Miami Marlins hoping to turn the corner, but 9-24 start ‘not a great feeling’
A pair of newspaper sports sections sat at the center table inside the visitor’s clubhouse at Wrigley Field, the clubhouse the Miami Marlins will call home for four days.
The Monday sections of the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, laid out next to print outs of Sudoku and crossword puzzles players indulge in to pass time before the game, both showed similar covers celebrating the Chicago Cubs’ sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals, three more wins in their current seven-game win streak that moved them into first place in NL Central.
Back home at Marlins Park, Baseball America magazines with former Marlins outfielder and reigning National League MVP Christian Yelich gracing the cover.
They’re reminders of success stories going on a month into the MLB season.
And they’re reminders of where the Miami Marlins want to be.
But right now, the Marlins simply are not there early in Year 2 of the team’s rebuild under the Derek Jeter/Bruce Sherman ownership group.
Miami enters its four-game road series with the Cubs with an MLB-worst 9-24 record, losers of seven of their past eight games and on pace for some of the worst offensive production in club history in numerous categories.
“It’s hard to say everything is great when you’re 9-and-whatever,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “I don’t even know what we are. I know it’s not very good. It’s not a great feeling.”
The clubhouse has looked somber at times following the losses, a natural feeling after a slow start like this.
But the Marlins are still trying to be optimistic that they will turn the corner at some point.
“You keep working,” Mattingly said. “I don’t think that ever goes away. And you don’t accept that it’s always going to be like this.”
They need to hope that’s the case. Otherwise, it could be a dismal next five months that is on the point of record-breaking.
At their current pace, the Marlins are on track to lose 118 games, 10 more than the franchise record of 108 set in 1998.
The offense entered Friday ranked last in the majors in runs (91), doubles (37), triples (0), home runs (23), RBI (88), walks (82), slugging (.318) and OPS (.602). The Marlins have been outscored by 72 runs this year.
Only four Marlins regulars are hitting at least .250, while three are hitting under .200 — four if you include Lewis Brinson, who was hitting .197 when he was optioned to Triple A New Orleans last week.
“I’m not happy,” Jeter said of the Marlins’ start to the year. "Michael Hill’s not happy. Donnie’s not happy. I’m sure the players are not happy. I think everyone knows we’re better than this. You have to go out there and make adjustments. You have to perform. I said this when we were in spring training: We all need to individually and collectively - there shouldn’t be a person in this building that’s happy about our play.”
They’ve shown the occasional signs of life — four games with at least 16 hits in games against some of MLB’s top starting pitchers show just as much — but 14 games with five hits or fewer does not make for sustainable success.
“When you look at the pieces we have, [we] just want them to play to their strengths,” Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said. “We know we’re not going to be a huge home run team, but we do have guys who make contact consistently. That’s still the plan here. We still believe in the veterans that we have in here. ... It’s just a matter of putting it all together.”
The Marlins are leaning on their veterans — Curtis Granderson, Martin Prado, Neil Walker, Miguel Rojas and Sergio Romo among them — to keep the ship from sinking.
With a young roster, losses can impact the psyche. The mental frustration, in turn, can impact the physical performance.
Mattingly is hoping the Marlins don’t get to that point as they work through the season.
“We need to stay upbeat, continue to work,” Mattingly said. “We have to have a little fun. When these guys are playing, I think you get caught up in what’s going on and you forget that this game is supposed to be fun when you play it. Hopefully, we relax a little bit and just play.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2019 at 8:30 PM.
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