Miami Palms Blog

Kelly Johnson was the Palms starting 2b for three years, and was a utility player last year, but now the veteran has decided to move on. He started his career with the Braves, and he decided today to return to the organization that welcomed him to the league. He is coming off one of his best seasons by rate stats, though he only participated in 41 games, hitting .341 with 11 home runs. He will likely take over the starting spot for the Braves as the 2017 season begins.

Miami has decided that to fill one of the holes in their rotation, they would try to get younger. That was what they did, dealing with the Diamondbacks for 23 year old Archie Bradley. Bradley managed only a 5.02 ERA, but a deeper dig into his stats shows a pitcher who will strike out many, and who was unduly punished by an inefficient defense behind him. His FIP was, as a result, 4.10. With such a good pitcher with terrific peripherals, a live fastball and an excellent curve, Bradley looks to be an investment for the future.

With some turnover expected in the rotation and in the bullpen, the Palms sought out their first new pitcher, adding reliever Mike Morin, a young righty from the Angels. He strikeouts about 8 per 9 innings and has done a good job with home run suppression, despite being a flyball pitcher. His metrics indicate that his 4.37 ERA was less than a good reflection of his actual ability. Morin roffiles as a pitcher that will grow into his bullpen role over several years to come.

Miami had options on 5 different players: Edwin Encarnacion, Coco Crisp, Gregor Blanco, Chris Korb and Lucas Harrell. Encarnacion was an obvious pick up, while the Palms wanted to secure a center fielder in Crisp for next year, and saw enough from Harrell to attempt to move him back to the rotation in 2017. Blanco and Korb will be allowed to test the free agency market. Miami also has free agents in Kelly Johnson, Manny Parra, TJ McFarland, Odrisamer Despaigne and Oliver Perez. The glut of pitchers on the market is much of the reason Harrell's option was picked up.

After only one season with the Palms, Willie Bloomquist has decided to hang up his cleats. After a long career in Seattle and Arizona, he finished his career hitting .227 with 1 home run in 4RBI in Miami. The Palms wish him well in retirement.

Player GS W L S BS IP ERA H R K BB WHIP K/BB BAA HR QS K/9 Manny Parra 33 14 10 230 4.27 260 109 136 32 1.27 4.25 0.274 34 15 5.32 Blake Johnston 33 12 12 199.67 5.27 278 117 129 54 1.66 2.388889 0.317 32 11 5.81 TJ McFarland 32 15 8 215.67 3.13 223 75 160 52 1.28 3.076923 0.256 21 17 6.68 Odrisamer Despaigne 32 5 16 150.67 7.05 217 118 80 55 1.81 1.454545 0.324 30 4 4.78 Jarod Lantz 32 17 8 236.67 3.04 232 80 134 53 1.20 2.528302 0.246 25 21 5.10 Francisco Rodriguez 1 2 39 6 42.67 3.16 47 15 28 11 1.36 2.545455 0.269 6 5.91 Cody Allen 6 2 1 2 74.33 3.63 ...

Player Position G AB H AVG 2b 3b HR RBI Run K BB GIDP LOB/3outs TB SLG OBP OPS Sac OPS + Edwin Encarnacion 1b 150 601 170 0.283 30 1 40 112 92 124 75 1 161 322 0.536 0.360 0.896 4 128 Johnny Giavotella 2b 146 571 162 0.284 27 8 9 61 55 83 25 6 130 232 0.406 0.313 0.720 1 85 Kelly Johnson 2b 41 158 50 0.316 8 2 11 26 31 47 11 3 49 95 0.601 0.361 0.962 143 Willie Bloomquist UTIL 42 163 37 0.227 8 1 4 21 33 7 3 36 48 0.294 0.259 0.553 44 Carlos Ruiz C 111 436 100 0.229 17 2 10 32 50 56 30 3 104 151 0.346 0.278 0.624 2 61 Brett Hayes C 44 165 36 0.218 1 2 5 14 ...