After winning the NL Rookie of the Year in 2013, Miami Marlins starter Jose Fernandez has made just 19 starts after undergoing Tommy John surgery early into the 2014 season. He came back to make 11 starts in 2015, but this upcoming season will be his first full MLB campaign back from the procedure.
Fernandez will undoubtedly be limited in some capacity in 2016 and rumors suggest he'll soon formally sit down with his agent, Scott Boras, and the Marlins to discuss those parameters.
"Boras said Monday that he's already had initial conversations with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and baseball operations president Michael Hill about Fernandez's workload," writes FOX Sports' Jon Morosi.
"'There's going to be a range (of innings) discussed with the team and the doctors involved,' Boras said.
"Hill, for his part, said Monday in an email that the team has formulated a 'tentative game plan . . . that we will review with Jose in spring training.' Hill added that the Marlins' baseball operations department, team medical staff, Dr. Neal ElAttrache (who performed the surgery), and Fernandez himself have had -- or will have -- voices in the decision-making process."
Fernandez tossed 64-2/3 innings in his return last season, but he'll have a much bigger workload ahead of him for 2016. The Marlins hope to contend after an active offseason and Fernandez, the ace of the pitching staff, will be a big part of that. As a result, other rumors on the subject find the Fish might be a bit lax on their innings-limit for the 23-year-old.
"The Marlins, according to one source, will be reluctant to place a hard cap on Fernandez before the season, preferring to agree on a range that could be scaled based on the number of stressful innings encountered during the year."
That could be a result of Matt Harvey's innings fiasco last season when Boras insisted there was a hard cap on the right-hander's limit in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said a number was never agreed upon and that he wasn't going to let Boras determine how much Harvey would pitch.
Luckily, the Mets put the controversy in the rearview and made it to the World Series, but it was a headache that could have easily been avoided if the conversation was more transparent.
Miami controls Fernandez through the 2018 season, so it's safe to say they are going to be prudent about the health and durability of his surgically-repaired elbow. But at the same time they're going to want to utilize him as much as possible.
"Fernandez and [Giancarlo] Stanton - easily their two biggest starts - have only been on the field together for nine games over the past two years," Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald said on the Baseball Tonight Podcast with Buster Olney. "[The Marlins] are hoping they can keep both of those guys healthy for the whole season."
And if the Marlins want to contend, both of those players will have to be on the field for much longer than nine games.
