Ricky Nolasco came into the season projected to be a leader of one of the best young rotations in the majors. On May 22, Nolasco gave up eight runs over two innings, and immediately after the game he was informed he was being sent to the minor leagues.
"We've got to get him fixed," manager Fredi Gonzalez said at the time. "That's why we're making the move down there -- get him a couple of starts and whatever it takes to get him straightened out."
This sort of shock treatment is standard operating procedure for the Marlins, who have optioned out many slumping young players in this manner. The same thing happened to
Chris Volstad on
Aug. 28 after a run of terrible starts. Florida's organizational philosophy, established and carried out by Larry Beinfest, is that players should understand a place on the major league roster is based on performance, and if you don't perform, well, it doesn't really matter what your numbers are from past seasons in the majors. And once you fix what is wrong, you get recalled to the majors, as Nolasco did, a couple of weeks after being sent down. Nolasco didn't pout; he worked on the depth of his curveball and other issues, and fought his way back to the big leagues.
The average age of major league players continues to fall, and the perceived value of young players is rocketing. More and more often, young players are developed with tremendous advance notice -- Stephen Strasburg might be the poster child for that -- and quickly summoned to the majors.
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Buster Olney
