Ely Sussman

Today's news roundup also includes a new injury and an addition to the team's television broadcast crew. The starting pitchers for the Miami Marlins' first two Grapefruit League games will be Valente Bellozo and Sandy Alcantara on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. No announcement yet from the St. Louis Cardinals or New York Mets regarding their probable starters against Miami. It will be Alcantara's first appearance in a game setting since he made a Triple-A rehab start 17 months ago. SNY is doing a television broadcast that day and Clover Park utilizes Statcast, so we'll have real-time highlights and data to share/overreact to. Marlins Opening Day is 35 days away. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 Reliever Woo-Suk Go fractured his right index finger. Even if healthy, Go wouldn't have been in the mix for an Opening Day roster spot, but this setback ensures he will begin the regular season on the minor league injured list (either with Triple-A Jacksonville or Double-A Pensacola). As a reminder, bookmark this page for frequent MLB/MiLB injury updates. 🔷 Wednesday's episode of Fish On First LIVE is embedded below. It included an impromptu NRI quiz. Our staffers will be streaming with special guests on a weekly basis throughout spring training. 🔷 Congratulations to Marlins Twitter legend Craig Mish on joining FanDuel Sports Network Florida's rotation of studio analysts. Craig Minervini and Kelly Saco will be the Marlins’ primary TV studio hosts this season, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports, while Rod Allen, Jeff Nelson and Gaby Sanchez will be the primary studio analysts. Mish will no longer be co-writing Marlins columns for the Herald with Jackson like he had been doing since 2021. 🔷 We are still almost three weeks away from FDSN Florida's first spring training broadcast, but I put together a primer on how to watch/listen to games in the meantime. 🔷 The Marlins Radio Network has a weekly show debuting this Sunday called "Clayton's Corner" featuring exclusive interviews with Clayton McCullough. 🔷 The Jumbo Shrimp will use "Honey Drippers" as their alternate identity for four games this season. It refers to "a delicious frozen treat served in a variety of flavors while often including fresh fruit." 🔷 Here is one more plug for HOMAGE's teal Florida Marlins Starter jacket that has been newly restocked with higher-quality fabric. I'm literally wearing mine as I type this. Fish On First receives a commission from that link, so any purchases simultaneously enhance your wardrobe while supporting our hard-working staff. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Right-hander Valente Bellozo wasn't even in the Miami Marlins organization at this time a year ago. Now, he's been tabbed as the starting pitcher for their 2025 Grapefruit League opener, manager Clayton McCullough announced. The Marlins will face the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday at 1:10 p.m. at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Traded from the Houston Astros to the Marlins shortly after the 2024 regular season began, Bellozo's workload was split evenly between the minors (66.0 IP) and the majors (68.2 IP). In terms of run prevention, he was significantly better in Miami (3.67 ERA) than he was at Double-A/Triple-A (4.64 ERA). On the other hand, his strikeout rate plummeted against MLB competition—from 25.0% to 14.9%—and he was heavily reliant on fly balls, which makes it difficult to envision the soft-tosser replicating that effectiveness in his sophomore season. He's firmly behind Sandy Alcantara, Ryan Weathers, Cal Quantrill and Edward Cabrera on the current starting rotation depth chart, and likely behind Max Meyer, too. That makes this an appropriate assignment for Bellozo. Even under previous front offices and coaching staffs, the Marlins have consistently maximized Grapefruit League reps for pitchers who are on the Opening Day roster bubble. Jordan Yamamoto started the first spring game in 2020, for example. Daniel Castano did it in 2021, Braxton Garrett in 2023 and Weathers in 2024. (Due to an MLB lockout, 2022 spring training was abbreviated with fewer participating players and roster battles than usual, so the Marlins started Alcantara in that year's opener). Bellozo is only expected to go one or two innings on Saturday, which means a handful of other Marlins pitchers will also make appearances. There will be radio broadcasts on FOX Sports 940 AM Miami and Radio Mambí 710 AM WAQI (Spanish). Fish On First will have on-site coverage as well.

