Marlins Outlook

[Slacker Mills]

Let's break it down.

Starting pitching: Safe to say there will be a drop from last season. Who will replace the 185 quality innings from Alcantara? Can Luzardo or Garrett match their career-best years? Can Roger return to his form of a couple years ago? Can Cabrera throw the ball over the plate? Lots of questions and probably not a lot of good answers.

Bullpen. Bender could be a big add. Maldonado might work out. Scott and Nardi should be solid but will be hard-pressed to match last season. Puk might be pressed into the rotation. I don't see anything else to hang a teal-colored hat on.

SS and C were the glaring weaknesses. Catching has been dealt with by adding Betancourt, a catcher any team could have added if they wanted him basically nothing. SS has been addressed by hiring the worst offensive AND defensive SS in baseball last season. 

Burger was a good add and will be better if he isn't deployed defensively at third. Probably some regression due from his bat. Same story for Bell. He's an up and down guy. The team could improve by playing Edwards at second and Arraez at first, but it seems that Bendix and company have rejected the X Man. Acquisitions Brujan and/or Gordon will probably replace him on the roster. Neither runs as fast or strikes out as little as Edwards.

The OF will be the one area of improvement in my eyes. Sanchez and DeLaCruz seem like fair bets for modest improvement and Jazz for more innings could only help.

DH? That's where the team takes the hardest hit. I assume that Bell will wind up there.

All in all, I foresee maybe 70 wins.

 

 

 

 

 

da teal-colored cap on.