Olsen and Willingham called up

[bigken117]

ATLANTA (AP) -- The Florida Marlins purchased the contract of Scott Olsen on Thursday night, and the left-hander will start Saturday's game at Tampa Bay.

The Marlins also recalled catcher Josh Willingham from Triple-A Albuquerque and optioned pitcher Travis Smith and infielder Joe Dillon to Albuquerque.

Smith had been considered a possible starter for Saturday's game. He had a 7.20 ERA in 11 games with the Marlins.

Olsen was 6-4 with a 3.91 ERA in 14 starts at Double-A Carolina. Willingham was hitting .337 with 19 homers and 54 RBIs at Albuquerque.

The moves were announced after the Marlins' 8-0 win over Atlanta.

[theclefe]

This is wonderful, and dangerous. I was slated to take Olsen in the second round of my Minor League draft. Now I can grab him before anyone else. Hopefully, no one else catches on, because my waiver priority is really low.

Thanks Ken.

[theclefe]

IP H R ER BB K HR Season ERA
S. Olsen (W, 1-0) 5.2 4 2 1 3 7 1 1.59

Not bad. I wish Yahoo had him listed before my leaguemates find out about him. Will he stay up once Beckett gets off the DL?

[bigken117]

you have to assume it's all in how well he pitches...a few more outings like that won't hurt

[j24jags]

when beckett gets back, itll be to the pen for leiter. the 5 men in the rotation will be, beckett, willis, burnett, moehler, olsen...

-that is, if olsen keeps it up

[hybrid]

To be honest it was a so-so outing for Olsen IMO. He has a real nice slider that had a lot of hitters swinging and missing (lots that more disciplined hitters would of laid off). But everything I saw on his FB seemed slow or just avg., the highest I saw was 88-91. I was under the impression he more or less sat low 90's and could hit 94 or so.

With that in mind I wonder what a real team would do if they had some discipline, cause his stuff doesn't seem as good as advertised. If they lay off the slider in the dirt and wait on his FB, I can see him getting easily hammered. Also the Rays barely ever worked the count, though it was a good start ... he has a while to go still.

[Real Deal]

well, his stats looked pretty damn good today vs. the cubbies. 6 innings, 4 hit, 1 er, 3bb, and 4 k's.

[hybrid]

well, his stats looked pretty damn good today vs. the cubbies. 6 innings, 4 hit, 1 er, 3bb, and 4 k's.

Yep he has been pitching well, though I have only seen him pitch against the Rays and those were my thoughts. He possibly could of improved, but I think most of his success is coming from him not being seen before and having good stuff for a lefty.

[mcqfesijiba]

With Al Leiter's stellar performances, I have to imagine we'll be seeing Olsen around for quite a while. Good for the Marlins to have a nice up and coming lefty right when it looks like Leiter may be finished.

[PhilliesPhan24]

Olsen will be a trade chip for the Marlins to add a legit closer like Billy Wagner or Uggy Urbina.

Now, if my Phillies were smart, they would get the Braves and Marlins in a bidding war over Wagner and try to bring in names such as Marte, LaRoache, Langerhans, Heredia, and Olsen, depending on team.