Miami Palms Blog

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.