholm, who can play shortstop and second base, hit .161 in 56 at-bats with two homers and six RBI and multiple exceptional defensive plays.
He’s expected to compete with Isan Diaz for the second base job in the spring.
“Jazz showed you that he sees the ball early,” Mattingly said. “That was a huge attribute. His swing has to get cleaned up and keep shortening it.”
HILL FALLOUT
According to a source with direct knowledge, the Marlins and Hill — before parting ways — discussed Hill taking a pay cut of more than 33 percent in a new contract. According to a second source, Hill had been earning $3 million-plus annually in the expiring contract given to him by previous owner Jeffrey Loria; that salary was high for a top baseball executive in a market with as little revenue as South Florida.
So the pay cut request was not surprising. Mattingly accepted a pay cut when Jeter offered to retain him a year ago.
Unlike Mattingly, Hill wasn’t inclined to take a pay cut and the sides parted ways. There was thought Hill could get a top baseball operations job in Cincinnati — his hometown — but the Reds filled that job internally on Monday.
The Harvard-educated Hill — who is well-respected and liked around baseball — is expected to generate interest from teams. The question is whether he will hold out for the highest-ranking baseball job in an organization.
Though Hill held the president/baseball operations job under Loria and Jeter, he never had final say on personnel.
Loria made the decision on all key personnel moves and consulted with several executives, including Hill, former assistant general manager Mike Berger and others.
Jeter has said he made decisions after consulting with various people, including Hill, Dan Greenlee (who was promoted to assistant general manager on Sunday), Denbo, and key members of the scouting department including DJ Svhilik, Hadi Raad and Adrian Lorenzo.
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 3:17 PM.
