One Regend

I think, by far and away, what makes this team so frustrating to watch is sitting through 2018 and 2019 watching awful baseball for all 324 games, only to come out of those awful seasons with this reality. We tanked 2018 and 2019, and this was the best we could do?

This regime didn't fare any better. They drafted Connor Scott, JJ Bleday, Khalil Watson, and Jacob Berry. And all of them flamed out instantly. And all illustrate the same problem: their inability to draft and develop position players. I think it's too early to judge Bendix for his rebuilding moves, which is why I'm reserving judgment, but trading Arraez needed to happen. He wasn't going to magically make this disaster of a team any better by himself, and the team needs to rebuild its farm system. I'm not exactly flattered by the moves Bendix has made so far prospect-wise, which has me concerned, But I need to see more before I start calling for front office heads to be fired into the sun. The Jeter-Denbo-Svihlik triumverate showed me more than enough to call for their firings 3 years ago. Now begins the era of Bendix-Kanthan. Only thing to do is hope they're actually effective at their job. That's all we can do, really. I'd give them a 3 year grace period, 2 at the bare minimum.

I was expecting a trade like this to happen near the deadline, so I was expecting to come back around the deadline to discuss the direction the Marlins are going. It appears the Marlins gave up before the month of May really started. And really, I don't blame them. Eury Perez was the only reason worth watching this team, and he's gone until next year at best. I have three words for you all. Embrace. The. Tank. We've been staring directly at the possibility of a rebuild (of a rebuild, at that) for at least 3 years now. 2021 was concerning, and 2022 was a clear red flag. What 2023 did was give us false hope that this team was greater than it really was. I saw right through the ruse. The 2023 team wasn't good. They only benefitted from expanded playoff brackets, an NL Central collapse, and the Mets metting. There was no clear improvement on the team outside of the bullpen's highly unsustainable performance, and Arraez, Bell, and Burger hitting way over their heads. Our offense still stunk, our defense was still an unmitigated disaster scene, and our best starting pitchers were an 88 mph meatball dispenser (Brax), a guy who can't perform when the stakes are high (Luzardo), and a guy who was clearly on an innings limit. (Perez) I knew the other foot was about to drop at some point, and it dropped now. Not replacing Soler and not reinforcing the rotation only magnified the problem. Now I can't 100% judge this trade because these type of trades are usually best evaluated in about 3 years, but they have the right idea in trading Luis Arraez. What they traded him for, again, is something I'll judge later. I'm concerned about the fact that Bendix couldn't net a top 100 prospect in return, instead taking the quantity over quality approach, but again, I'll have to see more from him before I judge his transactions. Besides, I knew Luis Arraez's ceiling isn't that high (he's known more for his floor), and that his defense isn't particularly great, so I wasn't expecting great yields from him in the first place. What I want to see is for the Marlins to dedicate themselves to the cause. If they're going to embrace the tank, I want them to commit to it all the way through. I want to see Jesus Luzardo gone. I want to see Tanner Scott gone. Eat the money for Josh Bell, Tim Anderson, and Avisail Garcia and let the kids play (paging: Troy Johnston, Will Banfield, Dane Myers, Xavier Edwards when healthy), to see what they're made of. And, this may suck for the fans, but they have to trade Jazz Chisholm Jr, if not at the deadline, then during the offseason. He's a good player and a fan favorite. But this team is not going to be good for the 3 years he's still going to be around. If Trevor Rogers can find his groove, he may definitely be a viable piece to dangle at the trade deadline for the same reasons as Jazz Chisholm would be: We've got 3 years of control for him, but the Marlins won't be good in those 3 years. What I want the Marlins to do is, if they're going to rebuild (which all signs are pointing to), they should strip the entire team down and do the rebuild right. No half-measures. And especially go with the best player available in their drafts, instead of reaching for off-the-beaten-path prospects that nobody picks in the first round; let alone top 10 picks. And they especially should evaluate their trades better. The Yelich/Realmuto/Stanton trades doomed this core from the start and is a big factor of the reason why they failed as much as they have during these 6 years. It's time for us to relive 2018 and 2019 again. It sucks, but it needed to be done. It's either this, or sit around spinning the wheels of mediocrity.

A 0-7 record and a Eury Perez Tommy John surgery later, I'm done following this team this season. I will check in at the trade deadline, and once more in the offseason. This is a new record, by the way. I've never ragequit on a season in April up until now. Should've skipped Eury Perez's start like every other quality organization instead of forcing him to pitch through a bad fingernail. You did this to yourselves, Marlins.

Cards sweep. MVP is Victor Scott II. He'll magically turn into Ronald Acuna Jr and roast the Marlins for years to come. Marlins start 0-10.

If I were to boo Avi (and rightfully so), it's not because I don't like him. It's because I severely disapprove of the Front Office seemingly handing the starting role to him on a silver platter just because he's on a guaranteed contract, ignoring the fact he has produced at a sub-replacement level his entire contract, and that there's oodles of talent that can play RF and play it better than he has been. Avi, here's my message to you: I don't have anything against you, but to me, it's "not fair" that Dane Myers was OPSing 1.200 in Spring Training, and was optioned to the Minors just so you get hand-wrapped and hand-gifted a starting role in RF on a silver platter because the Front Office refused to accept the fact that signing YOUR contract was a mistake and they refuse to let go of it. Be a grown man and deal with your boobirds just like everyone else that deals with them.

Zach Neto doesn't have to prove anything. The Marlins are already doing a pretty good job by themselves on that front by showcasing just how godawful of a team they are. They don't need his help.

