Offishial News: An extremely painful end to Marlins spring training

There are many observations we can take away from spring training action, but every MLB team has the same top priority: make it to the regular season in good health. From that standpoint, the Miami Marlins did poorly. A rash of injuries over the final two weeks of camp have them limping into the real games.

Just this past weekend, Connor Norby (left oblique tightness) and Declan Cronin (left hip discomfort) went down. It's already been decided that Cronin will begin the season on the injured list, per MLB.com's Christina De Nicola, while Norby is set to undergo further testing today. That's in addition to Edward Cabrera (right middle finger blister), Andrew Nardi (low back inflammation), Jesús Sánchez (left oblique strain) and Ryan Weathers (left forearm strain), all of whom arrived at camp as locks to make the 26-man roster if healthy, but will instead be sidelined for multiple weeks.

Marlins Opening Day is three days away.

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🔷 The final Grapefruit League games are being played today, but the idle Marlins have already clinched the league's lowest winning percentage (.375) after posting a 9-15-5 record. Xavier Edwards and Otto Lopez tied for the team lead with 17 games played. Connor Gillispie threw a team-high 16 ⅓ innings, most of which were effective with the exception of a five-run rally he allowed to the New York Mets in Sunday's fourth inning. Fish On First Top 30 prospects Starlyn Caba and Carter Johnson were among the players who made their Grapefruit League debuts in that contest. A feel-good story during the first half of spring games, Matt Mervis plummeted back down to the earth and finished with a league-leading 22 strikeouts (42.3% of his plate appearances).

🔷 Infielder César García has signed with the Marlins as an international free agent. At this time last year, the left-handed hitter was being listed at 5'7", 144 pounds. As far as I can tell, García is the first player from Panama that the franchise has signed since Oscar Araba in 2021.

🔷 Manager Clayton McCullough still hasn't announced who his starting pitchers will be for the second and third games of the regular season. Gillispie will pitch on one of those days, but not necessarily as a starter. Max Meyer has been penciled in for the fourth game (March 30) and Cal Quantrill for the fifth game (March 31).

🔷 This spring, the Marlins replaced conventional bullpen sessions with "live pitch design sessions," as the New York Post's Joel Sherman details, in order to "work on crafting and pinpointing pitches with an actual hitter up." While participation is not mandatory, "Sandy Alcantara and all the other starters have adhered to this policy," he reports. These sessions will continue into the regular season.

🔷 Greg Cote of the Miami Herald calls upon Bruce Sherman to "get serious about spending and winning or sell the team."

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Cleveland Guardians extended Tanner Bibee (5-YR/$48M), the Toronto Blue Jays extended Alejandro Kirk (5-YR/$58M) and the Arizona Diamondbacks extended Justin Martínez (5-YR/$18M). The Atlanta Braves traded Ian Anderson to the Los Angeles Angels for José Suárez. The Washington Nationals unveiled their new City Connect uniforms.

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