BP Unfiltered

Great stuff. We could have a lot of fun with photos of pitchers for that bottom right hand corner box.

Also, I totally agree with your and Sam's speculation on today's podcast that -- the readiness Fernandez exhibited in this first start aside -- his early promotion is essentially a costless way for Loria & Co. to create something they can point to as supposed proof that they're not all about the bottom line. It's costless because -- if the past is prologue, at least -- they'll be trading him away before his final arbitration year (let alone his first free agent year) anyway, and thus won't be footing the bill for having started the clock now instead of 2014. (And of course, like one or both of you suggested, whether it's Eovaldi's and Alvarez's return from the DL or something else, they may still find a reason to demote him for just long enough to prevent him from obtaining Super 2 status.)

And as for the Marlins' past history of delaying call-ups for service time considerations, I think Giancarlo Stanton is a very fair precedent to cite. I'm not sure that Miguel Cabrera belongs in the same category, though. If I recall correctly, Miggy was not only just 20 at the time of his promotion, but he somewhat unexpectedly skipped over AAA, and had less than a half-season of at-bats at AA, when the call came. On top of that, he had almost exclusively played 3B (and before that, SS) in the minors, yet was plugged in at LF due to the presence of Mike Lowell at third (and, I suppose, due to the presence of a replacement-level Todd Hollandsworth in left). I know he was a highly touted prospect going into that year. I just don't recall having the impression at the time that his call-up was, in any sense, delayed.

Finally, though Loria & Co. might have intended this as an olive branch to the Marlins faithful, it's not a very significant one. It seems as though we have reached a point where gaming a prospect's service time is not even something that draws the ire of a team's fan base. Rather, it's often appreciated as a smart business move that will allow the team to rely that much less on overpaying free agents (e.g., oh, I don't know... Heath Bell?) as a means of improving the big league club. So, as much as Marlins fans are enjoying an early look at Fernandez, they must also be disenchanted with what is yet another example of flawed front office decision-making (again, the only defense to which is to admit an even more disenchanting reality: that they'll be trading the kid away before any of this matters).