Marlins Trio Of Pitching Acquisitions Yet To Pay Off

Unlike most seasons of their existence, the Miami Marlins have been buyers in 2016.

They are currently tied for the second wild card and their talent level, collectively as a whole, is good enough to not only make the playoffs, but make some noise as well.

The problem with all of this, at least so far, is the inability of the players acquired by Miami to replicate the successes they had with their previous team.

The rough translation to this somewhat euphemistical perception is that the Marlins have, well, made deals that have not paid off.

So far. 

More from Marlin Maniac

• Miami Marlins news: Another target gone
• Why didn’t the Miami Marlins sign JDM?
• Miami Marlins rejected Boston‘s trade offer
• Miami Marlins are pursuing Michael Conforto
• Miami Marlins need to spend to win

The first move Miami made was nabbing Fernando Rodney from the Padres on June 30^th for high-potential prospect Chris Paddack. Paddack has since had Tommy John surgery, but that is besides the point.

Prospects have time to develop. Miami has no time to let Rodney develop in Miami.

At the time, the notion of Rodney “developing” would have been preposterous. The Padres closer had allowed one run in 28 appearances.

These elite numbers enticed the Marlins, who were figuring out around this time of the season that they were going to become buyers, to take a leap and add to an already formidable bullpen.

It seems that Miami was looking to replicate the success of the Royals and their bullpen of the past two seasons, ultimately leading to a World Series title last season.

Success is something Rodney has not found. In 18 appearances with his new club, Rodney has allowed 11 earned runs in only 17.1 innings. His strike percentage has dropped from a 61.6% rate in San Diego to a measly 58.7% for the Fish. This may seem minimal, but Rodney has only had a rate under 60% one other time in his career.

This inability to throw strikes has allowed for hitters to increase their BABIP (batting average of balls put into play) against Rodney, moving up to .311 mark as opposed to a lethal .210 mark in San Diego.

His BB/9 has peaked to a 5.19 mark, allowing his H/9 allowed to double to over 8 hits per nine innings.

All these negative trends will come to fruition for Miami as they have lost their closer AJ Ramos to the 15-day DL this week. Rodney will be thrown back into the fire that is the 9^th inning.

For Miami’s sake, they better hope Rodney turns it around. Even with tonight’s successful first foray, they’ll be looking for him to show the consistency he’s lacked since coming over from the Padres.

Speaking of the Padres, they also sent Andrew Cashner to Miami in a trade a month later. The Marlins gave up Josh Naylor, a top prospect, for Cashner, along with Carter Capps, someone who I was livid with losing.

Cashner’s 4.56 ERA in San Diego was already somewhat unsettling, given the fact that Miami gave up two very nice players for two months of the now-beardless Cashner.

Following Rodney’s trend, Cashner has been nothing special in Miami.

Yes, his three appearances are nothing to freak out about. It’s a small sample size, I get that. But so is two months, no?

Just last night, after a magical performance from Dustin McGowan out of the pen, Cashner came in in the 14^th inning and allowed a hit to the only batter he faced, giving up the ultimate game winning run.

In his two starts for Miami, he has a 6.35 ERA.

Again, the sample size is small. The prospects Miami gave up for him may never work out, yes. But if Cashner doesn’t pitch well in a rental situation, Miami loses this trade regardless.

The final part of the seemingly lackluster trade trio that Miami has made so far in 2016 is Hunter Cervenka. In two appearances for Miami, the lefty the Marlins got from Atlanta has given up 3 ER in one inning pitched.

He was sent down last night, hopefully just because the 14 inning loss to San Francisco drained the bullpen. I wouldn’t understand acquiring a lefty specialist to send him down a week later.

When he does come back, however, I’m sure the Miami front office would like to see his ERA a little lower than its current 27.00 mark.

It’s the beginning of August. The Marlins are in the hunt. The front office has made bold moves to bolster the roster. While they may have overpaid, at least they went swinging for the fences.

Now it is time for the three pitchers Miami acquired to stop letting batters on other teams swing for the fences successfully.