Ely Sussman

Marlins news roundup for 3/8/24 Fish On First is providing extensive coverage on location throughout Marlins spring training. Click here to keep up with our latest updates. 🔷 The inaugural Spring Breakout prospect showcase is one week away and the full Marlins roster was announced on Thursday. The group includes a player with MLB experience, a couple who haven't even played affiliated ball in the U.S. yet and every level in between. 🔷 Inspired by the World Baseball Classic and Caribbean Series, the Marlins are encouraging fans to recreate that atmosphere this season by bringing flags and musical instruments to LoanDepot Park and participate in new chants/sing-alongs. Other baseball leagues have set a precedent for how to do lively in-game chants, but I don't foresee this having staying power. With so many MLB regular season games, the stakes just aren't high enough to persuade typical attendees to expend their energy throughout the game. Doesn't help that the stands will be half-empty for most of those games. 🔷 Amerant Bank announced a multi-year partnership with the Marlins to be their official "Hometown Bank." You'll see Amerant signage at the ballpark and they'll be making donations to the Miami Marlins Foundation for every save the team records at home. 🔷 Our 2024 bold Marlins predictions are here. I'm forecasting some slippage from Luis Arraez and Braxton Garrett, a significant role for Victor Mesa Jr., big production from Josh Bell and immediate success for A.J. Puk in the club's starting rotation. 🔷 Kevin Barral looks at the fascinating background of Elvis Alvarado and the nice first impression he's made at Marlins camp. 🔷 Today's game: Mets (RHP Luis Severino) vs. Marlins (RHP Eury Pérez) at 6:40 p.m. No television coverage. 🔷 Happy 28th birthday to Dane Myers. FOF's 13th-ranked Marlins prospect, Myers clobbered Double-A pitching (132 wRC+) and Triple-A pitching (137 wRC+) during his first season in the Marlins org en route to The Show. Should any of the established outfielders on Miami's roster suffer an injury in the coming weeks, he could potentially squeeze onto the 26-man. 🔷 Christina De Nicola of MLB.com details the longtime friendship between Tristan Gray and Myers, who were previously travel ball and college teammates. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

The total silence on the extension front is most concerning. For low-revenue teams, it is essential to make long-term gambles on young players before they are fully formed. The math doesn't work in your favor if you take it one year at a time with everybody. Still a few weeks left to get something done with a core player (rare to see those negotiations during the season).

Always grateful for your support!

