Marlins Season Review 2 of 2-6/19/02

Season in Review

Written by Zach McCann

Part 2: The pitchers

SP Ryan Dempster
Last off-season, Dempster participated in heavy workouts, upping his fastball to 96 mph, but throwing gas does nothing if you can’t throw strikes. His control problems have resurfaced, which seemed to have disappeared early in the season. In the past five games he has committed 21 walks, compared to just 12 strikeouts. It has helped raise his ERA to 5.40 and his WHIP to 1.59, and some blame has to be put on the Marlins coaching, who continually let Dempster throw over 100 pitches. He’s hit the century mark in pitches thrown 11 out of 14 games this year, his high being 124. He’s not a real good fantasy player right now, and, despite being just 25, may have arm trouble ahead.

SP A.J. Burnett
Burnett has been the only Marlins starter who has lived up to the hype this year. His control has improved much over last year, and he’s striking out batters at an amazing rate. As most of the Marlins pitchers, he’s throwing a lot of pitches, averaging 111.5 per game this year. Burnett has made the most noise out of anyone on this great young staff by throwing the Marlins third no-hitter last May, a feat done only by Al Leiter and Kevin Brown. Burnett is a great fantasy player and a hot commodity.

SP Josh Beckett
The Marlin’s prized young right-hander, many believe Beckett is better than Cubs phenom Mark Prior, its just Beckett isn’t in a big baseball town. Coming into the season, Beckett was expected to put up insane numbers and make a serious run at rookie of the year. On June 6th he was placed on the DL due to blisters on his throwing hand, and likely won’t return until the all-star break. Before hitting the DL, he was not disappointing, posting a 3.86 ERA, 52 strikeouts, and 20 walks. He was a little inconsistent, the norm for any rookie, and his 3.86 ERA is a little high, but lack of run support has kept him from gaining the wins that fantasy owner’s need. In his first four starts, he gave up just seven runs in 24.2 innings, but didn’t have any wins to show for it. With the Marlins offense healthy and hitting again, watch for some wins in the second half. If he’s available, he is definitely an excellent pickup.

SP Brad Penny
As you read this, you’re probably thinking, “man, this is going to be a pretty darn good staff in a few years.” Well, duh. The fourth of the Marlins young tandem, Penny also suffered an early injury, which has upset his season. With a 4.75 ERA, Penny has been nothing but disappointing. Fortunately, he hasn’t thrown many pitches unlike the rest of the staff. Unfortunately, he hasn’t thrown many innings due to giving up so many runs. Hopefully in the second half we see the same Penny we saw last year.

RP Vladimir Nunez
When the Marlins traded Antonio Alfonseca to the Cubs, rookie Braden Looper was expected to fill in the closer role, while Nunez, arguably the best setup man in the national league, remained as a solid setup man. When Looper failed, no wait, bombed, at the closer role, in came Nunez, without much expected out of him. He came in and immediately shut down the opposition, converting 15 of his 16 save opportunities. Even though he has struggled lately, expect big things out of him the rest of the year.

I cut this one a little short as we now have a new Marlins correspondent. Since I don’t know his name yet, I’ll just refer to him as y2j_rules2001. Look back here for more reports from, uh, y2j, and if you can't get enough Marlins click here.