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Miami Marlins: Steve Cishek optioned to AA

By Michael Sonbeek |

Shocking news came out of the Miami Marlins clubhouse after another gut-wrenching loss. The Marlins optioned closer Steve Cishek to AA Jacksonville. 

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Why I say this is a shock because you hardly see a player of Cishek’s caliber (and a guy who makes 6 million dollars) get sent back to the Minor Leagues, but it’s probably the best for all parties.

We all know what type of pitcher Steve Cishek is, a guy who probably could have/should have been an All-Star in either or both of the 2013 and 2014 season. It’s also very well-known that Cishek has been struggling a lot this year with an ERA of 6.98 and a BB/9 of 4.66 compared to his 2.98 last year. He also has a career high HR/FB of 9.5.

You can also tell his velocity is down and his mechanics aren’t great, which hurts more for a side arm pitcher.

You can expect Cishek to go down for about the minimum 10 days you can send someone down for. He’ll go down there and work on his mechanics and will be back up with the big league club in 10 days.

It’s sad to see a guy like Cishek struggle this bad. Cishek is  a class act guy and everyone who knows me knows I’m one of the biggest Cishek supporters sice his call up to the Majors.

But the reality of everything is that baseball isn’t about being a nice guy. It’s about results and Cishek just wasn’t putting up the results the Marlins expected out of him when they decided not to deal him at last year’s deadline and gave him 6 million dollars to pitch this year.

In Double A, Cishek will work on trying to get his velocity and his mechanics. I’m not sure what the exact reason behind sending Cishek in AA instead of AAA, but if I had to guess they feel that the hitters are better in AA, or that pitching coach Derek Botelho can help him the best.

Botelho is a former pitcher who played two seasons in the Major Leagues.

Marlins manager Dan Jennings said  after the game that “We still believe in him (Cishek) and what he’s done, but this was an organization decision to get him out of the spotlight”

He also said that he doesn’t expect this to be a long term move like a mentioned earlier.

The Marlins will make a corresponding move tomorrow. I expect the Marlins to bring up a bat to fill in a short bench.

Follow Marlin Maniac on Twitter @MarlinManiac for all your Miami Marlins news, opinion and analysis!

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