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.