Isaac Azout

Forecasting the outcomes of roster battles was a headache at this time a year ago for a Miami Marlins team relying on so many inexperienced and players. Plenty of questions remained about which of them would establish themselves as long-term pieces. After going 80-82, the Marlins improved by one game in 2026. Along the way, Heriberto Hernández and Griffin Conine established themselves as middle-of-the-order power bats. Joe Mack seized control of the catcher position and Otto Lopez took a big step forward. The top half of Miami’s rotation was as lethal as any in baseball for extended stretches. That said, Miami still needs to supplement its core with more established talent, particularly on the pitching side, while continuing to get positive contributions from another wave of prospects. The following projection applies specifically to Opening Day and makes the assumption that it will take place on March 25 as currently scheduled. These are not necessarily the 26 “best” players in the Marlins organization—they are the ones with the easiest path to begin the 2027 season on the active roster. Position Players Default starting lineup: C Joe Mack, 1B Kyle Stowers, 2B Xavier Edwards, 3B Javier Sanoja, SS Otto Lopez, LF Heriberto Hernandez, CF Cam Cannarella, RF Griffin Conine, DH Owen Caissie Bench: C/1B Agustín Ramírez, UTIL Jonathon Long, INF Graham Pauley, OF Esteury Ruiz The Marlins just announced on Thursday that Jakob Marsee is undergoing left elbow surgery, which comes with a recovery time of approximately six months. Unless he recovers far ahead of schedule, he'll open the regular season on the injured list. That opens the door for Cannarella, the reigning Marlins Minor League Player of the Year, to make his MLB debut. Third base was a position that desperately needed an upgrade, but Javier Sanoja seized his opportunity and ran with it. Over his final 65 games of the season, despite not receiving the playing time he deserved because of Miami’s stubborn insistence on playing Leo Jiménez, the WBC champion slashed .315/.354/.511 with eight home runs and 35 RBI. Overall, he accumulated 3.1 bWAR. Bendix implied that Sanoja has done more than enough to earn a starting job in 2027. It’s not unreasonable to think former first-round draft pick Aiva Arquette could emerge as an option at third base in the second half of the season. The Marlins will target a right-handed power bat, which could make Ruiz or Ramirez expendable. Additionally, I expect Miami to look for a veteran catcher to back up Mack. Jonah Heim and Carson Kelly are potential options. Just missed: Deyvison De Los Santos, Jared Serna, Maximo Acosta Pitchers Starting rotation: RHP Sandy Alcantara, RHP Eury Pérez, RHP Max Meyer, RHP Janson Junk, RHP Tyler Phillips Bullpen: RHP Michael Petersen, RHP Ronny Henriquez, RHP Anthony Bender, RHP Josh Ekness, LHP Cade Gibson, RHP Jack Ralston, LHP Dax Fulton, RHP Victor Vodnik Sandy Alcantara put together his best season since his 2022 Cy Young campaign. The longtime ace is expected to have his $21 million club option picked up. With no extension in place, that will be Alcantara’s final season under club control. Max Meyer had his All-Star campaign cut short by a neck strain. He is expected to be ready for spring training. The right-hander posted a 2.68 ERA in a career-high 111 IP. After pitching almost exclusively out of the bullpen for Miami in 2025, Tyler Phillips became a constant in the rotation from late May onward. In 37 appearances, Phillips was worth 2.2 bWAR and posted a 3.34 ERA over a career-high 126 ⅔ innings, nearly 50 more than his previous career high. Thomas White was on pace to debut this season, but he went down early with a shoulder strain. While he is expected to make a full recovery for spring, he is not expected to make the OD roster. Robby Snelling got a very brief taste of the majors before his season was halted after by left elbow surgery. He is expected to return in May/June. Miami’s bullpen will certainly welcome back Ronny Henriquez. Henriquez was by far Miami's most effective reliever in 2025 as he struck out 98 batters in 73 IP, posting a sparkling 2.22 ERA. He was sidelined throughout 2026 following Tommy John surgery. Just missed: Ryan Gusto, Bradley Blaylock, Thomas White, Adam Mazur View full article

