Monday, March 05, 2007

The New Marlins Closer...


Dolphin Stadium is an extreme pitchers park. Grabbing a great Marlins pitching prospect late in your draft is almost always a good idea and it worked great last season. Just ask the owners of Josh Johnson, Anibal Sanchez and Scott Olsen. Of the Marlins’ closer candidates, who I see as Kevin Gregg, Matt Lindstrom, Henry Owens and maybe Randy Messenger, I see Matt Lindstrom as by far the best candidate. Kevin Gregg’s mediocre K-rate and fly ball tendency make him an unexciting pick. Henry Owens has great strikeout potential and tends to get the groundball but his walk-rates have been really bad at times. Randy Messenger is similar to Gregg with a mediocre K-rate and isn’t a groundball pitcher. The only advantage they have is experience in the majors. Lindstrom has an amazing arm, gets the strikeouts, has an acceptable walk-rate and is an extreme groundball pitcher. That particular combination excels in a park like Dolphin Stadium. Grab Lindstrom for a couple of bucks and maybe Owens and you should have your closer bets well hedged even if someone like Gregg begins the year in the role.

2 comments:

  1. Did you mistakenly leave out Tankersly as a candidate or do you really feel that he is not even in the running?

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  2. Well, he's in the running because everyone says he is. I personally don't think he will win the job because of injury issues and his ability to start. The Marlins have a few good closing candidates and I doubt they need to stress Tankersley's sore shoulder by making him pitch everyday just to fill the closer role.

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