The Offishial Show—Episode #221 Isaac Azout, Kevin Barral and Alex Carver join Ely Sussman for a five-round draft of Miami Marlins minor leaguers. The objective is simple: predict which of them will be called up by the Marlins and make their MLB regular season debuts in 2025. Find The Offishial Show on the Fish On First YouTube channel, our new-look Apple Podcasts channel and wherever else you get your pods. FOF's audio programming also includes Fish Unfiltered, Swimming Upstream, Big Fish Small Pod and more. Alex's team: Robby Snelling, Joe Mack, Austin Roberts, Josh Ekness and Jared Serna Isaac's team: Liam Hicks, Victor Mesa Jr., Ronny Simon, Troy Johnston and Dale Stanavich Kevin's team: Robinson Piña, Deyvison De Los Santos, Jakob Marsee, John Rooney and Max Acosta Ely's team: Agustín Ramírez, Luarbert Arias, Matt Pushard, Jacob Berry and Nigel Belgrave Who has the best chance of going 5-for-5? Any unselected players who you believe could sneak up to the majors this season? Let us know in the comments. Follow Ely (@RealEly), Alex (@marlinsminors), Kevin (@kevin_barral), Isaac (@IsaacAzout) and Fish On First (@FishOnFirst) on Twitter. Join the Marlins Discord server! Complete Miami Marlins coverage here at FishOnFirst.com. View full article

Doubling down on his offseason comments, Sherman boasted about investing in infrastructure and player development as if it were an acceptable substitute for upgrading the talent on the Marlins roster. The contrast is staggering. Over the last two offseasons combined, the Miami Marlins have spent a total of $8.5 million on major league free agent deals. Meanwhile, Juan Soto's contract with the New York Mets guarantees him approximately that same amount during every regular season month (March/April through September) from now through the end of the 2030s. The Mets have also signed nine other free agents to deals exceeding $8.5 million during that span, including relievers and less-than-full-time position players, because that is how the market values them as MLB revenue continues to rise. "Everybody wants you to sign every free agent that's available," Marlins chairman & principal owner Bruce Sherman joked during Monday's press conference. "We understand that." Sherman's responses throughout the presser made it clear that he does not actually understand why there's widespread concern about the direction of the Marlins franchise under his stewardship. It's crucial for top decision-makers to be aligned on their values. To Sherman's credit, he and president of baseball operations Peter Bendix have that going for them. "Player development continues at all levels for every single player in this organization," Bendix said on Monday, with Sherman nodding by his side. "We are about getting them better, no matter where they are in their career. Everything that we're going to be doing is for that purpose." Sherman boasted about assembling one of the largest front-office staffs in baseball. While that may have been an exaggeration, it is meaningfully larger and more organized than it had been prior to Bendix's arrival. There are now 11 different directors within the player development department that each have their own niche. But what happens if/when players become the best versions of themselves in the majors? They will get traded to other teams in exchange for prospects. That is what Sherman's track record has been throughout his seven-plus years of ownership and all indications are that this cycle will continue. The last player to receive a contract extension from the Marlins was middle reliever Richard Bleier in March 2022. The only Sherman-era player to receive an extension guaranteeing more than two years has been Sandy Alcantara, a deal that aged very well for Miami even with Alcantara missing an entire season due to injury. Alcantara's extension was backloaded. His salary is spiking from $9.3 million in 2024 to $17.3 million in 2025. That is still far less than the former NL Cy Young award winner would make on the open market, but it's more than Sherman has ever paid an active Marlins player for a single season. When asked on Monday whether he could make a commitment to keeping Alcantara throughout this season, Sherman said he would defer to the front office. vz7mzw.mp4 Alcantara's salary alone does not make a trade inevitable—it's the combination of his salary and the hopeless supporting cast that he's been surrounded by. Waiting until he's nearing the end of his contract would diminish what the Marlins could get in return, and there's no reason to wait when the 2025 team is so ill-equipped to contend. "I think we're gonna win a lot of games, a lot more games than you think we're gonna win this year," Sherman predicted. He cited improvements to the Marlins' defense and baserunning as well as the influence of new manager Clayton McCullough, who's coming off a World Series title as first base coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers. "(McCullough) gave the most inspiring speech I've seen in all my years as an owner of this club," Sherman claimed. Sherman is blindly rooting for individual breakout performances because that's all you can do when you don't pay for reliable veterans. Alcantara is the only current Marlins player who has previously posted at least 2.3 fWAR in a season. For context, the Marlins have traded away Luis Arraez, Jesús Luzardo and Jazz Chisholm Jr. within the past year, all of whom have cleared that mark and would've still been under club control for 2025 if retained. Veterans can also provide intangible value by helping younger guys get acclimated to the MLB lifestyle. Even if Bendix's player development processes are brilliantly executed, top prospects are at a greater risk of underachieving in the majors in the absence of those leadership figures. Sherman awkwardly tried turning this roster deficiency into a brag: "We have two players [Cal Quantrill and Anthony Bender] who are 30 years old—and they both turned 30—on the 40-man roster. I'm excited about that." As Aram Leighton of Just Baseball recently detailed, the Marlins farm system is deep with potential big league contributors. Few of them realistically profile as above-average regulars, though. To this point, Alcantara has been an outlier—he blossomed into a star and found common ground with the Marlins on a contract that covered most of his prime years. What happens if other talents like that emerge? Either Sherman will need to convince them to accept similarly team-friendly deals, or he'll have to spend outside his comfort zone to keep pace with his fellow MLB owners. Marlins fans are not insisting that Sherman "sign every free agent." Operating like the Mets or the Dodgers is too inefficient to work in this market. They just want to see more of the club's revenue-sharing proceeds reinvested into the payroll so that this latest rebuilding opportunity doesn't go to waste. View full article

