Monday, February 4, 2013

30 Teams in 30 Days: Miami Marlins

We begin our trip around baseball, starting in the National League East and the Miami Marlins. What a difference a year makes. The Marlins were opening a new stadium, albeit a hideous paint job and dimensions deemed too large by a few players. A new manager came with the team in Ozzie Guillen and a fresh set of new uniforms. The Marlins splashed in free agency, bringing in Mark Buerhle, Jose Reyes and Heath Bell. That all went to hell in a hand basket. Every pronoun mentioned above are gone: Guillen is out, Mike Redmond is in, and the only legit draw the team currently has is slugger Giancarlo Stanton. Buerhle, Reyes, Bell, Hanley Ramirez, Emilio Bonafacio, Josh Johnson, Anibal Sanchez and John Buck are all gone. So what's left? Stanton, Logan Morrison, Ricky Nolasco and Steve Cishek. And 21 other players. Let's take a look:

Projected Line-up
LF Juan Pierre
3B Placido Polanco
RF Giancarlo Stanton
1B Logan Morrison
CF Justin Ruggiano
C   Rob Brantly
SS Adeiny Hechaverria
2B Donovan Solano

Pierre and Polanco are simply veteran placeholders who needed a starting gig. Fortunately, the Marlins have two very good OF prospects in Jake Marisnick and Christian Yelich on the way, who will replace Pierre and Ruggiano. The middle of the line-up should be solid, but outside of Stanton, not even Morrison is a sure thing. Brantly is a sleeper pick while Hechaverria and Solano will be given a chance to develop. This won't be a pretty line-up to watch, but has a slim chance of being solid this year.

Rotation
SP Ricky Nolasco
SP Jacob Turner
SP Henderson Alvarez
SP Nate Eovaldi
SP Wade LeBlanc

1-4 are set. Nolasco is the only holdover from the start of the year and a trade deadline chip. He'll start opening day. Turner, Alvarez and Eovaldi were top prospects acquired in each trade: they are MLB ready and started in the 2nd half of the year. If Miami succeeds, it needs these three to put up what they can be capable of. The 5th spot is likely to go to LeBlanc, but I can see it being open to many candidates, like Alex Sanabia or non-roster invitee Kevin Slowey.

Bullpen
CL Steve Cishek
SU Ryan Webb
SU Mike Dunn

These are the only players which I can guarantee will be on the roster. Yikes. Cishek did a very solid job at closer (SLEEPER PICK!!) and has a tight grip on the job. Webb and Dunn are the only set-up men with a track record of being solid. The rest of the slots will be open: this may be the worst part of the team. This season does not look great for Miami. There is a great chance they'll finish last and approach 100 losses. My guess is that it'll be closer to 70-92.

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