CLEVELAND -- A lovely day on the south shore of Lake Erie (how many times are those words ever spoken?) as we get set to watch the Marlins take on the first-place Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.
Carlos Zambrano takes the mound for the Marlins, which brings us to this afternoon's breaking news out of Chicago: the player the Marlins sent to the Cubs for Zambrano -- Chris Volstad -- has been demoted to Triple A Iowa.
It's been an awful start for Volstad in the Windy City, where he's gone 0-6 with a 7.46 ERA in eight starts, all of which the Cubs ended up losing. Zambrano, obviously, has done quite a bit better for the Fish. Given that the Cubs are eating most of Big Z's salary, it sure looks like the Marlins got the best of the deal.
Volstad, a former first-round pick of the Marlins, is now winless over his past 19 starts.
Any thoughts?
Tonight's Marlins lineup:
1. Reyes, ss; 2. Infante, 2b; 3. Ramirez, 3b; 4. Dobbs, 1b; 5. Stanton, rf; 6. Morrison, dh; 7. Bonifacio, cf; 8. Buck, c; 9. Petersen, lf
the typical Volstad start for the Marlins was 5 innings pitched and 4-5 runs allowed; it looks like he's doing the same for the Cubs
everyone kept waiting for his talent to come through, and it never did so it was best to cut him loose
Posted by: rc | May 18, 2012 at 04:13 PM
I was one of the ones who thought Volstad could turn things around. Guess not. One of the realities in the marlins baseball of late: another #1 draft pick that was a bust.
Posted by: Flav C. | May 18, 2012 at 04:23 PM
Volstad is washed up as a starter,best hope is to be a middle relief slug.....at least the Marlins dumped him on another team.
Posted by: Another Beinfest 1st round fart | May 18, 2012 at 05:50 PM
I, too, thought he had a lot of upside. Maybe he still does. But the deal is a steal so far for us. Big point...Zambrano is only 30 years old. He could have a very productive 3-4 years of prime left. Cody went 2 for 4 last night with HR, etc. Thank God the Marlins dumped him to save money that was used to sign Buck. What a damn shame. It seems like Ozzie agrees with us about Buck. Hayes is getting more and more playing time. Can't anyone get the guy to shorten his swing with runners in scoring position? It would be one thing if he hit 25-30 HRs, but we're lucky if we get more than 10. Without looking it up, I doubt if he has 10 RBIs yet. Incidently, Cody has 27. Damn.
Posted by: Stan M | May 18, 2012 at 05:54 PM
Flav C takes my only thought. Marlins need to do better drafting their no. 1
Posted by: rbleigh | May 18, 2012 at 05:54 PM
With Volstad though there was nothing to turn around because he never had it to begin with. So the concept that a change of scenery would do him good doesn't apply here. Zambrano on the other hand did benefit from a change of scenery because he's been an all star and opening day starter and all that good stuff.
Posted by: Glags | May 18, 2012 at 06:58 PM
rbleigh,
The Marlins made excellent #1 picks for the past 2 years. And this past year,their #2 pck looks awfully good, too. On last blog, I put up a site one can use to see all mainor leaguers if you're interested.
Posted by: Stan M | May 18, 2012 at 07:54 PM
Marlins gave Volstad too many chances, were willing to throw away a season waiting for him to get some wins. Cubs dumped him after eight starts.
The Zambrano trade was without a doubt a steal for the Marlins. We get a pitcher who was in 4th place in ERA in the NL for only $2M and get to dump Volstad.
Posted by: bob | May 18, 2012 at 11:43 PM
I remember seeing Volstad that rookie season in which he made his debut vs. the Dodgers and he looked PHENOMENAL! But since then he's been terrible to say the least. I was more than happy when we traded Volstad for Z, a guy who was a legit ace just a few seasons ago for the Cubs. All while picking up only 3mil of his contract!
Posted by: George S | May 19, 2012 at 12:57 PM
What cracked me up was all the guys who were AGAINST the Zambrano trade! You guys bought the media demonization of Zambrano as a nut job and took it for granted that he also couldn't pitch anymore. What the hell were you guys thinking? Zambrano was the BEST thing about those terrible Cubs teams, but you guys bought the Chicago media hype that HE WAS THE PROBLEM!
When this trade was announced, I approved of it immediately. Volstad was a BUM with ordinary stuff, while Zambrano was a guy who won over 125 games in MLB and was just 30 years old. This was the best move that the Front Office made in YEARS, that and signing Mark Buerhle.
Posted by: Alex | May 19, 2012 at 11:28 PM