Miami Palms Blog

Don Schoppe, along with Felix Gonsales and Art McLoughlin, is the longest tenured of relievers in the Palms' pen. He was middle relief his previous two seasons, but now with the Palms' top relievers of the past playing in New York, Cleveland and Chicago, Miami will try Schoppe as the set up man. For most of the year last season, Schoppe was reliable, maintaining a high strike out rate and an ERA under 2.50, however as the season progressed, and his innings mounted, his ERA climbed as we was afflicted by the home run bug. This season, his arm strength should be greater, his skills more advanced, and he will be a reliable component on the pitching staff

Dennis Sarfate spent last year with the Orioles after arriving from Houston as part of the Miguel Tejada trade last year. Before that, he was with the Brewers. His ERA was hurt by a few outings as a starter, but Sarfate is much better as a reliever, holding lefties to a .198 average, despite being a righty. Sarfate will likely be used in mop up duty or long relief, given his ability to go for more innings.

Omir Santos played with the Orioles last year, primarily coming off the bench in September, so this season will technically be his rookie year. He will play a backup role behind Eddie Black and certainly isn't expected to be an offensive powerhouse. He's generally been a .250 hitter who hasn't demonstrated a whole lot of power. Santos is the definition of a defensive catcher, and won't be expected to provide much more to the team.

Ayoz Sadan is the first natural born Armenian in the Major Leagues. His parents moved from Yerevan (then in the USSR) when he was young. After he moved to the US, he picked up baseball and the rest is history. If the rest of Armenia can play baseball like Sadan, then expect to see many more Armenians in the league. Two years ago, Sadan led the team in batting average and homeruns, and last year just in homeruns, thanks to a somewhat sluggish start. At the end of the season, he was the primary guy getting clutch hits and home runs, cementing Sadan's status as the leader of the team. Additionally, Sadan is an excellent fielder and fleet of foot. The best part? He's still young and will only get better.

Venezuelan Martin Prado came up with the Braves and spent a lot of time last year as the starting third baseman, but he has the ability to play both sides of the left infield. In a team full of slick fielding young rookies, Prado stands out because of his ability not only to hit for high average but to drive the ball. Prado doesn't hit many home runs, but he is more than capable of driving balls to the gaps for extra bases. Prado will fill the void left by Darren Jones, an exciting player who promises to be a star in the league for many years to come. Unfortunately, Jones will be doing that with the Dodgers.

Manny Parra comes to the Palms from the Brewers after posting a respectable 10-8 record with Milwaukee, including an outstanding 6 game win streak. He got stronger as the year went on, even though he wasn't posting the same win total. Now, after a season of building arm strength, we'll be able to see just how he is as a pitcher over the course of a full season. An altercation with Prince Fielder makes one worry about clubhouse chemistry, but Parra is a year older and a year wiser and will fill in nicely as the third starter.

Munoz was the crown jewel of the pitching rotation in 2008, even garnering some Cy Young attention and an all-star appearance in 2008. Munoz is first and foremost an inning eater who relies on ground balls and a low pitch count to navigate his way to victory, rather than a high strikeout rate seen by many other top flight pitchers. In fact, if it were only strikeout rate and batting average against that were used as a metric, Munoz would be the third best pitcher on the team, behind Javier Vazquez and Manny Parra. It's his unflappable nature that prevents opponents from getting under his skin to put together several hits in a row, and his absolute refusal to walk any one that meant his ERA was under three. Troy Munoz is unquestionably the ace of the Palms

Art McLoughlin is the senior lefty out of the Palms pen, thanks to the departures of Victor Love and Luis Montgomery the previous two offseasons. McLoughlin was mostly just a warm body to come out of the pen two years ago, but made a hard charge out of the gates last season. After compiling an ERA around 2 through August, McLoughlin was bit by the home run bug, and the ERA climbed to 3.76, not exactly something you want to see out of a reliever. He is a hard thrower who doesn't fool too many people with movement, which means he can get a few strikeouts by blowing pitches past hitters, but if hitters can time his pitches, he's in for some trouble

Johnston is a curious choice to be a bullpen arm. After pitching mostly as a starter last season in AAA Jackson, Johnston is expected to fill the role of long reliever or mop up guy that was vacated with Dallas Chastanet and Buddy Carlyle moving to the closer role. Johnston doesn't rely on a hard fastball, but more on pinpoint accuracy, something that isn't often seen out of relievers. This could be a similar situation to the one seen with Chastanet last year, where the intent is to eventually move him to the role of starter next season.