Righty reliever Rob Nenn was the closer for the first Florida Marlins’ World Series Championship in 1997. But, his best year was in 1996 for the Marlins when he pitched in 75 games (0 starts) in which he was 5-1 with 35 saves, a 1.95 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. Nen only gave up 67 hits in 83 innings in 1996 while whiffing 92 batters, which shows just how dominating he was. Nen pitched in 269 games (1 start) in his five years with the Marlins and he was 20-16 with 108 saves, a 3.41 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. Nen is the Marlins’ all-time leader in franchise history in saves with 108 and he’s #4 in games pitched (269).

27-year old righty swinging shortstop has had little problem handling major league pitching before this year. In his first six years in the majors, Ramirez played in 760 games in which he was 934 of 2,982 (.313 avg, .905 OPS) with 562 runs scored, 124 homers, 389 RBIs and 196 stolen bases. But this year, Ramirez is off to a very poor start with the bat for the Florida Marlins. Ramirez has played in 18 games for the Marlins so far this year and he is 12 for 66 (.182 avg, .541 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 0 homers, 7 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. The amazing thing about Ramirez’ struggles is that the Marlins are winning anyway. Think of how many games the Fish are going to win when Ramirez gets back on the right track….because he will.

The Marlins have signed 32-year old righty reliever/starter Chris Sampson to a minor league deal. Sampson pitched in 35 games (0 starts) for the Astros last year and he was 1-0 with a 5.93 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP. He has now pitched in 174 games (33 starts) in his first five years in the majors and he is 20-15 with 3 saves, a 4.42 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. Sampson might be able to help out the Marlins as a long man in the bullpen if he gets off to a fast start in AAA, and the Fish need help in the pen.

The Florida Marlins have signed 31-year old lefty swinging outfielder Gabe Gross to a minor league deal. Gross played in 105 games for the Oakland A’s last year and he was 53 of 222 (.239 avg, .601 OPS) with 27 runs scored, 1 homer, 25 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. He has now played in 657 games in his first 7 years in the majors and he is 349 of 1,461 (.239 avg, .716 OPS) with 203 runs scored, 40 homers, 186 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. Gross isn’t much of a player but the Marlins will stash him in AAA-ball just in case they suffer more injuries at the major league level.

UPDATE: (4/26/2011) - Gabe Gross has retired just two days after signing with the Marlins as he said his heart just wasn’t into it. This is no loss for the Marlins.

The Florida Marlins have placed 23-year old lefty starting LF Logan Morrison on the 15-day disabled list due to a left foot injury. He will miss the next 2-4 weeks. This is a bad break for the Marlins as Morrison has been far and away the best hitter on the team so far this year. Morrison has played in 15 games for the Marlins so far this year and he is 18 for 55 (.327 avg, 1.061 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 4 homers, 11 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He also has walked 10 times so far this year as he’s showing outstanding plate discipline. The Marlins aren’t going to be able to replace his bat while he’s out of action. 26-year old switch hitting Emilio Bonifacio and 26-year old lefty swinging Scott Cousins will likely share LF while Morrison recovers from his injury. Bonifacio has played in 12 games for the Marlins so far this year and he is 12 of 33 (.364 avg, .824 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Cousins has played in 13 games for the Fish so far this year and he is only 2 for 11 (.182 avg, .432 OPS) with 1 run scored and 1 stolen base. The Marlins need Morrison to heal up quickly.

27-year old righty starting pitcher Josh Johnson is the Rodney Dangerfield of starting pitchers as he doesn’t get much respect. Johnson pitched in 28 games (all starts) for the Marlins in 2010 in which he was 11-6 with a 2.30 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. If he didn’t get shut down in early September, he could have won the Cy Young Award in the N.L. This season he’s off to a really hot start once again for the Marlins. Johnson has started 3 games for the Marlins so far this year and he is 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA and a 0.65 WHIP. He has only given up 8 hits and 5 walks in his first 20 innings of the season while whiffing 18 batters. If Johnson continues to get good run support and bullpen help at the end of games, he’s going to be a very serious contender for the Cy Young Award in the N.L. this year.

Donnie Murphy came into this year as the Marlins’ starting 3B, but it was written in pencil. Murphy has played in 9 games for the Marlins so far this year and he is 4 for 27 (.148 avg, .419 OPS) with 1 run scored, 0 homers and 3 RBIs. He has only walked 1 time so far this year, so he’s not being very patient. But, he has only whiffed 4 times this year so he is making contact, which hasn’t been a strong suit of his so far in his major league career. He needs to pick things up soon or Emilio Bonifacio, Wes Helms or Greg Dobbs are going to take his job away from him.

The Marlins have signed 32-year old righty swinging 1B/OF Oscar Salazar to a minor league deal. Salazar played in 85 games for the Padres last year and he was 31 of 131 (.237 avg, .653 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 3 homers, 19 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 199 games in his first four years in the majors and he is 100 of 372 (.269 avg, .778 OPS) with 50 runs scored, 14 homers, 62 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Marlins hope that Salazar can get up to speed soon because they can use a veteran bench player like him.

30-year old righty swinging catcher John Buck is off to a very quick start for the Marlins. Buck has played in 6 games for the Marlins so far this year and he is 8 for 27 (.296 avg, .852 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 7 RBIs. Many skeptics thought that the Marlins overspent to secure Buck as their starting catcher in 2011. In his first 7 years, Buck has career highs of 53 runs scored, 20 homers and 66 RBIs, so you have to wonder if he’ll be able to consistently knock in runs the whole 2011 season. Regardless, Buck is off to a very nice start for the Florida Marlins.

Starter Javier Vazquez and reliever Ryan Webb got their lunches handed to them by the Mets over the weekend. Vazquez pitched 2 1/3 innings in which he gave up six hits (2 homers) and he walked 5 batters as he allowed 4 earned runs and took the loss. Ryan Webb wasn’t much better in the two games he worked in as he gave up 4 hits and 3 earned runs in only 1 inning pitched. Webb also took one of the losses for the Marlins. Vazquez & Webb are much better than they showed over the weekend, so I look for them both to be much better the next time out.