Willingham given vote of confidence from Girardi

[General]

Josh Willingham's approval rating climbed Saturday when manager Joe Girardi gave the catching candidate his strongest endorsement yet to take over the position on a regular basis.
''We believe . . . that he can catch in the big leagues every day,'' Girardi said of Willingham, who has received extra training at the position this spring -- ''Catching 101,'' as the manager put it -- so the Marlins can keep his bat in the lineup.
Although he stopped short of naming Willingham the team's No. 1 catcher, Girardi made it clear that Willingham has done nothing to end the experiment and move on to Plan B: shifting Willingham to left field.
Willingham hasn't played in the outfield this spring, and Girardi said there are no immediate plans to try him there, even though no left fielder has emerged and the position remains a large question mark with Opening Day approaching.
''I think they like what they see, or I would have spent some time there by now,'' Willingham said.
''He's still a viable everyday catching candidate, so if you're an everyday catching candidate, the chances of you playing in left field aren't real good,'' Girardi said of Willingham.
``If you're catching 130 games, you're usually not going to run a guy out there on his off day.''
Willingham is battling Miguel Olivo for the catching job, with journeyman Matt Treanor on the periphery.
The Marlins are satisfied with Olivo from a defensive standpoint but prefer Willingham's bat.

From the Miami Herald.


I don't have many feelings about Willingham. On one hand, he's an alleged prospect. On the other, he's 27 years old. He batted .307 last season in a bit of limited action, and has versatility. From what I've seen of him, I wouldn't want him to start, but he'd be a very good backup C and LFer.

[DirtyKash]

Joe Girardi would know something about catching.

I think I'm going to draft J-Will in my league.

[General]

Well, if your other choice is Miguel Olivo, I'd pick Willingham too.

[General]

This guy is having a great spring:

Josh Willingham homered twice and walked to lead the Marlins to a 5-4 win over the Orioles on Monday.
Willingham is hitting a respectable .448/.553/1.000 in 29 at-bats. It's going to be hard to blame the Marlins for giving him more time in left field than behind the plate. They're not going to want to lose their second-best hitter twice per week