Miami Marlins taking huge gamble with Dan Straily
The Miami Marlins were tired of watching everyone around them make moves. The team is still dealing with the loss of Jose Fernandez, but life and the game of baseball must continue on. As top free agents and trade pieces were in constant movement, the Marlins were surprisingly silent. Well, they made a move that bolsters their rotation but was it worth it?
The Marlins sent three prospects to the Cincinnati Reds for starting pitcher, Dan Straily. While the Marlins didn’t have to give up much in terms of talent they will miss, they take on a player that was tied for the National League in home runs given up with 31. That’s a large number to consider but the bright side of that is the Marlins play in a park where only 123 homers were hit.
[Mark]If Straily can pitch the same as he did for the Reds in 2016 then the Marlins may be able to hold off the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves while giving chase to the New York Mets and Washington Nationals in the National League East. Straily, a 14 game winner last season, pitched 191 innings with an ERA of 3.79, which happened to be the lowest of his career. One of the issues with Straily will have to be his control. He gave up 73 walks, but if he can continue to strike out batters (162), then he can become a viable arm in this rebuilt rotation.
The Marlins will possibly throw out a starting rotation of Adam Conley, Wei-Yen Chen, Tom Koehler, Edinson Volquez, Jeff Locke, and Straily. While the rotation doesn’t scream division champs, it’s good enough to keep the Marlins in games. As president of baseball operations, Michael Hill said:
“I think he locked in last year,” Hill said. “Every player has a different development timeline, but we faced him last year and we saw … a pitcher who had command of the strike zone, could move the ball in and out and keep hitters off balance, and I think that he did that very well last year. And I think that’s something that we will welcome to our rotation.”
Maybe Straily has finally found a home with Miami.
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