SAN DIEGO — Following a loss to the San Diego Padres team that they were chasing for the National League's final wild-card spot, the Miami Marlins have been mathematically eliminated from postseason contention. Miami’s series-opening loss was fittingly frustrating, as an all-too-common bullpen collapse made the difference on Friday night. Following 3 ⅔ scoreless innings from starter Tyler Phillips, manager Clayton McCullough went to his bullpen despite Phillips having thrown just 50 pitches. Relievers Cade Gibson and Tyler Zuber combined to allow six earned runs over the next inning and a third, highlighted by a gargantuan three-run home run from Ty France. Phillips, in his third major league season, has already significantly surpassed his career high in innings. Agustin Ramirez and Jakob Marsee provided excellent days at the plate, including Ramirez's fifth home run of the campaign. At 112.5 mph off the bat, it was the fourth-hardest hit homer of the season for Miami. Despite a very promising first half and several stretches of competitive ball, playoff baseball in Little Havana never felt particularly realistic. After reaching a season-high 10 games over .500 on July 9, Miami has gone 24-36, including Friday night’s demoralizing loss. “It’s a lot to process here right now. Hearing that, knowing what was at stake, we’re really disappointed. We came into this season expecting to be one of the six National League teams to play beyond the regular season, and it’s tough knowing we won’t be able to do that,” McCullough said postgame. “As far as examining this season as a whole, I’m not quite there yet. I’m still just thinking about tomorrow and trying to win as many games as possible the rest of the way.” What Went Wrong? After Miami’s historic month of June, in which the team went 20-6, July was a nightmare for McCullough and his staff. The last time the Padres faced Miami, they swept the Marlins to extend the team’s losing streak to a franchise-record 12 games. That ill-timed stretch played a major role in the Marlins’ decision to sell at the trade deadline rather than add key pieces to an incomplete roster. The trade of Liam Hicks appeared to hurt the lineup. Hicks was one of the few pure hitters on the roster who consistently put the ball in play and provided quality at-bats. At the time, however, the Marlins viewed themselves as dealing from an area of surplus, with a plethora of left-handed power bats throughout the organization.The Marlins saw an opportunity to sell high on a former Rule 5 pick. That said, the trade was quite unpopular among Marlins fans as it never hurts to have an excellent hitting catcher on the roster. Meanwhile, none of the three prospects received in exchange for Hicks have reached the majors yet. Perhaps a larger factor was Miami’s inability to win on the road. At home, the Marlins were one of the NL’s best teams at 45-33. On the road, they slipped to 31-45 on Friday night—a nearly 200-point difference in winning percentage. Miami’s struggles against quality opponents were another major factor. The Marlins are just 29-45 against teams at .500 or better this season, a .392 winning percentage. Rotation depth and injuries The Marlins entered the season with arguably one of the most talented 1-2 punches in baseball in Sandy Alcantara and Eury Pérez. The hope was that Max Meyer, Robby Snelling and Thomas White would round out one of the deeper rotations in the game. Instead, all three suffered season-ending injuries at various points during the season, forcing Miami to rely heavily on Tyler Phillips, Ryan Gusto and Janson Junk down the stretch. The lack of rotation depth became increasingly problematic as the season progressed, putting additional pressure on a bullpen that was already being asked to cover significant innings. With Alcantara and Pérez carrying much of the workload, the Marlins had little margin for error whenever one of their other starters failed to work deep into games, or weren’t permitted to even when pitching well. Injuries also plagued Miami’s bullpen, as Anthony Bender and Pete Fairbanks both missed significant time, forcing the Marlins to rely on younger arms late in the season, such as Josh Ekness, Jack Ralston and Tyler Zuber. More on their injuries later. Offensive regressions from the infield All-Star Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards formed one of the best middle-infield combinations in baseball through the All-Star break. Lopez, selected to his first career All-Star Game, posted an .874 OPS while slugging .505. Both numbers have dropped by nearly 200 points in the second half. Edwards posted an .810 