This is the first time we've run quotes of the week over here, but we used to like doing it over at the old site, so we'll try it here. There isn't much in the way of quantity this week, but we tried to go with quality:
unusual because the industry doesn't allow guys in the minor leagues to pitch any innings. They baby them so much. Five innings and you're out of the game. Sure, save his arm so he can go on the disabled list three years later.
"It's hard to convince the three-piece-suit people running the business today that letting guys pitch a lot is the way to go. The whole industry has gotten that way. Hopefully we can lead the league in complete games."
Recently I've started to see folks speculating about this. Some have even wondered if the Marlins will start to carry fewer pitchers. While the presence of Al Leiter and Ismael Valdez (or whoever fills the 5th starter's role) will likely prevent that, it's still an interesting concept.
The Marlins under Jack McKeon have been more aggressive than most teams with getting starting pitchers into game shape early in spring training. It will be interesting to see how this strategy holds up for the Marlins this year.
That was WQAM's Big O, Orlando Alzugaray, talking about Jack McKeon's penchant for making unusual moves. In this case he was referring to the Marlins dropping Luis Castillo to the 8th spot in the lineup and moving Juan Encarnacion into the second hole for last Friday's game against the Nationals.
Big O is right on the mark here. Like with McKeon's quote above, Jack is not afraid to do things his way. Fortunately for the Marlins, that has worked out pretty well for them since he was hired in mid-2003.