Our Noticias, 5/12/19: Offensive reinforcements, bullpen struggles, Gary Denbo criticism

Happy Mother’s Day, Marlins fans!

Another trying week for the Miami Marlins does not have us here at Fish Stripes discouraged. Here’s our latest look at the news and stories from the past week.

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Marlins Game Recaps

The Marlins continue to struggle to get wins as they lost the series finale against the Atlanta Braves, lost three out of four to the Chicago Cubs and lost the first two games to the New York Mets. Their 10-29 overall record is worst in Major League Baseball.

May 5—Braves 3, Marlins 1; Pablo López got the ball for the Marlins and he did what he needed to do going six shutout innings allowing three hits and one walk to go along with six strikeouts. The Marlins offense though could not muster more than a run on Brian Anderson’s RBI single. Tayron Guerrero gave up two runs in the top of the 10th to give the Braves the lead.

May 6—Marlins 6, Cubs 5; Sandy Alcantara had a shaky start in Chicago against the Cubs going five innings but giving up three runs, all in the first, on four hits and six walks. Miami refused to go down easy with the Cubs having a 3-2 going into the ninth. Three walks from Pedro Strop kept the Marlins in it and allowed them to leave the inning with a 6-4 lead and won it 6-5 after a Kris Bryant HR made it closer in the bottom of the inning.

May 7—Cubs 5, Marlins 2; The Marlins sent Caleb Smith to the mound hoping to continue the winning ways. Smith went 6 ²⁄₃ innings allowing two runs on five hits and three walks but with 11 strikeouts.

The Marlins got nine hits but only scored two runs on RBIs by Martín Prado and Jorge Alfaro. Adam Conley gave up a walk-off HR to Kris Bryant in the 9th to give the Cubs the victory.

May 8—Cubs 3, Marlins 2; José Ureña looked to keep the strong starting pitching by the Marlins going by throwing nine innings, allowing two runs (one unearned) on five hits, three walks and three strikeouts. Miami got two runs again on eight hits with Starlin Castro having a three-hit game with an RBI. The Cubs won for the second straight game on a walk-off HR by Jason Heyward.

May 9—Cubs 4, Marlins 1; Trevor Richards struggled with the HR in this game as he went five innings and allowed four runs, three on the HR ball, although he did get six strikeouts he allowed seven hits and two walks. The Marlins were only able to scratch across one run on four hits even though they also had eight walks (a season high for this offense). Rosell Herrera got the lone RBI for the Marlins.

May 10—Mets 11, Marlins 2; Pablo López had a very tough game against the Mets giving up eight runs in the first and finishing the third having given up 10 runs on 10 hits and three walks but with three strikeouts.

The Marlins scored two runs on 10 hits, the RBIs courtesy of Brian Anderson and Neil Walker.

May 11—Mets 4, Marlins 1; Sandy Alcantara got the start against the Mets and he threw 5 ²⁄₃ innings with four runs on eight hits with a strikeout and two walks. The Marlins got six hits but only scored one run on an RBI double from Alcantara. Only other point of importance was Harold Ramírez getting his first Major League hit in the ninth.

Roster Moves/Injury Updates

Lots of shuffling around lately.

Rookie left-hander José Quijada arrived, handled mop-up duty, then went back to Triple-A. OF/1B Garrett Cooper, OF Harold Ramirez and RHP Elieser Hernandez are all here in place of Quijada, Isaac Galloway (optioned to New Orleans) and Peter O’Brien (injured list). Drew Steckenrider will be sidelined until at least July after being transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL.

Sending Everyone to Spanish Class

James Wagner of the New York Times wrote an article further detailing the Marlins’ new emphasis on education. Latin American players take English lessons, while all of the Americans—even high-ranking executives—improve their Spanish. CEO Derek Jeter felt it was necessary to improve communication throughout the organization. Although other teams have made similar efforts in the past, the Marlins are putting more time and resources into this initiative than anybody else.

Wei-Yin Chen Coming into his Own as a Reliever

Having lost out in the starting rotation competition, the Marlins sent Wei-Yin Chen to the bullpen because he still had a contract that was nearly impossible to get rid of. Why not use him to do something for the team?

At first, Chen was getting hit hard by opponents and it seemed this experiment failed, but as of recently, he has shown signs of improvements, including another scoreless outing Saturday night. You can read the full article by Joe Frisaro here.

Marlins Making an Effort in the Dominican Republic

Major League ball clubs have invested a lot of time and money to produce the best Dominican baseball players possible. Andre Fernandez wrote an article for The Athletic (subscription required) on how Miami is preparing players in the D.R. for the trying baseball life, and in the early stages of constructing a state-of-the-order academy to replace their current facilities.

New Podcast Episodes

Another week means new episodes from the Fish Stripes Podcast. On A-Ball with Erik Oas, Marlins’ first-round pick Connor Scott was interviewed about being drafted and adjustments he made. Earning Their Stripes also had a new episode which discussed Sixto Sanchez’s debut and much more.

You can check out all the podcasts here.

The Marlins’ Future is in Gary Denbo’s Hands

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription required) reported on how many players/personnel previously with the Marlins—as well as some from the Yankees—see Gary Denbo as a strict and harsh leader. That being said, he is bringing results to the organization.

Jeter and Denbo have been close friends for decades, so for better or worse, his fingerprints are all over this Marlins rebuild.

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Many have deemed the way the Marlins have been playing as “rock bottom.” That means at some point, they will have to go up, and Fish Stripes will still be here to cover all of it.