Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Locke cut after 11-run debacle
Replacement in rotation still to be named
ST. LOUIS — The halfway point was the breaking point for the Miami Marlins 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 just wasn’t.”
Locke joined the Marlins 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 — and then a rehab assignment — through April and May.
Upon rejoining the big league squad last month, he had an impressive team debut: one run in 5 innings. That was as good as it got.
After Monday’s blowout, Locke had no answers.
“Everything you saw was 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 that we 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.