As spring training approaches, Marlins hope they’re ‘through the worst’ of their rebuild
Corey Dickerson, the Miami Marlins’ expected new starting left fielder, signed autographs and took pictures with fans on Saturday before they stepped into a virtual reality batting cage on the Marlins Park concourse during the club’s annual FanFest.
Jesus Aguilar and Jonathan Villar, two big offensive offseason acquisitions, met with season-ticket holders at a private event.
Veteran relief pitcher Brandon Kintzler, expected to be a key contributor in what will be a completely overhauled bullpen, reiterated to the more than 17,000 who made their way to the ballpark how he was happy to be wanted and his readiness to contribute to the Marlins.
The quartet is just a fraction of the new faces Marlins fans can expect to see when the team returns to their home ballpark on March 26 for the start of the season.
It’s also a sign of the lengths the franchise is going to as they try to turn the corner on what has been a rebuild for the last two seasons.
“When they started arriving into South Florida, I got a little higher off the ground each time one of them walked through the door,” Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said. “It’s why we put in all the hard work, all the tough decisions that we made.”
The Marlins added 15 new players to their 40-man roster over the past three months. Nine, including Dickerson, Villar, Aguilar, catcher Francisco Cervelli and Kintzler, came in offseason acquisitions.
That doesn’t include the non-roster invites to spring camp like outfielder Matt Kemp and utility man Sean Rodriguez, the latter a Miami native and Braddock High alum.
The influx of new faces adds to the teams young core that has been built over the past two years, a group centered around third baseman/right fielder Brian Anderson, pitchers Sandy Alcantara and Caleb Smith, shortstop Miguel Rojas and catcher Jorge Alfaro. There are prospects knocking on the door to make their MLB debut, as well.
Put it all together, and there is bound to be a good share of competition in spring training, which begins Wednesday when pitchers and catchers report to the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex in Jupiter. The first full-squad practice is Feb. 17.
Is this a playoff team? The odds are against it. Most projections have the Marlins winning between 62 and 70 games.
But improvement and the chance to increase the win column by double digits was the Marlins’ plan from the start of the offseason. They’re heading into Year 3 of their rebuild that began shortly after the Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter ownership group took over the franchise.
“All these pieces that we’re getting,” Rojas said, “it’s showing that we’re through the worst.”
Miami went a combined 120-203 over the first two seasons, a short-term sacrifice at the MLB level as the Marlins restocked a barren farm system and focused on organization depth at the expense of the few big-name players they had to offer.
Now, the Marlins say, there are no more excuses. They have a consensus top-10 farm system. They have players with a considerable amount of big-league experience. They have up-and-comers who are projected to turn the corner.
Progress isn’t a goal anymore. It needs to become apparent.
“If we don’t make significant improvements this year,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, “we’re going to be disappointed.”
Kintzler, a 10-year MLB veteran and 2017 All-Star, went through a similar juncture that the Marlins are currently in when he was a member of the Minnesota Twins. Minnesota had an MLB-worst 59-103 record during his first season with the club in 2016. They went 85-77 a year later and reached the playoffs as a wild card team.
“You saw a lot of talent, but it was very raw,” Kintzler said. “Experience is the best thing for these young guys. Hopefully, they get the learning curve out of the way and can start winning games.”
Having a new wave of veterans should help ease that learning curve and provide that extra push during spring training with most of the 26 roster spots up for grabs.
Like Dickerson, the one-time All-Star, one-time Gold Glove winner, and career .286 hitter with 115 home runs and 370 RBI will now patrol left field for the Marlins. He’s on his fifth team going into his eighth MLB season and will be a veteran presence for an outfielder loaded with up-and-comers.
His message to those attempting to crack the big-league roster for the first time?
“Worry more about the process,” Dickerson said, “and the results will come.”
Like Cervelli, who has a decade of experience and will serve as Alfaro’s backup and mentor while also competing for significant playing time of his own.
Like Villar, the 28-year-old who started every game for the Baltimore Orioles last season, is a career .261 hitter and has stolen 202 bases in seven seasons. He’s a prototypical leadoff hitter and a natural middle infielder but can also play third base and the outfield.
Like Joyce, a 12-year MLB veteran and career .243 hitter with 145 home runs and 482 RBI over 1,311 games. He’ll likely be a pinch-hitter.
Like Aguilar, Miami’s presumptive starting first baseman who is a year removed from a 35 home run, 108 RBI season.
“They’re young,” Aguilar said, “but they’ve got a lot of talent. That’s the most important thing.”
And they’re ready to fight for their roster spots.
The mass amount of versatility makes pinpointing players to specific positions difficult, but center field is the main spot that doesn’t have a clear frontrunner heading into spring.
The contenders: Lewis Brinson, prospects Monte Harrison and Jesus Sanchez, Jon Berti, Magneuris Sierra and Villar.
“You have to go out there and win the job,” said Brinson, who heads into a make-or-break season after posting a combined .189 batting average over the past two seasons with more strikeouts (194) than hits (115). “You have to go out there and show you deserve to be out there everyday and can contribute to the team.”
On the pitching side, the Marlins made an almost complete overhaul of their bullpen that was among MLB’s worst in 2019.
The collective 4.97 ERA from Marlins relievers was the league’s fifth-worst last season. They were also the fifth worst in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.11), save percentage (55.1) and wild pitches (39).
The new reinforcements: Kintzler, Yimi Garcia, Sterling Sharp and Stephen Tarpley.
Gone from the mix: Wei-Yin Chen, Jarlin Garcia, Austin Brice, Tyler Kinley, Tayron Guerrero and Jose Quijada.
Adam Conley, who the Marlins hope will have a bounce-back year after 2019, is the leading returner from the bullpen after throwing 60 2/3 innings. Drew Steckenrider, a candidate to be the team’s closer, is healthy after missing almost all of 2019 with a flexor strain in his right elbow.
Ryne Stanek and Jeff Brigham are the only other relievers on the Marlins’ 40-man roster who pitched at least 20 innings for the club last season.
The one group where competition will be solely in house: The starting rotation.
Barring injury or an unforeseen trade, Alcantara, Smith and Pablo Lopez feel like locks to open the season as part of the five-man group.
From there, it’s Elieser Hernandez, Jose Urena, Jordan Yamamoto, Robert Dugger, Nick Neidert, Sixto Sanchez and Edward Cabrera who will try to make a lasting impression on the coaching staff in spring training and land one of those final two spots.
“It’s going to be an intense five weeks of pushing each other,” Lopez said.
It’ll be an intense 162 games after that as the Marlins hope to start turning the corner with Year 3 of this project about to get underway.
“It’s just the trust in Derek,” Harrison said. “Things will fall into place sooner than later. A lot of people don’t trust it, but I tell the Miami Marlins fans that the time is coming. If you’re not on the wagon now, it’s going to be scary by the end.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2020 at 5:13 PM.
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