Ely Sussman

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

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 Washington Nationals. View full article

Today's news roundup also includes the passing of an MLB team's owner and notes about the Marlins pitching staff. For the first time since 2014, Jessica Blaylock will not be covering the Miami Marlins. The longtime pre/postgame host and in-game reporter "would have loved to return, but unfortunately, the decision didn't belong to me," she wrote Monday in a social media post. Shortly after sharing the news, the Marlins removed her blurb from the "broadcasters" page of the website. Blaylock used to cover both the Marlins and Florida Panthers for FanDuel Sports Network Florida (previously known as Bally Sports Florida), but the Panthers left the network for Scripps Sports entering the 2024-25 season and hired her. FDSN Florida "briefly discussed" retaining Blaylock in a role that wouldn't interfere with her Scripps obligations, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Seems as though this was more of a logistical issue than an indictment of her work. Regardless, it's a huge blow to the Marlins' television product. Blaylock consistently brought creativity and humor to her segments. She had a good rapport with players and dug up interesting off-the-field stories about them. She was enthusiastic during many non-competitive Marlins seasons, but not in a cringey way. Her talent and experience will be missed. A formal announcement about the 2025 Marlins broadcast team is expected from FDSN Florida in the coming weeks, but returning talent Craig Minervini and Kelly Saco will help fill the Blaylock void. They can't do it entirely on their own because of additional responsibilities as part-time radio announcers. Barry Jackson mentions Jeremy Taché as "potentially" getting increased TV reps. Marlins Opening Day is 30 days away. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 Monday's scheduled game between the Miami Marlins and Houston Astros was canceled due to rain. Ryan Weathers got his work in at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, so the Marlins will skip his spot in the rotation. By the time we see him in a game environment for the first time this weekend, he should be stretched out to go multiple innings. 🔷 Slowed by lower back inflammation, Andrew Nardi has begun to ramp. He got cleared to play catch on Monday. Being a reliever who rarely pitches more than one inning at a time, there's hope he could be at full strength just in time to make the Opening Day roster. 🔷 Any further setbacks to Nardi would help Anthony Veneziano's case for making the roster as a lefty reliever. He spoke to MLB.com's Steve Dorsey about transitioning to the bullpen after mainly being a starter in the minor leagues. 🔷 Weekly reminder that HOMAGE's teal Marlins Starter jacket is still available here in all sizes. Fish On First earns a commission on products purchased through that link. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Cleveland Guardians owner Larry Dolan passed away at the age of 94. He purchased the franchise in 2000. His son, Paul, has been Cleveland's primary control person since 2013. Sean Manaea (right oblique strain) will be starting the season on the injured list. That's the second Mets starter to suffer a significant spring training injury, joining Frankie Montas (right lat strain). On the position player side, the Mets acquired outfielder Alexander Canario from the Cubs for cash considerations. Good luck to Harold Ramírez, one of my favorite Marlins role players ever, who is continuing his playing career in the Mexican League in 2025. 🔷 Today's Grapefruit League game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Edward Cabrera) host the Washington Nationals (RHP Trevor Williams). It's only being broadcasted on the Marlins Radio Network. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. View full article

As feared, today's spring game has been canceled 🌧️

Watch all 17 pitches that Sandy Alcantara threw against the New York Mets in his 2025 spring training debut. The Marlins ace faced Luisangel Acuña (lineout), Mark Vientos (single), Brett Baty (groundout) and Jose Siri (strikeout). View full video

Today's news roundup also includes an opportunity to see college baseball at loanDepot park. In his 2025 spring training debut on Sunday, Sandy Alcantara faced Luisangel Acuña (lineout), Mark Vientos (single), Brett Baty (groundout) and Jose Siri (strikeout). He threw 17 pitches in his scoreless inning of work, including nine four-seam fastballs, four sinkers, two sliders and two changeups. His velocity topped out at 99.3 mph, very similar to what we were accustomed to seeing from him prior to undergoing Tommy John surgery. Beyond just the velocity, the quality of Alcantara's stuff was excellent. Both his sinker and changeup had the characteristics of top-of-the-scale 80-grade pitches, according to tjStuff+. Miami Marlins - El Caballo.mp4 Still no home runs for the Marlins this spring, but their offense has just as many walks (11) as strikeouts (11), tied with the Athletics for the best ratio in the majors. Marlins Opening Day is 31 days away. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 Victor Mesa Jr. (mild right hamstring strain) is 3-4 weeks away from returning to play, the Marlins say. The 23-year-old outfielder was a longshot to crack the Opening Day roster to begin with, but this setback firmly takes him out of consideration. Mesa also suffered a minor injury last spring to his ankle and his 2024 season ended prematurely due to a lumbar stress reaction. Hopefully, he'll be ready for Triple-A Jacksonville's season opener. More injury updates here. 🔷 Louis Addeo-Weiss explains how bad luck distorted Declan Cronin's numbers last season and what Cronin could do to make his own luck in 2025 despite likely being surrounded by a subpar defense again. 🔷 loanDepot park will host a college baseball game on March 4 between the University of Miami and Florida International University. General admission tickets are on sale now for $28.40 apiece. 🔷 BrooksGate created this 26-man all-star team of players who were traded away by the Marlins at some point during their careers. Five of them (Luis Arraez, Josh Naylor, Marcell Ozuna, Tanner Scott and Christian Yelich) were real-life MLB All-Stars in 2024. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Nicaragua has qualified for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. The winner of Tuesday's game between Spain and Chinese Taipei will qualify as well. 🔷 Today's Grapefruit League game: the Marlins (probable starter LHP Ryan Weathers) visit the Houston Astros (RHP Ronel Blanco). Expect to see a lot of Saturday's starting position players in the lineup again such as Xavier Edwards, Otto Lopez and Matt Mervis. The Astros claim that there will be some sort of free livestream of the game. I don't have the specific link for it yet, but will make it a clickable banner atop the Fish On First website this afternoon when available. Weather permitting, first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. 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 Houston Astros. View full article