Marlins news roundup for 3/7/24 Fish On First is providing extensive coverage on location throughout Marlins spring training. Click here to keep up with our latest updates. 🔷 On Wednesday, Jesús Luzardo (3.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 3 HR) became the first Marlins starting pitcher of the spring to genuinely struggle on the mound. The original Marlins lineup looked like an Opening Day dress rehearsal, but the entire starting outfield was scratched as a precaution to avoid dealing with the messy weather conditions. The Nationals won, 9-3. 🔷 During the first of several planned interviews with Skip Schumaker, he told the Marlins Radio Network that "we made it a point of emphasis to control the running game" entering spring training. That's coming off a season where Miami allowed 130 stolen bases (seventh-most in MLB) at a 85.0% success rate (third-highest in MLB). Schumaker noted that the Marlins lead the Grapefruit League with four pickoffs through 11 games and he singled out Edward Cabrera for quickening his delivery to the plate. The full conversation is embedded at the bottom of this page. 🔷 Releasing Avisaíl García would open the door for internal candidates to compete for an active roster spot, make Miami a better fit for remaining OF/DH free agents, and expand the universe of possible pitcher-for-hitter trades, as I wrote earlier today. I highly doubt it will happen before the regular season begins, but I felt it was worth acknowledging that this route is available. 🔷 Jazz Chisholm Jr. recognizes that "I don’t have to go max effort every single play" to be the best (and healthiest) version of himself, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. 🔷 Michael Baumann of FanGraphs observed that Max Meyer gets minimal velocity separation between his pitches. "I would venture that in addition to generating great movement, Meyer is going to have to learn to change speeds if he’s going to stick in the rotation," Baumann concludes. 🔷 On the latest episode of Fish On First LIVE, we did segments on a bunch of Marlins pitchers and projected which of them will make the Opening Day rotation. FOF LIVE is presented by Berger & Hicks! If you’ve been injured as a result of somebody else’s negligence, give them a call at (305) 670-7050. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Nationals signed Eddie Rosario to a minor league deal. 🔷 The Marlins' Spring Breakout roster will be announced today at 11:00 a.m. ET on MLB Network. 🔷 Next spring game for the Marlins is Friday night's home matchup against the Mets with probable starters Eury Pérez and Luis Severino. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Imagining a scenario where the Marlins cut their losses with García to make way for a more complementary and more productive player. I have said/written very little about Miami Marlins outfielder Avisaíl García during the brief existence of Fish On First. The site went live in May 2023, and by then, what more was there to add? It was already apparent that his $53M contract was a sunk cost. García was absent for the vast majority of last season's fun due to back and hamstring injuries. When he was on the field, his production was somehow even worse than it had been in 2022. Across 135 total games played as a Marlin, Avi has slashed .215/.260/.316 (59 wRC+) and accrued -1.1 fWAR. Had he been healthier and continued on that same pace, hindering a team with postseason ambitions, he might've been released many months ago despite the financial ramifications. García is probably going to be on the 2024 Marlins Opening Day roster. During his first offseason as Miami's president of baseball operations, Peter Bendix had several opportunities to designate the struggling 32-year-old for assignment to create openings on the 40-man for new acquisitions—every time, Bendix DFA'd (and subsequently lost control of) other players instead. Entering Thursday, García ranks second on the Marlins with 18 Grapefruit League plate appearances, repeatedly getting chances to put what he learned from training alongside Luis Arraez into practice (he has not capitalized on those chances thus far). All indications are that he will be evaluated in regular season games before facing the risk of unemployment. But let's spend a few minutes exploring an alternate universe where the painful, appropriate decision has been made. What else could the team do with that valuable roster spot? Regardless of García's presence, these 12 hitters seem to be locked into active roster spots: Catchers Christian Bethancourt and Nick Fortes Infielders Tim Anderson, Luis Arraez, Josh Bell, Jon Berti and Jake Burger Outfielders Vidal Bruján, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bryan De La Cruz, Nick Gordon and Jesús Sánchez It's a malleable group. Fortes and Bell are limited to catcher and first base, respectively, but every other player could be utilized at multiple positions depending on what the team needs. Looking inside the organization first, the other hitters on the 40-man roster are INF Jacob Amaya, INF Jonah Bride, INF Xavier Edwards, OF Victor Mesa Jr. and OF Dane Myers. Amaya would contribute the best possible shortstop defense. Edwards went 37-for-41 on MLB/MiLB stolen base attempts last season and looks to be the best bunter in Jupiter. Still relatively new to full-time hitting, Myers is an impressive athlete with the potential to be a good run producer if he elevates the ball more. Notable non-roster invitees at Marlins big league camp include Jonathan Davis, Tristan Gray, Troy Johnston and Trey Mancini. Do you dare to dream about the Marlins making a last-minute free agent signing? There aren't any candidates left for a García-esque long-term deal, but available veterans like J.D. Martinez, Adam Duvall and Tommy Pham could help. On the cheaper side, what about betting on the intangibles of future Hall of Famer Joey Votto? Yes, he's still out there. The Marlins starting rotation looks terrific this spring, even beyond the projected top five starters. An extra roster spot on the position player side would lend itself to a wider variety of trade possibilities, such as swapping one of Miami's arms for a controllable bat. Think Christopher Morel of the Cubs or Ezequiel Duran of the Rangers. What would you do to fill Avi García's shoes? Let us know in the comments. View full article

Player status updates, insightful stats and more information to fully equip you for today's Marlins game. Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal SuperSubs... View full article

