2:15PM: Hernandez has indeed been placed on the 10-day injured list, with outfielder Lewis Brinson called up to take his spot on the active roster.
8:08AM: Marlins right-hander Elieser Hernandez left last night’s game due to a right quad strain suffered while running the bases. In the sixth inning of Miami’s 5-3 loss to the Pirates yesterday, Hernandez ran home from third base on an RBI grounder from Jesus Aguilar, but Hernandez fell to the ground after crossing the plate and had to be helped off the field.
The injury cut short a strong start (five innings, one ER on three hits, six strikeouts and no walks) for Hernandez, and it was his first outing since a two-month stint on the injured list due to biceps inflammation. Hernandez will undergo some more tests today, but manager Don Mattingly indicated to MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola and other reporters that the righty is probably headed back to the IL.
In a Miami organization with several intriguing arms, Hernandez has already enjoyed some success at the big league level. After a lackluster 5.11 ERA over 148 innings in 2018-19, Hernandez posted a 3.16 ERA and an above-average 32.1% strikeout rate and 4.7% walk rate over six starts and 25 2/3 innings in 2020. Unfortunately, injuries have now curtailed his ability to follow up on that semi-breakout, and Hernandez could now be facing another pretty lengthy absence depending on the severity of his quad strain.
Between Hernandez’s injury and the recent shutdown of Sixto Sanchez’s throwing program, it may yet be a while before the Marlins have their full starting five intact. Trevor Rogers, Sandy Alcantara, and Pablo Lopez have all pitched well, and rookie right-hander Cody Poteet has recently emerged as a viable option for the back end of the rotation. Miami has until Tuesday to figure out who could take Hernandez’s next start, and De Nicola notes that Braxton Garrett and Daniel Castano are possibilities since Jordan Holloway and Nick Neidert are still on the injured list. The Marlins have also used openers on multiple occasions this season, though it remains to be seen if the team would regularly use an opener every fifth day.
If Marlins could have Sixto, Hernandez, Alcantara, Lopez, and Rogers all healthy they could be lethal. Just need a better pen
Not to mention Meyers and Cabrera who have the potential to be at least as good and should warrant a spot in the rotation by next year.
The pen is better than it looks. Donny has always been a horrible pen manager. He has his “guys” and he sticks with them while others are doing great and getting no innings. He hasn’t used Curtiss at all. Anthony Bender should be closing and he was asked to get ONE out last night. Pop has given up a run in like 3 or 4 appearances only (and 2 was 7er) but for the most part has been lights out. No one gets an even chance. Go with the hot hand. Holloway looked like the next big bullpen arm and they made him start and he got hurt. In the meantime they refused to let Neidert start more than one game, he was blah, sent down and then hurt. But let’s keep rushing unknowns and men made of glass.
But it’s Blier Bass Garcia Floro for EVERYTHING. I’m not saying they should be in first or anything , but they have 14 blown saves when this same time last year with literally a patchwork bullpen they had 5. They should be around .500 and fun to watch. Instead it’s another year of Marlins baseball!
@ludafish
Is it 14 blown saves? I only noticed the 7 blown saves we’ve had at the end of games.
As for Mattingly, I would say that we can’t really blame him for these relievers coming in and blowing everything, but you make a valid point about him using those same ones over and over who keep blowing these games. However, when you look at it, he may not be the one wanting them out there. Bass and Floro were brought in by Ng. Yimi and Bleier we brought in last year by Jeter’s committee. I’m wondering if they aren’t instructing Donny to keep putting those guys out there.
It’s bad though. I haven’t had this much distrust in one of our bullpens since we were having seasons wrecked by the implosive talents of the Disastrous Duo of Kevin Gregg and Renyel “Ford” Pinto. Dear goodness!
If there is any consolation beyond getting higher draft picks this year after this bullpen blows the season, it’s knowing that I imagine that they are not very comfortable with their teammates in that locker room. I imagine it’s going to start getting pretty bad for the bullpen when dealing with the SPs and the position players who all feel that they’ve been doing their jobs in handing leads to the bullpen.
Yes it’s 14 blown in total. That’s including blowing a save in the 6th. Of all save chances we have blown 14. Again 5 last year at this time with less talent.
