Miami Marlins make a bullpen change

The Miami Marlins made a bullpen change last night, and now made another one. The Fish are entering play today hoping to avoid a third straight loss to the Atlanta Braves. Before you read the rest of this article, be sure to check out our mid-season awards. So what changes did the team make?

The Miami Marlins are looking for an ideal bullpen mix.

Right-handed relief pitcher Jeff Lindgren has been called up to the team. The 26 year old has already been up this season and let’s just say that it wasn’t eventful. He produced a 7.20 ERA in a game and 5.0 innings pitched. Remarkably, he had a 0.0 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9.

The sample size is very small, so it is of course possible for him to improve. I’m definitely curious to see how he will do in his return to the Major League bullpen. Moves such as this do make me wonder if The Fish need to look into bullpen help at the trade deadline. A shutdown bullpen reminiscent of the 2014-2015 Kansas City Royals can be very effective.

So who are the Miami Marlins sending back down to the Minor Leagues? Fellow right-handed relief pitcher George Soriano. Soriano has a 1.98 ERA/3.28 FIP, with 5.9 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 5 games and 13.2 innings pitched. I’m actually surprised that he’s being sent down.

The 24 year old doesn’t have an impressive strikeout rate and his walk rate is a tad high, so I can see some concern. That said, the ERA and FIP have been pretty impressive to me. It may have been a short sample size, but why not see what he would do over a longer sample size?

Will these moves change the Miami Marlins in any major way? Will the bullpen improve at all? I don’t really see much of a change, but you never know. It’s possible that Soriano is worse than he seems and that Lindgren is much better too. All we can do is find out. The important thing is that The Fish start winning again.