In the wake of the biggest piece of news Marlins fans have had since the Josh Johnson extension (which is sort of sad for us), Nate Robertson has us Marlins fans jabbering a lot more than usual. Part of it is the general excitement of is having something new to talk about, but another part is the concern fans have for acquiring a pitcher who isn’t so good and having to give up stuff to get him. You can check some of those opinions and concerns over at FishStripe’s thread discussing the trade.
Fist off, we did not give up a [...]

Late morning Fish Bites, hope that’s all right for everyone!
- With the Marlins’ acquisition of Nate Robertson yesterday, the entire pitching staff is set for Opening Day. That meant a few additional moves yesterday, particularly sending Tim Wood and Rick VandenHurk down to the minors and releasing Seth McClung. No big loss on McClung, but I think a lot of fans are down on sending VandenHurk to the minors.
- Another victim of the crunch on the Marlins pitching staff was promising minor league veteran Scott Strickland, who says he won’t take a minor league assignment with the team. Instead, apparently [...]

I was casually minding my own business, getting back on the internet in preparation to write another post today. I was kind of wondering what I would write, as the days before Opening Day can get kind of dull. Luckily, team news sprung up to help me out (H/T Hotstove.com).
On Tuesday, Florida acquired left-hander Nate Robertson and cash from Detroit for lefty prospect Jay Voss.
This will be Robertson’s second stint with the Marlins. Drafted in the fourth round by Florida in 1999, he made his Major League debut with the club in 2002, appearing in six games.
“This is a now [...]

We know that Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco will get their innings and perform as well as can be expected. Barring any injuries (and the concerns aren’t too bad, as BP’s Will Carroll has both Nolasco and Johnson as “yellow” in his proprietary injury system), those guys should be excellent for us and bring in eight to nine wins between them, a luxury few teams can say they have.
The question will be how many more wins the remaining three starters in the rotation may be able to provide. Among Anibal Sanchez, Chris Volstad, and Clay Hensley, the team would really [...]

Jai Miller has been around a long, long time.  Drafted in the 4th round of the 2003 draft, he’s entering his 8th year with the organization.  Things weren’t pretty early on, but he has done a lot better the past few years and is trying to claim a future back up OF role on the team.  With only one option remaining, time is running out for him to do so.

THT’s Bryan Tsao approached me a few weeks back to pen the annual “Five Questions” column for the Marlins this year, and I was more than happy to oblige. It came out today, and you can check it out here, alongside two other excellent writers, John Barten on the Colorado Rockies and Bill Baer on the Philadelphia Phillies.

With Andrew Miller officially to start the season in Triple-A, the Marlins will head into Opening Day without any left-handed starters in their rotation. The team still has two lefties in the pen in Dan Meyer and Renyel Pinto, but of course, those guys can’t pitch (ideally) until the sixth inning. Won’t the team be in trouble having to face such talented lefties as Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Brian McCann, and Raul Ibanez? Let’s dive into some numbers to find out.

It’s no secret the Marlins have interest in Mike Lowell.  And the assumption would be that he would usurp Gaby Sanchez.  This isn’t all to surprising, as they both have around the same expected offensive output but Lowell should be a vastly superior defender even with his regression.  If Lowell is healthy, the Marlins would be better in 2010 with him in the starting line up instead of Gaby.
Yet going by this entry at MLB Trade Rumors, it sounds like Lowell would instead replace Jorge Cantu.  Without knowing who the source is, we can’t put too much stock into the [...]

Tom Tango is at it again, putting up this year’s version of the Community Playing Time Forecasts! I implore all of the intelligent Marlins fans who frequent Marlin Maniac to go vote on how much you think each Marlin will play this season. This will be used for the Marcel projection system as playing time, and it’s also another chance to show that fans really know their stuff when it comes to their teams. Go vote now!

The Marlins are apparently almost set on their rotation, and it seems Clay Hensley may have just won himself a spot, based on this Tweet by Juan C. Rodriguez. Now, one Tweet a real report does not make, but with Fredi Gonzalez mentioning that Hensley had the inside track, this news does not surprise me.
What does that mean for the rotation situation as of now? Well, the team appears to be set to announce the rotation by Sunday, and the names were fairly close to what I thought: