Hans Herrera

A surprise to see Hicks seizing the starting job out of the gate, but hey, the bar is very low given Fortes' offensive output. And not to take any merits from Hicks, his glovework looks like any MLB regular. Kyle Stowers: Didn't look good last year, hasn't looked good this year either, and also, he still has one option left. I think both he and Conine in the roster are kind of redundant. Brantly, Almora Jr., and Simón are next in line in case of another position-player injury. What about Soriano? He has pitched well this Spring, better than Henríquez, at least. But I guess he's heading to JAX because he still has one option left. Oh, well...

With most of the awards going to AAA players, one can think of why the transition between this level and the Majors has been so troublesome for players. Let's not forget the best defensive 1B on the planet, Lewin Díaz, who did not win this award but could have perfectly earned it in 2021 or 22. Is it maybe the coaching? Or was (is) the farm system so bad the last 5 years that they cannot produce a single decent position player?

True. How about a Cy Young-caliber guy? Not saying that White is, but has an outside chance...

The fact that José Quintana signed for $5M makes me wonder if the Fish even reached out to him. An early call, I would rather Quintana than Quantrill (are they the only two starters with last name with Q?)

I was about to text on Joe Mack. He's been steadily climbing the ladder from upper20s prospects to now a top 10. Very happy for him and hopefully he can have his cup of coffee this year. My "underdog" prospects are Serna and Valor. Consistency is the key!

Of course, but say Mervis AND Wagaman are looking really really good, while López is having a slow ST. That means Wagaman can start 3B, Mervis at 1B, and Norby gets to start at 2B so Otto is relegated to the bench. I've said it before: In any .500-ish decent team, López is a bench player, more or less the profile Miggy Ro has with the Dodgers. I think Norby is the priority to be in the starting lineup for Opening Day (barring injuries). If something clicks right for both Mervis and Wagaman during this ST, López is the one out, not Norby. Provided, López has a +95% guaranteed place in the 26-man roster (again, barring injuries), as he is the better glove of the group and had a terrific second half last year. I guess the Marlins are hoping for both Mervis and Wagaman to crack the roster, but if one of them improves, that's a huge win for the team.

Wagaman hitting 112 mph off the bat (and probably still with some flu), Mervis showing a good approach, Bride platooning vs LHP... Otto López better catch up because is HIS starting spot in danger.

If you think about it, it is actually better that he said "he's here now" since he also said "we have money to spend in FA" or Bendix "we will be very much active in Free Agency". Sandy is not going anywhere... before the ASG.

Quantrill is still in his prime (just turned 30 a week ago) and looks like a few tweaks here and there can give the team 150ish innings of 4ish ERA ball. I think anyone can take that any day. I would have taken Pérez instead but my no means this was a wrong choice. Canning would have been interesting as well. How much would you pay for Quintana as of today?

Wait, wait, wait… “The Marlins hired former reliever Chi Chi González to be a bullpen catcher. ” Did I get it right? It is not rare for Catchers to turn into pitchers, but never heard about the other way around!

And if he does decent enough by the All-Star game, he might be flipped to a contender for a prospect once Eury returns. Finally a signing that makes sense in several ways.

While durable, Quantril have been pretty ineffective over the last 2 years. My guess is that Cabrera should be the #3 on paper, but there is nothing for sure in this rotation except for Sandy taking the mound on Opening Day, health permitting.

My only comment is about the Simón - Sanoja competition. I mean Sanoja did not fare well last season, but Simon has zero MLB experience... How can the latter have the edge? If we compare AAA numbers, they had the exact same OPS last year. It is more Simon's job to win that spot, but it is an interesting battle this ST.

The thing about the outfield is that there are several players with "high hopes": Stowers, Conine, Myers, and even Mesa Jr. all have limited/none MLB experience and the organization is expecting that at least one of them develops into at least an above-replacement player. Conine was solid last year in his cup of coffee, Myers wasn't that bad when healthy, and Jesús should stay in RF. Hill mashed LHP and played great D. There is room for improvement, yes, but the OF is not as pressing as the other areas are.

