Miami Palms Blog

If the Palms had a serious deficiency the last year, it was with their pitching staff. They attempted to upgrade their rotation, but more significantly, they aggressively went after improvements in their bullpen. No more apparent was that with the acquisition of Cody Allen. Allen had the material to be a closer, but in Miami, he will be the set up guy, giving Miami 2 full innings of reliable pitchers in 2015 at the back end of games. Allen was a closer in Cleveland and had 24 saves with a 2.07 ERA. That stuff will certainly play for Miami

There was some thought that Chris Korb would be ready to take over for Tony Abreu at shortstop to begin the 2015 season, but Abreu had other thoughts. Abreu put together one of the best seasons for a shortstop in the league. He hit .294 with 14 home runs, but more impressively, he also had 39 doubles and 11 triples. There is work to be done in terms of getting on base, but it seems pretty likely that Abreu can count on a longer future in charge at short for the Miami Palms.

The Palms have made a move at the Winter Meetings with a trade with a division rival. They have acquired big lefty TJ McFarland from Baltimore. He was a highly effective reliever with the Orioles, but his big frame and propensity for home run suppression appealed to the Palms, who intend to use him as a starter. McFarland, it appears, will slot in as a 3rd starter. McFarland has a 3.58 ERA out of the bullpen in his short career. The Palms will hope that McFarland's bullpen performance of last season (a 2.79 ERA) can translate to the rotation in 2014.

The Palms have already added Cody Allen to the bullpen, but they clearly weren't happy with that being their only replacement. Miami added renowned closer Francisco Rodriguez from the Brewers today, helping to further bolster what had been the clearest deficiency on the roster in the past season. Rodriguez has been one of the premier closers in the league since he burst onto the scene with the Angels in 2002 as a 20 year old. He has been successful with the Angels, Mets and Brewers, and now the Palms hope he can maintain his excellence in 2015 for Miami.

This didn't project to be a particularly active offseason for Miami, but it turns out the team will maximize their turnover, as aside from Pete Otterloop, whose option was picked up, none of the players who could have possibly left will be returning. Chris Johnson today agreed to a deal with the Pirates,  a move that he felt was necessary given the acquisition of Trevor Plouffe over the weekend. Johnson's high contact rates led to a good batting average that will come in handy with the young Pirates organization.

The Twins have a major prospect in Miguel Sano on his way to the majors, and they have a viable player there already. The Palms have opened the spot for the Twins while also patching up a hole in their lineup. Early this morning, Miami acquired Trevor Plouffe, who projects to be a platoon player at third with left handed batter Chris Korb. With the Twins on a full season, Plouffe was regularly hitting in the .250s with 14 home runs. his career high is 24. His real power shows through with the 40 doubles he hit in 2014. The Palms look forward to having Trevor on the roster!

Tired of a shaky pen for the last two seasons, Miami went out and acquired Cleveland's stellar closer Cody Allen. This portends to Miami's intention to move Manny Parra back into the rotation. Allen had a 2.07 ERA and impressively, nearly 12K's per 9 innings. The Palms will lean on Allen to help keep the pressure off the rotation and some of the other younger arms in the pen.

As had been anticipated, Steve Drysdale made it official over the weekend that he would be joining the Kansas City Royals in 2015, potentially replacing Billy Butler on the defending AL Champions. Drysdale will be replaced by John Jaso, who has already been acquired. The Palms will aslo see a long term staple of the rotation go to the NL, joining the World Series Champions. Troy Munoz, who experienced a bit of a resurgence this year, posting a 4.57ERA and a 3.30 FIP will be going to San Francisco for the next step of his career. The Palms have already begun rebuilding the rotation, signing Erik Bedard, however it will be tough seeing a familiar face in a different uniform next season. The Palms wish Troy the best of luck in the Bay Area.

Steve Drysdale, Miami's designated hitter last season, has made it very clear to team officials that he has no intention of re-signing with the team this offseason. Miami has already added a replacement in John Jaso. Speculation is strong that when the World Series ends, there would be mutual interest between Drysdale and the Kansas City Royals, where Drysdale's mentor, Ayoz Sadan already plays.

The World Series isn't over yet, but Miami is already getting active. Today, they acquired John Jaso from the Oakland A's to replace the likely to depart Steve Drysdale as a designated hitter. Jaso started his career as a catcher, and he still may fill in that role, despite having Carlos Ruiz and Brett Hayes already stationed there, but the Palms added him for his knack for getting on base. Miami needs some more base runners in order to score even more runs. Next for the Palms is acquiring some more pitchers, in addition to the recently acquired Eric Bedard.

