After tapping Jose Urena for another Opening Day start, might the Miami Marlins still be looking to deal their most consistent starting pitcher?
When it comes to the Miami Marlins of late, all the chatter has been about starting pitching. How the organization has way more depth than in years past. How signing Sergio Romo has freed up Don Mattingly to use an “opener”. And lastly, that Jose Urena will once more be taking the mound as the Miami Marlins Opening Day starter.
That last one warrants special attention, because it just might say a lot about how much longer the Marlins plan to hold on to Dan Straily.
Let me start by saying that Urena enjoys more upside than Straily at this point in their careers. Also, that Urena was unquestionably excellent down the stretch last season. In his last seven starts, he earned six wins, and only surrendered more than a single run once. For September, he was 5-0 with a sterling 1.20 ERA. Straily spent all but four innings of that month on the DL. More to the point, even Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer had lousier Septembers. In Scherzer’s case, and really the entire non deGrom NL East, dramatically so.
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However, there is something to be said for who the competition was.
In those last seven starts, Urena had just one win against a team with a winning record. Of those other five wins, three were against the flatly terrible Mets and Reds. In contrast, Straily averaged a 3.56 ERA across eleven July and August starts. He notched quality starts, or just shy, against five 90 win teams in that span. On two occasions, he was just robbed by his own bullpen. Otherwise, we’d be talking Straily up as the lone Miami Marlins pitcher to produce a winning season. And were it not for the injury, the likely ERA leader as well.
So why isn’t Straily starting on Opening Day?
Smart money says the reason is that GM Michael Hill is still looking to trade Straily.
Keep in mind, Straily would very likely have been last year’s Opening Day starter if he was healthy. Instead, Urena got the nod, and started off 2018 with that perfect metaphor of a first pitch homer to the Cubs Ian Happ in front of a national audience. That’s not to say Urena is bound to fall flat again in another Opening Day start. But it is to say that Straily is still the more consistent performer, and the clear cut veteran leader of the pitching staff.
Which makes it highly likely that the Marlins might just be looking to avoid the headlines that would result from naming an Opening Day starter….and then trading him. Of moves that get affectionately labeled “so Marlins” by the Dan Le Batards and David Schoenfields of the world, that one would be pretty up there.
Beyond Straily making more sense on paper though, there is the continuing reality of how the 2019 Luke Warm Stove offseason is playing out. Sure, J.T. Realmuto did finally get dealt, and Manny Machado did actually get someone to believe he’s the most valuable player in sports. Yet it is still a slow slog, with two of the top three pitching targets heading into the offseason still available. Not to mention some guy named Bryce Harper.
The dominoes are falling though. And when it comes to Straily and the Miami Marlins, enough might have fallen already.
The Nationals already have Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. The Phillies have Aaron Nola. The White Sox have….a salty attitude and a down the road plan.
The Padres? Flip a coin on who the ace of that staff is going to be. Joey Lucchesi? Clayton Richard?
Straily is a top of the rotation starter for the 2019 Marlins. Which says a lot about what to expect 2019 Marlins. But while a contending club would never want him as a staff ace, he makes for an excellent No. 4 or 5 starter. Capable of flashing No. 3 upside, seldom rocked too early, the consummate innings eater teams want backing up their pitching staff.
Plus he’s cheap. Exactly the kind of minor upgrade a team that just signed Machado can still afford. Exactly the kind of minor upgrade whichever team signs Harper can still afford too, while we’re at it.
At the end of the day, any value Straily holds for the 2019 Miami Marlins is as the veteran leader. And given his talent, he best does that as the staff ace. This isn’t like Al Leiter coming back to Miami in 2005, where he was clearly the fourth best pitcher in the rotation going into the season. Straily’s talent still plays, and heading into 2019, still trumps the recent MLB track record of any starting pitcher in the running for a rotation spot.
So if the Marlins aren’t planning on using him as such, it only seems fair to question whether they plan on him being there when the season gets started.