Ely Sussman

This past February, the event was held at a major league team's home ballpark for the first time and drew hundreds of thousands of fans. As announced on Tuesday, loanDepot park will be hosting the Caribbean Series again in 2028. Miami Marlins president of business operations Caroline O'Connor released the following statement (via Daniel Álvarez-Montes, El Extrabase): “We are thrilled to follow on the immense success of the 2024 Caribbean Series and bring the prestigious international tournament back to Miami in 2028 in partnership with LIDOM. This year’s tournament was a marquee event for our community, and we thank LIDOM for an outstanding partnership that once again brings the best of winter baseball to loanDepot park.” From February 1-9, loanDepot park hosted the 66th edition of Serie del Caribe, featuring the champions of seven professional baseball leagues. Venezuela's Tiburones de La Guaira won the tournament, managed by former Marlins skipper Ozzie Guillén. The Marlins went all out to amplify the Caribbean Series stateside. They struck a multi-year deal with the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation for exclusive broadcast rights, which included English language television coverage of every game via Bally Sports. The Final drew 36,677 fans to Miami, setting a tournament record. Overall, the 25 Caribbean Series contests drew an average of 13,613 fans. O'Connor said that the many of them were South Florida residents and she was hopeful they'd return to the ballpark during the MLB regular season. Alas, the Marlins have averaged only 12,496 fans per game, not only the second-lowest mark in the majors but a 13% decrease from their 2023 season. The club's unambitious offseason moves and subsequent non-competitiveness—they fell out of the playoff race almost immediately—certainly made it more difficult to "convert" them. In between the 2024 and 2028 tournaments, loanDepot park will also be a host site for an even bigger international event: the 2026 World Baseball Classic. View full article

Offishial News for 6/26/24 On Tuesday, the Marlins scored a pair of runs on balls that didn't even leave the infield. Four Miami relievers combined to allow only one hit. Tanner Scott has eclipsed 10 saves for the third straight season. The Marlins won, 2-1. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 2-0. Dominant effort by the rehabbing Edward Cabrera (4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 60 pitches/37 strikes) as well as the pitchers who entered after him. The Jumbo Shrimp staff combined for 16 strikeouts. Double-A Pensacola lost, 5-4. Nice bounce-back start for LHP Adam Laskey (5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 67 pitches/51 strikes). INF Cody Morissette has extra-base hits in four of his last five games. High-A Beloit won, 7-2. Nine straight wins for the Sky Carp! RHP Jacob Miller (7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 86 pitches/56 strikes) enjoyed the longest outing of his career. Low-A Jupiter won, 7-5. Struggling outfielders Kemp Alderman and John Cruz had much-needed strong showings, each going 3-for-4 with 2 RBI. DSL Marlins won, 8-6. DSL Miami lost, 21-7. Three different relievers allowed five earned runs, including Japanese RHP Raisei Nakamura. Nakamura did collect his first career MiLB strikeout, though. Here's more Marlins news and content: 🔷 The Marlins claimed LHP Austin Kitchen off waivers from the Rockies and optioned him to Jacksonville. Kitchen has no MLB experience, but has performed solidly in the upper minors during his age-27 season (33.0 IP, 3.00 ERA and 3.47 FIP with a 56.3 GB%). He has a four-pitch mix: 91 mph fastball, 83 mph changeup, 78 mph slider and 73 mph curveball. Sixto Sánchez was transferred to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. That means he isn't eligible to be reinstated until July 31 (I'm skeptical that we'll see Sánchez return to the big leagues in any capacity this season). 🔷 Marlins major league strength and conditioning coach Brendan Verner has been selected to handle strength and conditioning for the National League All-Star team. What does that even entail when the team is only together for parts of two days? Congrats anyway, I guess. 🔷 The Caribbean Series is coming back to Miami in 2028. “This year’s tournament was a marquee event for our community," Marlins president of business operations Caroline O'Connor said in a statement, "and we thank LIDOM for an outstanding partnership that once again brings the best of winter baseball to loanDepot park.” Average attendance for 2024 Serie del Caribe games surpassed what we've seen during the Marlins regular season despite the tournament's rosters relying mostly on minor league and unaffiliated players. 🔷 The Miami New Times selected Luis Arraez as the "Best Miami Marlins Player" in their annual "best of" issue despite him no longer being on the Marlins. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Aaron Judge is on pace for 58 homers and 150 RBI after hitting a grand slam on Tuesday. The White Sox also reached the halfway point of their season and are on pace for 120 losses. The Astros have won six in a row to pull within a game of the .500 mark. Christian Encarnacion-Strand is scheduled to undergo wrist surgery that will likely end his 2024 season. Even when healthy, his sophomore campaign had gotten off to an awful start. Overall, Reds first basemen have a 62 wRC+ this year. Maybe a fit for Josh Bell if they play well leading up to the trade deadline? 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Valente Bellozo) wrap up their series against the Royals (RHP Brady Singer). The 24-year-old Bellozo will be making his major league debut! Bellozo will wear uniform No. 83. The most likely corresponding roster move is designating Kent Emanuel for assignment (again). The Marlins have a 47.7% chance to win, per FanGraphs. Unless the results are abysmal, I would expect Bellozo to make a second start after this one as Edward Cabrera needs more time to build up his pitch count on his rehab assignment. First pitch at 2:10 p.m. ET. 🔷 Today's MiLB schedule: Triple-A Jacksonville vs. Nashville, 12:05 p.m. ET Double-A Pensacola at Biloxi, 7:35 p.m. ET High-A Beloit at Cedar Rapids, 1:05 p.m. ET Low-A Jupiter at Daytona, 6:35 p.m. ET FCL Marlins vs. FCL Mets, 12:00 p.m. ET Marlins podcast episodes View full article

