Miami Marlins Updates: Roster, Injuries, and Ramirez/Reyes going Orange?

The shocking Miami Marlins news of the morning? Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes have decided to go orange. Only fitting that two of the Marlins top players would follow suit of the team and dye their head orange. Here is the picture of them that Hanley Ramirez tweeted this morning.

The team made Reyes cut his hair off to comply with the team policy, yet they let him dye his hair orange? That sounds like the Marlins

But on a serious note, I think it would be cool if the entire team follows Reyes and Ramirez’s path. Good team solidarity and they would represent Miami and the Marlins very well.

Apparently Omar Infante is next.

Injury Updates:

The Marlins expect to have three of their main cast of players back soon.

Logan Morrison and Giancarlo Stanton will play 7 innings on the field in a minor league game. If both can last all 7 innings and not have any setbacks, they are in good shape to be ready for opening day, April 4.

For Stanton, if all goes well, he will look to rejoin the Marlins as early as tomorrow against the Washington Nationals.

For Morrison, he will play nine innings in a Minor League game on Friday. The earliest he would rejoin the Marlins would be on Monday, when they play their final exhibition game at Marlins Park against the New York Yankees.

Meanwhile, Greg Dobbs played the field on Wednesday in a Minor League game. Dobbs is expected to play on the field again today. The Marlins are also anticipating to have him back Monday against the Yankees.

As I mentioned, Jose Ceda suffered a right elbow strain last Thursday against the Atlanta Braves. He is expected to visit Dr. James Andrews early next week. If he needs Tommy John surgery, he could get it as soon as Tuesday.

Might be the best that he does have the surgery and makes a full recovery by mid-2013 to make a contribution to the Marlins. Ceda also missed all of 2009 with a shoulder surgery.

Roster Updates:

It appears that Chris Coghlan is now the favorite to win one of the Marlins back-up outfielder roles. The Marlins will have Coghlan playing right field for the first time in his career today. He has primarily played left and center field in his career and this spring.

If he does alright in right, the guess is that he breaks camp with the team. If not, Bryan Petersen may still hold the advantage, as he can play all three positions.

My hope is that Coghlan is a better right fielder then center fielder. We will also see what that means about how that affects Austin Kearns and Aaron Rowand‘s chances to win a job as well.

Earlier today, the Marlins sent down non-roster invitee right-handed pitchers J.D. Martin and Rob Delaney. Meanwhile, left handed pitcher Beau Jones and utility player Nick Green were also informed that they would not be breaking camp with the Marlins.

It seems that the bullpen competition is down to Chad Gaudin and Wade LeBlanc. The utility role competition is down to Donovan Solano and Donnie Murphy.