Miami Marlins Receive Surprising Grade For Their Offseason Moves
The Miami Marlins still have a number of questions left to answer, only two weeks from Opening Day.
Where do the home runs come from? Where do the innings come from in the rotation?
And the obviousness of these questions - and the lack of work to address them - resulted in some poor marks from one national publication, with Bleacher Report giving the Marlins a "F" grade for their offseason.
Writer Kerry Miller, grading the offseason for all 30 teams for Bleacher Report, was very critical of the team's refusal to proactively address known issues this offseason:
As with Felix Bautista for the Orioles, the Marlins didn't actually lose (Sandy) Alcantara, but they found out in October that he would be out for the 2024 campaign, thus entering the offseason knowing they would need some sort of one-year band-aid solution.
But aside from letting A.J. Puk try to convert from a closer to a starter and hoping Max Meyer amounts to something this season, they didn't do anything about it.
Nor did they do anything to address Soler's departure, meaning that a team that was already lacking for slugging could really be up a creek without a paddle in that department.
But, hey, they took a $5 million flyer on Anderson bouncing back. Neat. Way to build on last year's surprise postseason appearance.
We've already discussed the team's belief that better health and availability from oft-injured Jazz Chisholm combined with full seasons of the offensive improvements shown by last season's trade deadline acquisitions of Jake Burger and Josh Bell is the team's route towards better power production in 2024.
But the innings situation, made worse by Alcantara's absence this season as he rehabs from Tommy John surgery, is still up in the air. The back of the rotation is likely going to be filled by the trio of lefties A.J. Puk, Ryan Weathers, and Trevor Rogers. Those three combined for 132.2 innings last season in Miami, as Puk was a reliever and Rogers was plagued by multiple injury issues.
(Weathers is a bit more stretched out than those numbers indicate, as the trade acquisition threw 44.2 innings for the San Diego Padres and another 79.2 between the minor league systems of the two clubs.)
But with the existing spring injury news of both Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera not being ready for Opening Day because of shoulder issues, it just highlights the risk of Miami's strategy to not seek out one of the many veteran pitching options available on the market this offseason.
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)