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2008 NL East Preview: Florida Marlins
Written by Colin on January 9, 2008 – 8:25 amContinuing in our preview of the National League East in 2008, we turn now to the Florida Marlins. The Marlins won only 71 games last year, but they had a lot of young talent. Now they dumped their only “veterans” this off-season – that being 24 year old Miguel Cabrera and 25 year old Dontrelle Willis to the Detroit Tigers. Let’s take a look at the Marlins in 2008 with a roster chock full of youngsters.
Offense: There aren’t many spots in the lineup that are going to be great next season. Last year the Marlins weren’t that bad offensively – they were ranked 3rd in slugging percentage, and only 8th in batting average. Hanley Ramirez – the 2006 rookie of the year – batted .332 last year. The guy has some huge potential and could turn into a great shortstop. Now, he’s the cornerstone that the Marlins are going to build their young team around. They’ve got some prospects – that’s for sure. The trick is converting that into a winning team that lasts down the road. There’s potential here, but they’re not going to break any records.
Defense: Hard to say as there’s not many stats to go on here. Ramirez had a .963 fielding percentage in both ‘06 and ‘07, and we can expect the same out of him this year. Overall these guys are pretty handy with the leather – new Marlin Jose Castillo was more than adequate both in the infield and outfield for Pittsburgh last year. I don’t expect to see anything Gold Glove worthy, but I don’t think we’ll see abysmal play either.
Starting Pitching: It’s a little difficult to pin down the five starters for this coming year. We should see Scott Olsen and Sergio Mitre start, and possibly Rick VandenHurk as well. The fourt or fifth starter may well be Andrew Miller, acquired from Detroit in the trade that sent Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera away. Miller shows promise (Detroit’s top pick in 2005), but struggled last season in his big league stint, going 5-5 in 13 starts with a 5.63 ERA. From the other guys we’ll likely see ERAs ranging from the upper mid 4’s to the 7’s – just like last season. Talent is hard to develop in the big leagues – the Fish’s staff ranked last in the NL last year in ERA, WHIP, OPS, and second to last in Batting Average Allowed.
Relief Pitching: Kevin Gregg closed for the Fish last year. He may be back this year – he had some decent success in ‘07. The guys from last year with the most holds last year are Justin Miller, Renyo Pinto, Taylor Tankersley, and Matt Lindstrom. These guys have middle of the road stats – nothing to write home about, but nothing abysmal either. Best I can tell, their bullpen will be mediocre at best.
Coaching: Fredi Gonzalez just finished his first year as the manager of the Marlins. We know he’s a solid guy and great coach, as we got to experience him in the Braves organization as a third base coach from 2003-2006. He’s not getting much to work with but as long as he meets expectations with a low level of talent, he’s doing good.
Recap: These guys are young. Really, really young. They have a lot of potential talent but that doesn’t translate necessarily to wins right now. I’ll enjoy watching everyone develop as they continue to grow up – but if the Marlins continue to trade away young talent for young potential talent, they’ll never compete consistently.
Insensitive thoughts that really have no place here:
- The Marlins just had plans for a $515 million, 37,000 seat stadium approved. Won’t it be great to see 1000 people a game there too?
- With an estimated $14 million roster next semester, and the Marlins may win more games per dollar than any other team in baseball.
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