In Miami's attempt to get better with their pitching staff, they needed to jettison some arms. One of the players not coming back next year is Felix Gonsales, who started his career as a reliever with some promise. The Palms tried to move him to the rotation with limited success, and then he failed in his return to the bullpen. He will ply his wares in Tampa next season, a team that thrives on reclamation projects. The Palms wish him all the best.

The deep farm system possessed by the Minnesota Twins and their need for starting pitching made them perfect trade partners for Kyle Blume. Blume, a native Minnesotan, was the opening day starter for the Palms this year, and figures to step in as the Twins' #2 man behind Phil Hughes. Blume went 12-11 with a 4.05ERA this season, thanks in no small part to his ability to induce poor contact on balls in play. The Palms have announced that they intend to transition Manny Parra back into a starter as a replacement for Blume.

The Palms haven't waited long to ensure that they can replenish their pitching staff. The team needs to replace Troy Munoz, and wanted a veteran arm too fill his leadership role. They have opted for the recently released Eric Bedard. Bedard is a 12 year vet in the league, most recently with the Tampa Bay Rays, where he was a back of the rotation starter. He is definitely not the same pitcher he once was, striking out fewer batters than he once did, but he does maintain a low HR rate, which is undoubtedly appealing for the Palms after watching John Danks last season. His biggest issue is with his command, but he does make up for it by striking out about 7 1/2 batters per 9 innings. He is expected to fill a spot towards the back of the rotation with the Palms, just as he did with the Rays.

The Palms had only two option decisions this year, and they were both relievers. They announced today that they would not be picking up the option of righty Felix Gonsales, ending a lengthy tenure with the team on a somewhat sour note. He'd been having a decent season until he collapsed late in the year, giving up, for example, a grand slam to Paul Konerko in the final week of the season. Gonsales is now a free agent. The Palms picked up Pete Otterloop, who had a similar ERA to Gonsales, but he had a much better K/BB rate and fewer home runs than Gonsales. Not only that, but he s younger and more likely to develop into a better long term option. Otterloop, through much of the year, was victim to bad defense behind him. Lastly, the Palms will be losing another arm, perhaps te best reliever (non-closer category) the Palms had this year. Tim Byrdak has announced that he intends to hang up the cleats now that the season is over. He had a long career, and his leadership will be missed...

The Palms today released their 2015 schedule. They will open at home against the Derek Jeter-less Yankees on April 6th. Their first trip on the road will be against the White Sox on April 10th. They will have holiday games against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Memorial Day, the Phillies in Miami on the 4th of July and the Mets in New York on Labor Day. As you may determined, the Palms will be playing AL East teams in interdivision games. They actually play the Marlins in their home and home series, as well as home and away against the Braves and Nationals. In full, here is the schedule for 2015. Yankees Home 3 April 6-8 White sox Away 3 April 10-12 Braves Away 4 April 13-16 Angels Home 3 April 17-19 Rays Home 3 April 21-23 Red Sox Home 3 April 24-26 Orioles Away 3 April 27-29 Rays Home 3 May 1-3 Red Sox Awa...

These stats include a game from July that was not included in previous statistical releases, and are the complete, official stats on the season. Team leaders include (rate stats for qualified batters only) G: Frank Sohn, 154 BA: Coco Crisp, .310 2b: Sohn, 44 3b: Tony Abreu 11 HR: Sohn 32 RBI: Sohn 105 R: Crisp 99 BB: Crisp 66 SLG Crisp .505 OBP: Crisp .369 Wins: Oliver Perez 13 Saves: Many PArra 36 IP: Kyle Blume 224.67 ERA: Blume 4.05 K: Blume 136 Quality Starts: Blake Johnston 18 Now, the full stats Player Position G AB H AVG 2b 3b HR RBI Run K BB GIDP LOB/3outs TB SLG OBP OPS Sac OPS + Billy Dupont 1b 148 612 176 0.288 34 7 21 83 67 73 30 2 152 287 0.469 0.320 0.789 1 103 Johnny Giavotella 2b 39 150 46 0.307 8 2 3 16 14 27 4 31 67 0.447 0.323 0.769 1 99 Kelly J...