The 24-year-old Marlins right-hander went five scoreless innings against the Royals on Wednesday. With their depth chart depleted by numerous injuries, the Miami Marlins starting pitcher carousel keeps on spinning. Only halfway through the 2024 season, Miami has already used 14 different starters, including 10 in the last 30 days alone. The newest addition to that not-so-exclusive club, Valente Bellozo, was arguably the least qualified. When he was acquired via trade from the Houston Astros in April, the Mexican right-hander had just four career games of experience above the High-A level. He had never been invited to a big league spring training camp. During the first half of the minor league campaign, Bellozo split time between Double-A Pensacola and Triple-A Jacksonville, posting ERAs worse than league average at both stops. He wasn't even on the 40-man roster, but the decision to call him up prior to Wednesday's game against the Kansas City Royals speaks to the Marlins' desperation. What makes baseball beautiful is how unpredictable it can be in small samples. Bellozo's results in his debut were excellent: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 72 pitches/46 strikes. If not for an abrupt Huascar Brazoban implosion, he would have earned the win. Bellozo was poised for this special occasion. With their adrenaline flowing, it's common to see a velocity spike from debuting pitchers, coming at the expense of their control. But Bellozo actually threw his fastball a half-tick slower in Kansas City (averaging 91.1 mph) than he did in his Triple-A outings (91.6 mph). In the bottom of the second inning, Vidal Bruján lost his battle with the sun on what should have been a routine, inning-ending popout. As a result, Bellozo had to pitch with runners in scoring position for the first time. He responded by striking out Garrett Hampson on three pitches, then retiring every batter he faced from that point forward. b1c6a24c-32fa-44c9-979f-ceddbb107be0.mp4 With that being said, Bellozo was fortunate to keep the Royals off the scoreboard. Excluding the sun-aided double, he allowed only one hit despite six hard-hit balls against him. His overall batting average on balls in play was .133, which is unsustainable. The Marlins went to their bullpen without letting the rookie begin his third trip through the lineup. Also worth noting, the Royals conceded the platoon advantage to Bellozo. They started only two left-handed batters, one of whom, MJ Melendez, has had a terrible year at the plate (67 wRC+). Bellozo is projected to make his next start at loanDepot park on Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox. They are practically tied with the Royals in the AL Wild Card race, but should put up a tougher fight. The Sox have been one of MLB's most consistent offensive teams lately and they typically start seven lefties when facing a right-hander. Bellozo was able to navigate his debut with only a handful of changeups and no curveballs; against Boston, expect to see increased usage of both pitches. Bellozo's ability to hold baserunners will eventually be tested. His MiLB opponents have gone 11-for-12 on stolen base attempts this season. The Red Sox can be relentless in that department, swiping nine bags on June 16 (the highest single-game total for any MLB team in 2024). Thanks to an off-day on Monday, the Marlins will have the option of coddling Bellozo again and turning to their rested relief corps before the Red Sox lineup gets too comfortable. Despite launching his MLB career on a very positive note, I'd advise waiting to see what he does for an encore before putting any expectations on him. 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. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article

