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Sweet Lew gets screwed
Lewis Brinson should have seen this coming. Once all of the veteran Marlins hitters made it through spring training injury-free and MLB confirmed there would be no designated hitter in the National League, that left Brinson without a substantial role on the active roster. He squeezed onto the Opening Day roster, but as soon as the club needed to fill out the rotation with a fifth starting pitcher, he was the most obvious candidate for a demotion.
The dreaded day arrived on Sunday with Daniel Castano receiving a call-up from the Marlins taxi squad. Castano was going to be relied upon to shoulder most of the game’s workload once the afternoon rain subsided. The Marlins optioned Brinson as the corresponding roster move.
Problem is...the rain did not subside. Nine pitches into the top of the first inning, the Citi Field grounds crew brought out the tarp. The Marlins-Mets game spent two hours and 10 minutes in a delay before being suspended. No Miami pitchers took the mound.
During this MLB regular season, Brinson earns approximately $3,000 for every day spent on the Marlins active roster or injured list (pro-rated from his $587,500 salary). However, he only gets a tiny fraction of that when optioned—pre-arbitration eligible players are signed to split contracts that specify a separate minor league salary. Now that the move has been made, the athletic outfielder is ineligible to return for 10 days unless another major leaguer suffers an injury.
Just about everybody was disappointed with how Sunday’s situation was handled, but probably nobody more than Brin Diesel.
Walk-off links
- “Those conditions put everyone at risk,” Marcus Stroman tweeted.
- The Fish Stripes roster tracker has been updated to reflect Sunday’s transactions.
- FiveThirtyEight gives the Marlins a 42% chance to win their series opener against the Braves.
- Lewin Díaz, Jerar Encarnación, Brian Navarreto and Demetrius Sims are among the Marlins players who made a bus trip from the Fish Tank (alternate training site) to Port Charlotte where the Rays have their ATS. Presumably there will be some scrimmages between the teams.
- Enjoy the 2021 season debut of our Marlins prospects podcast show, Earning Their Stripes! Available now wherever you get your podcasts and on our YouTube channel.
- Alex Rodriguez—yes, A-Rod—has reportedly reached an agreement to buy the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves. You’ll recall that he previously expressed serious interest in the Mets’ ownership vacancy.
- Starting on Thursday, April 15, season, group and mini-plan ticket packages for the Low-A Jupiter Hammerheads will go on sale here. Shop for single game tickets the following week (April 22).
- Effectively Wild podcast guest Gary McCoy, who’s now revered for his injury prevention techniques, got his foot in the door with the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate back in the Albuquerque Isotopes days. Fascinating conversation.
- Any Miami Dolphins fans in here? Our friends at BreakingT have a new Tua Tagovailoa t-shirt for you.
- Congrats to Drew Steckenrider. The former Marlin earned the win in relief for the Mariners on Sunday, his first since August 18, 2018.
