Olsen wants to be new ace

Olsen wants to be new ace
Left-hander, Maybin looking to secure key roles on Marlins
By Joe Frisaro / MLB.com

MIAMI -- In terms of leadership and experience, no one on the young Marlins staff is fully ready to replace Dontrelle Willis. But Scott Olsen makes it clear that he wants the status the D-Train previously held with the organization.

Olsen covets being the ace of the Florida staff, a distinction that Willis held the past few seasons.

When the Marlins take the field for Opening Day against the Mets on March 31, Olsen wants to be on the mound.

"With Dontrelle being gone, someone has to do it," Olsen said. "Whoever it is, obviously, it will be well deserving. But I'm not going to sit here and beat around the bush. I want to start on Opening Day. It's just going to come down to how I pitch in Spring Training, and the shape I show up in, and the shape the other guys show up in. It will come down to the competition to see who gets it."

The Marlins traded Willis and Miguel Cabrera to the Tigers earlier this month in a blockbuster deal. The deal returned some promising young players to Florida, including outfielder Cameron Maybin and lefty starter Andrew Miller, who also will have a say in who takes the ball on Opening Day.

Olsen isn't the only young Marlin who will have to compete for a prominent role.

Manager Fredi Gonzalez said the Marlins are not hesitant to provide opportunities to young players. While Maybin is just 20 years old, the plans are to give him every chance to win the starting center-field job.

"For me, he's competing for a job," Gonzalez said. "I'm open-minded. Detroit thought a lot of him. They brought him up in the middle of a pennant race. We'll see. I know within our organization, we're kind of mixed on it. It's about 50-50 of whether he will start in the Minor Leagues for a month or two, and then we will bring him up.

"We are wide open to that part of it. I'm wide open on it, but why not? People have done it before. Usually the good ones have no problem adjusting to it [the big leagues]."

While parting with Cabrera and Willis because of financial reasons was difficult for Florida, the team received six young players with tremendous potential. Within the industry, Maybin is regarded as a can't-miss talent. He obviously is projected as the center fielder of the future, but there are questions about whether he is ready for the big leagues right now.

The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder from Asheville, N.C., won't turn 21 until April 4.

If Maybin doesn't show he is ready to be the starter on Opening Day, the team is ready to go with either Cody Ross or Alejandro De Aza. The two also could be used in a platoon situation. Another fallback plan is Alfredo Amezaga, a switch-hitter who is a natural middle infielder.

"I'm all good for competition," Gonzalez said. "If [Maybin] shows he can hold his head up above water, why not? But we're not going to make that decision until after Spring Training."

Hot Stove

Gonzalez and Olsen were on hand Saturday for a select-a-seat event at Dolphin Stadium. The Marlins are currently offering a special eight-games-for-$68 Holiday Pack. Details on the Holiday Pack and all season ticket packages are available at floridamarlins.com.

Perhaps the biggest question facing the club heading into Spring Training is the rotation. Subtracting Willis from the mix means the Marlins are minus a two-time All-Star who repeatedly logged 200-plus innings.

Olsen, who turns 24 in January, is coming off a difficult 2007, when he was 10-15 with a 5.81 ERA. The left-hander also had his share of off-field struggles. In the summer he was arrested on DUI-related charges. Since the baseball season ended, Olsen completed a pretrial diversion program, which put to rest his legal problem.

"That's over, that's in the past and over with," Olsen said about the fallout from the arrest. "On the field-wise, I was throwing a lot of balls, and I was walking a lot of people. I watched a couple of game-tapes, scouting people. You'd see, I'd get two quick outs on nine or 10 pitches, and then the inning turned into 28-30 pitch inning after two outs and nobody on base."

On the mound, Olsen often would get visibly upset when innings got away from him.

"Sometimes [unleashing emotions] affected me in a good way, though," he said. "It's kind of a give-and-take."

Olsen says he has studied how pitchers compose themselves to get out of jams. Two he admires are Greg Maddux and Jake Peavy.

"Those guys would get in a kind of a mode," he said. "It's like, 'Give me the ball, I'm going to get these next two guys out, and get out of this.' That's where you need to be."

When the 2007 season opened, Olsen was the No. 2 starter behind Willis. He understands responsibility comes with taking the ball in the first game.

"I think if you are the Opening Day starter, and you replace that No. 1 guy, there might be some more people looking up to you, and more people wanting you to be that guy who steps up every time out," he said. "We knew [Willis] was going to be the Opening Day starter, but at the same time, he was still like, 'Something might happen. I might have a 10-and-a-half ERA in Spring Training. Make sure you go for it, strive to do it. Give your best each day. Even if a position is set and locked, you still have got to go out and do your best.' "

With Willis no longer around, leadership, Olsen believes, will have to come from veterans like catcher Matt Treanor and reliever Kevin Gregg.

"[Willis] always used to say that he didn't like guys, who when they were winning, they are in the clubhouse, and they're happy," Olsen said. "Then when they are losing, they are down. You've got to be the same guy every day. He was really good about that, to maintain your composure every day, whether you win or lose."

Olsen says he is ready to put his 2007 issues behind him as he moves forward.

An incident that received attention late in the season came when Marlins team president David Samson made a comment during a radio interview. Asked about Olsen's legal issue, Samson noted that the club was skeptical about having players if they were convicted of a serious crime. Now that Olsen's legal situation has been addressed, that isn't an issue.

Olsen says he has a "great" relationship with Samson. The left-hander lifts weights a couple of times a week at Dolphin Stadium, and he frequently sees and talks to the team president.

"Obviously, nobody wants a troublemaker," Olsen said. "That's not just him. I think we've turned over a new leaf, and hopefully, we can move on from that."

Olsen added he is maturing and ready to grow from his missteps.

"It can't get any worse than that, with all the stuff that happened last year," he said. "All the bad, I think it's made me probably stronger mentally and more able to handle everything that goes into this job.

"I'm looking forward to next year. It will be interesting, but it could be a lot of fun. I'll be 24 in Spring Training. You've got to grow up eventually."

Olsen as your ace

Poor Marlins. While we're on the subject, poor A's