One Regend

At what point do they stretch out a guy like Dax Fulton and build him up to about 4 or 5 inning starts? I'd rather them give him a shot at the rotation than continue to rely on bullpen games 2 out of every 5 games.

Great series win! ...but why is Christopher Morel still here?

Can you believe there are some people who think Otto Lopez isn't an All-Star? All because he allowed 9 errors on the season? If Otto's "bad" at fielding, then by that logic, Elly De La Cruz is terrible, and CJ Abrams is gruesome. That's such a ridiculous claim to make. I don't know. Is leading ALL OF BASEBALL in batting average and in hits, being a good baserunner, and being an excellent defender enough to be on the All-Star team? Yes, of course it is. Hell, I'll make the argument that this is enough for him to start the All-Star game. I still think the Marlins had a huge missed opportunity to extend him in the offseason by not even talking to him at all. He had a modest improvement on his offensive profile and he's an excellent defender at short. Good hitters who are good fielders at the hardest position to field at don't grow on trees. You make sure you secure them a bag before anything else. Now, because of this breakout, and the lack of extension talks, we now begin counting down the days until Otto Lopez gets traded because of this skinflint ownership.

Develop Arquette as a 3rd baseman. We have literally 0 answers at 3rd base, and no, Graham Pauley and Connor Norby don't count. And trading him for an all-star 3B doesn't make sense when he could potentially be one. If there's anyone the Marlins could be trading, it could be one of their many surplus of outfielders. Cam Cannarella is good, but can he be trusted to develop power as he ages? Is he going to receive ample playing time to do so? At least Aiva has an open lane to the majors. I don't see an open lane for Cam.

I've always panned the Ryan Weathers trade, and this is a pretty big reason why. Now, I wasn't expecting literally everyone to have Tommy John surgery, or in the case of Thomas White, have shoulder surgery, which could carry future TOS implications. But even taking away all the freak injuries, the pitching depth wasn't all that great in the first place, which was why I was stunned when they traded Ryan Weathers. The team didn't need outfield depth. They needed to retain their starting pitching depth. That trade hurt them short-term, and doesn't help them long-term. It didn't make any sense from all angles. This trade, and all these injuries, set this team back at least 2 years.

I suggest relegating Fairbanks to the 7th inning. It's a lower leverage job, but high leverage enough to matter in most games. That will take the pressure off of him and allow him to get his footing again. If he can't do even that, then cut bait, and eat the remaining of his salary. It's not worth the sunk-cost fallacy when the team's already depleted of nearly all of its starting pitching depth. Speaking of starting pitching depth, where is Dax Fulton? Why isn't he up in the majors? He could help turn this 3-man rotation into a 4-man rotation and try to help a gassed bullpen.

At this point, when you have this many one-year whiffs (lets not forget last year's mistakes), it starts to become almost as bad as a multi-year flop. Makes you start to question Miami's use of analytics.

Okay. Credit where credit is due. Clayton McCullough realized how godawful Pete Fairbanks has been this season, and that he wasn't getting anyone out. Props for realizing something isn't going to work out and bringing in someone else to finish the job. And, with that, I think the Marlins now have a $13 million dollar problem on their hands. They can't just keep chucking him out there in the 9th inning hoping he naturally fixes himself. They've got expectations to win.

You can count Snelling out for the rest of this year, and likely the rest of next year too, because of Tommy John Surgery. As for Thomas White, gotta hope he doesn't suffer a setback. Which, considering shoulder injuries and how brittle the shoulder joints typically are, very well could be on the table. You're basically praying Noble Meyer figures out how to throw strikes. Given his track record so far, not looking good.

Simply put, the Marlins rushed Andrew Salas and it stunted his development. Starting his professional career at Low-A Jupiter and skipping DSL and FCL entirely was a bold move. Having him repeat that level this year even when he was massively overmatched last year was certainly a choice. They finally sent him down to FCL now, but honestly? He should've been sent down to FCL last year the instant his slumps started extending. He's 18 so he has plenty of time to turn it around, but he will no longer be the next 20-year-old MLB star that the Marlins envisioned him to be, that's for sure.

Or, the Marlins could, you know, promote one of their performing outfielders. They're already trying out Kemp Alderman at 1B. If Alderman wasn't injured, I guarantee you he'd be on the major league roster right now and Morel would be packing his bags. Etzel is also a nice dart throw. Surely, he can do better than Esteury Ruiz's production, right?

This team is fun to watch when the players aren't desperate. All too often I see players try to hit a 5-run home run when they're behind, or starting pitchers trying to pitch 12 innings with -6 runs allowed, or relief pitchers trying to strike out batters with with 1 pitch on a 0-0 count. The players looked desperate in New York and the Mets smelled it from a mile away like the sharks they are, and they exploited the Marlins for it. Teams know when your team is desperate, even if they are the worst team in baseball. If this team has championship aspirations, they need to cut that habit out of their play. I know, easier said than done, but they need to.

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.