2024 Opening Day Roster Projection for the Miami Marlins
Opening Day is just two weeks away, and the Miami Marlins are going to be ready.
Despite dealing with rotation injuries to Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera, the team's confident enough in the remaining options that they were able to option Max Meyer to AAA Jacksonville yesterday.
At the midpoint of Grapefruit League play, let's project how Miami might set up the 26-man roster for the March 28th home opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Position Players - 13
Unlike in the past, there are strict limits on how many pitchers and position players you can have on the roster, giving each team a four or five-man bench, depending on if the roster carries a dedicated designated hitter or not.
(As of now, Miami will not carry a dedicated DH, but they were in communication with free agent J.D. Martinez late last week, per reports.)
Here's how we have that breaking down:
Catchers (2): Christian Bethancourt, Nick Fortes
We hardly knew ye, Curt Casali.
Outfield (4): Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bryan De La Cruz, Avasaíl García, Jesús Sánchez
(There's going to be a point where this front office cuts ties with García, and I wouldn't be shocked if it's earlier than we expect this season.)
Infield (4): Jake Burger, Tim Anderson, Luis Arraez, Josh Bell
Utility (3): Jon Berti, Vidal Bruján, Nick Gordon
The designated hitter spot should likely rotate through Burger, Bell, and whichever outfielder isn't in the lineup, making Jon Berti mostly a starter when he's in for one of the infielders.
We have the final two spots going to Gordon and Bruján for two reasons - versatility, both in the roster and roster construction.
The pair have shown the ability to play both in the infield and outfield, including shortstop and centerfield, and neither offseason trade acquisition has any minor league options remaining.
The last man off the roster, in this situation, is Trey Mancini. He's played fine in spring, going 5-22 with a homer, but an extra first baseman is a luxury for a team that has both Bell and Burger that can play the position.
Xavier Edwards is a shortstop we initially thought would make the roster, but a combination of poor offensive performances and a foot injury in spring means he hasn't even had a chance to show what he can do, and a return to the minors is likely.
Rotation
This one is tough given all the injuries, including Eury Perez leaving Wednesday's game with a recurrence of the broken nail issue that's been plaguing him all spring, but we'll project as of now:
Rotation (5): LHP Jesús Luzardo, RHP Eury Perez, LHP A.J. Puk, LHP Ryan Weathers, LHP Trevor Rogers
I don't know what's more surprising, that the Marlins may end up with four lefties in their five-man rotation to start the year, or that the bottom three combined for 132.2 innings last season.
Puk had the bulk of those, pitching 56.2 innings of relief, with Weathers getting 13 across two starts and one relief appearance after a trade from the Padres and Rogers getting only 18 innings after both a left biceps strain and a right lat strain ended his season after only four starts.
(Full disclosure, Weathers also got 44.2 in San Diego and another 79.2 in the minors between the two clubs, so he's a little more stretched out than it appears.)
Injured list placements: Braxton Garrett (shoulder), Edward Cabrera (shoulder), JT Chargois (neck)
Garrett's still trying to catch back up in his build-up after a shoulder slowed him early in camp, while Cabrera's recent shoulder tightness is going to prevent him from being ready for Opening Day.
AAA Jacksonville: Max Meyer, Roddery Muñoz, Darren McCaughan, Patrick Monteverde (NRI), Devin Smeltzer (NRI)
Bullpen
Several of these roles are known, but not all of them:
Locks (4): Tanner Scott (closer), Andrew Nardi, Anthony Bender, George Soriano
After that, there's some speculating and educated guessing to do:
Likely (3): Anthony Maldonado, Declan Cronin, Bryan Hoeing
Relief or you lose him (1): Sixto Sánchez
The final spot for Sixto mostly comes down to a lack of healthy/present alternatives and his lack of minor-league options. JT Chargois has a recurring neck issue that's going to require a specialist visit, while Huascar Brazoban's visa issues appear to have prevented him from reporting to camp.
Sixto's thrown four scoreless innings this spring, allowing only one hit and two walks while striking out three. And he reportedly looked good in Wednesday's game, hitting 98.8 and then claiming he finally "feels like 100%"
But there are still very legitimate questions about whether he's ready to translate four appearances this spring into an everyday role in the bullpen, where he'd be asked to pitch back-on-back days or multiple times in a week.
“He recovered really well last time,” Schumaker said last week. “We'll see if he recovers well again. And he threw more velo this time around as well. So command was there, offspeed was there. Again, he feels good, which is probably the biggest thing for him, obviously, and for us. For him to come back and feel like he's ready to go is good. I think the next step: Is it multiple innings? What do back-to-backs look like? All that stuff. He has to check some boxes still, but overall pretty good.”
Managing Editor for Blackerby Media, covering the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins Also: Senior Baseball Writer for Auburn Daily, member of both the National College Baseball Writers Association and Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (where he won the 2023 Prospects, Minors, & College Writer of the Year award)