Mar 23, 2013; Jupiter, FL, USA; Miami Marlins catcher Kyle Skipworth (53) in the first inning during a spring training game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Austin Kearns had to suddenly leave the Miami Marlins yesterday to attend to a personal matter. As was expected, the Marlins placed Kearns on the bereavement list today and recalled catcher Kyle Skipworth.

#Marlins call up c Kyle skipworth to replace Austin Kearns

— Joe Capozzi (@joecapMARLINS) May 5, 2013

Kearns can be away from the team no less than three games, but no more than seven. The Marlins don’t expect him to join the team in San Diego, as they take on the Padres from Monday to Wednesday. Hopefully everything is alright for Kearns and his family. Austin has not had the easiest 2013, as he has already dealt with an irregular heartbeat and has not fared well at the plate. He owns a .185/.290/.185 slash line early on.

With Kearns hitting the bereavement list, the Marlins had to select someone from their 40-man roster to take his spot. The only options for the Marlins on their 40-man roster were Skipworth and outfielder Kyle Jensen. The team felt Skip was the better option to callup.

Skipworth had just three plate appearance in his earlier stint with the Marlins. He drew a walk, but went hit less. The former first round pick did not receive much playing time and will likely not get much this go-around either. Skipworth posted a .143/.250/.143 slash line in 16 plate appearances in Triple-A.

Injury Updates:

Donovan Solano was a late scratch last night due to soreness on his left-side. Solano was out of the lineup again today and hopes to return sometime next week against the San Diego Padres. A stint on the disabled list has not been yet ruled out for Solano.

Miguel Olivo will be catching for the second straight game as Rob Brantly is still bothered by his cut finger. The injury does not seem to concern the Marlins, but the move to callup Skipworth seems to be a precautionary move.

Feb 22, 2013; Jupiter, FL, USA; Miami Marlins first baseman Logan Morrison (5) poses for a picture during photo day at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Logan Morrison is eligible to come off the 60-day disabled list on June 1st, but the Marlins will hold him out till mid-June. LoMo did not participate in spring training at all, so the Marlins figure to give him an extended rehab stint to work his way back.

Jeff Mathis has gone 4-f0r-13 with two doubles in his rehab stint with the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Mathis is still working his way back from his broken collarbone and could return to the Marlins very soon.

Pitcher Henderson Alvarez has been shutdown by the Marlins after suffering a setback in his recovery from shoulder inflammation. Alvarez felt soreness after throwing to hitters a few days ago and the Marlins decide to shut him down. The Marlins plan to give Alvarez a couple of days of rest and see how he feels.

Feb 18, 2013; Dunedin, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays infielder Jose Reyes (7) during photo day at Florida Auto Exchange Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

We are a month into the 2013 season, so I thought it might be interesting to check into the results of the Blue Jays – Marlins trade from this past offseason.  The Blue Jays expected this trade, along with a few other moves they made, to put them in the driver’s seat to win the division.  The Marlins contend that, from a pure baseball standpoint, this was an excellent move on their part.  (And, oh yeah, the Rays and Mets sort of got in on the action a bit later as well by acquiring Yunel Escobar and John Buck, but I will leave them out to avoid cluttering things up too much). 

Let’s take a look at how the players have fared for their new teams so far:

Blue Jays

Marlins

The Blue Jays have received a combined 0.2 WAR from the 4 players they received in the deal.  Jose Reyes was actually playing well with a .395/.465/.526 slash line and .434 wOBA before injuring his ankle after 10 games played.  The injury was supposed to keep him out for a month and he has yet to return.  Bonifacio has been bad both at the plate and in the field and has been relegated to a bench role.  Both Johnson and Buehrle are sporting 6+ ERAs and have won only 1 game between them.  Johnson missed his last start due to triceps soreness, but is expected to return for his next scheduled start.  The Blue Jays as a team are currently in last place in the AL East with a record of 10-17 on the season, just 2 more wins than the Marlins.

The Marlins at the major league level have gotten only 52 fruitless plate appearances from Adeiny Hechavarria before he succumbed to an elbow injury 14 games into the season.  Pitcher Henderson Alvarez and catcher Jeff Mathis were both injured in spring training and have yet to return.  Surprisingly, of the 12 players involved in the trade the best season so far has come from the least heralded participant, minor league pitcher Anthony Desclafani who is 4-1 with a 0.44 ERA. 

As much as I hate to say it, so far Loria and the Marlins look justified in having made this trade performance wise.  All of the players they traded away have been terrible or injured or both (except Buck!).  Even though the Marlins have received next to nothing on the field at the major league level from the players they received, off the field the savings in salary clearly makes them the winners so far (if only they had reinvested those savings in obtaining better players!).  That being said, neither side could have imagined the performances would be this bad.  I’ll continue to check in on the players involved throughout the season to see if things improve as some of the injured players get healthy and report back.

For the Miami Marlins, two key players currently fit that mold.

Logan Morrison put off knee surgery last offseason and struggled with the injury all season long. He finally decided to have surgery this past offseason and is not going to be available for the Marlins on Opening Day.

Feb 22, 2013; Jupiter, FL, USA; Miami Marlins first baseman Logan Morrison (5) poses for a picture during photo day at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Morrison hopes with proper progression from his knee surgery, he will be ready for game action, more than likely a rehab stint, by mid-April. For now, he is working on rehabilitation for his knee.

