Chad Turner

It's hard to believe we traded an ace away for Jazz (1.0 WAR) and traded away Bleday (1.8 WAR) for a struggling RP. Jazz and Bleday are the same age and play the same position. Bleday has 2 more years of control.

Weird Marlins batting order stats: 10-34 when Anderson starts. 4-15 when Burger hits 4th, 7-6 when he hits 6th. 13-13 when Jazz bats 1 thru 3, 2-13 when he bats 6th. 1-12 when Avi started a game. 13-7 when Gordon bats 6th, 5-15 when he bats anywhere else. 6-6 when Lopez bats 5 thru 7, 4-10 when he bats 8 or 9. 10-6 when Sanchez bats 4th, 0-6 when he bats 2 or 6. Our optimal lineup would be: 1 Edwards SS, 2 Jazz CF, 3 Bel 1Bl, 4 Sanchez RF, 5 Burger 3B, 6 Gordon LF, 7 DLC DH, 8 Brujan 2B, 9 Fortes. Theoretically, we would be 2 games over .500 with that lineup. We are 4-17 when Bell is the DH, and 17-23 when he's on first. We are 11-6 when Brujan plays SS, 0-8 when he's on third. Whe are 17-21 when DLC is DH, 3-20 in LF. We are 19-20 with Gordon in LF. We are 10-12 with Lopez at 2B, 0-4 when he's at 3B. We are 1-0 with Myers in LF, 1-6 in RF. We are 10-11 when Rivera plays 3B, 0-8 at 1B. We are 20-23 when Sanchez starts. There are some major tendencies that we should practice. Don't let Anderson start (10-34), 12-8 when he doesn't. Don't let Bell DH (4-17) or let him bat 2nd (3-12). Don't start Brujan at 3B (0-8), start him at 2B/SS (14-10). Don't bat Jazz in the 5 or 6 hole (5-22). Don't start DLC in LF (3-20). Don't start Rivera at 1B (0-8), start him at 3B (10-11). Don't start Lopez at 3B (0-4), start him at 2B (10-12). Let Gordon bat 6th (13-7) vs 7th or 8th (5-14). Bat Lopez in the 7 hole (5-4) vs 5-12 anywhere else. Bat Sanchez cleanup (10-6) and don't bat him 6th (0-5). Bat Burger 5th (7-6) vs 3 or 4 (6-21). Sit the following players vs LHP: Bell .195 (avg vs LHP) vs .288 (avg vs RHP), Sanchez .125 vs .264, Burger .161 vs .255, Lopez .214 vs .328, Fortes .125 vs .197. Start vs LHP: Anderson .242 vs .155, Bethancourt .185 vs .136, Myers ('23 numbers) .400 vs .213, Rivera .235 vs .192, DLC .292 vs .224. Brujan and Edwards are slightly better vs RHP. Gordon and Jazz can hit either pretty well.