Edward Cabrera, Brax, and Eury isn't going to save this team.

redacted

Tim Anderson is far from the only problem on the team. Josh Bell and Jake Burger are the only ones carrying this sad sack of a team. They can't do it by themselves, and it shows in the win-loss column. Literally everyone else is replacement level. Literally goddamn everyone else. Avisail Garcia still sucks, Jesus Sanchez has been a butcherjob at the plate, Jazz can't do anything but strikeout, DLC can't hit OR field, and the less said about our esteemed catchers the better.

redacted

Also, as a footnote, that was the worst slider I have ever seen anyone throw, ever. No disrespect to Mike Trout and his historic home run -- he deserves the credit for it, and did what he needed to with that slider. That slider didn't break, it didn't dive, and it looked like an 83 mph flat fastball. It did literally nothing but float and hang up right in the middle of the plane. After... that, I would never send Soriano back on the mound again.

I didn't think this team was going to do anything this year. I thought this year was going to be yet another year where the Marlins are painfully mediocre start to finish. I thought this would be yet another year where the Marlins would lure us into thinking we have a chance to do something and then have their patented collapse to shut down all hope fans had left in the team. This isn't even mediocre, like I expected it to be. This is just a bad, bad team. Like, this reeks of 2023 Chicago White Sox type of down-bad. Now, I know that you're going to say "It's still early in the season, the Marlins still have 157 games left", but believe me, the first set of games are just as important as the last set. Not to mention, we're not even losing to the Braves and Phillies. We're losing to the Pirates and Angels. And we're not just losing, either. We're losing in convincing fashion. A lot of the games aren't even a contest, we're just getting blown wide open. I guess we're getting all the losing out of the way now so that we're sellers and we're not going to be convinced by a weak NL Central and a 41-47 record.

Those prospects have promise with the bat. I looked at their strikeout numbers, and they weren't horrible. And both have gotten on base at a halfway-decent clip. What I'm curious about is how they fare defensively. I'm also curious about how John Cruz will make the adjustment to the Single-A atmosphere. I'm pleasantly surprised that they were able to get what they were able get from Jon Berti, given his advanced age and recent injuries curtailing his speed. I guess his value was a lot higher than I thought. Yeah, losing Berti means our infield is terrible defensively, but let's be real, we're not going anywhere this year anyways unless we have a full season from Jazz, Luzardo repeats a career year, and Jazz, Brax, DLC, AND Jesus Sanchez plays EONS above their heads. Might as well take any W's we can get from transactions. It's going to be a long year.

Honestly, Jazz needs to focus less on Miguel Rojas and focus more on hitting left-handed pitching and staying on the field for more than 97 games. He also needs to participate in practices and actually wake up and show up to meetings. He has bigger fish to fry. He shouldn't waste his time with someone who was essentially replacement-level in his entire tenure with the Marlins, and was handwrapped the Team Captain role because literally no one else was suited for it.

I have to say, the Marlins are really asking a lot out of a guy who was fresh off of Tommy John surgery, has limited experience at the Major League level, and needs time to ramp up his workload. I know there wasn't much of a choice they could've gone with given the injury epidemic they had, but still surprising to see they went with the option that provides the least likely odds of a productive outcome.

Rojas's claim to fame was his "great" 2020 season slashline which was grossly inflated by insane BABIP luck and shortened COVID season, and that he has a slick glove. That's all. He was only given the Team Captain role because there was literally no other choice that would have been good.

Jose Fernandez should never have apologized for that. The Braves were incredibly petty, especially since they had hitters that also showboated when they hit some a long way. That's an apples-to-oranges comparison. Sorry, but that's a questionable take. Also, regarding the interview, I was never a fan of Miguel Rojas. He was gifted and handwrapped the Team Captain role when he did the bare minimum to earn it. He did a lot of chirping for a guy who had a 87 wRC+ and a 8.9 fWAR in his entire Marlins tenure. That is 8 years of almost replacement level-production. Of course, granted, not that anyone else did anything to deserve the role, but still. That said, I wouldn't say Jazz is entirely clean here, either. He hasn't practiced for 3 years, and he's missed team meetings due to not waking up in time. And I still remember that "drill ya mama" tweet, which was funny in that moment, but in hindsight, really should never have happened. I firmly believe that players should be themselves and have fun, but I also believe there should be a balance of that and... well, being professional. Jazz is a better performer than Rojas, but he needs to be way better than what he's putting out right now, if he's truly believed to be our "superstar". He has yet to give us a reason to believe he's evolved as a player. For one, he needs to hit better against lefties, and for two, he needs to play in more than 97 games as a starting position player. Until he does that, all this interview accomplishes is make Jazz come off as a blowhard.

Yeah, I'm not doomposting. I'm being entirely realistic.

This season's a wrap. Better luck next year.

They're really going with washed up Trey Mancini over Troy Johnston, aren't they? I knew that ankle injury was going to give them the perfect excuse.

I can't exactly say I'm very confident about how the new front office has been handling this team. With the refusal to drop the sunk cost in Avisail Garcia, to them dodging every single question about signing long-term extensions to young talent like Eury Perez before they become actually good, to their relative inactivity in the offseason up until signing a guy who was terrible in every single facet in 2023 and probably might not even be playing the position they signed him up to be playing midway into the season. Sure, we shed the sins of Gary Denbo, DJ Svihlik, and Adrian Lorenzo. But it really feels like we haven't even gotten any better on the front office side. It just feels like the Front Office is just playing musical chairs with each other. I really hope I'm wrong.

I wouldn't jump the gun. It's just one single year, and Banfield hasn't exactly been known for his bat up until that year. Give it about a couple of months in AAA, and then determine if he's for real.

He literally just got done with Tommy John surgery. He needs reps first to ramp up his workload, and he will likely go to AAA to get those reps. Asking him to get those reps in the majors is asking for too much, especially considering he doesn't have much major league experience, and an experience with effectiveness to boot.