One Regend

We have 3 options in AAA right now that would be an improvement over Morel. (Granted, one of them is on IL.) The fact Morel is still starting games is straight malpractice.

Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards going 7-for-7 with 1 BB and the Marlins only scoring 1 run despite those two player's career days should tell you everything you need to know about the Marlins offense and where they stand with the rest of the league offensively. Kemp Alderman just can't get here fast enough. Hope his injury isn't serious. This team's lineup needs him. Badly.

I've seen Sandy do exactly what I described so many times it's formulaic. Sorry not sorry. Ideally, he would've been pulled after he HBP'd Lenyn Sosa. If I were managing, though, George Springer would've been the last guy he was facing. Sandy may frustrate me a lot with his constant meltdowns with 2 outs, but I respect him enough to let him face one more batter than I would've normally given the hook. But letting him face Jesus Sanchez with the bases loaded 90+ pitches deep, especially when Cade Gibson WAS ALREADY WARMING UP, was a fireable offense. I have no ire for Sandy. Bad days happen. But he should not have had his day end with 8 ERs to his name.

That nightmare 6th inning is what I like to call the "Sandy Alcantara Special". This is where he gets the first 2 outs easily, and then either fails to get out of the inning, or does so while giving up 6 runs I have no idea what the hell Clayton McCullough was doing. He was clearly laboring after having already given up 4 runs and it was clear the Blue Jays had the book on him by that point. Take him out in favor of a left-hander. Jesus Sanchez is notoriously bad against lefties, and you had Cade Gibson warming up. If this were a winner-take-all playoff game, McCullough gets fired for not making that move. Also, I know it's early, but I'm very worried about Joe Mack. Not only is he struggling at the plate, but our pitchers are struggling to get into a rhythm with him behind the plate.

I'm not sure about this. Tyler Phillips was doing excellent in his role. Keep him doing what he's doing best. I get that Ryan Gusto isn't impressing anyone at AAA and Bradley Blalock is getting blasted for an ERA over 5, but how is throwing Tyler Phillips in the fire, when he's already established a routine for his role, going to help your team's odds? That's such a strange choice.

To answer the Caissie part of the question, he looks like he's snapping out of his funk. The last few series he's been hitting balls hard and they've been falling for hits. And now some of them have cleared the fence. Whether he maintains that pace and puts up at least a 1.5-2.0 WAR season (remember, he's technically a rookie, so I'm tempering my expectations) will determine whether or not he'll have a worthwhile career.

Okay, Max Meyer. I see you. You're proving yourself now. I've been one of his biggest doubters from the start of the season. I had my doubts the first time he twirled 7 1-hit scoreless innings, thinking it could have been a fluke. But here, he proved me wrong. There's still 20 more starts left to make in the season. I hope he continues to prove me wrong.

I'm not confident that the Marlins can "fix" Rece Hinds. 18 SOs in 36 PAs at the MLB level this year is especially alarming. That is Alex Jackson levels of uncompetitiveness at the plate. That's not something you can simply "fix." I get that their right-handed bat depth is dire after Kemp Alderman went down to injury, but I don't see how this move is going to work out.

I saw it coming the instant he was put on the IL for a UCL sprain. Like I said then, and I will say it again, this franchise is cursed, and we can never have nice things.

The fact Otto Lopez wasn't extended in the offseason should revoke his finding of Otto Lopez moot.

If Agustin Ramirez gets DFA'd and another team claims him for literally free, I'm going to blame the absolute hatchetjob of Agustin Ramirez's development on Peter Bendix and the entire coaching staff. The fact that, not once, has the team allowed him to take ground balls at 1B during Spring Training or batting practice, when literally every single baseball insider who knows more ball than Peter Bendix's posse has been saying he's not cut out to be a catcher is appalling to say the least, nevermind the fact they're STILL TRYING to get him to "improve" his defense behind the plate when they sent him to AAA. This is Example 101 on how to ruin a prospect's development, by the way. If another team claims Agustin Ramirez, and then he rediscovers his potential and becomes the All-Star talent (at a position HE CAN SUCCEED AT) that the team envisioned when they traded for him, I will be an Agustin Ramirez fan, and I will cheer for him if he turns into Freddie Freeman every time he faces the Marlins. That is how petty I am about this team's complete mismanagement of Agustin's development.

I think I've watched enough games to get a picture of what the Marlins really are this year. This is a mediocre baseball team. I mean, really, what does it tell you when we're getting embarrassed by a team undergoing a deep rebuild like the Twins? Or getting clapped by a team that would soon undergo a collapse like the Tigers? Or get a reality check served up to us by a similarly-underperforming Orioles? It's still early in the season, but it's starting to get late enough into the season to see this type of stagnation become a concern.

That's a funny last name to have as a sports player. It would go well with MLB players like Bob Walk, Grant Balfour, Scott Blewett, and Eric Plunk. Honestly, Scott Blewett aside, he would be fine if he had the career of any of these names. Hopefully not as a first round pick, though.

god this franchise is cursed and can never have any nice things

I never understood why the Marlins are so stubborn at developing Agustin Ramirez as a catcher. Even when they sent him to AAA, they still gave him catching assignments. We have a whole season's full of evidence that he is not a catcher at the Major League level, and yet they still inked him to the catcher role because they refused to admit they are wrong about his catching potential, or rather lack of it. He should be taking ground balls at 1B during spring training, or batting practice. They never gave him the opportunity to do that. They continue to chuck him into the fire and keep setting him up for failure in their fruitless endeavor for their distorted vision of him as a catcher of the organization's future. He was just as dreadfully bad this year defensively as he was last year. It's clear he isn't going to improve in that aspect. But making it worse is, he has the ABS system on his side. This means that even with his poor framing ability, he could still rely on ABS to get strikes for his pitchers. He also has coaches in the dugout calling pitches, reducing an additional layer of stress as a catcher. You would think having the ABS system on his side, and having the new method of coaches calling pitches from the dugout, would allow him to focus entirely on improving his ability to block pitches from getting past him. This did not help him whatsosever. If he couldn't improve defensively as a catcher even with those two benefactors, when will he ever? He needs to be working at 1B. Full stop. And the Marlins have a glaring offensive hole at 1B. It's such a simple answer. The Marlins are too prideful of themselves to consider that answer.