Miami Sports Insider

=== All You Need Is Glove ===

On our pregame, Matty shot back:

I don’t like dogmatic comments like “It’s physically impossible for a defense to save a run a game compared to an average MLB defense.”

I don’t buy that for a second, Doc. Read more

Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, as always, has a great-feel-for-the-game article up this morning.  He points out that with the Mariners and Rays struggling, and on teetering on the brinks of positive and negative momentum, it would be a great time for an ace-like performance out of your Opening Day starter.

Felix Hernandez wants to be viewed as a dominating ace.  Baker is right on track in putting the responsibility on him to take over a game in this particular situation.  The same applies to James Shields, one of my favorite pitchers.

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=== The Shield, Dept. Read more

With Matt Lindstrom's tentative hold on the closer role, this Verducci article on a Boston bullpen experiment has some lessons-learned for the Marlins...

“By the end of spring training we will have one [closer] and we will have guys in defined roles,” Boston GM Theo Epstein says. “And by the end of the year, who knows who the closer might be? It might be some kid who gets put in that role on the second day of the season, like [Jon] Papelbon last year, or somebody from outside the organization, or somebody who started the year in Double A. We don’t know.”

[snip]

What Boston won’t do is repeat the mistake it made to open the 2003 season, when it thought a bullpen could be run with interchangeable parts. Read more

Jason Churchill, a Seattle 'net writer with strong contacts inside baseball, reports that the Marlins came close to a deal for Jose Lopez. He quotes a Marlins scout thusly:

"The deal was never close," he said, "because we wanted one particular name and their best offer came in without that name. They didn't budge on that name, and we couldn't see moving forward unless we got what we felt was the right deal for us."

Jason continues where the scout leaves off:

That name was Adam Moore, the M's top catching prospect, who ranks in the middle of Prospect Insider's Top 10 in the upcoming handbook. Read more