OPS with a 126 OPS+, putting himself in legitimate All-Star contention as well. His injury-riddled second half has been particularly damaging, as his post-break OPS sits at just .566 following Friday’s loss. Miami’s offense depended heavily on those two and Hicks. Overall, the team’s OPS has dropped nearly 50 points in the second half. Bright spots The Marlins saw Sandy Alcantara significantly boost his production following an uneven 2025 season. Leading the NL in innings, Alcantara has eclipsed the 200-inning mark for the third time in his career and the first since 2022, his Cy Young-winning season. He has made all 32 starts and posted a 3.84 ERA, 1.5 runs better than the year before. A former minor league free-agent signing, outfielder Heriberto Hernandez has emerged as a true everyday player. Since being recalled from Triple-A on May 7, Hernandez has posted an .819 OPS with a team-leading 24 home runs and a .500 slugging percentage. At times, he was Miami's only reliable source of right-handed power. Additionally, the positive development of Joe Mack, Griffin Conine and Javier Sanoja should give the Marlins plenty of hope, as they appear to have solidified a core to build around this offseason. That said, the 2026 season will be chalked up as a disappointment. After remaining in the postseason hunt until the final four days of the regular season in 2025, expectations were raised this year. Given that Miami was 10 games over .500 in early July and sitting comfortably in the second NL Wild Card spot, tonight’s outcome should be a tough pill for the Marlins’ brass to swallow. They can still match last year’s win total with three more wins over their next eight games and potentially finish at .500 with a 5-3 finish. Regardless of how they finish, this two-year stretch is the most successful for the franchise in terms of wins since the 2009-10 seasons. Nevertheless, expectations will be significantly higher for Peter Bendix in 2027, whenever that should take place. High-leverage relievers to undergo surgery Prior to Friday night’s series opener, the Marlins announced that Anthony Bender and Pete Fairbanks will each undergo surgeries. Fairbanks, a pending free agent, is going under the knife to address thoracic outlet syndrome. The 32-year-old has had three injured list stints this year related to nerve issues, with the most recent coming last Tuesday, when he was pulled one batter into a save opportunity in Arizona. “Feel bad for Pete with the way he finished up this year. He tried to come back, but something obviously wasn’t right. I guess the good thing is now hopefully he found a way for him to put this behind him, to get healthy and get through this,” McCullough said pregame. As for Bender, he will undergo surgery Wednesday to address the stress reaction in his shin. The Marlins’ back-end reliever has not pitched since June 27. “Anthony, he’s been grinding through this now for a couple of seasons, tried to give it rest, tried to come back and gave it a good go for most of the year, but it got to the point where he was having too much trouble. We’re all encouraged that hopefully this procedure will put this behind him and allow him to go into the ’27 season fully healthy,” McCullough added. View full article

This podcast is brought to you by Jet Ski Rentals of South Florida—offering Miami’s best jet ski and boat adventures. With six jet ski locations and over 120 boats, there’s something for every style and every budget. They’re reservation-based only. To inquire, call 305-990-2192, or check them out online at SFJetskiRentals.com. Make sure to use promo code FISHONFIRST to receive 10% off your next booking. The Miami Marlins do not need to overhaul their roster this offseason, but at the very least, notable role players could be on their way out. After catching up on the ongoing MLB postseason, AJ Ramos, Isaac Azout and Ely Sussman take turns selecting members of the 2026 team who are candidates to be traded or simply released in favor of better, more complementary pieces. You can find Fish Unfiltered and Fish On First LIVE on the Fish On First YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you get your pods. Players mentioned on the show who could be gone from Miami by Opening Day include Deyvison De Los Santos, Xavier Edwards, Pete Fairbanks, Andrew Nardi, Agustín Ramírez, Esteury Ruiz and Tyler Zuber. View full article

On Fish Unfiltered, Tommy Hutton discusses the top players he has covered during a long career in the Marlins broadcast booth. View full video

