Ely Sussman

Today's news roundup also includes another frustrating injury setback for a former Fish star. Seven Miami Marlins players are tied for the team lead in spring training with one home run apiece. Jared Serna joined the club on Sunday with a solo shot off of Steven Matz. The 22-year-old infielder also made an excellent catch in the game and has yet to strike out through his first eight Grapefruit League plate appearances. The initial round of cuts from big league camp will be coming any day now. Although Serna is destined to begin 2025 in the minor leagues regardless of performance, he clearly deserves a longer look before being officially optioned. Marlins Opening Day is 24 days away. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 State of the Fish has returned to its regular weekly schedule! Every Sunday (typically in the late afternoon/early evening), listen live to Fish On First staffers give their takes on Marlins trending topics and call in to share your own takes. SuperSubs get their calls answered first. The original recording of the new SoTF can be found here, or check it out on our podcast channel. 🔷 Recently designated for assignment by the Marlins, reliever Seth Martinez was claimed by the Seattle Mariners. 🔷 Christina De Nicola of MLB.com details Agustín Ramírez's development as a catcher and the votes of confidence he has received from president of baseball operations Peter Bendix and catching coach Joe Singley. "Ramírez knows what the doubters say about his ability to be a big league catcher," the piece mentions (I continue to count myself among those doubters). De Nicola also wrote about Marlins players and coaches who are connected in unconventional ways. 🔷 Sean Millerick laments how no players ever spend their entire career with the Marlins like Clayton Kershaw has with the Los Angeles Dodgers. 🔷 loanDepot park hosted back-to-back, sold-out Banana Ball games on Saturday and Sunday. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the New York Yankees have determined that old friend Giancarlo Stanton will begin the season on the injured list due to soreness in both elbows. Stanton had significant health issues during his Marlins tenure, playing in 986 games across eight seasons, but staying on the field has been even more challenging since his trade to NY. The former NL MVP is at only 663 total games as he enters his eighth Yankees campaign, and that's despite making the vast majority of his appearances as a designated hitter. Colorado Rockies RHP Jeff Criswell will be undergoing Tommy John surgery and miss the entire 2025 season. 🔷 Today's Grapefruit League games: it's the first split-squad day for the Marlins this spring. With Max Meyer on the mound, they'll be hosting the Houston Astros (probable starter LHP Framber Valdez) at 1:10 p.m., while RHP Connor Gillispie and the B squad visit the New York Mets (RHP Kodai Senga) at 6:10 p.m. The latter game will be televised by the Mets' broadcast crew on SNY (available to watch via MLB.TV). 🔷 Please join us in wishing longtime SuperSub Chase Blake aka "Loud Miami Fan" a speedy and full recovery as he battles cystic fibrosis complications. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

In a spring training interview with MLB Network, Miami Marlins shortstop Xavier Edwards breaks down his hitting mechanics and looks ahead to the 2025 season. View full video

What Leo meant was, all the chatter about him eventually getting traded has already begun, which takes away from the excitement of him making this comeback in the first place when it just feels like an audition for his next team.

Player status updates, insightful stats and more information to fully equip you for today's Marlins game. Mired in a three-game Grapefruit League losing streak, here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal SuperSubs. These notes apply to Miami's home exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Starting Lineup 3B Connor Norby CF Jesús Sánchez (L) 1B Jonah Bride RF Kyle Stowers (L) DH Dane Myers C Liam Hicks (L) SS Max Acosta LF Javier Sanoja 2B Jared Serna P Edward Cabrera View full article

Every season, there is something new about the Miami Marlins organization, and that's an understatement. There have been turbulent times where barely anything stays the same from year to year. Witness the turnover and enjoy a broad overview of the franchise's history by browsing this collection of annual media guides. Fish On First has compiled digital copies of more than half of all the media guides ever published by the Marlins, from 2009 to the present. Following most of those seasons, they also published a season summary/season in review/postseason guide. Guides from the last five seasons are free for all. Everything pre-2022 is exclusive for SuperSubs at the bottom of this page. Download the 2026 Media Guide Download the 2025 Media Guide Download the 2025 Season in Review Download the 2024 Media Guide Download the 2024 Season In Review Download the 2023 Media Guide Download the 2023 Postseason Guide Download the 2022 Media Guide SuperSubs, continue scrolling for links to download all of the available pre-2022 Marlins media guides and season summaries... View full article