As reported by Christina de Nicola, Spring Training for the 2025 season will somehow begin next week. Although pitchers and catchers begin workouts in Jupiter, FLA, there is still a considerable amount of uncertainty about Miami's roster. After Braxton Garrett was reported out of the season due to UCL surgery, the most common question is whether the FO will bring an innings-eater Starter, with potential candidates on the menu. Another approach is to bring an expensive contract from other team. Lastly, some consider (a.k.a The Ownership, apparently) that there is enough SP depth to cope with the full season. While this is clearly the most pressing need for the roster, is it the only one? Let's have a quick look at how the roster is as of today and what are the areas of improvement. 5th Starter Let's get over it first. The current 40-man roster has 20 pitchers and 20 position players. Soon enough, the roster spots for Garrett and Pérez would be vacant, as they will be transferred to the 60-day IL. That would (hopefully) make it easier to bring some help to the arm corps: Sandy, Weathers, Cabrera, Meyer are more-or-less ticketed to begin the season in the rotation. The front runners for that last spot are Bellozo, Mazur, Curry, and even Gillispie. After them, Snelling and Fulton are considered long shots, given lack of experience in the upper minors or recent injuries. NRIs with starter experience are Tarnok, Piña, Roa, and Monteverde. Some other Free Agents still worth a shot, at least as NRIs: Clevinger, Germán, DeSclafani, and why not Ureña or even Noah Syndergaard. On personal note, I have no problem on letting Bellozo take the 5th spot, but maybe bringing someone on an incentive-loaded, split contract would be wise. Also, the idea of bringing an "expensive contract" is actually good, but if I'm the Yankees, D'backs, or Phillies, I would wait until late in Spring Training to get rid of them... You never know when injuries are going to come up. Catcher And I don't mean back-up catcher. I mean a catcher who can battle for the starting role, as I'm losing faith in Fortes. Hicks has no experience above AA, Ramírez still can't catch at MLB level, and none of the NRI group: Brantly, Mack, Ignoffo, Hostetler are a real threat to Nick. It is not a whole lot better looking at the FA list, although Grandal makes some sense. First Base Bride and Mervis are the only ones capable of playing the position. We don't know which version of Bride we'll get next season, and Mervis has more questions than answers during his short MLB career. As much as I like De Los Santos, he needs more seasoning in AAA to cut down his free swing. Agustín Ramírez looks more focused on playing behind the plate than to become a full-time 1B. I've already lost all faith in the Marlins giving Johnston a chance in the big leagues. Best "cheap" Free Agent available: Gavin Sheets, Rizzo... maybe José Abreu? Glove-First SS/2B I am convinced the Marlins should give this role to Otto López and bring a quality 3B. Even though López had a terrific second-half last season, I still don't see him as a starter. Edwards need to keep improving his defense to stick at SS. For the moment, Sanoja is the incumbent in the role, but his contributions last year were far from desirable. Acosta, Serna, and NRI Simón are behind him. If the Marlins want to bring a FA, the few options are José Iglesias, or maybe Brendan Rodgers. This is once again wishful thinking. I don't see Bendix very much active in the Free Agent market if uncle Bruce don't open his wallet.

Smells like Sixto all over.

And with Hays signing a $5M, one-year contract with the Reds, there goes the last of the FAs on My Offseason Blueprint. I really don't know what to say about this team. The approach from the ownership and FO is just miserable... I'm pretty close to become a fan of Japanese baseball full-time instead of hoping for a change in Miami. I'll be watching some Mariners games, I guess. The Osaka Hanshin Tigers have a pretty cool history. The Tokyo Tsubame (Swallows) also caught my attention. We'll see.