Today's news roundup also includes Max Meyer's offseason adjustments and a hypothetical redesign of the Marlins' uniforms. Today, the Marlins will hold their first full-squad workout of spring training. We're expecting 67 players to be involved. Chairman & principal owner Bruce Sherman and president of baseball operations Peter Bendix will be speaking to the media. Follow Kevin Barral and Isaac Azout for live coverage from Jupiter! Marlins Opening Day is 38 days away. Beginning today and continuing through October, Offishial News returns to its usual Monday-Friday schedule. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 Early spring training GIFs have been added to Fish On First's Marlins GIF database. Database access is a SuperSub perk. For as little as $4 per month, become a SuperSub to fuel our coverage. 🔷 Designated for assignment last week, Xzavion Curry cleared waivers and was outrighted to the minors. Curry is highly likely to make it back up to the majors at some point in 2025, whether it be as a long reliever or spot starter. 🔷 To put the Cal Quantrill signing in perspective, I did a roundup of other veteran pitchers who received comparable contracts in free agency this offseason. 🔷 With the 2025 college baseball season getting fully underway last weekend, Sean McCormack published his initial big board of top MLB Draft prospects. 🔷 The Marlins have more talent from Duke than any other college/university. Kevin Barral spoke to Matt Mervis and Griffin Conine about how that familiarity has helped with Mervis' transition to the organization. 🔷 Max Meyer discussed his expanded pitch mix with MLB.com's Christina De Nicola, most notably how his new sweeper can complement his signature slider. “My slider is going to be more down in depth and my sweeper's going to come across the plate,” Meyer said. “I feel like with the movement, there's definitely a big separation between those two." Pitching coach Daniel Moskos also identified a sinker grip based on Meyer's arm path and delivery, so let's see if that becomes a more significant piece of his attack plan after accounting for only 2.1% of his total pitch usage in 2024. Meyer underwent LASIK eye surgery, De Nicola adds, so no more pitching with goggles. 🔷 Unsurprisingly, the Marlins have MLB's youngest GM/manager/hitting coach/pitching coach quartet, per BrooksGate, with an average age of 39.5 years old. 🔷 Left-handed reliever Richard Bleier announced his retirement. A South Florida native, Bleier had stints with eight different MLB organizations, but the vast majority of his work was split between the Orioles (3.15 ERA in 154.1 IP) and Marlins (3.16 ERA in 122.1 IP). Fun fact: he is the last player to receive a contract extension from the Marlins—it was a two-year, $6 million deal signed in March 2022. Also, Bleier owns the highest groundball rate in franchise history (60.2 GB%) among pitchers with a minimum of 100 innings. "Looking back on my career I don’t think I would have done anything differently," he said in an Instagram post. 🔷 PGHconcepts is doing a series of jersey design refreshes for each MLB team. Here are the Marlins ones: Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Baseball America's JJ Cooper and Geoff Pontes describe how Marlins top prospect Thomas White has taken huge steps forward in his development since being drafted. View full video

