Jose Fernandez Won't Start Opening Day

[A.E]

Mattingly is going with Wei-Yen Chen as his opening day starter in order to give Jose an additional day of rest. All is in accordance with the pitch schedule the Marlins' ace will be on this year:
 

 
 
"I've watched, from afar, [Matt] Harvey's situation last year, [Stephen] Strasburg a couple years ago," manager Don Mattingly said (via MLB.com). "It always seemed to me like, why would you not have this set from the start and try to map the whole thing out? Obviously things change. You can have a guy turn an ankle and miss three starts and then it just changes your plan. But we're just trying to have some kind of plan where everybody understands the situation and is on board -- from Jose to our pitching guys to [president of baseball operations] Michael [Hill], the doctors, Scott [Boras], all of it."

 
I can understand the schedule but why not add the extra day of rest into the close of Spring Training? You would think the Marlins wan't their ace on the mound for opening day but then again, its nice to see Donnie Baseball making decisions that benefit the clubhouse ahead of the front office. 
 
It will be interesting to see if Jose is still a Marlin by season's end. I wouldn't put it past Miami to hand Jose a mega-deal similar to Stanton's. 

 

[cruzg24]

Wait are you saying hes going to be traded or sign a huge contract?

I wouldve given him extra rest in ST, this doesnt make sense unless they dont want to put added pressure on him, but he can handle it. Even then, being an opening day starter isnt really added pressure.