This podcast is brought to you by Jet Ski Rentals of South Florida—offering Miami’s best jet ski and boat adventures. With six jet ski locations and over 120 boats, there’s something for every style and every budget. They’re reservation-based only. To inquire, call 305-990-2192, or check them out online at SFJetskiRentals.com. Make sure to use promo code FISHONFIRST to receive 10% off your next booking. As Tommy Hutton enters the final month of an extraordinary career in baseball, he joins Isaac Azout and Alex Krutchik on Fish Unfiltered for a trip down memory lane. Hutton discusses the best Marlins players he's covered, what he'll miss most about broadcasting (and what he won't miss at all), last Sunday's "Thank You Tommy Day" festivities at loanDepot park, his favorites on-air rants and so much more. You can find Fish Unfiltered and Fish On First LIVE on the Fish On First YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you get your pods. On the call for the majority of Marlins home games in 2026, this has been Hutton’s 28th season as television analyst for the Marlins, concluding a broadcasting career that spanned more than 40 years. His first Marlins TV partner was Joe Angel and his longest-lasting partnership was with Rich Waltz. Most recently, he's been paired with Kyle Sielaff. Prior to that, Hutton enjoyed parts of 12 MLB seasons as a player. "I'll still watch because I've grown up in the game of baseball," the 80-year-old says. "I'll miss the camaraderie of talking to our camera guys and the guys upstairs and broadcasters. That's probably the main thing." View full article

MIAMI — Sandy Alcantara's impressive seven-game winning streak came to an end on Friday night at loanDepot Park. In front of a lively crowd of 15,565, the Cleveland Guardians kept Miami's bats relatively quiet in a 3-2 victory. For the Marlins, it was their first loss since July 2. Despite being tagged with the loss, Alcantara was excellent in his final start before the All-Star break. The Dominican right-hander tossed seven innings of three-run ball while striking out eight. It marked his MLB-leading 14th quality start of the season. He heads into the break with a 3.99 ERA and an MLB-high 130 ⅔ innings pitched. At this point a year ago, Alcantara was entering the break under far different circumstances. Through his first 18 starts of last season after returning from Tommy John surgery, he was 4-9 with a 7.22 ERA. "This year feels much different, but more so because of how great we've been doing," Alcantara said postgame. "My mentality has also changed a lot. The way I've been attacking hitters this year and going deep into games has really helped." When discussing his latest outing, Alcantara credited his relatively new cutter. "It's been a great pitch. I don't think some of the hitters know I have that yet, so I've been getting a lot of swing-and-miss," he said with a chuckle. On Friday, Alcantara threw the cutter 20% of the time and generated whiffs on half of those pitches. "He finished up the first half terrifically," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said postgame. "This run we've been on, he's played a huge part in it because you know every fifth or sixth day you're getting at least six strong innings and a chance to win a game." Alcantara's final line on Friday: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 8 SO, 0 BB. A case could be made that Miami's ace should be considered for a spot on the National League All-Star roster should the need for another pitcher arise at the last moment. Miami's offense on Friday night consisted of a pair of solo home runs from Heriberto Hernández and Leo Jiménez. For Hernández, it was his thirteenth home run of the season, tying him for the team lead. It's been a remarkable turnaround for the Dominican outfielder, who was optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville earlier this season after posting a .474 OPS through his first 22 games. Since being recalled on May 7, he's slugging over .600 with a .940 OPS (tops among Marlins players during that span). Jiménez's home run was his second in three games after going homerless through his first 37 games of the season. It was also just the fifth home run by a Marlins third baseman all season. Uncharacteristically, though, the Marlins were held hitless with runners in scoring position. The Marlins will look to even the series on Saturday afternoon behind Eury Pérez. View full article