I'm not implying that the Marlins are already feeling buyer's remorse about their new right-hander. Just out of curiosity, let's peruse the list of other potential starters who received Quantrill-esque contracts from MLB teams this past offseason. It needed to be done. After trading Jesús Luzardo and losing Braxton Garrett to season-ending surgery, the Miami Marlins had insufficient starting rotation depth for 2025. Regardless of how little the team cares about winning games this upcoming season amidst a rebuild, you still have to participate in them, ideally without rushing prospects to the major leagues or stretching unqualified depth players beyond their reasonable limits. Enter Cal Quantrill. The Canadian right-hander is only a couple years removed from starting playoff games. He owned a solid 3.88 ERA and 7.2% walk rate in his MLB career prior to last season's brutal second-half slump. Getting his services for a $3.5 million guarantee with up to $500,000 in performance bonuses is a bargain for the Fish. Which other stopgap starters were available in free agency for a comparable price? I consulted the MLB Trade Rumors contract tracker to generate the following list of pitchers with recent rotation experience who signed guaranteed major league deals worth $5 million or less during the 2024-25 offseason. Kyle Hendricks is the most accomplished of the bunch. He peaked as the National League ERA leader nearly a decade ago. For much of his career since then, Hendricks has produced like a high-end No. 3 starter, though he's coming off a nightmarish 2024 campaign and can't top 90 mph anymore. Martín Pérez is a boring yet safe floor-raiser with 13 years of MLB experience and a deep pitch mix. Griffin Canning shouldered the heaviest workload last season (171.2 IP), following closely by Colin Rea (167.2 IP). The track records of Jakob Junis, Shinnosuke Ogasawara, Joe Ross and Bryse Wilson suggest they will be moved back and forth between the rotation and bullpen throughout the year depending on their teams' needs. Considering these alternatives, I have to admit that the Marlins chose well. As long as they can resolve the uncharacteristic control issues that derailed Quantrill last summer, he is as likely as anybody else on this list eat to valuable innings and do so effectively enough to appeal to contending teams come the trade deadline when Miami will be shopping for prospects. Of course, there was a wider universe of arms to choose from if the Marlins weren't so frugal. It would have been difficult to recruit future Hall of Famers Max Scherzer ($15.5M) or Justin Verlander ($15M) to a team of this caliber, but what about Alex Cobb ($15M), Tomoyuki Sugano ($13M) or Mike Soroka ($9M), who also signed one-year deals with no strings attached beyond 2025? I say it's fair game to cite them in this conversation as well. View full article

Aram is doing his annual deep dive on the farm system this weekend, so if nothing else, we'll get him as a guest on our platform before the season to discuss.

The ERA for Marlins starters last season was 5.24 (compared to 4.15 for the 'pen). It looked like Quantrill was on the way to a bounce-back year midway through last season. Didn't have a single "great" start from mid-June onward, unfortunately. Whatever went wrong for him impacted him on the road as well, so can't use Coors as an excuse. Still a good value.

Within minutes of the public announcement, the team had a social media post ready to promote Opening Day tickets. That's what it is all about. Spring training performance will change the rotation hierarchy, but there's obviously the risk of injury between now and then. If it were a pure baseball decision, they would simply wait until he completes his final spring game to announce.

Pretty inconsiderate of the Miami Marlins to make me rip up my latest 2025 roster projection almost immediately after publication! Xzavion Curry is now on the outside looking in and may be off to a different organization entirely. The right-hander was designated for assignment on Tuesday to make room on the 40-man for fellow righty reliever Ronny Henriquez. Beginning with Henriquez, 24, he was signed by the Texas Rangers out of the Dominican Republic in 2017 and traded to the Minnesota Twins in 2022. He made his major league debut toward the end of that season, but got more significant reps last year when the Twins began using him exclusively as a reliever/opener. In 19 career MLB appearances, he has posted a 2.90 ERA, 4.02 FIP and .233 BAA in 31 innings pitched. Here is a look at Henriquez's four-seam fastball/changeup/slider pitch mix. It's difficult for opposing batters to anticipate what's coming because he throws each of them with similar frequency regardless of the batter's handedness. His velocity maxed out at 99.2 mph in 2024. merge-i4c5s9.mp4 Henriquez is out of minor league options, so unless he suffers an injury this spring or performs horribly, he'll be a piece of the 2025 Marlins bullpen. Curry joined the Marlins as a waiver claim last August. He is two years older than Henriquez and his fastball is several ticks slower, but his DFA still comes as a surprise. He did well for them after being claimed (3.00 ERA, 4.22 FIP, .148 BAA in 18.0 IP) with his sharp command really standing out. He has a lot of starting experience and can still be optioned in 2025, which I would've thought the club valued considering their lack of rotation depth. If Curry clears waivers, then the Marlins can outright him to the minors and still bring him to camp as a non-roster invitee. But unless there is an underlying health issue that we aren't aware of, I expect him to be claimed. View full rumor

On the Turn 2 podcast, Marlins minor leaguer Troy Johnston speaks candidly about what he'll have to do in 2025 to earn a long-awaited call-up to the majors. View full video

They will be testing the ABS challenge system at "select ballparks" during spring training games. I assume Roger Dean is one of them. Manfred will be addressing the media about it next week.

We will find out very soon. The vast majority of spring games are fully monitored by Statcast. If you ask the players, they'll often inflate their numbers, which understandably gets people excited at this time of year, but also sets unreasonable expectations.