I think we have one of the best pitching pipelines around. Here are our young studs: Eury Pérez 21 yrs old- How can you not list him here? He just turned 21 and has an ETA of 2025. He' already proven himself at the highest level and has everything you would want in an ace. We won't get credit for him on any prospect lists, but when you talk about our future rotation, he's #1. Max Meyer 25- I hear his off speed stuff is progressing. He's a dog, and has ace mentality and upside. Can his arm hold up? Will he prove that he's good enough to pencil in to our '25 rotation? I think so. The problem is that he should graduate before the next wave of rankings. Noble Meyer 19- If he keeps this up in A+, how is he not a top 50 prospect nationally? Thomas White 19- Who's better - him or Noble? Both are the same age, similar arsenals, and similar results. Another top 50 guy. Karson Milbrandt 20- He's only a half year older than White and Meyer and a half step ahead. He may have the best fastball of the bunch, but still has control issues. At least the ERA is down, but he has some work to do to be considered a top 5 prospect. The upside is there though. Jacob Miller 20- What an exciting A+ SP lineup with these 4 studs. His ERA is down, but his WHIP is up. I still think he will get moved up a little in rankings. Emmett Olson 22- having a nice season. Jake Brooks 22- It's hard not to mention a guy with a sub 2 ERA and a nice WHIP, but he's older and the Ks aren't there. He must be inducing a ton of soft contact though. Keyner Benitez Just turned 18- Exciting! Can he be the next Eury? Perhaps that's too lofty, but I can see him becoming a top 10 prospect really soon. Juan De La Cruz 19- Wow! His stats in his first 5 starts are jaw dropping. I can't believe Benitez and others were promoted before him. Clearly having 2 DSL teams and a better International program is paying dividends on the pitching side. Dishmey and Mendez are 2 more 19 yr olds who are already in full season ball. Cesar and Castillo also need to be evaluated to possibly make the top 30. And I haven't even mentioned anyone actually pitching in the DSL yet. It really couldn't be going much better in the low minors with pitching. Anthony Maldonado 26- He is also having a nice year, but will likely graduate soon and get passed up by all this young talent. Nigel Belgrave 22- We even have our future closer! Sub 1 ERA and has been un-hittable. There are a bunch of other relievers with sick stats, and I would love to know which ones are highly viewed by the org, but I don't have the bandwidth to speculate. Hitters: Somehow, our farm prospects have managed to get worse at the plate. There's just not much good news here. X Edwards 24- graduation is imminent, if it hasn't happened already. Hopefully he's our SS for the next 5 years! Vic Mesa Jr 22- Decent season so far but not the kind that will force the Marlins to promote him. Dillon Head 19- I'll mention him again just because I believe he will be top 5 by default. Hopefully he proves he's worthy. Yiddi Cappe 21- He still has time, but it doesn't look like he's ever going to add excess value at the plate. Luis Cova 17- I hate having to cheer for 17 year olds! What are the odds that he ever dawns a Sugar Kings hat? Javier Sanoja 21- The only thing worse than crossing your fingers that a 17 year old will make your dreams come true is having to root for a guy that is 5'7 150 to be the hero. We need big tome bats and he is a jumbo shrimp. Joe Mack 21- I love this guy. He's a dog. Not sure why he's been DHing so much. He needs to stick at catcher. Will Banfield 24- I probably should have put him in the other category. He's giving up a bunch of stolen bases and in a slump. Mark Coley 23- He got me all excited batting .375 in April, then stunk up the joint in May with a .141 average, which has carried over to June. Typical for a Marlins prospect. Ryan Ignoffo 23- He converted to catcher this year and seems to be doing a decent job for his first year there. He's hitting well too, but has a long road ahead from A ball and he turns 24 next month. There are some guys hitting in the FCL, but not the heralded ones, so I know nothing about them. I would definitely say that my top 30 list will contain about 20 pitchers and only 10 hitters. We still have a problem. I'll give that list a try next.

CLE 2-1, Ramirez MVP

Oh man. I can't believe as a Marlins fan I have to cheer for someone that's 5'7 150. Where are the big boppers?

We are 1/3 of the way through the minor league slate. Here's my review of the prospects that will fall from their pre-season rankings by the mid-season update. I am just a lifelong fan and statistician. I've never seen any of these guys personally, and I mean no disrespect. I hope all these players prove me wrong. This is just an armchair view, but I have put a ton of time into this as it's my favorite hobby. Spreadsheets are my thing. I am reacting to this season's stats, but also taking their careers into account. Age is also a big factor. Head, Marsee, Martorella, and Go - I need more data, but not the start we were looking for. I'm still hopeful for Head, but Go suks already. This trade made me want to puke, and I'm still dry heaving. Dax Fulton - He shouldn't fall far, but it's hard to keep him in the top ten when he hasn't log a stat and is only getting older. His prior stats aren't dominant, but I'm hopeful he can come back even stronger. He's got the frame and had the heat. I just think he might be passed by some of these great young arms we have. Jacob Berry - Should he even be a prospect at this point? He can't play D, and now can't even hit. I would remove him entirely. It's rare for a guy to turn it around from a point this low. Kemp Alderman - after posting a .602 OPS last year, he needed to show a strong performance out of the gate this year. You can't do that from the IL. There is still time for him to flash over the next month or two, but I wouldn't bet on it. Troy Johnston - Needing to prove the Marlins wrong for not protecting him in the R5 draft, he has been mediocre at best. Turning 27 this month, he's now just another quad A guy in my eyes. He is heating up though. But I would remove him from my list. Brock Vradenburg - A 22 yr old 1B repeating A ball with a .519 OPS? That shouldn't be on any top 30 list. He's not as good as Torin Montgomery at this point, who isn't impressing that much in Beloit. Pat Monteverde - He's almost 27 and has low 90s heat. I knew he would likely get rocked in the high minors. Same with Luis Palacios. At least he's 3 years younger. John Cruz - We are getting the worst possible version of him. Somebody wake him up. Power? Gone. Ks up. Walks down. Can't hit. We got burned. These DSL bats are a crap shoot. 1 out of every 100 makes it to the show, and rarely is it with the team that originally signed them. They should be forced to sign 7 year deals instead of 4. Jose Gerardo - a K machine repeating rookie ball. Fabian Lopez - Small sample size but not hitting. Shane Sasaki - this 4th OF profile looks more like a 6th OF. Hopefully he gets healthy and hot. I'll follow up with my risers tomorrow.