Offishial News for 6/25/24 On Monday, Roddery Muñoz continued to be very susceptible to home runs, allowing three more of them to the Royals. Predictably, Cole Ragans (6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 11 K, 108 pitches/68 strikes) had an easy time with Miami's lineup, as most left-handers do. Josh Bell sat out his first game of the season. The Marlins lost, 4-1. Down on the farm, RHP Eliazar Dishmey won Florida State League Pitcher of the Week. The FCL Marlins swept their doubleheader, winning 4-2 and 6-5. They stole 11 bases in 13 offensive innings! LHP Luis Cesar (5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K) lowered his ERA to 1.08. DSL Marlins won, 9-3. DSL Miami won, 9-5. The Marlins finished the "first half" of the minor league season with a higher winning percentage than any other organization, and that was prior to this undefeated day. Here's more Marlins news and content for you: 🔷 If you are a Florida-based Comcast subscriber who can't access Bally Sports Florida broadcasts on cable, follow these steps to claim two free months of the Bally Sports+ Marlins package. 🔷 The Marlins gave up barely anything to acquire relievers Declan Cronin and Calvin Faucher this past offseason. Now, they could be flipped to contenders for prospect reinforcements, writes Kevin Barral. 🔷 In an interview with the Marlins Radio Network, LHP Thomas White (FOF #1 prospect) describes figuring out his changeup this season and turning his slurve into a "true slider" by throwing it harder. "Narrowing my misses was my big goal this year and I think I've accomplished that pretty well." 🔷 FSL Network went around the bases with OF Colby Shade. Shade leads all Marlins minor leaguers with 31 stolen bases this season. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Guardians reached 50 victories and have won six in a row. The White Sox were shut out for the 11th time this season. The Cubs blew a 4-0 lead to the Giants. Both teams are 37-42, which is still within striking distance of a National League Wild Card berth, but that's actually tied for the third-worst record in the NL, ahead of only the Marlins and Rockies. Phase 1 of MLB All-Star voting remains open through June 27. Vote up to five times per day. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Yonny Chirinos) take on the Royals again (RHP Seth Lugo). The Marlins have a 41.2% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 8:10 p.m. ET. 🔷 Today's MiLB schedule: Triple-A Jacksonville vs. Nashville, 7:05 p.m. ET (Edward Cabrera rehab start) Double-A Pensacola at Biloxi, 7:35 p.m. ET High-A Beloit at Cedar Rapids, 7:35 p.m. ET Low-A Jupiter at Daytona, 6:35 p.m. ET DSL Marlins at DSL Giants Orange, 11:00 a.m. ET DSL Miami vs. DSL Rockies, 11:00 a.m. ET 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. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article

I just don't believe that to be the case. Edwards should certainly be on the big league roster right now, but his style of hitting that works so well in Triple-A won't completely translate against superior MLB fielders and advance scouting.

For Florida residents only, here is the full step-by-step process for claiming two months of the Bally Sports+ Marlins package. Offer valid through July 31, 2024. View full video

In case you missed it up top, we're giving out a bonus point for Stanley Cup Final Game 7. Just pick the winner (Panthers or Oilers).