I actually trust Floro, aside from 2 outings he has been very very good (and last night vs PIT was one of those nights). But it seems any guy that has one bad outing the quit on while Blier Bass Floro and such get all the chances. Yimi looked great in April but this last month not so much. He keeps going with “his guys” and let’s “his guys” get out of it. When last night Pop or Curtiss should have come in. Even Yimi then give the 9th the one or those guys. But it’s always the same. Why did we sign Detwiler if they barely use him? There have been times I’ve actually wanted to see him.
Entering last night our BP had an ERA of 7.00 in high leverage situations. Of course it went up. Offense is a huge problem too. But why did they have so much faith in Campbell? Why none in Pop or Curtiss? Why didn’t Bender make the team to begin with. Bender has been flat out nasty but he barely sniffs any situations where his talent could help.
I’m ranting , sorry, but if you remember Donny was run out of LA for poor pitching management. He isn’t solely to blame but doing the right thing instead of his “gut with his guys” we would have 3-4 more wins easy. Possibly more.
Soon enough I’d be down to blow it up. Jesus Sanchez is killing it. Monte deserves a shot. I would extend Marte. Next year could be the year. This one is far from over but they are wasting a lot of talent. What we really need in INF prospects. Isan is a bust. We all love Jazz. Everyone else is far away or not regarded. All we have is OF and P prospects.
I would be okay with them blowing it up a little if they’re out of it at the deadline.
It would be interesting if they would re-sign/extend Marte. They’d have to give him at least 2 years, otherwise it would make more sense for him to wait to see what he gets and if the Marlins offer him a QO (which he’d take).
As for MidInf, if we don’t see something from Devers that shows he should stay up, we can go for a stopgap. If we feel that we can contend next year, I don’t want to waste our young pitchers for a year. I think we’d have to take a serious look at the realistically available free agents of this years’ MidInf class…2Bs: Starling Castro, Jonathan Schoop…SS: Marcus Semien, Troy Story, Andrelton Simmons.
I say bring the OFs up (Sanchez and Bleday if ready, Harrison)..
And this offseason, they need to get a real closer. I’m not sure why they didn’t do that this offseason. We all knew they needed one.
Also, if they feel they can contend, they may need to get a big bat either for DH or other position where they can plug one in (Anthony Rizzo?).
Mattingly wasn’t let go by the Dodgers due to poor pitching management. He was let go because of his reluctance to embrace analytics even a little. He also ran a loose clubhouse that involved sexual harassment of female members of the media (see Alanna Rizzo stories elsewhere on the web). Roberts is a better fit in every way. Better leader, more in touch with the modern game, zero tolerance for sexist crap. Btw, the three violators are apparently no longer in MLB.
Another reason for the universal DH. Pitching, especially good pitching, is always at a premium. To lose a good pitcher to injury while hitting or on the bases like this is just ridiculous. Most teams do not bunt anymore, pitchers largely CAN’T do it anymore, and aside from a rare exception these guys can’t hit either. Just makes ZERO sense losing a pitcher this way.
Kolten Wong injured his oblique swinging and missing a pitch, as have many hitters. Maybe take the swinging of the bat out of the game so guys don’t get hurt. It’s a sport, and guys get hurt playing sports. The universal DH makes it less of a sport.
Having a universal DH does not make it “less of a sport.” It takes out a significant weak link in a batting lineup and adds someone that actually gets paid to swing the bat. Wong gets paid to hit and field his position very well. Pitchers don’t get paid bc of the way they hit. They get paid on how well they pitch.
Having the DH removes strategies from the game making it more one-dimensional. Having lived in both AL and NL cities, and seeing baseball both with and without the DH, I find the NL game to be far more interesting. So be careful what you wish for.
Pitchers weren’t always paid just to pitch. Put the DH in and what I saw yesterday, DeSclafani doubling in a run in a zero-zero game, won’t happen again. We will also never see the butcher-boy play, or the rotation play ever again with the universal DH.
But most absurd of all is your claim that it doesn’t make baseball less of a sport. Are you kidding me? When a supposed athlete, either can’t, or isn’t allowed to even run, for fear of injuring himself, absolutely makes it less of a sport. Oh, In our sport we won’t allow pitchers to run because they might get injured. Please.