“By April, I should be running on solid ground,” Morrison said.

On Monday, LoMo did some hitting off of a tee. This is a very small step, but it is good news that he will soon be returning to the Marlins lineup, likely to bat behind Giancarlo Stanton. Because this is his second surgery on the same knee, the Marlins will not be rushing Morrison to return too quickly.

If Logan Morrison can into minor league games by mid-April, chances are good that he could make his debut sometime around May 1st.

In the mean time, Casey Kotchman, a non-roster invitee, who has enjoyed a strong Spring Training, is expected to be the Marlins regular first baseman. Kotchman has a slash line of .455/.486/.667 so far this spring. Kotchman has limited upside, but his infield defense should be a major bonus to the Marlins roster.

Jeff Mathis Eying Early May Return

The other player nursing an injury for the Marlins is backup catcher Jeff Mathis. Mathis was injured in the Marlins first Spring Training game, when he took a foul tip off of the bat of Matt Holliday to the chest. Mathis remained in the game, but was later removed and found out he had a broken collarbone.

His initial prognosis was that he would miss four-to-six weeks. Mathis would be really pressing it to make a return in April. Mathis has set early-May as his target date to be back in the majors

“I’m hoping that the beginning of May, I’m back in a big league game.”

Mathis will be examined on Friday, by Dr. Frank Cook, the team physician, and another X-ray will be taken. The X-ray could reveal how soon Mathis will return.

Up until this point, it has not seemed like the Marlins have been targeting any outsiders to fill in for Mathis as the backup, but that could change at any time, if the right player becomes available.

For now, it seems like the Marlins will give former first round pick Kyle Skipworth a shot. Skipworth has been disappointing with the bat so far this spring, with a slash line of .174/.259/.261. While his offense has been far from impressive, Skipworth’s defense has been a joy to watch and it’s not like the team could expect much from Mathis’ bat, either.

For more player injury updates and other news, please stay tuned to Marlin Maniac.

Although Jeff Mathis’ stats do not seem to be great, without a viable option for backup catcher, his loss could be a big one for the Fish. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

All of those injuries aside, the Marlins biggest scare last week was when Giancarlo Stanton took a pitch to the head from top prospect Jose Fernandez. Good thing Stanton did more damage to the ball then it could do to Stanton.

But the good news is that the Marlins have not lost a game yet. They won their first Grapefruit League game against the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-3. The Marlins and Washington Nationals ended in a tie, at 2 a piece in their game yesterday.

Let’s take a quick look at the articles written here on Marlin Maniac last week:

 Ehsan Kassim (7):

• Interested in catching some Marlins’ games on your way to work? Or are you thinking about the best time to renew your MLBTV subscription? Well, take a look at this post to find out when the you can catch the Marlins’ live broadcast on 790 the Ticket or on MLBTV. Also a side not, the Marlins-Mets game will be broadcasted on MLB Network on Saturday, at 1:00 PM EST.
• In a season where there will be a lot of disappointment for Marlins fans, a look at my #15 Marlins prospect, Alfredo Silverio, will give a Marlins something to root for. Silverio could be the next Marlins Dan Uggla.
• The general consensus last season was that Giancarlo Stanton was an inferior hitter at Marlins Park as opposed to on the road. However, that is a myth that I busted last week. Giancarlo was an about even hitter at home or on the road. Find out if this was just a fluke or something that Stanton can sustain in 2013 and beyond.
• Baseball America released it’s annual top 100 prospect rankings last week and the Marlins placed six on that list. Even better news for the Marlins was that four of the six prospects were homegrown prospects. Check out here who made the list. You’ll be mildly surprised by who BA has ranked as the Marlins third best prospect.
• As I will do every Friday, I had a link dump, called Marlins Way, in which I listed the best articles of the week for the Marlins from around the web. There are some really good reads in there, including updates to injured Marlins players.
• Even though we introduced two new authors to MM last week, we are still looking for new writers to ramp up the staff and Marlins coverage as Opening Day nears. We are also searching for a Social Media manager. If either of these roles interest you, please read here to find out more details.
• Jeffery Loria finally came out of his hibernation and Marlins fans sure wish he did not. Loria wrote a “letter for our fans,” in which he called out the media for portraying him in a negative light and basically called Marlins fans dumb. Read the entire letter here.

Geoff Parkins (1):

• Twitter trolls are something that we will never be able to get rid of, and they only get worse when something big happens. When Stanton took a pitch to the head, the conspiracy theorists came out in full force, believing that Loria was the culprit in an attempt to behead Stanton. We all know Loria is a crook, but a murderer, we have no idea.

Andy Salgado (1):

• Check out what Andy means when he mentions, “The Marlins Family.” The Marlins may not have the fan following of the larger franchises, with a richer history, but that does not mean the fans cannot be as devoted and supporting of the team.

Justen Rosenberg (1):

• One of two new writers, Justen, presents MM and their viewers on what they can expect from the Marlins moving forward.

Placido Estevez (2):

• Placido also made his MM debut and questioned what the Marlins will get from Logan Morrison in the 2013 season. Will Morrison be fully healthy and return to his rookie form in 2010?
• After the tough break with Mathis, Placido wonders if the Marlins can get Ivan Rodriguez to come out of retirement and be the backup catcher for the Marlins.