Team VMJ ✊🏻

Offishial News for 6/24/24 On Sunday, Kyle Tyler gave the Marlins four decent innings as a spot starter. Nick Gordon hit his seventh home run of the season, matching the total that his brother Dee had during his Marlins tenure. Otto Lopez made a leaping catch to record the final out. Celebrating his 31st birthday, Tim Anderson birthday got the day off. The Marlins won, 6-4. They drew only four walks during the three-game series. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 7-6. 1B Troy Johnston tripled and homered. OF Griffin Conine hit his organization-leading 15th long ball. Double-A Pensacola lost, 6-4, barely falling short of a first-half Southern League South division title. High-A Beloit swept their doubleheader, winning 6-4 and 5-2. Big day for 1B Torin Montgomery, who went 4-for-6 with 4 RBI. Low-A Jupiter won, 3-2. RHP Jake Brooks (6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 67 pitches/51 strikes) was extraordinary again. Brooks leads the Florida State League in innings pitched (68.2 IP) and ERA (1.57). Here's more Marlins news and content: 🔷 Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett, Jesús Luzardo, Eury Pérez, Bryan Hoeing and Ryan Weathers combined to start 138 of the Marlins' 162 games last season. They're all on the injured list right now! It simply isn't possible for a low-payroll team to be competitive when they lose so much rotation depth simultaneously. How much of this is bad luck vs. fundamental issues with the Marlins' training methods? Very hard to discern that from our vantage point. 🔷 Listen back to the latest State of the Fish call-in show. Every Sunday at 6:00 p.m. ET, we review the previous week of Marlins baseball and invite you to share your questions and takes. 🔷 Through 25 Marlins series, here's an updated look at the Prediction Time leaderboard. Make series predictions with us all season long when you become a Fish On First SuperSub. 🔷 The FCL Marlins have Minor League Baseball's most dominant pitching staff this season. I introduce you to a few of their standout hurlers. 🔷 MLB.com's Christina De Nicola spoke with hot-hitting INF/OF Javier Sanoja about his rapid climb to Triple-A and covered the free baseball clinic that Luzardo hosted on Friday. 🔷 The 2024 Marlins All-Star Game cap is here and...yikes. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, highly touted Blue Jays prospect Orelvis Martínez received an 80-game PED suspension immediately after making his MLB debut. He has accepted the punishment and won't be eligible to return until the final week of the regular season. Mets closer Edwin Díaz was ejected for having a sticky substance on his pitching hand. He faces a 10-game suspension. Phillies LHP Cristopher Sánchez signed a four-year, $22.5M extension, then proceeded to throw seven scoreless frames on Sunday. Max Scherzer (5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 57 pitches/39 strikes) was nearly flawless in his season debut. For the eighth time during his Yankees tenure, Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring strain) has landed on the IL. Stanton has played in only 65.1% of Yankees regular season games since being traded to New York. 🔷 Elsewhere around the sports world, the Florida Panthers host the Edmonton Oilers in the winner-take-all Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Cats are in danger of becoming one of the few teams in North American professional sports history to blow a 3-0 playoff series lead, but at least they'll be on home ice. The Marlins and Panthers haven't won on the same day since May 22. 🔷 Today's MLB game: the Marlins (probable starter RHP Roddery Muñoz) visit the Royals (LHP Cole Ragans). The Marlins are a major league-worst 4-23 against left-handed starters this season. They have a 34.0% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 8:10 p.m. ET. 🔷 Join us for a new episode of Fish On First LIVE tonight from 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET on YouTube/Twitter/Facebook. Special guest: Jupiter Hammerheads broadcaster Brendan Erlansen. 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 MiLB schedule: FCL Marlins vs. FCL Mets, doubleheader beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET DSL Marlins vs. DSL Phillies Red, 11:00 a.m. ET DSL Miami at DSL Arizona Black, 11:00 a.m. ET Marlins podcast episodes View full article