The DH adds strategy. There is no strategy that can be implemented with guys who can’t handle the bat. The worst play in sports is a pitcher bunting when there is already one out. Bunting is dumb in general, especially in that scenario. Pitchers batted a cumulative .109 in 2019. Having them bat detracts from the game.
It’s about more than just the pitcher bunting.
When Tony LaRussa went from the A’s to the Cards he said he was surprised at how much more he had to do managing without the DH. All the talk about tweaking the DH rule, is in response to the lack of strategy it creates.
In the AL, the manager doesn’t have to make decisions like, should he stick with his pitcher, who looks like he might be starting to leak oil, because the pitcher’s spot is up in the next inning. Does he gamble that his pitcher can get through the inning, or does he burn a reliever? Those type of decisions are completely missing in an AL manager’s job. The AL manager just takes the pitcher out whenever he feels like it’s time with any repercussions on the hitting side
They don’t need bench bats nearly as much in the AL. Without those pitcher’s spots in the lineup, the pinch-hitting matchups are another element far more prevalent in the NL
Being a fan of defensive excellence one of the most beautiful plays I’d seen was a perfectly executed rotation play on a bunt.
I’m sorry, but baseball isn’t all about hitting as a lot of fans seem to think. The DH just dumbs down the game.
Sending guys to the plate who can’t handle the bat dumbs down the game. Tony LaRussa? Gimme a break. Baseball needs to distance itself from people like him.
I don’t know what is more disappointing: no universal DH so pitchers still have to have silly injuries like this doing something that has nothing to do with what they get paid to do, or that this guy, a professional athlete pulled his quad jogging home.
Pulled his quad jogging home… It could have easily happened covering first base on a grounder… Would we get rid of that aspect of the game as well to protect pitchers?
Is that your go to to defend this archaic notion of pitchers hitting? It’s boring and adds nothing to the offense except an almost automatic out to the lineup.
You say that in jest, but why not? No pitcher has ever been paid a penny based on how well he covered 1st.
Difficult not to buy into the “soft” narrative when there are so many leg strains occurring simply from running from point A to point B. I’m more inclined to believe that there is a large number of baseball players who simply are not conditioned properly.
This is what happens when you play a 60-game season in a league accustomed to 162. It throws everyone off their normal program and routine. I’m convinced the shortened season last year has much more to do with the steep incline in soft-tissue issues this season than does an entire league of professional athletes being soft.
I’d like someone to elaborate how playing fewer games last year has been responsible for so many of this year’s injuries. I just don’t see the direct connection.
yO tHiS iS aNoThEr ReAsOn FoR tHe UnIvErSaL dH. smh y’all are vultures for this kinda stuff.
I mean, it quite literally is another reason for the universal DH.
God forbid an athlete should be allowed to run, I mean, he could hurt himself.
In this case we can’t say that it wouldn’t have happened covering first or fielding a grounder or simply jogging off the mound between innings. I saw the play and Hernandez wasn’t exactly chugging around the bases. He was the runner on third sprinting in easily. It was just a freak injury
Well, this is disappointing. Really wanting to see our young pitching staff healthy to see what all five of the current ones can do together, while we wait for Meyer, Cabrera, and others to be ready to challenge for jobs.
I just hope Sixto didn’t turn in to his old lax self. When PHI gave him to us he was known for being lazy.
When he came to us suddenly you saw video of him working his butt off. He lost weight. He generally seemed happier here or had something to prove.
Cabrera has been glass since he’s been noticed. Elisier always was as well and that’s why he was an easy get in the rule 5.
I just hope they are taking care or themselves . It’s a league wide issue anyway with injuries but it doesn’t help when some are known for not taking care of themselves.
I hope they’re taking care of themselves too. The reality is it is league-wide. I think the players are still playing up to the strength of 162 games since it’s been two years since they had to do that.
i really wished the Marlins had brought in a veteran innings eater to protect the innings of the kids. Since they didn’t, if they get their kids all healthy, I hope they do a sort of 6-man staff…maybe even rotate in a 7th just to keep them healthy and to patiently build innings up.
And another Marlins SP down. And the bullpen throwing BP to the Pirates!
So, why is it that we didn’t get a legit closer and a veteran innings eater?