One Regend

I do see Tinoco as an easy non-tender candidiate, as he'll miss 2026 entirely, and it's impossible to know what to expect from him coming off of surgery in 2027. I also do not expect Wagaman to be on the roster for much longer. He did catch second wind when put in an actual platoon role late in the season, but platooning 1st base isn't exactly what I'd like to consider an ideal situation, as first base is a position where offensive production is supposed to be expected. You did mention Matt Pushard having a solid season, and I will say 73 K/49.1 IP is a very promising split. He also had a good 2024 as well, so his 2025 doesn't seem like a fluke. That might be worthy of being protected. But then we start running into hard decisions. Do we value Freddy Tarnok? He did produce well in a small sample of 5 games, and he did similarly well in AAA. There's no denying he has explosive stuff, but it might be offset by his very high BB rate. Michael Petersen might also be considered too. In my opinion, protecting Pushard would have to come down to whether the team values Tarnok, or Petersen, or not. It's a tough call.

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Yeah, with 46 players on the 40-man, it would make sense to do some process of elimination. I already outlined the four easy cuts. ...Well, five actually, because I forgot Jack Winkler existed, which should honestly tell you all you need to know about how much I value what he brings to the team. And I'll go and eliminate Dane Myers too. He was the runner-up for being placed on the easy cut list, but I put him in unknowns because maybe the team might value his clubhouse presence or something. But yeah, it's been clear for years that he isn't going to have a breakout season. You do make a good point on Bellozo and Mazur. They're both 4th/5th rotation men that can be a swingman, and it wouldn't make sense to have both on the roster. I value Mazur over Bellozo. At least his stuff can play at the major league level. Bellozo has been dancing through raindrops, and I'm surprised he hasn't imploded yet. Johnston plays best when he's actually given reps, and my fear is, his talent is going to go to waste on the bench. He played well enough to maybe have built trade value. A rebuilding team like the Twins might give him the runway and opportunity, and Miami and Minnesota have been trade partners before. Still, that would leave our prospective roster at 39. Between Zuber and Simpson, I value Simpson more. So cutting Zuber would bring the 40 man roster to 38. This allows the Marlins to retain both Joe Mack and Josh White. I did take a look at the 3 borderline cases, and honestly, I'm okay with letting all 3 walk away. None of them have any otherworldly tools to justify taking up a 40 man slot. -Martorella can sometimes hit home runs, but that's literally all he can do well. -Andrew Pintar is light-hitting middle infielder #3052. -Jacob Berry has had his best season since signing with us, and as a first baseman, if slugging underneath .400 is what qualifies as his "best" season, then there's no reason to continue talking about one of the worst draft busts in recent memory. There's also the 60-day IL guys which is also its own can of worms. Not sure if you've already accounted for those, though.

Lol. Classic. Leave it to a DJ Svihlik prospect to leave Miami and find success somewhere else. I swear, Svihlik makes Al Avila look like a good prospect evaluator. And that's not mentioning the Marlins in-house option of converting Gus to 1B. As they should have done post-deadline, but didn't. Honestly, a performance like that should result in a 1-year prove-it deal. I can see a career renaissance in the horizon. My guess is, it'll probably be with the Brewers. Rhys Hoskins is set to become a Free Agent, and their other in-house option, Andrew Vaughn, isn't exactly inspiring any confidence that he'll be any better. Sure, Vaughn performed better after he left ChiSox hell, but I don't expect it to last. The Brewers aren't signing Pete Alonso, and they sure as hell won't sign Josh Naylor. They have shown propensity to assemble a team of ragtag misfits, and it's been working out for them. I expect them to continue conducting this type of business.

Has he even watched baseball games outside of his own Mets games? The Marlins were literally in the playoff chase until the last 5 or so days of the season. There's a world where the Marlins could've been in the playoffs and his Mets weren't. After the Marlins absolutely nuked the roster in last year's deadline and during the offseason, and after having a tepid Trade Deadline this year, the fact that the Marlins were this close to making the playoffs is impressive all on its own, and for him to say the Marlins are "hopeless" is incredibly short-sighted. If anything, the fact the Mets spent OVER A BILLION DOLLARS in the offseason, crowned themselves as The Offseason Champions™️, and STILL DIDN'T MAKE THE PLAYOFFS is failure all on its own. You tell me which team is "hopeless."