The Palms ended their season strong, with a thorough route of the Chicago White Sox. Still, they had the courtesy to let Paul Konerko finish his career with an RBI single. It was only the 5th hit that Blake Johnston allowed, and the only run. The final run of the season was scored by Coco Crisp on a sac-fly by Frank Sohn. Chris Johnson was the player with the final hit, a double in the 8th. Billy Dupont walked in the 9th to become the final baserunner. Brett Hayes flew out to center to be the last batter of the season. Tony Abreu fielded a grounder off the bat of Leury Garcia on a pitch from Keith Harding to finish the season. The final homer for the season was actually hit on Friday night by Dupont. So that's it, the Palms' season ends without the postseason, but the team can look forward to figuring out how to move forward into next year.  Miami Palms 7, Chicago White Sox 2  Sunday, September 28, 2014  Miami Palms (78-83)       ...

Much as it has been this entire season forr Kyle Blume, he was clicking at a good pace, and had a solid outing, save for one inning. In this case, it was the 3rd, when He loaded the bases and the retiring Paul Konerko gave the home fans something to remember him by, launching a grand slam into the right field seats. Aside from that excitement, it was a quiet game, and the Palms never really threatened.  Chicago White Sox 5, Miami Palms 1  Saturday, September 27, 2014  Miami Palms (77-83)                                      Chicago White Sox (3-3)                                  Player      ...

Troy Munoz's start against the White Sox on Friday night may have been his last in a Miami Palms uniform. He has degraded a little bit over the last few years, but his performance in 2014 was something of a bounceback. Despite a 9-15 record, he had the 2nd best ERA among starters at 4.57 and the best FIP at 3.30. The veteran was the victim of little support behind him both at the plate, where he had little run support, and on defense, as he endured the highest BABIP of all pitchers on the roster. If he does decide to move on, Munoz' veteran leadership and stability will be sorely missed.

In a season plagued by poor run support, Troy Munoz got all he needed against the White Sox in the opener of the final series of the season. Billy Dupont had 5 runs batted in, thanks to a double and home run as well as an RBI single. Carlos Ruiz and Chris Johnson also went deep for Miami  Miami Palms 10, Chicago White Sox 2  Friday, September 26, 2014  Miami Palms (77-82)                                      Chicago White Sox (2-3)                                  Player          AB R  H BI BB SO  P  A  E LOB   Ave      Player...

The Palms came through with a win in their season home finale, thanks to a solid outing from John Danks and timely hitting from Billy Dupont, who had a 2 RBI triple, and Steve Drysdale, who hit a 2 run homer, the final at Palms Park this season. The Palms final hit at home for the season came in the 5th inning, from Chris Korb, so it was a good thing that Tim Byrdak and Manny Parra were solid in relief.  Miami Palms 5, Boston Red Sox 2  Thursday, September 25, 2014  Boston Red Sox (7-8)                                     Miami Palms (76-82)                                      Player    ...

The Red Sox only beat Miami by 1 run, but they ended up with 7 more hits. The Palms were timely, getting 4 of their runs on homers from Joe Mather, Gregor Blanco and Steve Drysdale. The biggest blows came from Yoenis Cespedes, however, as he drove in half of Boston's runs.  Boston Red Sox 6, Miami Palms 5  Wednesday, September 24, 2014  Boston Red Sox (7-7)                                     Miami Palms (75-82)                                      Player          AB R  H BI BB SO  P  A  E LOB   Ave      Player...

The Palms will officially finish the season below .500 after losting on Tuesday evening to the Red Sox. The issue, as it often has been this year, was an offense that seemed incapable to producing against the opposition. Clay Buchholz held Miami to 3 hits and struck out 8 through 8 inning. Blake Johnston was pretty good in his 7 innings of work, scattering 7 hits and striking out 6. The Palms allowed runs on an RBI single from David Ortiz and a sac fly from Garin Cecchini.  Boston Red Sox 2, Miami Palms 1  Tuesday, September 23, 2014  Boston Red Sox (6-7)                                     Miami Palms (75-81)                               ...

Kyle Blume was so good through 7 innings, but he blew his team's lead in the 8th inning by allowing 3 runs and Pete Otterloop furthered the damage by giving up 4 in the top of the 9th. This game was nip and tuck throughout, and the Palms had the upper hand, but again, it was shoddy late inning pitching that sunk the home squad. They big in their final home series of the season with Boston Tuesday evening.  Seattle Mariners 9, Miami Palms 4  Sunday, September 21, 2014  Seattle Mariners (4-3)                                   Miami Palms (75-80)                                      Player      ...