Today's news roundup also includes a new interview with Caroline O'Connor. Fish On First's Kevin Barral and 11,389 fans were on hand for Tuesday's exhibition between the Miami Marlins and New York Yankees, which featured lineups that were seemingly very similar to what each team will be using for their regular season openers. Cody Bellinger's solo home run gave the Yankees a lead in the first inning, though they only scored one (unearned) run after that. Matt Mervis and Graham Pauley homered for the Fish. In relief of Max Meyer, four arms from Marlins minor league camp combined to toss four hitless innings. Marlins Opening Day is one day away. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 Per manager Clayton McCullough, the Marlins' initial starting rotation order will be Sandy Alcantara, Connor Gillispie, Valente Bellozo, Max Meyer and Cal Quantrill. That sets up Gillispie and Bellozo to make three starts apiece by the time Edward Cabrera potentially comes back to bump one of them out of the rotation. 🔷 With the confirmation of Bellozo's imminent recall from Triple-A and the implication that Pauley will follow suit, here's the most likely 26-man roster configuration for the Marlins on Thursday: 🔷 President of business Caroline O'Connor is our latest Fish Unfiltered guest (episode embedded below). O'Connor discusses marketing the team in the midst of yet another rebuild, motivating fans to come to loanDepot park, hosting non-baseball events at the stadium and beginning work on the Miami Live! project. 🔷 FanGraphs completed the 2025 edition of its Positional Power Rankings series. The Marlins project to receive below-average production from every position, ranking 25th out of the 30 MLB teams at catcher, 29th at first base, 26th at second base, 20th at shortstop, 27th at third base, 29th at left field, 29th at center field, 21st at right field, 29th at designated hitter, 24th at starting pitcher and 27th at relief pitcher. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Cal Raleigh and the Seattle Mariners are finalizing a six-year, $105 million contract extension that includes a vesting option for 2031. Jared Jones of the Pittsburgh Pirates is being shut down from throwing for six weeks due to elbow inflammation. That obviously sidelines him for the opening series in Miami. Jordan Montgomery will be undergoing Tommy John surgery next week. He'll finish his Arizona Diamondbacks tenure having posted a disastrous 6.23 ERA in 117 innings pitched while being paid $47.5 million along the way. Los Angeles Angels RHP Ryan Johnson will be making his major league debut without having thrown a single pitch in the minor leagues. Johnson, the younger brother of Marlins prospect RHP M.D. Johnson, was selected by the Angels in the second round of the 2024 MLB Draft. 🔷 Today at loanDepot park, the Marlins are holding their final preseason workout from 1:00-4:00 p.m. Sandy Alcantara will be addressing the media in advance of his fifth career Opening Day start. 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. These notes apply to Miami's road exhibition game against the Washington Nationals. 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. These notes apply to Miami's home exhibition game against the Atlanta Braves. Starting Lineup RF Jesús Sánchez (L) 1B Jonah Bride DH Kyle Stowers (L) LF Dane Myers C Liam Hicks (L) 3B Connor Norby CF Javier Sanoja SS Max Acosta 2B Jared Serna P Sandy Alcantara View full article