With major league camp about to get underway, these Marlins players are best positioned to make the initial 26-man active roster. The 2025 baseball season is right around the corner. Very little is expected of the Miami Marlins this year, but the players on the field will ultimately determine the club's fate. Fish On First will be updating their progress every step of the way. Isaac Azout wrote up our most recent roster projection on January 3. Here's what has happened since then: We learned that Braxton Garrett underwent left UCL revision surgery, sidelining him for the entire 2025 season Connor Gillispie was claimed off waivers from the Atlanta Braves Jhonny Pereda was traded to the Athletics for cash considerations Manager Clayton McCullough described Andrew Nardi as being "a little bit behind" in his throwing progression following an offseason injury setback I have updated the projection accordingly as pitchers and catchers report to Jupiter in the coming days. Position players Default starting lineup (vs. RHP): C Nick Fortes, 1B Matt Mervis, 2B Otto Lopez, 3B Connor Norby, SS Xavier Edwards, LF Jesús Sánchez, CF Kyle Stowers, RF Griffin Conine, DH Jonah Bride Bench: C Liam Hicks, OF Dane Myers, OF Derek Hill, UTIL Ronny Simon Just missed: Eric Wagaman, Javier Sanoja In December, the Marlins announced that they had signed free agent Eric Wagaman to a "major league contract," which may have misled the public about his place on the team's depth chart. It is in fact a split contract that does not guarantee any time in the majors, nor does it void his three remaining minor league options. The Marlins signed him before they knew that Matt Mervis would be available. Mervis has more upside as a power hitter and there's a greater urgency to find out what he can do considering his extensive Triple-A experience and only one remaining option. I think it'd be redundant to roster Wagaman, Mervis and Jonah Bride simultaneously, with Wagaman being the odd man out initially. Javier Sanoja's most likely long-term role is utility player, but the Marlins shouldn't be in a rush to make that determination when he's only 22 years old. Sanoja bulked up a bit during the offseason—maybe that improves his game power enough to raise his ceiling. Best way to find out is through everyday reps at Triple-A while another versatile defender warms the bench in Miami. Room on the 40-man roster can be created for Ronny Simon by placing an injured pitcher on the 60-day IL. None of the Marlins outfielders are true lineup fixtures. Although Dane Myers is listed on my bench, he should be getting multiple starts per week and coming off the bench to face lefties in most other games. Derek Hill and Albert Almora Jr. are competing for a defensive replacement/situational pinch-runner job. Hill's 40-man spot gives him a distinct advantage. Pitchers Starting rotation: RHP Sandy Alcantara, LHP Ryan Weathers, RHP Edward Cabrera, RHP Max Meyer, RHP Valente Bellozo Bullpen: RHP Calvin Faucher, RHP Anthony Bender, RHP Declan Cronin, RHP Jesús Tinoco, RHP Xzavion Curry, RHP Lake Bachar, LHP Anthony Veneziano, LHP Josh Simpson Just missed: Andrew Nardi, Adam Mazur, Connor Gillispie There is little doubt about the first three starting rotation spots. The fun begins after that. Max Meyer should get an opportunity to flush his disappointing 2024 season. Valente Bellozo's solid rookie year production makes him the most likely No. 5 spot placeholder, but he can be overtaken if one of the other rotation candidates excels during spring training. Do not rule out the possibility of Miami signing an accomplished veteran to a cheap, one-year deal at some point this month. The Marlins bullpen has been overhauled over the last 12 months. Anthony Bender is the only reliever included in both last year's pre-spring projection and this one. Calvin Faucher is best positioned to receive save opportunities. Even with the return of Sandy Alcantara, there are serious concerns about how much length this team's starters will provide. That will prompt the Marlins to carry multiple bulk guys in the 'pen at the same time, in this case Xzavion Curry and Anthony Veneziano, with Connor Gillispie among those contending for the same role. In my experience, whenever a pitcher is less than 100% healthy at the start of camp due to an arm injury, they're doubtful to be on the Opening Day active roster. It helps that Andrew Nardi is rarely used for more than one inning at a time, so once he's cleared to ramp up, that process shouldn't take long. The Marlins could go in a handful of different directions to fill Nardi's spot. I'm making somewhat of a bold pick by projecting NRI Josh Simpson to get the nod. Simpson impressed in Jupiter last year before being derailed by an injury of his own and McCullough would probably appreciate having a conventional left-on-left matchup option. Any differences between your roster projection and mine? Comment to let me know. View full article