Marlins news roundup for 3/6/24 Fish On First is providing extensive coverage on location throughout Marlins spring training. Click here to keep up with our latest updates. 🔷 On Monday, Trevor Rogers and Ryan Weathers combined to toss six scoreless innings against an Opening Day-caliber Astros lineup. Nick Gordon's diving catch in center field certainly helped. Jonah Bride delivered the go-ahead home run in the eighth. The Marlins won, 2-0. Prior to the game, the first round of cuts from big league camp were announced: INF Jacob Berry, LHP Kent Emanuel, C Bennett Hostetler, RHP Jeff Lindgren, RHP Darren McCaughan and LHP Patrick Monteverde. 🔷 Braxton Garrett has been ruled out of the Marlins Opening Day rotation, per Skip Schumaker. Garrett says his left shoulder feels "much better" than it did when he reported to camp, but he isn't even facing live batters yet. Barring setbacks, he should be fully stretched out by the middle of April. 🔷 Renovations to Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium have been pushed back an additional year, as Joe Capozzi explains. The bulk of the work will begin at the end of 2025 spring training and they're aiming to complete the project in time for 2026 spring training. Here's a look at the new two-story "Fan Zone" that will replace Roger Dean's old-school bleacher seats: 🔷 In minor league news, INF Cobie Fletcher-Vance retired. During his two seasons in the Marlins organization, Fletcher-Vance slashed .244/.307/.338 (72 wRC+) in 164 games, primarily playing third base. The 26-year-old briefly tasted Triple-A, but spent the vast majority of that time with Double-A Pensacola. Best of luck to Cobie on whatever comes next. A 2019 Marlins draft pick and Air Force officer, INF Nic Ready has been activated after nearly two full years on the military leave list. 🔷 Join us tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET for a new episode of Fish On First LIVE streaming on YouTube/Twitter/Facebook. FOF LIVE is presented by Berger & Hicks! If you’ve been injured as a result of somebody else’s negligence, give them a call at (305) 670-7050. 🔷 Today's game: Nationals (LHP Patrick Corbin) vs. Marlins (LHP Jesús Luzardo) at 1:10 p.m. No television coverage. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Lucas Giolito (who signed with the Red Sox in free agency) could miss the entire season with a right elbow injury. The Athletics unveiled renderings of their proposed 33,000-seat Las Vegas ballpark. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Player status updates, insightful stats and more information to fully equip you for today's Marlins game. Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal SuperSubs... View full article

Marlins big league camp has been trimmed from 65 players to 59 following this initial round of cuts. In advance of the team's 10th Grapefruit League game, the Miami Marlins announced their first round of spring training cuts on Tuesday morning. All of these players remain with the Marlins organization—they just weren't serious candidates to earn Opening Day roster spots. They'll appear in spring games less frequently moving forward as the established big leaguers gradually increase their workloads. In alphabetical order: INF Jacob Berry (.375 BA, .944 OPS in 9 PA during Grapefruit League play) reassigned to minor league camp LHP Kent Emanuel (22.50 ERA, 5.00 WHIP in 2.0 IP) reassigned to minor league camp C Bennett Hostetler (.000 BA, .000 OPS in 3 PA) reassigned to minor league camp RHP Jeff Lindgren (3.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP in 3.0 IP) reassigned to minor league camp RHP Darren McCaughan (0.00 ERA, 1.50 WHIP in 2.0 IP) optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville LHP Patrick Monteverde (0.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP in 4.0 IP) reassigned to minor league camp Berry ranked 14th and Monteverde ranked 15th on our newly updated Fish On First Top 30 prospects list. View full article

Marlins news roundup for 3/5/24 Fish On First is providing extensive coverage on location throughout Marlins spring training. Click here to keep up with our latest updates. 🔷 On Monday, A.J. Puk (3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K) and Edward Cabrera (3.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K) continued the trend of Marlins rotation candidates holding opponents scoreless. Tanner Scott walked all four batters he faced. Skip Schumaker insists that Scott will get his s*** together if he doesn't have to wait so long in between outings. The Yankees won, 3-2. 🔷 Every March 5, the Marlins hold a ticket sale. They're offering two Vista level (upper deck) tix to Opening Day for $30.50—that's $22.32 per seat after fees. For a better bargain applying to 30 of their weekday games later in the season, you can get a pair of Home Run Porch seats for $5 each ($9.35 after fees). The offer applies for orders of up to eight tickets. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Zack Wheeler signed a three-year, $126M contract extension with the Phillies, keeping him in the NL East through the 2027 season. Josh Donaldson announced his retirement. 🔷 Braxton Garrett (shoulder soreness) and JT Chargois (neck spasms) hope to advance even closer to game action today when they throw a bullpen session and live batting practice, respectively. Chargois is much more likely to be ready in time for Opening Day. Remember to bookmark our Marlins injury/rehab tracker! 🔷 Today's game: Marlins (LHP Trevor Rogers) vs. Astros (RHP Ronel Blanco) at 1:05 p.m. Expect Rogers to pitch two innings. Vladimir Gutierrez is also making his 2024 Grapefruit League debut in relief. Houston's television broadcast is available through MLB.TV. 🔷 MLB Pipeline updated their Marlins Top 30 prospects list. I disagree most strongly with how highly they ranked Jacob Berry (No. 5) and Brock Vradenburg (No. 17), both of whom have first base-only profiles and haven't produced at the plate early in their pro careers. Pipeline continues to put a heavy emphasis on collegiate stats. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Player status updates, insightful stats and more information to fully equip you for today's Marlins game. Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal SuperSubs... View full article

