The Seattle Mariners are trying to juggle their present and future

.Left-hander Marco Gonzales Stephen Strasburg Jersey , who has a team-leading 12 victories, was scratched from his scheduled start Sunday against Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his turn through the rotation was skipped to give him extra rest.He is set to return Wednesday afternoon when the Mariners play host to the Houston Astros in the finale of a three-game series.Article continues below ...The Mariners remain in the American League West race and are battling for one of the two wild-card berths, but also realize Gonzales is likely to have a prominent role beyond 2018.Though Gonzales is 12-8 with a 3.91 ERA, he’s 0-3 with a 7.94 ERA in his three starts this month. Plus, he’s already pitched 142 2/3 innings after throwing 40 in 2017. He had Tommy John surgery in 2016.“The main objective is to have a strong finish and not be crawling across the finish line at the end of the year,” Gonzales told MLB.com. “In that aspect and that lens, I’m taking it as a positive. Obviously I’m a competitor. I take it as a challenge to go out and have a strong start on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to the test.”Mariners manager Scott Servais said the extra rest for Gonzales is “something we’ve talked about for a while now.” “We gave him a pretty good break at the All-Star break. We’ll give him a couple extra days here and then we have some off days coming up, so he’ll get a couple extra days between his next start,” Servais said. “So we have a span of about 20 days where he’ll make three starts instead of four.”Gonzales said he believes his recent struggles have to do with command with his fastball and are not because he’s tiring.But he said he understood the decision to skip a start.“At the end of the day, we want to win,” he said. “So as far as taking into account what it will take me to get quality starts, I think just resetting some things and coming back with a strong start after a couple days of rest http://www.nationalsfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-adams-jersey , that’s good for everybody. They have my best interest in mind. I’m not taking this as they don’t believe in me or anything like that. It’s collectively, let’s figure out how we win games late in the year.”Gonzales is 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA in two career appearances (one start) against the Astros. In the only previous start against them, Gonzales suffered a 9-2 loss April 19 in Houston when he gave up three runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings. The Astros are scheduled to start right-hander Charlie Morton (12-3, 2.78 ERA). Morton is 3-3 with a 3.16 ERA in seven career starts against Seattle, including 2-1 with a 2.37 ERA in three starts this season.Morton has not had a win since July 31. He allowed four hits and two runs in five innings in his most recent start, a 4-3 loss to Oakland on Friday, a game in which Morton did not get a decision.The Astros got reigning AL MVP Jose Altuve back from the disabled list Tuesday, though outfielder George Springer missed his second consecutive game with a sore left quadriceps.Altuve said he was glad to be back after missing 21 games with a sore right knee. It was his first time on the disabled list in his eight-year career.“I’m excited,” Altuve told MLB.com. “This is a great team. I know you guys know I love every single part about this team and the way they play. We’re in first place and most likely we’re going to be in the playoffs, and I have a lot of confidence in my teammates, and I just want to be a part of this.” It’s time for Isan to turn potential into production if he hopes to break through to the Marlins active roster."WhiteFanposts Sections News & RumorsAnalysisPodcastsProspects & DraftGame CoverageFull ArchiveMasthead Social Marlins Players on TwitterFish Stripes on InstagramMarlins Media Members Fish Stripes Best of 2018 Marlins StoriesScheduleRosterStatsCommunity Guidelines StubHub 鉁昅iami Marlins Analysis2019 Marlins Season Preview2019 Marlins Season Preview: Isan D铆azNew,3commentsIt’s time for Isan to turn potential into production if he hopes to break through to the Marlins active roster.ESTShareTweetShareShare2019 Marlins Season Preview: Isan D铆azPhoto courtesy of @isandiaz11/InstagramThe Marlins continued their youth movement last year when they traded Christian Yelich to the Brewers for four prospects. One of those prospects was Isan D铆az. To date, the second baseman has presented a mixed bag Anthony Rendon Jersey , full of intriguing tools along with maddening inconsistency, to say the least. When you look at his tool set, you automatically think, “This kid could be a useful major league player”. But when you observe his seasonal production, you wonder what is holding him back from being that major league player now. In this 2019 Fish Stripes preview, we take a look at Isan D铆az and what may be the necessary pieces to him achieving his eventual MLB promise. How did he get here? Traded from Brewers to Marlins on January 25, 20182018 MiLB Stats: .232/.340/.399, 13 HR, 56 RBI, 14 SB in 119 G2019 ZiPS projection: .200/.293/.328, 10 HR, 46 RBI, 9 SB in 119 GFirst let’s look at the man:Isan checks in at 5-foot-10 Daniel Murphy Jersey , 185 pounds. He is relatively compact and flexibility could be a concern with him. He doesn’t look overly bulky or chubby, but he seems to have a tight lower half that will limit his range at second. His swing varies in its fluidity—some swings are smoother than others and he does swing with a significant amount of force. He also has a long swing which creates difficulty with pitches on the inner half. There is a noticeable uppercut in his swing, which tells me that when he is pitched out of his hot zones but still in the strike zone, he will do little or nothing with the pitch. This makes pitch recognition an imperative aspect of the player he could stand to improve in this area. What’s important to keep in mind is that D铆az is only 22, so there is still time for him to make corrections in these areas.His batting averages have been consistently low, particularly from High-A and beyond (cumulative .224 BA across those levels). Meanwhile, his seasonal strikeout number has never been lower than 128 in that same time span. His GB and FB% have hovered around the 40% range. This leads me to have real concerns about the quality and consistency of his contact.One thing that is a plus is that D铆az is an extra-base machine. When he does make contact for a hit, it’s usually an extra-base hit. This is a plus as the impact of the contact is elevated when your hits are extra bases. This negates some of the concern over his low average, in my opinion. Furthermore, it is imperative to remember that he is a young talent and there is a ton of room for growth. D铆az reminds me of a poor man’s Rougned Odor. His plate discipline shows flashes and so does his power potential. Rougned makes more contact, though.Another positive is the leap he made during the second half of the 2018 Double-A season:Isan Diaz - AA Splits - Pre and Post All-Star BreakMILB.comD铆az checked all the boxes that you’d want to see from an above-average MLB second baseman: extra-base power, strike-zone management, RBI production. It’s similar to his progression at Low-A ball two years prior:Isan Diaz - A Ball Splits - Pre and Post All-Star BreakMiLB.comThis leads me to believe that Isan is the type of player that needs time to get in comfort zones before you can accurately assess his abilities. Expect streakiness to be attached to his game over his career http://www.nationalsfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-adams-jersey , another trait that matches the aforementioned Odor. This season in Triple-A will be critical to his development path. He will need to tighten up his strike-zone management consistency, increase the quality of contact with greater barrel percentages, and he will need to show some ability to hit for average. To put it plainly, it’s time for Isan to turn potential into production and force the Marlins to call him up at some point in 2019.Strengths: power Weaknesses: quality of contact, Ks, mobility defensively, streakiness at the plateComparison to Date: Rougned OdorFor more Isan D铆az background and career comps, please read Ian Smith’s feature on him from The 4-6-3 series