MIAMI—On a memorable Tuesday night at loanDepot park, Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara etched his name into franchise history, becoming the Miami Marlins’ all-time strikeout leader. The 30-year-old Dominican right-hander recorded career strikeout No. 1,002 with Miami, surpassing franchise icon Ricky Nolasco’s previous record of 1,001. Alcantara, along with big performances from youngsters Joe Mack and Owen Caissie, helped lead the Marlins to a comfortable 6-1 victory over the Texas Rangers. Miami improved to 41-39, moving back to two games above .500. Entering Tuesday’s start, Alcantara sat at 998 career strikeouts with the Marlins, three shy of Nolasco’s franchise record. After not recording a single strikeout through the first two innings, Alcantara won an 11-pitch battle against longtime Marlin-killer Brandon Nimmo to record No. 999 in the third inning. A couple of innings later, Alcantara recorded strikeouts No. 1,000 and 1,001 by getting Wyatt Langford looking and Nimmo swinging once again. The right-hander entered the sixth inning needing just one more strikeout to stand alone atop the franchise leaderboard. Before he took the mound in the sixth, Owen Caissie provided some extra insurance with a three-run home run that extended Miami’s lead to 6-1 and gave Alcantara some breathing room. “After I had made my latest strikeout, maybe I got a little bit nervous because I knew what was happening, but I just stayed aggressive and did my thing.” After a quick 1-2-3 sixth inning without a strikeout, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough sent the right-hander back out for the seventh with 90 pitches. When asked if he purposely left Alcantara in the game to chase the record, McCullough admitted that the moment was important. “We knew where he was. We wanted him to do this at home. It’s more special if we had the chance, knowing what was at stake. We said to go back out there, get the strikeout, while also being as responsible as I could with how many pitches he was going to throw in that inning. Luckily, he did it quickly.” With one out, Alcantara got Kyle Higashioka swinging through a slider low and away for strikeout No. 1,002. The crowd rose to its feet, catcher Joe Mack stepped in front of the plate to let the moment breathe, and Alcantara tipped his cap to the Miami faithful. While the scoreboard was slightly delayed in announcing the milestone, a large portion of the fans knew exactly what had just happened. After walking the next batter, McCullough trotted out to the mound to take the ball from his ace. Alcantara dapped up each of his infield teammates and hugged his manager before taking a walk he usually loathes: back to the dugout in the middle of an inning. “I told him to enjoy this walk because tonight should be one of those that you enjoy and soak it all in,” McCullough said. In addition to setting the strikeout record, Alcantara also recorded his fifth consecutive quality start in June, allowing just one run over 6.2 innings pitched. His season ERA has dropped to 4.01 thanks to his dominant month. He also surpassed the late José Fernández with the all-time wins in loanDepot park with his 30th. The Marlins acquired the now-30-year-old right-hander in the winter of 2017-18 in one of the first trades made during the Bruce Sherman era. Miami sent outfielder Marcell Ozuna to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Zac Gallen, Magneuris Sierra, Dan Castano and Alcantara. The deal was completed just two months after Sherman and Derek Jeter purchased the team. Since making his team debut on June 29, 2018, the 6-foot-7 flamethrower has appeared in 186 games for the Marlins—all of them starts. He has accumulated 1,177 innings pitched (second-most in franchise history), 13 complete games (third-most), five shutouts (third-most), a Cy Young Award and multiple All-Star appearances. When former president of baseball operations Michael Hill completed the infamous five-player trade with St. Louis, he likely would have been thrilled with even half of what Alcantara has become. To say he has exceeded expectations would be a massive understatement, as he is in the conversation to be on the Marlins' all-time Mount Rushmore. “Very proud of myself, the way that I’ve been growing here in this organization, and grateful for all the opportunities that this team gives to me every day,” Alcantara said. View full article