I think, of that list, hopefuls may be: -DLS is young enough to be given at least one more chance. -Adam Mazur has had his share of decent moments at the MLB level, and he has nothing left to prove in AAA. Could be a solid 4th or 5th man in the rotation, or a swingman. I can see him having a Tom Koehler or a Ricky Nolasco type of career: Not a flashy name but may get the job done. -Josh Simpson has amazing weapons, he just needs to put it together and show better control and consistency. Remember, like Josh Simpson, Andrew Nardi also took some massive lumps in his first season, and we've seen how capable he is as a reliever (143 SOs/107 IP, and a 3.48 FIP in the past 2 seasons), so the expectation is Josh Simpson develops from taking those lumps. I'm willing to hand-wave this year's performance because, more often than not, Clayton McCullough kept setting Simpson up to fail repeatedly. -Tyler Zuber was incredible at getting batters to chase pitches out of the zone this past season. He also has okay velo. If he can patch up all the other warts, he could be useful out of the bullpen. Unknowns are: -Johnston did well here, but he doesn't have a place defensively on the team. The expectation is Gus is moving to 1B, and he's not gonna get reps in the overcrowded OF. He's not going to see time in CF, and Kyle Stowers is staying in RF. Heriberto has performed well enough to be given a look at LF. And the OF depth is pretty strong. Griffin Conine is a lefty with a strong bat. Victor Mesa Jr is a lefty with a strong glove (and is decent as a backup CF). Joey Wiemer is a decent righty bat, and Kemp Alderman may force Heriberto to DH if he performs well enough, I think Johnston performed well enough to be traded to a team that could use his services, instead of letting his talents go to waste by rotting on the bench. -Bellozo is difficult to project. His stuff doesn't seem like it plays to this level, and while he did regress from last season, his results wasn't completely horrible. I really find it impossible what to expect from him, so it's 50/50 if he even makes it onto this roster. -Dax Fulton is in a tough spot. I am willing to hand-wave his bad performance this year for having a year's worth of rust from having to undergo surgery, but 2026 will have to be the year where he will have to prove that he can be a valuable asset. I just don't know if the Marlins are willing to be patient enough to let him have that chance. -Dane Myers is also tough to project. He regressed on all fronts in 2025. It's looking more and more likely that his hot start to 2024 and 2025 were flashes in the pan and he's not capable of maintaining those paces. Coupled with massive competition in the OF, he might be the odd man out. He does have 1 remaining option left, and there's a chance the Marlins might end up using that option if one or two of Conine, Mesa Jr, or Wiemer overperforms in Spring. Or if Alderman crushes the ball enough to give the Marlins no choice. Easy cuts: -To be honest, I don't know what y'all were expecting from Jared Serna. He's a 5'7 player who lucked into barrels the past couple of seasons. You should've known that his power numbers were going to be unsustainable from the start. Not every 5'7 player can be a Jose Altuve, because Jose Altuve is a unicorn himself, and he is likely Cooperstown-bound, so we shouldn't have unrealistic expectations like this. -Luarbert Arias's stuff kinda underwhelms. Unless he takes a major step forward with movement on his pitches (or a higher velo bump), he likely won't see a future as a major leaguer with this team. -Navarreto is a minor league journeyman. Moving on. -Why are we still talking about George Soriano? He should've been released from the organization in July.

At least he can get on base. Joe Mack is going to start games regularly as a catcher at some point. If we're to move forward with Hicks as a backup catcher, we need to see better results defensively. I can maybe (partially) excuse the 10.5% caught stealing, because the vast majority of the pitching staff was not doing any favors by being pathetically bad at holding runners, but a 2.00 PopTime is absolutely unacceptable when the offensive numbers aren't wowing anyone.

If they can get an improved season from Agustin Ramirez and actually get him reps at 1B instead of stubbornly pidgeonholing him at Catcher, they might not even need a 1B free agent. What they need is someone who can hold down the hot corner. Sorry, but Connor Norby isn't impressing me at 3B, and neither are the contemporaries there.

LOLMETS IS ETERNAL

A lot of people attribute Sandy's turnaround being around August 15th when he began a string of great pitching performances all the way to the end of the year. But, for me, that turnaround was way earlier. Turn the clock back to June 3rd, when the Marlins were getting swept by a Rockies team that was on pace to break the modern loss record set by the White Sox the previous year. Sandy had no part in that sweep, giving up only 2 runs in the 6 innings pitched. He then faced the Pirates next, and blanked the league's worst offensive team in 6 frames. These were both bad teams, yes, but these starts undoubtably reshaped Sandy's confidence from this point forward. If you trace every single start from June 3rd up to today, he had a much more digestible 4.07 ERA and a far more pallatable 3.81 FIP. Still a far cry from his Cy Young 2022 season, but numbers you would be fine with seeing from your ace.

Honestly, you don't even need to look that far back for a game like that. The Tuesday game against the Phillies this week on its own was a microcosm of the entire season. -Xavier Edwards stole 2 bases yet none of them counted because Eric Wagaman had the situational awareness of an ostrich. McCullough couldve relayed signs to Wagaman to take the first few pitches to allow Edwards a chance to advance into 2nd base. This was during a time JT Realmuto was visibly hurt and wasn't in any condition to make good throws. -Intentionally walks Kyle Schwarber in the 10th inning. Prior to Wednesday, we held Schwarber to a .182 BA with 0 HRs. The worst he could've done was tie the game with a HR. -Not only did the guy after Schwarber drive a run in, not only did it create a winning run scenario, but McCullough brought in Josh Simpson -- a guy who hasn't proven he can get major league hitters out, to have a lefty-lefty matchup. The problem? The Phillies still had Nick Castellanos on the bench. Those were all rookie mistakes, and I'm shocked they all didn't blow up in McCullough's face. The Marlins ended up winning that game in spite of McCullough's moves.