The FCL Marlins have won nearly three-quarters of their games this season, leaning heavily on young Dominican arms. I'll spit it out immediately in case it isn't apparent to everybody: there's close to zero correlation between a minor league affiliate's overall stats and the quality of MLB talent on the affiliate's roster. That is particularly true midway through a rookie ball team's abbreviated season. Numerous factors can skew the numbers over such a small, strange sample. With that being said, the 2024 Florida Complex League Marlins have earned a shoutout. Entering Monday, the FCL Marlins (to be referred to as FCLM for the rest of this article) are 24-9. Their .727 winning percentage ranks first among all domestic MiLB affiliates. That success is largely attributable to foreign-born arms who the Marlins have found via international free agency in recent years. Dominican RHP Juan De La Cruz is Fish On First's #19 Marlins prospect. He got sent back to the complex league despite a long stint at Low-A in 2023. This season, De La Cruz has posted a 1.20 earned run average in his team-leading 30 innings pitched, limiting opponents to three hits or fewer in each of his seven starts. De La Cruz throws a low-90s fastball, a mid-70s curveball and an occasional mid-80s changeup which has improved, helping him limit left-handed batters to three hits in 37 at-bats against him (.081 BAA). RHP Walin Castillo has deservedly matriculated to Low-A Jupiter already. He allowed only one earned run and 13 baserunners (hits, walks and HBPs combined) in his 23 FCLM innings. Signed in June 2022, Castillo is the same age as De La Cruz (this is his age-19 season). His fastball is a tick slower, but possesses nasty armside run. Plenty of room to add onto his slender 6'3" frame. emWiaw-XeiPxxr7R.mp4 Fellow Dominican LHP Luis Cesar is more physically mature. The 20-year-old has sliced his walk rate in half, from 16.5% in his stateside debut to 8.2% this summer. His MiLB groundball rate is over 60% in parts of three seasons (56.2 GB% in 2024). On a roster that's overwhelming populated by international signees, RHP Colson Lawrence leads FCLM with 11 appearances. The Alabama native was Miami's 13th-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. Every complex league club benefits from the contributions of rehabbing big leaguers. Braxton Garrett and A.J. Puk have suited up and excelled for FCLM, but only for one game apiece. By Baseball-Reference's calculation of pitchers' average age, FCLM has had the third-youngest pitching staff in the league (20.1 years old). They lead the FCL in strikeouts (350) and WHIP (1.11), and in terms of overall run prevention, they're lapping the competition: There have been encouraging developments on the position player side as well. The youngest FCLM hitter, Venezuelan OF Andrés Valor (FOF #15 prospect), is slashing .289/.362/.446 while manning center field practically every game. Repeating the FCL, 1B Julio Henriquez has posted a .496 on-base percentage, second-highest among league qualifiers. The other hitter getting daily reps is switch-hitting SS Fabian López. He's been far less successful at the plate (.231/.263/.346 slash line), particularly against right-handers. However, López has excellent defensive potential and I'm going to take an educated guess that he's been helping out these pitchers by making more impactful plays at shortstop than his peers. The FCLM defense has allowed a .247 BABIP—that's gotta be more than just good luck, right? Beginning with a doubleheader on Monday, FCLM is scheduled to play 23 more regular season games. The club holds a commanding eight-game lead in the FCL East division. View full article

The timing of the Arraez trade was an anomaly. I don't think the May improvement convinced them of anything. It's just very difficult to get a deal done so early in the season. I think I've commented about this before: contenders prefer to wait for more sellers to declare themselves. They aren't going to limit themselves to shopping for Marlins/White Sox/Rockies players when there will inevitably be more veteran players to choose from a month from now.

Depends on your definition of "rational," but July 21 is the magic date that Meyer can return while guaranteeing that his free agency gets pushed back a full year. Service time manipulation.

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. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. 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. Got thoughts about this matchup? Head over to Fish On First's Marlins game thread. View full article