Today's news roundup also includes several injury updates from Marlins camp. Imagine being Seth Martinez right now. Just days after arriving to Arizona for Diamondbacks spring training, he was designated for assignment. Claimed by the Miami Marlins, he suddenly had to relocate to Florida. Poised to make his first game appearance this weekend, Martinez is in DFA limbo once again, squeezed off the Marlins roster on Thursday to make room for fellow right-handed reliever Brett de Geus. It's difficult to make the case that de Geus is "better" than Martinez, but I imagine that the Marlins value the roster flexibility that he provides with two minor league options left (Martinez is out of options). The hope is that Martinez clears waivers and they can retain both of them in the minor leagues. Marlins Opening Day is 27 days away. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 As added to Fish On First's injury/rehab tracker, non-roster invitees Freddy Tarnok (rolled left ankle) and Justin King (adductor strain) are temporarily sidelined. Tarnok was better positioned to challenge for an Opening Day roster spot, but the Marlins say he's two weeks away from returning to game action. He seems destined for a Triple-A assignment. Jesús Sánchez has fully recovered from his bout with elbow inflammation, so he's been taken out of the tracker. Eury Pérez continues to progress. His fastball reached the low 90s this morning, per source. 🔷 Sixto Sánchez has signed with the Mexican League's Rieleros de Aguascalientes. At this time a year ago, Sánchez's comeback from right shoulder issues was a bright spot during spring training, but it didn't translate to the regular season at all and he spent the final four months of the season on the IL. 🔷 Christina De Nicola of MLB.com got the specifics on what Jeff Conine and Juan Pierre do as guest instructors in Jupiter. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, José Ureña, who has pitched for six MLB teams over the last five seasons, inked a minor league deal with the New York Mets. He'll get a $2 million base salary if brought up to the majors. Their current starting rotation injuries seemingly give him a good shot of contributing early in the season. White Sox OF Andrew Benintendi (right hand fracture) will begin the regular season on the injured list. Old friend Jake Burger took a brief absence from Texas Rangers camp to be with his infant daughter as she underwent open heart surgery. Burger homered in his first game back. 🔷 Today's Grapefruit League game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Sandy Alcantara) host the Atlanta Braves (RHP Ian Anderson). Alcantara and Robby Snelling are each scheduled to go two innings. There will be a Braves broadcast of it available to watch on MLB.TV and MLB Network. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. 🔷 Then at 6:00 p.m. ET, MLB Network is featuring the Marlins as part of their annual 30 Clubs in 15 Days series. It will include interviews with Clayton McCullough and a handful of players. 🔷 Triple-A Jacksonville broadcaster Scott Kornberg will join Jack McMullen on the radio call of Sunday's and Monday's Marlins games. That'll be a wee bit awkward considering that in a since-deleted Twitter post, Kornberg lamented not getting the Marlins radio play-by-play job himself. 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. These notes apply to Miami's road exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals as Cal Quantrill takes the mound for the first time as a Marlin. Starting Lineup SS Xavier Edwards (S) 3B Eric Wagaman 1B Matt Mervis (L) RF Derek Hill LF Griffin Conine (L) 2B Otto Lopez C Nick Fortes DH Agustín Ramírez CF Andrew Pintar P Cal Quantrill View full article

