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Miami Marlins: Former Marlins star pitcher Dontrelle Willis Retires

Ehsan Kassim — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 18:09:21 +0000

Yesterday was a sad day for Florida Marlins fans and it’s history. A huge part of the Marlins 2003 World Series Championship and more importantly, one of the best characters to ever wear a Marlins uniform, retired. That player was Dontrelle Willis.

I’m deeply thankful for everything the game has done for me and I will always remember the great people I met along the way as well. #mlb

— Dontrelle Willis (@D_Train35) July 2, 2012

The Florida Marlins in 2002 traded starter Matt Clement and reliever Antonio Alfonseca for Julian Tavarez and a few other prospects, one of which was 22-year old prospect, Dontrelle Willis. The trade was actually the first trade by new Marlins general manager Larry Beinfest. Willis dominated the minor leagues in 2002, posting a 1.83 ERA in 24 starts with 128 strikeouts and just 24 walks in almost 158 innings. Prior to 2003, Baseball America ranked him as the 43rd best prospect in all of baseball, good for the fourth best prospect in the Marlins organization.

Willis made six starts in Double-A Carolina, posting a 1.46 ERA before the Marlins decided to call upon the talented left handed pitcher. The call-up was due in part to A.J. Burnett‘s elbow issues, which eventually led to Tommy John Surgery.

Willis made his first start on May 9, and Willis lasted six innings and allowed three runs while striking out seven and walking two batters. Willis went onto pitch 160 2/3 innings with a 3.30 ERA and 3.45 FIP in 2003. Willis would win Rookie of the Year award over Brandon Webb and Scott Podsednik. According to Fangraphs, Willis posted a 3.3 WAR in his rookie season. Willis also made the All-Star game in his rookie season.

After a couple of rough outings in the playoffs, Willis was relegated to be a L.O.G.G.Y the rest of the postseason. Even with this demotion, Willis played a huge role in the Marlins becoming World Champions for the second time in their brief history. In fact, Ozzie Guillen, who was the Marlins third base coach in 2003, gives a ton of credit to Willis for the Marlins winning:

“Obviously, it takes 25 guys to win the World Series,’’ Guillen said. “But I think this kid … took the pitching staff to the new level. For two or three months he was unhittable.’’

The next season, 2004 was a struggle for Willis, as he posted an 4.02 ERA and 4.01 FIP. Willis, along with the rest of his teammates followed up a great world series run, with a disappointing 2004 season. Even still, Marlins fans were confident that the Willis and the team could turn things around in 2005.

Those fans were correct. In 2005, Dontrelle Willis had the best season of his career in 2005, pitching 236 1/3 innings and posting a 2.63 ERA and 2.99 FIP. According to Fangraphs, Willis posted a 6.8 WAR that season, as he finished up as runner up to Chris Carpenter in the CY Young voting. That 2005 Willis season could go down as the best pitching season in Marlins history. Juan C. Rodriguez wants to know which Marlins pitching season you thought was the best.

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1997 v. 2003: Right Field

Ehsan Kassim — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:22:53 +0000

We have already taken a look at the catcher, first base, and second base, third base, short stop, left field, and center field positions. Here is a look at how the current team that you guys have voted on looks like:

Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez
First Base: Derrick Lee
Second Base: Luis Castillo
Short Stop: Edgar Renteria
Third Base: Mike Lowell
Left Field: Miguel Cabrera
Center Field: Juan Pierre
Right Field:

We are now headed to the home stretch of our position players version of this poll. This is an interesting team so far, filled with lots of talent. Today I will start up the poll for right field, next week we will take a look at how the batting order for the Marlins all-world series team should look like. Two weeks from now we will look at starting pitching and then closer. Then the team will be complete. Lets get started with right field today:

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1997 v. 2003: Short Stop

Ehsan Kassim — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:55:17 +0000

We have already taken a look at the catcher, first base, second base, and third base positions. Here is a look at how the current team that you guys have voted on looks like:

Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez
First Base: Derrick Lee
Second Base: Luis Castillo
Third Base: Mike Lowell
Short Stop:
Left Field:
Center Field:
Right Field:

We will continue today with a look today comparing the Florida Marlins World Series short stops. The two short stops we will discuss today are both responsible for heroic walk off hits in the World Series, Edgar Renteria and Alex Gonzalez. Both short stops were well short of being superstars, but they were very crucial to the Marlins.

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1997 v. 2003: Third Base Results

Ehsan Kassim — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:59:01 +0000

It has been a while since I last did this. I would like to apologize for the extended time it took. However, today we will continue today on the Marlins 1997 v. 2003 series. We have already done the catcher, first base, and second base positions. Here is a quick look at what the team looks like thus far:

Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez
First Base: Derrick Lee
Second Base: Luis Castillo
Short Stop:
Third Base:
Left Field:
Center Field:
Right Field:

So who is the Marlins World Series third baseman? Drum roll please:

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1997 v. 2003: Second Base Results

Ehsan Kassim — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:30:51 +0000

We will continue today on the Marlins 1997 v. 2003 series. We have already done the catcher and first base positions. Here is a quick look at what the team looks like thus far:

Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez
First Base: Derrick Lee
Second Base:
Short Stop:
Third Base:
Left Field:
Center Field:
Right Field:

So who is the Marlins World Series second baseman? Drum roll please:

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