Trade to Marlins proved to be blessing for Wayne
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
For the first half of the baseball season, Justin Wayne's world was in a spin. And it had nothing to do with his performance.
Advertiser library photo
Major League Baseball and the Players' Association were still negotiating a labor agreement. The Montreal Expos, whom Wayne belonged to at the time, was one of the teams considered for contraction.
Justin Wayne realized a dream when he was called up to the major leagues.
"There was a lot of confusion," said Wayne, a 1997 Punahou School graduate and former All-America pitcher at Stanford. "Halfway through the season, I didn't know where my year was going."
Then in July, Wayne was traded to the Florida Marlins, who were now owned by the former Expos' owners. The familiarity eased Wayne's mind. Still, all he did was move from one team's Triple-A affiliate to another's. So when the Marlins purchased his contract for the September roster expansion from 25 to 40 players, it came as somewhat of a surprise.
"I didn't know this was going to happen," Wayne said. "I've been playing baseball for 15 years. It's about all the coaches who've helped me and all the hard work just to have that chance to pitch in the big leagues. This is something you sit around and just dream about. I won't forget it."
Wayne made his major league debut Sept. 3 against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. It was the second game of a doubleheader.
Jeff Wayne was on the Big Island for the Labor Day weekend, when he got a call from his son.
"He called to say he was starting, but the location had changed," Jeff Wayne said. "He said, 'I'm starting at Shea Stadium.' "
Jeff Wayne spent his "vacation" scrambling for plane tickets on Saturday of the three-day weekend. He and his wife arrived in New York the morning of Justin's start.
"We had about 60 family and friends there," Jeff Wayne said.
Justin allowed five runs in four innings in taking the loss, but he quickly made up for it Tuesday night, when he gave up two hits in 6¡ scoreless innings in the Marlins' 2-1 win at Philadelphia. Like his first start, his second came in the nightcap of a doubleheader.
The 23-year-old right-hander, the fifth overall selection in the 2000 draft, said he does not know when his next start will be. There is a chance it could come against NL East champion Atlanta.
Wayne is one of five players with ties to Hawai'i in the major leagues. The other four are Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Mike Fetters (Iolani '83), Boston Red Sox outfielder Benny Agbayani (St. Louis '89/HPU '91-'93), Detroit Tigers third baseman Chris Truby (Damien '92) and San Diego Padres relief pitcher Brandon Villafuerte (Big Island-born).
Earlier in the season, relief pitcher Tyler Yates (Kaua'i '95/UH-Hilo '96-'98) spent one day with the New York Mets, but did not enter the game. A midseason arm injury ended his year.
• Strong finish: Keoni DeRenne (Iolani '97) finished his first season in Double-A on a high note. The Atlanta Braves' farmhand was named the Southern League's player of the month by the league's 10 managers after batting .394 with 11 doubles, two triples and one home run and 20 RBIs in 21 games. That lifted his batting average to .275 and raised his RBI total to 47. His 25 doubles led the team.
DeRenne said the team hasn't indicated what will happen to him next year, when the Braves need to make a decision whether to protect him on the 40-man roster.
"By the way I finished up, hopefully they'll push me up to the next level," he said. "I'm real pleased with the way things turned for me."
• Fall ball: Catcher Dane Sardinha (Kamehameha '97) and outfielder Shane Victorino (St. Anthony '99) were invited to play in the Arizona Fall League, which features top prospects. Sardinha is on the 40-man roster of the Cincinnati Reds, while Victorino is part of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Both played in the Double-A Southern League.
"I'm pretty excited," Victorino said between games of the Southern League playoffs last week. "I'm looking forward to (the fall league)."
Victorino tied for second in the Southern League with 45 stolen bases.
Also involved in postseason was Sardinha's younger brother, Bronson, who played at the short-season A Staten Island club in the New York Yankees system. The 34th overall pick from the 2001 draft started the season in the infield at low-A Greensboro, but he has been playing left field for Staten Island.
"It's better for me," Sardinha said of his position change. "Moving up the ladder will be easier because they'll have (Derek) Jeter and (Alfonso) Soriano for the next 10 years or so. Now, I can concentrate on my hitting."
Sardinha will attend the Yankees mini camp in Tampa, Fla., this month and then report to training camp in January, as he did this past season.
