MIAMI — Monday is a day that Shelby Miller has been waiting for since he underwent elbow surgery more than 14 months ago.

The Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander will make his first major-league appearance since April 23 [url=http://www.dallascowboysteamonline.com/ibraheim-campbell-jersey]Ibraheim Campbell Jersey[/url] , 2017, facing the Miami Marlins and right-hander Dan Straily (2-3, 4.89 ERA).

The Diamondbacks, who lead the National League West with a 44-33 record, have won four games in a row.

Now they get back Miller, a 27-year-old former first-round pick who was drafted 19th overall by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2009. He went 15-9 with a 3.06 ERA in 2013, finishing third in the Rookie of the Year voting.

Since then, however, Miller has been traded twice — by the Cardinals to the Atlanta Braves and then to Arizona before the start of the 2016 season.

So far, the Diamondbacks haven’t gotten much return on their investment. Miller went 3-12 with a 6.15 ERA in 2016 and 2-2 with a 4.09 ERA before getting hurt a year ago, lasting just four starts.

“I definitely have some things to prove over here [url=http://www.dallascowboysteamonline.com/michael-irvin-jersey]Michael Irvin Jersey[/url] ,” Miller, an All-Star with Atlanta in 2015, told azcentral.com. “I feel I was throwing pretty well last year. Unfortunately, I got hurt.”

Monday represents a fresh start for Miller, who made four starts in extended spring training earlier this year followed by four minor-league rehab appearances.

“I’m super excited to be here,” Miller said. “For me, it’s a huge accomplishment.

“Command was the last thing to come back. But I feel it is there now. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t feel I was ready to pitch.”

Straily, who will be Miller’s counterpart on Monday, faced Arizona earlier this year, allowing one run in 4 1/3 innings of a 6-1 loss to the Diamondbacks on June 3.

In Straily’s most recent start, he lasted just 1 1/3 innings before he was ejected for the first time in his career [url=http://www.dallascowboysteamonline.com/jason-witten-jersey]http://www.dallascowboysteamonline.com/jason-witten-jersey[/url] , exiting during a 6-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

Straily was tossed out after he hit Giants star catcher Buster Posey with a pitch.

“I don’t know,” Posey said when asked by the media if the hit-by-pitch was intentional. “It sure seemed that way.”

Of much bigger concern for the Marlins (31-47) is the fact that they have lost their past five games when Straily starts. Straily has zero quality starts during that span.

The Marlins, who are in last place in the NL East, beat the Colorado Rockies 8-5 on Sunday for their second straight win.

Miami finished 5-4 on its road trip to the Baltimore Orioles, San Francisco Giants and Colorado, taking two of the three series. It is Miami’s first winning road trip of the year.

The Marlins are 11-11 in June, which has already made this their best month of the season. And they have more road wins (17-26) than home victories (14-21).

Meanwhile, Arizona has a winning record at home (23-16) and on the road (21-17). They are 16-6 in June after a poor May (8-19). The Diamondbacks are also 3-0 against the Marlins.

Hot Miami hitters include left fielder Derek Dietrich, who was 4-for-5 on Sunday to raise his batting average to .302, and catcher J.T. Realmuto, who went 1-for-3 and is batting .308.

Dietrich batted .476 for the week with three homers and three multi-hit games. Realmuto hit .360 this week with five doubles [url=http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-nick-leddy-jersey]http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-nick-leddy-jersey[/url] , one homer, six RBIs and at least one hit in all six games.

Every so often, a player with multiple years left on his contract stays away from training camp. In rare instances, the absence lingers into the regular season. Most, however, end up showing up — often without anything other than a commitment from the team not to collect on the fines racked up during the absence.

With Falcons receiver Julio Jones, there’s a good chance it won’t play out that way. Jones seems to be a man of principle. Unhappy with a contract that pays him only $10.5 million this year (in comparison to the $30 million per year in new money paid to quarterback Matt Ryan), Jones has tried to get the team to rectify the situation.

Every step of the way, the team assumed that he was merely sending a message in 2018 about wanting a new deal in 2019. Eventually, the team reportedly told him that there will be no new deal this year, conveniently citing budgetary concerns. (“We don’t have the money in the budget to pay you” is a courteous way of saying [url=http://www.dallascowboysteamonline.com/randy-white-jersey]Randy White Jersey[/url] , “We don’t want to pay the money.”)

If/when Jones doesn’t show up, the Falcons will need to make a decision. Do they continue to believe Jones is merely sending a message, or do they believe that he’d actually skip regular-season games without a new deal? Would he skip a full 10 weeks, allowing him to get credit for the contract year? Would he actually skip the full season?

Most would never do it. For Jones, who isn’t wired like most, the fact that he’s already gone this far suggests that maybe he would.

The best argument against giving him more money continues to be that tearing up his current contract with three years left on it sets a bad precedent. But that’s a red herring. To any player who tries to do the same in the future, the response would (should) be, “Perform like Julio Jones and then we’ll talk.”

The better approach would be to find a way to quickly craft a win-win that allows Jones to believe that the team has addressed his concerns in a meaningful way. Jones acting so out of character proves how much it means to Jones. Which indicates he won’t fold up the tents and return to the team simply because he’s getting nervous about the $40,000 per day fine, and because he’s hopeful that the team will agree to waive the amount due if he just shows up.
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