One Regend

The question will be if Jakob Junis would even accept a Minor League deal with a Spring Training invite after having what seems to be a career year. I'd lean towards no, honestly.

I could also see the Marlins squeeze someone off the 40-man just to protect Dax. It's going to be a lost year anyways, so what's one dead 40 man slot gonna hurt? If they were actually competing, I would see otherwise. The extra player I'd then cut would probably be Vidal Brujan. He had a hot first 2 months, but ended up playing himself out of baseball since. Luzardo is all but a lock to be traded. Braxton Garrett might get some rumors as well. If Edward Cabrera overperforms, he's definitely getting traded at the deadline. I think Sandy might stay because Sherman needs some name to stay on the team so he can get jersey and ticket sales, but I imagine he's gone the moment a rising star arrives from the farm system. I'd have to say Ely is being extremely generous by calling this a 70 win team. I could see this team having a worse record than we did in 2024. But if we do, I'd say it's part of the plan.

We're seeing red flags from De Los Santos, which is starting to concern me as far as his future goes. Now his ceiling is starting to look more and more like Javier Baez, while his floor... yeesh, I'd rather not think about his floor. Luis Cova looks promising, but his "excellent swing decisions" did not yield results, which gives me concerns about his quality of contact. Sure, he has a great OBP, but it's not hard to achieve that in rookieball where 16-17 year olds are a lot more wild, so I'm not expecting him to translate that to the higher levels of minors. Migliaccio seems like a roll of the dice. Honestly, results at the MLB level do not matter unless it's a highly-regarded prospect. I'd like to see him get to work where his impact will be much more important, which is AA and AAA. We've had too many former highly-touted prospects flame out by the time they get here. I expect him to improve on this problem. Also, fun fact. Alex Vesia was traded for Dylan Floro. -We gave up on Alex Vesia too early. The Marlins traded him out of panic, looking for a stable arm. Floro was okay, but he had no impact on 2021 and 2022 and was gone halfway through the playoff 2023 team. -We traded Floro when he was at the lowest value in 2023, when in 2022, the fourth-place team (Marlins) had an opportunity to trade him while he was still outperforming his peripherals. -Still, the best package we could've gotten out of 2022 Dylan Floro would pale in comparison to the package we could've gotten out of Vesia now, had we had kept him around. He'd enter his second arb year by now and becomes a Free Agent in 2027. We could've had a better haul than we ended up getting from AJ Puk, and I expect Vesia to be one of the priciest free agent relief pitchers in 2027. Huge missed opportunity. That is, what I'd like to call, a classic Kim Ng masterclass.

I have sincere doubts about the Marlins if they weren't able to secure a deal with a much less appealing option in Craig Albernaz. Something tells me next season is going to be somehow worse than last season.

One thing I never understood with the previous regime was their strange attachment to Miguel Rojas. For reasons that only some kind of diety would comprehend, Miguel Rojas was rewarded the "Team Captain" role. A guy in his mid-30s whose future was going to be on the bench, being given the Team Captain role. This created so many more problems when it came to team construction, because surely the Marlins weren't going to trade away a Team Captain, not especially in the middle of the season, and they certainly wasn't going to bench the Team Captain when he's playing poorly. They finally ended up doing so, in the end. It took Miguel Rojas having a truly dismal 68 wRC+ for them to finally pull the plug. But by that time, it was far too little too late. To respond to some of your pieces: Joe Mack has at least started to show some promise this year. Even if it felt a little BABIP-happy, it's still more progress than what his initial struggles would suggest. He at least still has a chance to put it together for the Marlins. As for Connor Scott and Khalil Watson? Yeah, there's no saving those. Those are draft busts through and through Jazz was good, but not elite for us. It took Jazz Chisholm Jr being traded to New York for Jazz to finally turn into the superstar the Marlins and their fans dreamt he would be in their organization. He might end up being an elite player for New York, just... not for us. Also, speaking of international drafts, we should also not neglect to mention Edward Cabrera. To me, he is the most headache-inducing name to ever be put on any of the Marlins rosters. He has so much incredible talent, yet the Marlins for some reason or another can't seem to get him to tap into his potential. He is one of those names that, once he gets traded, he'll click and turn into a superstar on another team, because they'll figure him out whereas we still haven't.

Neither of them are a good choice IMO. But it's going to be a tank year or two, so the manager choice doesn't matter, so long as they establish a culture. Either way, both of them would have been replaced for a real manager if their player core develops.

You mean the same guy that marinated in the failure of Lewis Brinson, Isan Diaz, Monte Harrison, Jorge Alfaro, Lewin Diaz, and the like? You know, our "top prospects" from that time frame? How does this help us?

Who are we playing at 3rd base? Jake Burger is third baseman in name-only. Connor Norby was a disaster at 3rd base. De Los Santos is a first baseman period. And playing Otto Lopez at 3rd Base means you're playing Xavier Edwards at Shortstop which is just as terrible. What do you think are our internal options at 3rd base? Because I sure don't see them.

Miguel Andujar's defense in LF is dreadfully bad. -1 DRS and -7 OAA for a position that's less defensively demanding is not what you want for a team in a rebuild. I'd rather see Connor Norby there. While he also has defensive questions, he's far younger, more controllable, and has more offensive upside. We could get Harrison Bader, yes, but is he that much better than Victor Mesa Jr? Sure, he has outstanding defense, but that's literally all he has going for him. I'd rather not pay the extra money for him, and I'd personally run Victor Mesa Jr out there. We can't keep him toiling in AAA for a team that's likely going to lose another 100+ games. Might as well see what he's got left in the tank.