While Alcantara has his sights set on contending for another Cy Young, he's also a strong candidate to become the second player in Marlins history to win this award. Nobody holds himself to a higher standard than Sandy Alcantara. That mindset is part of the reason why he's been so successful. Even on the heels of a lost season, having undergone one of the most significant medical procedures that a baseball pitcher can undergo, he will still be shooting for the moon and trying to immediately re-establish himself as a bonafide ace. For just a few minutes, though, I want to lower the bar and consider how he stacks up against other 2025 Comeback Player of the Year candidates. Every season since 2005, the award has been presented to a player in the American League and National League "who has re-emerged on the field during the season." Yes, the criteria is vague, but Alcantara is clearly eligible. I'm sure of this because several other recent winners were also coming back directly from Tommy John surgery, including Matt Harvey (NL, 2015), Greg Holland (2017, NL) and Justin Verlander (AL, 2022). Here is the complete list of past winners. Sometimes, the pool of candidates in a league is shallow. For example, the lone Marlin to win the award was Casey McGehee. After spending the previous season playing in Japan, McGehee was more or less an average everyday third baseman for the Fish in 2014 (1.9 fWAR in 160 G). The MLB.com beat reporters who vote on the award apparently didn't have a more remarkable performer to go with in the NL that year. Health permitting, there should be a lot more star power in the award conversation this time around, and I have a feeling that Alcantara prefers it that way. With Opening Day exactly one month away, BetOnline.ag has tabbed former NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. (+300 odds) as the early favorite to be the league's 2025 Comeback Player of the Year. Alcantara is right behind him with +375 odds. Acuña's Atlanta Braves teammate and former MLB strikeout leader, Spencer Strider, has the third-shortest odds (+550). After them, it's Brandon Woodruff of the Milwaukee Brewers (+700), who has made significant progress on his long road back from shoulder issues, but currently has "no timeline" to return. One of the longshots listed is Alcantara's protégé, Eury Pérez. His case would have to be all about quality over quantity considering the expectation that Pérez won't resurface in the majors until July. The prospect of Alcantara overcoming both Acuña and Strider to win seems daunting at first glance. However, both of them will begin the regular season on the injured list while completing their rehab. More importantly, unlike other MLB awards, the CPOY voting process involves only one candidate per team, so the lesser of the two uber-talented Braves won't even factor into the results. The messiest variable is whether or not Alcantara gets traded to the American League midseason. During their latest press conference, neither Bruce Sherman nor Peter Bendix were willing to publicly commit to keeping him throughout 2025. The 29-year-old is under club control for three more seasons, but the rebuilding Marlins are destined to be sellers at the trade deadline and Alcantara's value could be at its absolute peak if he is performing as well as hoped. Meanwhile, many of the other leading NL CPOY possibilities play for postseason contenders, so it's doubtful that they will change teams if they're effective. With no specific restrictions on his workload, I still think Alcantara should be the frontrunner for NL Comeback Player of the Year. While acknowledging the AL trade risk, it is equally likely that he goes to a contender within the Senior Circuit, which would only bolster his candidacy. On the other hand, the Braves figure to be careful in managing Acuña and Strider during the regular season because this is the second surgeries they've had on their knees and elbow, respectively. 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. These notes apply to Miami's home exhibition game against the New York Mets. STARTING LINEUP Kyle Stowers (L) CF Connor Norby 3B Jesús Sánchez (L) DH Jonah Bride 1B Liam Hicks C Dane Myers RF Albert Almora Jr. LF Javier Sanoja 2B Max Acosta SS Max Meyer RHP View full article

Today's news roundup also includes features on Robby Snelling and Xavier Edwards. Undefeated no more: the Miami Marlins struggled mightily on pitching and defense in Tuesday's 14-7 loss to the Washington Nationals. Edward Cabrera allowed three runs on four hits during his lone inning, and it could've been worse if not for a diving catch by Griffin Conine. Matt Mervis, Derek Hill and Andrew Pintar each homered for the Fish, while Joe Mack and Colby Shade had two-hit performances off the bench. Congrats to Fish On First farm director Alex Carver for being one of several people to accurately predict that Mervis would hit the club's first spring training long ball. Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium is notoriously pitcher-friendly. I had to go all the way back to 2011 to find the last time that a Marlins spring game there included more than 21 combined runs. Marlins Opening Day is 29 days away. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 Robby Snelling spoke to Kevin Barral about developing his slider and what it's been like coming over to a new organization surrounded by a lot of familiar faces from his San Diego Padres days. 🔷 Join us for a new episode of Fish On First LIVE tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET on YouTube/Twitter/Facebook. We'll be streaming each Wednesday at that time throughout the rest of the Grapefruit League schedule. 🔷 MLB uniforms are back to "normal" after last year's widely panned template change. I used a pair of Derek Hill photos to demonstrate the differences: 🔷 John Rodriguez has begun a new "Marlin of the Day" series, starting off with Kevin Slowey. 🔷 Christina De Nicola of MLB.com reports on the origin of Xavier Edwards' annual baseball camp and the influence of Edwards' father, Jovon. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, three months after non-tendering closer Kyle Finnegan, the Nationals have re-signed him (1-YR/$6M). Chinese Taipei defeated Spain to qualify for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. There's another WBC qualifier taking place in Arizona beginning on Sunday, with Brazil, China, Colombia and Germany competing for the tournament's final two spots. 🔷 Today's Grapefruit League game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Max Meyer) host the New York Mets (RHP Paul Blackburn). There's been buzz around camp about Meyer being significantly improved from last year, so I'm excited to scrutinize his single inning of work. It's only being broadcasted on the Marlins Radio Network. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. Marlins podcast episodes View full article