Locke cut after 11-run debacle
Replacement in rotation still to be named
ST. LOUIS — The halfway point was the breaking point for the MiamiMarlins with left-hander Jeff Locke.
The club designated Locke for assignment Tuesday, hours after he allowed 11 runs in 2 innings to the St. Louis Cardinals, arguably the worst start in franchise history. The Marlins recalled right-handed reliever Drew Steckenrider from Triple-A New Orleans to fill the roster spot and be a fresh arm in an overworked bullpen.
Locke had an 8.16 ERA and 1.78 WHIP in seven starts through half of the season.
“We’d like to think it was going to get better,” manager Don Mattingly said. “And it justwasn’t.”
Locke joined theMarlins on a one-year, $3.025 million deal in December. Shoulder tendinitis wiped out his spring training, forcing him onto an individualized de facto preseason program— andthen a rehab assignment— throughApril andMay.
Upon rejoining the big league squad last month, he had an impressive team debut: one run in 5 innings. Thatwas as good as it got.
After Monday’s blowout, Locke had no answers.
“Everything you sawwas the same thing I saw, too,” Locke said. “No rhyme or reason or answer I can give you.”
The underlying thinking behind the move, regarding the future and culture of the organization, was perhaps more significant than the actual transaction of Miami moving on from a player on a short-term, low-money deal.
In a year that has been filled with talk of theoretical contention, there has been none for the Marlins. And while removing Locke from the roster could benefit the team immediately, Mattingly acknowledged that a longer-term focus was part of the decision, the first public comments from someone with the team this year that hinted at a future seasons being weighed as heavily as this one.
“Our situation leads to exploration of moving forward and looking to the future,” Mattingly said. “It was time, in our situation, to continue to explore options that in the future, maybe we’re going to try to find someone thatwe can find in our minor league system that can be more competitive in a game.”
And then there is the matter of culture. Mattingly said the Marlins didn’t try Locke in the bullpen because that would have meant demoting a reliever who didn’t deserve it.
That is not the message Mattingly wants to send his team.
A guessing game
The Marlins have not named Locke’s rotation replacement for their game Saturday against the Giants, and the upper levels of their farm system aren’t exactly bursting with options.
There are two starting pitchers on the 40-man roster not already in the majors: left-handers Adam Conley and Justin Nicolino. Nicolino was optioned toNewOrleans on Saturday and needs to remain in the minors for at least 10 days, unless another player goes on the disabled list.
Conley, with a 6.10 ERA and 1.55 WHIP forNewOrleans, has pitched “a lot of the same” in the minors as he did in the majors earlier this year, Mattingly said.
“He’s had a game here or a game there that’s been good, but the games have been pretty much and the stuff has been pretty much what we saw here,” Mattingly said.
Right-handers Odrisamer Despaigne and Severino Gonzalez have worked mostly out of the bullpen of late, though Despaigne pitched as many as five innings as recently as Thursday.
Mattingly noted that lefthander Wei-Yin Chen, out indefinitely with elbow trouble, is “not something that’s really even in the equation right now.”
Mattingly also didn’t guarantee that Saturday’s starter would get an extended look in the rotation.