After a spring that was ‘hectic at different times,’ Marlins ready to start 2022 season
Don Mattingly emerged from the clubhouse and into the visitor’s dugout at Oracle Park. A new season is on the horizon. As his team took part in one final workout, the sense of the new beginning was there.
“Once you leave spring training,” Mattingly said, “you know it’s coming.”
For the Marlins, the season formally gets underway at 4:35 p.m. Friday against the San Francisco Giants. Year 7 for Mattingly, Year 5 for the Bruce Sherman ownership group, Year 2 for general manager Kim Ng.
There’s a deeper lineup after to the signings of Avisail Garcia and Jorge Soler and acquisitions of Joey Wendle and Jacob Stallings. There’s a starting rotation that’s a year older. There’s a bullpen that returns its core pieces from last year but with a few reinforcements.
The main question that remains heading into Friday: Was there enough time for Mattingly to get a feel of his club or will he need the first couple series of the season to figure things out? Spring training, after all, was only three and a half weeks. Soler didn’t sign until about a week into camp and two new bullpen arms — Cole Sulser and Tanner Scott, acquired in a trade with the Baltimore Orioles — joined the club in the final two days and didn’t appear in a Grapefruit League game.
“Spring felt like it was long enough,” Mattingly said Thursday while also noting “it was a little bit hectic at different times with guys coming into camp late and then trying to get them ready and things like that. The changes late were fairly hectic just because we had guys we thought were gonna make our club and all of a sudden they’re not.”
Those final roster spots, after the addition of Sulser and Scott, came down to one bullpen arm and one position player.
Because they traded for Sulser and Scott, Miami decided to have its final position player for the Opening Day roster be someone they already had on the 40-man roster.
That meant Bryan De La Cruz, who was optioned early in spring training, was back. The Marlins originally had De La Cruz penciled to start the season with their Triple A affiliate Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, but the 40-man roster crunch following the Orioles trade forced their hand.
“In the beginning, the idea was to make sure that he had enough at bats,” Ng said. “As our starters were ramping up and gearing up, it just didn’t feel like there were quite enough. I think at the end, I’m not sure that we necessarily anticipated acquiring two pitchers, but when we did, getting that fourth outfielder from one of our 40 men was a lot easier.”
Shawn Armstrong, a non-roster invitee, was the final reliever to join Miami’s 10-person bullpen for the start of the season. The Marlins made room on the 40-man roster for Armstrong by trading catcher Alex Jackson to the Milwaukee Brewers for a pair of prospects in right-handed pitcher Alexis Ramirez and infielder Hayden Cantrelle.
Right-handed pitcher Cody Poteet and left-handed pitcher Daniel Castano also made the roster as long-relief options out of the bullpen.
“I think everyone here is excited about what we were able to do this offseason,” Ng said. “The staff worked extraordinarily hard both prior to December 1, through the lockout and when they said go to put together this roster. I think we achieved things that we wanted to do, things that we set out to do, the goals that we had.”
That will be put to the test on Friday.
Rotation set
The Marlins’ starting pitching rotation order to start the year will stay on track with the order they had in place during spring training.
That means Sandy Alcantara’s start on Friday will be followed by Pablo Lopez on Saturday and Trevor Rogers on Sunday to wrap up the Giants series. Elieser Hernandez will go Monday to start Miami’s two-game series against the Los Angeles Angels. Jesus Luzardo rounds things out on Tuesday to close the five-game road trip.
This and that
▪ With Dylan Floro starting the season on the injured list due to right rotator cuff tendonitis, Mattingly said Anthony Bender will get the first crack to be the team’s closer to start the season.
“He’s pretty much been throwing the ball as good as anybody we’ve got,” Mattingly said. “He’s probably got the best stuff as anybody’s we’ve got out there.”
Interestingly enough, Floro is on the road trip with the team. He’s slated to throw a couple bullpens and the team thought it would be best for him to do so under pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr.’s supervision.
“We thought he would get taken care of better than he would have back in Jupiter,” Mattingly said. “Once we get to where he needs to get extended, that’s when things will change.”
▪ Utility player Willians Astudillo and right-handed pitcher Tommy Eveld are on the trip as the Marlins’ taxi squad members.
▪ Infielder Jose Devers is starting the season on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder impingement syndrome. Devers, who underwent shoulder surgery last season, was limited for all of spring training. He was able to swing a bat and field ground balls but not able to throw from the field.
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
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