And which would have been an "easy" schedule anyway? The only team that, on paper, is not better than Miami is the White Sox—even the Rockies and the A's look much better than the Marlins' lineup. It's just sad the offseason the Marlins have had so far. Plain sad.

It all depends on what would be the approach the FO wants to take. Quintana would be the “expensive” one, I guess closer to $10M the season. Sasaki is a pipe dream but from what I’ve read from MLB Trade Rumors, he “doesn’t care about the size of the market” nor “any geographical preference”. So, why not go after him? Stripling is a similar case as the article about Jakob Junis. He can start, relief, give you 15 decent outings and can be swapped mid season if doing well. Did you notice the difference between his ERA and FIP last season? The latter was very similar to Junis’. And yes, he will also be the “cheap” approach, something Sherman loves.

Just said on X: Quintana, Stripling or Sasaki.

Excellent Isaac! Although I would play it slightly differently I think Conine has the edge over Stowers solely based on how they performed last season. They both have options, so either can be sent down to Jax. I recognise this is one of the main battles of Spring Training along with the 5th starter. Speaking of which, I'd have Bellozo in some capacity. If he loses the rotation spot to Meyer, then I would stash him as the multi-innings reliever, so important early in the season when starters continue to build up. I would demote Bachar instead. Finally, I like Dane Myers, but Derek Hill did a tremendous job last season, particularly with the glove and vs LHP. It might be the 3rd big competition this spring. Pittsburg will start Skenes, so Myers will be in CF. My take is that Myers is not a slam-dunk starter yet.

Head, Snelling, Caba, Ramírez, and (hopefully) Norby can become average-or-better players. None of them are a blue-chip material, though.

It would be extremely difficult to measure the "success rate" of this new fire sale anytime soon whether using BTV or any other tool. It's going to take a couple of years to see how good -or bad- the farm system got. Over the next two years, we can only see how the farm system ranks in MLB, that is probably the best guess. Maybe the '27-'30 window would be more accurate to properly evaluate. As for 2025-2026, we can see glimpses of the new era with De Los Santos, Agustín Ramírez, Snelling, Serna, Acosta, and maybe Mazur. Those are the short-term answers, but none of them were fully developed by the now-overhauled scouting and player development department. The "new administration" is all-in on player development, or at least so far it's been consistent with the ZERO-Free Agents winter while retooling the scouting and coaching corps. I do believe this methodology is good but it had terrible timing for the fanbase. Miami had a "young", mostly controllable team freshly coming from playoffs. Injuries had their share, yes, but it really hurts to see an overall good core vanish in 4-6 months. What I don't justify is the extremely cheap approach by this ownership. At least you can go after a couple of veterans, hoping to get more prospects by the trade deadline with some good performances. Maybe will happen before Spring Training, but by then all the good reclamation projects would be gone. We'll see. I understand Bendix. He was brought here to do what he (supposedly) knows: Develop a strong, consistent, and perennial top farm system with limited resources. He identified that position player development had enormous faults. Another thing I do not agree with is getting rid of the entire pitching department, both development and ML level. Too late now to cry a river. By starting over, Bendix bought himself 4-5 years of his role. If we are lucky, we might get another playoff run before Sandy's contract expires if he isn't traded this coming year. Fast your seatbelts and cross your fingers, this can get uglier.

After the Sandy-Garrett-Eddy-Weathers quartet, to me, Bellozo-Meyer-Curry-Mazur should follow, in that order. I am positive that Meyer is way more talented than Bellozo, but Valente demonstrated effective last season and Meyer was on an innings limit. Maybe it can be smart to ease Max’s workload at the beginning of the season and then go full-load by June, or in case Eury has a setback. I remember Curry in Cleveland having good stuff on his debut. Mazur need to be more solid in Jacksonville before joining the team, but hey, last year everyone got injured so I might get his shot soon than later.

As of today, Norby, Sanchez, Bride and maybe De Los Santos might be the 2-5 in the lineup. I like DLS but has yet to debut, so not high expectations (yet).