The Marlins keep adding talent to the organization. When will it be seen at the MLB level?
Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter made it simple at the start of spring training when he said the organization is trying to build something special.
Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill continues to reference the goal of building a sustainable, championship-caliber franchise.
The Marlins aren’t there yet at the major-league level as the rebuild nears the end of its second season. The team entered August with a 41-65 record that is the worst in the National League and the fourth-worst in MLB.
These first two years under the Bruce Sherman and Jeter ownership, however, weren’t about the results at the MLB level.
They needed to overhaul the system, start from scratch.
Those fixes don’t happen overnight — or, in this case, over the span of two seasons.
Those fixes also aren’t readily noticed at the major-league level, which generally needs to be depleted in order to build up sustainable organizational depth
But take a glance through the Marlins’ minor-league system, where seeds that have been planted in a once-barren land are starting to sprout, and the evidence becomes a little clearer.
The moves the franchise made during the past 22 months have put the Marlins in a position to potentially start contending again possibly as early as the 2021 season — if things work out right.
Acquiring talent
The chance for success starts with the farm system, one that has quickly turned into one of MLB’s deepest in just two years.
Baseball America ranked the Marlins’ farm system as the second-worst in MLB in the 2017 season. They didn’t have a single top-100 prospect.
Fast forward two years, and the difference is noticeable.
Six top-100 prospects.
Nine top prospects who could realistically make their MLB debut before the end of the 2020 season.
Of the Marlins’ top 30 prospects as ranked by MLBPipeline, 22 were added to the organization under the new ownership group.
“If you’re looking for a most-improved farm system,” Baseball America wrote, “Miami is a great candidate.”
Baseball America ranked the Marlins’ minor-league system the 10th best in MLB following the draft.
After the trade deadline, FanGraphs had Miami’s farm system at No. 4.
Now, the Marlins are getting to the point where they don’t need to rush up a top prospect — say, an Isan Diaz or Monte Harrison — to the MLB level to fill a roster spot.
The first steps
It started with those five big trades during the past two offseasons — the the Marlins shipped away their top position players Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna, J.T. Realmuto and Dee Gordon. Those moves, which Jeter admitted would be unpopular at the time they were made, gave the Marlins seven of their current top 30 prospects and six players who spent extensive time with the big-league club — at least two of whom in Jorge Alfaro and Sandy Alcantara should be in the long-term picture.
It continued with a pair of strong draft classes and big splashes in the international free agent market the past two years.
A theme: Infusing talented hitters — preferably left-handed hitters, if possible — into a minor-league system that was top-heavy with pitching prospects.
The likes of JJ Bleday, Kameron Misner, Connor Scott and Nasim Nunez among others emerged through the draft the past two years. The Marlins overall signed 31 of their 41 draftees this cycle. Seventeen were college hitters.
“Our emphasis was on impactful players who could come in and impact the organization in a lot of different ways,” Marlins director of amateur scouting D.J. Svihlik said. “I don’t think it’s a secret that we’ve tried to hunt some bats. And we wanted to hunt some bats who could come in and be good right away.”
International free agents
Signing Cuban brothers Victor Victor Mesa and Victor Mesa Jr. in October 2018 signaled the Marlins’ jump to become competitive in the international free agent market. They continued that this year by adding a pair of top-30 international free agents from this year’s class in shortstops Jose Salas and Junior Sanchez as well as top Bahamas prospect Ian Lewis.
The Marlins are also considered a serious contender for Cuban shortstop Yiddi Cappe in next year’s cycle.
Fernando Seguignol, the Marlins’ director of international operations, said his group updated the way it scouts internationally.
“The process is just beginning,” Seguignol said. “It’s the second year, but the classes are getting better. We are recognizing that the most important thing is finding impact players for the organization with value right away once they step on the field.”
The trade deadline
And then came this past week, when the Marlins made three trades in the final days before the MLB’s trade deadline Wednesday to further bolster their hitting depth.
They traded veteran reliever Sergio Romo, along with pitching prospect Chris Vallimont and a player to be named, to the Minnesota Twins for left-handed, power-hitting first base prospect Lewin Diaz.
They sent starter Zac Gallen, a top prospect from that Ozuna trade, to the Arizona Diamondbacks for shortstop prospect Jazz Chisholm.
And in the 11th hour, just minutes before the 4 p.m. trade deadline on Wednesday, they finalized a deal that sent starter-turned reliever Trevor Richards and rookie reliever Nick Anderson to the Tampa Bay Rays for outfielder prospect Jesus Sanchez and relief pitcher Ryne Stanek.
Chisholm and Sanchez are top-60 prospects according to MLB Pipeline. Diaz gives the Marlins needed organizational depth at first base.
“It really is amazing when you think about the talent and the transformation we’ve been able to make with our minor-league system,” Hill said. “The scarcity of talent that we had to now when you look at the layers of talent that we’ve been able to accumulate, it just speaks to what our long-range goal is and that’s to build a sustainable organization that puts us in position year-in and year-out to compete for championships.”
Pitching depth
And the Marlins, even after trading Gallen, Richards and Anderson, still have a serviceable amount of pitching depth at their disposal while making an effort to balance out their depth by adding high-end hitters.
Caleb Smith headlines the MLB rotation and figures to be the Marlins’ Opening Day starter in 2020. Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez and Jordan Yamamoto, all 23, should be fixtures for the immediate future as well.
Top prospects Sixto Sanchez, Edward Cabrera and Nick Neidert all could be ready to make their debuts at various points throughout the 2020 season.
Four other top pitching prospects — former first-round picks Trevor Rogers and Braxton Garrett, Jordan Holloway and Jorge Guzman — are tracking positively in their minor-league careers, too.
What’s next
While Miami is on the verge of its 10th consecutive losing season and could possibly lose 100 games for just the third time in franchise history, there have been small stretches of bright spots
Brian Anderson has shown his versatility to play at third base and right field while hitting a career-high 16 home runs. Garrett Cooper, not dealing with injuries for the first time in his young career, has been a steady force in the lineup. Alfaro has emerged as a young leader in the clubhouse and his offensive numbers stack up with some the league’s top catchers.
“Obviously any kind of moves we make are about moving toward the future,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said ahead of the trade deadline. “It’s not going to be about winning more games this year. It’s going to be about putting us in position to win more games for a long time.”
The goal — the hope — for the Marlins now is that the moves they made over the past two years translate to the MLB level sooner rather than later.
This story was originally published August 1, 2019 at 12:27 PM.
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