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.

I didn't agree with signing Tim Anderson back in 2024. I get why they signed him. He was a multiple-time All-Star, he just had an off year, making him a 1-year rebound candidate. And, he was only a couple years shy from being an elite hitter. But, he had concerning advanced metrics during his off year, and he was entering his Age 31 season. Hitters who enter Age 30 or older seasons, and just had a season with bad advanced metrics do not bode well for their incoming performance, and the years following. Not to mention, we had a glut of middle-infielders in our farm system at the time. Not even going to go over Xavier Edwards or Otto Lopez. Months before signing Tim Anderson, we still had Nasim Nunez in our system. (Not saying he would've been an upgrade, but you know, just providing context.) Fun as Luis Arraez was, it was right to trade him. The Marlins weren't going to compete, and Luis Arraez isn't going to chase .400 forever. At some point he's going to show regression to the mean, and when he does, it will be very ugly regression. Best to sell high on him when the stocks are still relatively high. This opened the door for X and Otto, and well, let's just say those two are an upgrade over who we used to have as our middle infielders. I still think Otto Lopez should've been extended in the offseason. He was showing strides at the plate in 2025, and his defense at shortstop was outstanding. Good-hitting shortstops who have elite defense don't grow on trees. The fact they had a lacking 2025-2026 offseason and didn't even bother to open extension talks on Otto Lopez, I feel, was a huge missed opportunity.

and austin slater's 1m too essentially what the marlins offseason boiled down to was "welp we got pete fairbanks. that's it. that's the entire offseason." and just checked out of the entire offseason the moment they signed him didn't even extend Eury Perez or Otto Lopez over the offseason man what a dumpster fire of an offseason

This is one of those "addition by subtraction" moves. I never understood why they felt it was necessary to bring Chris Paddack when Brax has been their rock for 5 years and Robby Snelling had nothing left to prove in AAA, but they at least admitted there was a problem, instead of brute forcing it for half a season. This move and optioning Agustin Ramirez to AAA were honestly W moves. I sincerely hope they start giving Gus reps at 1B in AAA because at this point in his career, he needs those reps. He should never catch pitchers ever again. If having the ABS system by his side to help him focus more on catching and blocking pitches didn't help him with his garbage defense, I don't know what else will.

honestly this needed to happen 30 games ago agustin ramirez has been by far the worst catcher in baseball by a country mile, and the marlins front office stubbornly convinced themselves that he's their team's catcher. how many runs did we give up because of his passed balls? or wild pitches that could've been blocked by a competant catcher? or the runners that advanced bases because he cant throw base stealers out? he's talented with the bat but watching him play defense behind the plate and give up free runs every game is akin to torture. i've been saying this last year, i've been saying this all offseason, and i've been preaching it this season all year long, the man is built to be a first baseman. stop pretending he's a catcher and move him to where he could actually succeed.

I've always been confused by the decision to have an all-righty starting rotation. At that point you're just begging the opposing lefties to feast on your team. No, having good lefty relief pitching doesn't solve that problem. The Marlins have a habit every 5 or so years, or every time they hit the reset button on the franchise, to sign a guy that, everyone in the baseball industry knows isn't good, and wouldn't even sign him to a league minimum deal, to serve no purpose on the team but block prospects that are more deserving of the 26-man spot from getting their reps at the major league level. The Marlins did this with Cal Quantrill last year, and they triple-dipped this year by signing Christopher Morel, Austin Slater, and Chris Paddack. This year is Wasted Potential: The Season, for the Marlins. It's infuriating to watch.

I'm quite puzzled. Pulling Eury Perez makes sense. Phillies hit a lot of home runs, and Eury Perez is very widely known for giving up too many home runs. But to go to a guy who was literally just called up, with the game being a bloop and a blast away from the Marlins re-taking the lead? Really? Was there no guys in the bullpen with high-leverage experience they could've gone to?

Don Mattingly was decent at keeping the clubhouse together, but you aren't going to win a championship with him at the helm. He might help guide your team to the playoffs, but no further than the Wild Card or XLDS.

I still think Joe Mack should be catching, but I'd be fine with moving Hicks to 1B (with the occasional spot start at catcher to give Mack days off) if he keeps mashing the way he is. But, under those circumstances, never ever let Agustin Ramirez catch games ever again. Either have him exclusively DH or have him take ground balls at 1B so he can prepare as backup for 1B.

As I said previously, Owen Caissie was our best hitter for the first 1 1/2 to 2 weeks of the season. Sending him to AAA would send the wrong message to him. The best course of action is hope he gets out of his current funk and regains the form he had in those beginning weeks of the season, and even better if he maintains it for the rest of the season.

I was 100% against the Christopher Morel and Austin Slater signings. You had in-house options that would do exactly what they bring to the table, but much younger and controllable. There was no reason to waste resources in such a matter. I was also against the Ryan Weathers trade, too. There was no reason to sell low on him especially when he gave our team quality innings when he was healthy. He had legit ace upside and we kinda just gave him away for a package of projects that may or may not work out (emphasis on the latter), and that's not something I hold hope for. I'm on the fence of Edward Cabrera. I had a feeling he was going to break out the moment he left the Marlins , because he had so much talent, but he could never put it together with us. Now it's looking like he's putting it together with the Cubs. I wouldn't mind this trade so much if we got a stud prospect out of it. Owen Caissie was our best hitter for the first 2 weeks of the season. Now he's ice-cold, batting .142 with 22 strikeouts and 1 walk in his last 13 games. If he can regain the form he had earlier in the season and maintain that form, I'll be happy with the Edward Cabrera trade. It's a big if, though, since there's 162 games in the season. I'd forgive these awful moves if the front office swallowed their pride and accepted that Agustin Ramirez is not a MLB-caliber catcher and let him field ground balls at 1B during spring training, and if the front office realized just how good Kemp Alderman really is. Maybe you could argue that they're holding Alderman back for service clock, but that doesn't really change the fact that literally anyone in AAA could perform better than the production we were getting out of Austin Slater and whoever we're throwing at 1B.