And that's not how it should work. The players we have played way over their heads, and that's in spite of McCullough pressing all of the wrong buttons. That extra inning game isn't an isolated incident. McCullough has been doing this the entire year. He should not be getting all the credit for something the players did entirely on their own.

Bro, please. McCullough literally tried to throw the game last night. IBBing Schwarber when we've limited him to .182 BA and 0 HRs this year. The worst that would've happened is if he hit a homer, and that only would've tied the ballgame. The next guy drives a runner in and he brings in Josh Simpson -- a guy who has not proven to us he can get hitters out at the major league level -- to face a lefty... When Nick Castellanos is still sitting on the bench. And don't get me started on the Eric Wagaman sequences. JT Realmuto was clearly hurt behind the plate yet Wagaman has the situation awareness of a turkey. It's on the bench (and by extension McCullough) to tell Wagaman to take a pitch or two. X stole basically 2 bases on Wagaman's AB but ended up with zero because Wagaman fouled off NOT ONE BUT TWO OF THOSE ATTMEPTS. Those are things that, if the game led to a loss that subsequently led to playoff elimination, a manager would get fired for. How the hell are we still having "NL Manager of the Year" conversations about Clayton McCullough? Yes we had a +16 win improvement from last year, and surprised everyone with potential playoff contention, but the team did so in spite of McCullough's direction.

I agree with trading Troy Johnston. Joe Mack is on his way here, and he will man the Catcher spot, which leaves Gus without a position to play in 2026, forcing him to be playing 1B, and DH whenever he's not fielding. There will be a logjam at 1B if Troy Johnston is still on the roster, and there's no room for him in the outfield, and his talent will be wasted if placed on the bench and used as a pinch-hitter(runner)/"defensive replacement".

What is this front office doing? Are they actively trying to ruin Edward Cabrera? Shut him down for the rest of the year. There's no point in pushing their luck when, at best, they have the ceiling of a one-and-done Wild Card entry.

I'm pretty sure none of us are going to remember the many times the Marlins insisted on rolling a below-replacement level Matt Mervis for a good 1/3 of the season when they think about why the Marlins fall short. I'm sure most fans here will remember that embarrassing homestand where the Marlins got swept by the Colorado Rockies, at a time when the Rockies were on pace to post a 130-loss season. But you do raise a good point that some players have been repeatedly put in positions to fail. In fact, they're STILL being put in a position to fail. Seriously, why is Agustin Ramirez STILL playing defense at Catcher? I don't think the Marlins will make the postseason, but I'm curious to know how close they will end up. If it's within 2 games, then everyone will look back at that Rockies series. For me, if we don't make it, the next best thing is to see the Mets miss the playoffs. Dear god their collapse has to be rivaling the '07 Mets because that is the funniest chokejob I have ever seen.

I think Heriberto and Victor Mesa Jr can both thrive as a 4th OF and 5th OF respectively. They can fill platoon roles for the 3rd OF spot if Alderman isn't ready yet.

If I recall, Jacob Misiorowski also had control issues prior to his callup. (Including an eye-popping 5.5 BB/9 in 2024...), and he was able to make a name for himself in the major leagues. No reason to believe Thomas White can't do the same with how talented he is.

I feel like 20 wins are going to be a rare sight in MLB. In today's age, early hooks are far more common, especially since a lot of managers today are now aware of the "3rd time through the order" tax. Pulling pitchers 4.2 innings into their outing when the opposing team starts facing them a 3rd time is now commonplace these days. It's sad, but D-Train might be our only 20-game winner for the forseeable future.

Jeremy Hermida had potential, but would never be able to develop. And injuries destroyed whatever chance he had left at developing into an everyday middle-of-the-order bat he had the potential to be. It's a shame, really.

Uh, well, that didn't take long to age like dried milk.

Wow. That was a bullpen implosion for the ages. Are you seriously telliing me that Ronny Henriquez, who wasn't used the previous night, wasn't available here either? Did Lake Bachar walk out on the team or something? Even he would've been a better choice than whoever McCollough trotted out in the 9th. I know Josh Simpson has nasty weapons at his disposal. But until he proves he can get major league hitters out, he should not be pitching in high leverage situations, much less the 9th inning. I gave Don Mattingly crap for his bullpen deployments, but damn, McCollough somehow found a way to one-up Mattingly. Jesus Christ, this is bad.

If the Marlins philosophy for this season is "development", then why is Gus still catching games behind the plate?

Why is George Soriano still with the ballclub when we have bullpen studs in AA waiting for a MLB callup?

I hope that this is the start of a breakout for Agustin Ramirez. It seemed like for the past 2 months, he's been stuck in 3rd gear and treading water, unable to get a good streak going. It's been miserable watching him play in July. That month by itself took him out of the Rookie of the Year sweepstakes. Let's just hope he finishes the year strong and provides us a glimpse of what he can eventually be.