Offishial News: Marlins Hall of Fame opens; players reporting to camp

The Marlins held their annual FanFest at loanDepot park on Saturday. A team spokesperson claims that over 18,000 people attended, but a source within the organization tells Fish On First only 7,400 tickets were scanned. Regardless of what the real turnout was, our on-site reporting suggests that things went smoothly.

The "special alumni announcement" that had been teased in advance was the creation of the Marlins Legends Hall of Fame. The inaugural class consists of Jeff Conine, Jim Leyland, Jack McKeon and Luis Castillo; they will be inducted on March 30, July 6, August 3 and August 24, respectively.

The Marlins also announced that their new City Connect uniforms will be used for the first time on May 3. Still no hints about what the unis will look like, though.

Marlins Opening Day is 45 days away. Beginning next week, Offishial News returns to its usual Monday-Friday schedule and our email newsletter expands to seven days a week.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 Check out my updated Opening Day roster projection. I removed Andrew Nardi following ominous comments from manager Clayton McCullough about him being "a little bit behind" schedule in his throwing progression. Also, contrary to popular opinion, I think Eric Wagaman will start off the season in Triple-A. Nearly half of the players I picked weren't even part of the Marlins organization last Opening Day.

🔷 The starting rotation is unsettled beyond the top three spots, as I noted. MLB.com's Christina De Nicola picked that as her No. 1 spring training story for the Fish.

🔷 The first pitchers and catchers workout will be held in Jupiter on Wednesday. That is also when the 60-day injured list opens. At some point this spring, Eury Pérez and Braxton Garrett will be placed on the 60-day, but only when there are corresponding moves made to fill their 40-man roster spots. This page will be regularly updated to show who's in big league camp. 

🔷 Here's a clever/infuriating table from BrooksGate showing how this season's Marlins payroll is projected to be approximately the same as it was 20 years ago despite prices for various other things rising dramatically due to inflation. MLB revenues have also exploded during that period. (Using the Spotrac payroll estimate lowballs the team's actual spending by several million dollars, but the general point still applies.)

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Dodgers are re-signing Kiké Hernández to a one-year deal.

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