We don't have a third baseman. At all. Norby isn't a third baseman. Neither is De Los Santos. And Otto Lopez is a bench player at best who's likely to play SS instead. Yoan Moncada wouldn't be a bad signing. He's a low risk signing, and if we accidently'd elite production out of him, we can flip him at the deadline to acquire more prospects. We reached rock bottom in 2024, so we can't get that much lower than we did.

If we end up losing George Lombard to a poverty franchise like the White Sox, then what does that say about us as a franchise? The Marlins need to do better with their negotiations, because what they're doing now clearly isn't working.

I see no value in Derek Hill. Might as well see what Victor Mesa Jr has in the tank. I see Stowers and Dane Myers as COF types. Either way, it's going to be a tank year. So we're not going anywhere regardless of what moves the needle.

I wish both teams could lose the World Series and no winner was decided. If I was held at gunpoint though, and I was forced to pick between the Yankees and Dodgers, I'd pick the Yankees. And it's not because of the team itself. I could care less about the Yankees. I'd pick them because I'd like Jazz to win a world series ring.

That is also a valid concern. There were way too many staff being vetted on personal connections in the Jeter era and it costed us with an ineffective staff, and led to an ineffective product on the field. If there's a better candidate than George Lombard, I'd happily take one, but if these are the only two choices, I'd rather take Lombard as it would lead to a less disastrous circus.

I don't have a problem with women being an on-field authority if they're actually good at their jobs. It would only make sense to hire them over men if they are actually better than their male contemporary. It only becomes a problem if they're only hired solely as a PR stunt. George Lombard has a lot of baseball knowledge. If he doesn't land a job with the Marlins and the Marlins go the PR route, I'm going to take this team less seriously than I already do. (which was already not much to begin with) Kim Ng worked out well for them. But I have questions about Rachel Balkovec, and I definitely have questions about this one.

Otto Lopez's snub is unfortunate, but understandable. Francisco Lindor's snub, on the other hand, was a crime on humanity.

My hope is that, with the completely revamped minor league and major league staff they have, our prospects, you know, actually play up to potential for once. The Marlins made the right move in firing everybody. Let's hope results follow.

They're not going to spend much. Maybe about 5m, but no more than that. We had an awful season, and even with Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez returning, it isn't going to get any better. They may get a vet who's on the cusp of retirement, but that's honestly about it Also, among the arbitration class, I can see them letting go of Nick Fortes and Edward Cabrera. Nick Fortes provided negative value and is only going up in arb money, while Edward Cabrera had endless opportunities to prove himself and failed each time, and he's also going up in arb years. They might also cut Jesus Sanchez. $3.2m for nothing more than a barely passable platoon bat is far too expensive.

Arraez's contact quality has fallen off, and his defense went from semi-passable to a literal negative. And while I don't expect Edwards to have any better contact quality, I do expect better from him defensively. I just don't think he's a shortstop. The Marlins should cease any plans they have for him to be a full-time shortstop.

I like some of the names there. Yan Gomes, J.D. Martinez, Justin Turner, and Carlos Santana in particular stand out. Maybe even Andrew McCutchen, though it depends if he wants to retire as a Pirate, though. I honestly wouldn't blame him if he does.

I expect a veteran signing on his last legs before retirement. These kids need a winning culture. And who better than a guy who has won it all, a guy who was a superstar, and a guy who still provides good defense in a COF spot, Jason Heyward.

Least surprising news of the decade. Schumaker led an extremely flawed Marlins team to the playoffs in 2023 in spite of the team's massive shortcomings. Sure, he was the author of a team that recorded 100 losses, but no exceptional baseball mind could do any better than what he did with the trainwreck 2024 team. Skip knows how much value he brings to a team. He was going to ask for a big payday, and there's zero shot the Marlins were going to meet that demand. And so it goes.

And in addendum to the above statement, I heard sometime last year when a lot of people were calling for Troy Johnston to be called up to the majors, that he's not MLB-ready because his defense was bad. That was by far the lousiest excuse I have ever seen, and I will not let the writers here live that down for as long as I'm here. You're playing Luis Arraez. You're playing Jazz OUT OF POSITION. Your team has basically given up on the idea of defense. What does it matter anymore? Now he's leaving for Free Agency without getting a fair shot at the big league level on a team that was constantly losing 95+ games 2 years in a row and now shooting for 100+, because they now have Agustin Ramirez and Deyvision De Los Santos, both of whom profile as 1B/DH types, so they have no reason to hang onto Troy Johnston anymore.

If it were up to me, I would field a guy that is consistent at hitting but not good with the glove over a guy who's consistent with the glove, but not good with the bat. Any day of the week. I don't care if Connor Norby has limited range, or commits miscues. If he can consistently rake, then let him play. We've got a bench for a reason. Use them for defensive replacements. I'm tired of people coming up with excuses not to play talented players. Been dealing with this crap since the Lewis Brinson era. If they're talented, let them play. Don't think about it.

Nothing to watch here really. Just a team tanking for hopefully a better future. I can see Connor Norby being a stud for us at 3rd Base. If he sticks there, that creates a problem at 1B. If both Deyvision De Los Santos and Agustin Ramirez performs admirably and earns spots on the major league club, they will both be competing at 1B. Unless the team decides to exclusively use one of them at DH, one of them is going to be stuck toiling AAA. I, quite frankly, am not impressed with Agustin's defensive play as a catcher. He's not long until he's going to the majors, so the Marlins won't have time to develop his skills behind the plate. So realistically, his path to the majors is going to be as 1B. I don't see another lane for him. Same for De Los Santos if Connor Norby sticks at 3rd, doubly since his defensive play at 3rd isn't exactly inspiring confidence, either.