A major update to our Fish On First Top 30 prospects list is now out. It's a collaboration between myself, Alex Carver, Isaac Azout and Kevin Barral. It's the first time we've ranked prospects since migrating to this revamped website. Now, it's your turn to weigh in. We want to see how the rest of this community values Marlins prospects, and we have a new process for collecting your responses. Here's how it works: 1. You must have an account and be logged in to vote. If you don't have an account, click here. It literally takes 60 seconds to create an account. 2. Review our current Top 30 list, catch up on stats, rankings, etc. (you can do so from the voting page link below) 3. Already have your prospect list ready to share? Then flip on over to the new prospect voting page (after reading the rest of this, please). https://fishonfirst.com/prospects/prospect-voting/ 4. Voting is super simple, you drag and drop players in the order you wish them to be. After you move a prospect, the list automatically renumbers so you don't lose track of the order. This works on mobile devices, but it's a *vastly* better experience on desktop. Sorry, that's just how this kind of thing works. There's no great way to make something like this be as awesome on a phone screen. 5. Each prospect has a comment section where you can add any commentary you have on that player. At the bottom of the list, there is a general comment section to explain over-arching things you wish to mention. 6. Don't see a prospect you want to put on the list? Just pop back here and ask our buddy Brock Beauchamp (in a comment, start typing @Brock Beauchamp and then select his name when it appears). Mention the prospect you want added and he will do that ASAP. 7. Once you're done with all of it, click "save." You've now voted! 8. When the voting closes, a new thread will automatically generate in this forum with all of your rankings and comments for everyone to read and talk about. 9. You can only vote once per voting period. If you have voted in error, pop back here and again tag Brock, asking to have your vote deleted. He will remove it and you can vote again. Voting will close at end of day on Thursday, March 14!

Marlins news roundup for 3/4/24 Fish On First is providing extensive coverage on location throughout Marlins spring training. Click here to keep up with our latest updates. 🔷 On Sunday, both of the Marlins' scheduled games got rained out. It's especially disappointing because it wipes out one of the few locally televised spring games that would've been on Bally Sports Florida. The games will not be made up. 🔷 Enjoy our new prospect voting tool! Don't agree with the Fish On First/Fish on the Farm Top 30 list? Submit your own version. There are 50 candidates listed for the 30 spots, plus you can include a write-in player. Just sign in/create a free FOF account to use it. 🔷 Jorge Soler reiterates to Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase that the Marlins did not have any direct negotiations with him once he became a free agent. 🔷 Christina De Nicola of MLB.com has an updated Opening Day roster projection. It includes A.J. Puk in the starting rotation and Sixto Sánchez in the bullpen. My own updated projection will be coming later this week, and spoiler alert, Sánchez won't make the cut (despite how entertaining that would be). 🔷 Skip Schumaker raved about utility player Vidal Bruján, as Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald details, leaving little doubt that he'll stick on the active roster. It's not like Schumaker has much of a choice—the Marlins just acquired Bruján this past offseason, trading three prospects in the process. 🔷 The first round of cuts from Marlins big league camp are expected within the next 48 hours. It will impact younger players who didn't have a chance to make the team anyway, such as Javier Sanoja and Jacob Berry. There are 65 players in camp; that number should be coming down into the 50s. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, old friend Jordan Groshans cleared waivers and was outrighted to the minors by the Yankees. 🔷 Today's game: Marlins (LHP A.J. Puk) vs. Yankees (RHP Clarke Schmidt) at 6:40 p.m. Edward Cabrera will be piggybacking Puk. Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo all played on Sunday for the Yanks, so don't expect to see any of them in the lineup (still too early in the spring for MLB regulars to play back-to-back games). No television coverage, but Alex Krutchik, Alex Carver and Noah Berger are there for you. 🔷 Fascinating find by BrooksGate: the Marlins are the only current MLB team to never win 20 of the first 30 regular season games. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Watch how Marlins left-hander Josh Simpson used his signature curveball to rack up strikeouts against Triple-A hitters in 2023. View full video