Split, Berger MVP

TEX 2-1, Semien MVP

AZ 2-1, Gurriel MVP

MIL 2-1, Yelich MVP

Next year Sandy and Eury will likely be on a pitch count. We don't have the stud upper level prospects to make a difference at the plate. More trades are probable. Can we compete again in '26? Or will it be '27? Here's my projected lineup, followed by the year they become FAs: SP: Sandy extension, Eury '31?, Brax '29, Ed '29, Weathers '30?, Meyer, Fitterer. Trade Luzardo. I'm predicting Sandy having a mediocre 1st year back, therefore we can extend him on the cheap. If he has a great '25, then trade him. We also have a strong next wave with Milbrandt, Fulton, Miller, Olson, Brooks, White, and Noble. Plus whatever Dominicans emerge. I see you Juan DLC. Such a fun name. Most of our pen is controllable, and we have a bunch of decent RPs in the minors, so I'm sure we will be ok there. Obviously Scott will be traded soon. At the plate, Jazz looks like an obvious trade candidate. I say we build around Burger '30, and Brujan '30, I'm pencilling in Edwards and Martorella as our other IF starters. Our OF is Mesa Jr, Myers, and Marsee. Banfield and Mack at C. Trade DLC and Sanchez if they have value. If not, pencil them in. Hopefully some of the near replacement level guys we have of a quad A guy emerges. Perhaps another upper level prospect I haven't covered. We obviously need bats. This can be done with trades, the draft, and free agency. I think any team would be happy with our future pitching, but our hitting sucks. Can we get enough for Scott, Luzardo, and Jazz to stop there? Or are Brax, Ed, Sandy, and Burger gone too? That's the question. Who did I miss?

DET 2-1. Greene MVP

PHI 2-1, Turner MVP

No one is going to want Bender coming off TJS, since he might get shut down by the deadline. Scott should net more than we gave up for Robertson last year though. He should be traded ASAP. I would be surprised if Jazz nets Jaison Chourio. More like the other two only. He would have to really heat up. But I do think he will be traded. No way we get 3 prospects for DLC. He had a negative WAR last year. Not exactly sure what a replacement level OF gets you. Hopefully Bell will heat up, but he's out of shape and has a bloated contract. Plus he's off to a very slow start that I doubt he can get out of without protection in the lineup. I think we build around Burger. I could see one of Luzardo or Garrett being traded if they are hot.

Dodgers sweep. Freeman MVP

...in this analytics thing. I was upset at the Brujan/Faucher trade. How can you trade for the worst player in MLB (.438 OPS) with no options left and waste a 40-man spot on Faucher (7.01 ERA)? Burch who? Dump Okert and sign Cronin? Roddery Munoz? I thought these guys were only going to hurt the Marlins. The fact that they are kinda helping is just weird. Not everyone has worked out, but I am curious what Bendix can do with a little money, considering all of these guys are making the minimum. Obviously starting pitching was supposed to be our strength. Our top 4 arms (Sandy, Eury, Jesus, and Brax) are out. Our pitching staff contains 5 guys that didn't pitch at all last year and 4 more that had ERA's north of 5.40. We just swept a team with our best power bat out. Baseball is a strange sport indeed.

Marlins sweep, Arraez MVP

Marlins 3-1, Arraez MVP

SF 2-1. Arraez MVP.

Braves win 2-1. Arraez MVP

Gray is the exception right now, but I never put faith into one week of AAA numbers for a 28 yr old prospect. He does look like a specimen, but batted .182 in the spring and batted .235 in his 3rd AAA season last year. The list of 28 yr old hitting prospects making a substantial impact in the majors is a very short list. I do recall you were the only professional writer in the world to include him on a top 30 list (#30), so props to you.

Yankees win 2-1, Arraez MVP

Well, we got some $$$ and Bellozo. What a crap return for a top 10 prospect. I know he wasn't hitting well enough to make the show yet, but crushed 13 more HRs than Lopez last year. I actually thought Amaya was a little overrated with all the Ks, but never thought we would just dump him and replace with a lesser player. I'm trying not to overreact to this season yet, but early returns for Bendix are crap. Brujan and Bethancourt are 0-for-20. Bride and Gordon sub .150. Emmanuel, Smith, and Gutierrez over 6.50 ERAs. I was hoping he would find some diamonds in the rough. We just picked up the Rays trash. Bring back Ng?

How is Otto Lopez better than Amaya? SMH

Marlins 3-0, Arraez MVP