Mattingly on the question he says Marlins must ask. And options emerge to fill needs
A six-pack of Miami Marlins notes on a Monday:
▪ As the Marlins mull their options in the wake of this 67-95 nightmare, Don Mattingly made one thing very clear about how every player will be evaluated:
“Is this good enough to win a championship with? That’s the question we have to ask ourselves on every player and every position.”
If the Marlins are honest with themselves, how can the answer be “yes” to that question for anyone on the roster except Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez, Trevor Rogers, likely Jesus Aguilar and perhaps Jazz Chisholm and Jesus Sanchez (based on the ceilings of Chisholm and Sanchez)?
▪ Mattingly acknowledged catcher must be fixed.
“It’s an area we’re looking at,” he said last week. “It’s fairly safe to say it was some kind of message when we grabbed two catchers at the trade deadline and we also have Nick Fortes up here.”
One problem: The free agent catching class is weak; Oakland’s Yan Gomes (.252, 14 homers, 52 RBI in 103 games between Nationals and A’s) is the best of the group.
Tucker Barnhart (.247, 7, 48 in 116 games) could be an option if the Reds opt not to pay him a $7.5 million team option. Christian Vazquez (.258, 6, 49 in 138 games) would be an option if the Red Sox opt not to pay him a $7 million team option.
Potential trade options include Pittsburgh’s Jacob Stallings (.246, 8, 53 in 112 games and excellent defense/calling games), the Angels’ Max Stassi (.241, 13, 35 in 87 games) and Arizona’s Carson Kelly (.240, 13, 46 in 98 games).
Nick Fortes looked good in his September Marlins call-up (.290, four homers, seven RBI in 14 games) and could replace Sandy Leon as Miami’s No. 2 catcher. The two catchers acquired at the trade deadline don’t look ready to help: Alex Jackson (.157 for Marlins; 60 strikeouts in 123 plate appearances) and Payton Henry (.267 in 16 plate appearances after hitting .188 in 80 plate appearances at Triple A Jacksonville).
Jorge Alfaro, who’s arbitration-eligible, seems unlikely to return after hitting .226 and .244 the past two years, with seven combined homers and just 15 walks in a combined 123 games, plus an absurd 17 passed balls in 91 games at catcher during the past two seasons, and a 33 percent success rate on throwing out would-be base stealers.
He played 21 games in the outfield and three at first base in 2021, as the Marlins tried to cover holes in the lineup and boost his trade value.
▪ Sanchez (.251, 14 homers, 36 RBI in 64 games) looks like a long-term starter. But when I asked Mattingly if there’s a single outfielder on the roster who can be safely projected as a 2022 starter (including Sanchez or anyone else), he hesitated.
“There’s no reason to anoint Jesus or anyone else as your projected guy,” Mattingly told me last week. “We are just about 30 games under .500, so whatever you see is not good enough. Is that one guy or two guys [who are worthy of being projected as Marlins 2022 starters]? Three or four? You have to add pieces to that. That’s going to be a discussion for the winter.
“Jesus has looked good. We’ve seen the progress and expect him to keep progressing. We see the power. He’s better the last couple weeks against lefties; that has been good. You keep seeing the adjustments come. You see what his body can do. It’s high energy for the most part every day.
“You have to look at each guy individually and say, ‘Is that good enough to win the division?’ That’s the question I keep coming to.”
Mattingly has said Bryan De La Cruz isn’t an ideal everyday center fielder defensively but has praised his good work overall.
In a cruel, self-inflicted twist, the best free agent center field option is Starling Marte, whom the Marlins traded to Oakland for struggling pitcher Jesus Luzardo after declining to offer Marte a guaranteed fourth season in an extension.
The rest of the center field free agent class is weak aside from the Dodgers’ Chris Taylor (.254, 20, 73 in 143 games); he would be a sensible target considering the Marlins’ new revenue streams.
As far as options to fill the second corner outfield job, one free agent name stands out: Nick Castellanos, the former Plantation American Heritage player who’s likely to opt out of $15 million for the Reds in 2022.
He hit .309 with 34 homers and 100 RBI in 138 games for Cincinnati this season. Making a big offer to the veteran right fielder would be the most serious sign yet that the Marlins are serious about winning.
Besides the Dodgers’ Taylor, the best of the free agents who can play center are Mark Canha (.241, 17 homers, 61 RBI, .358 on-base percentage in 142 games for Oakland) and Michael Conforto (.232, .344 on base, 14 homers, 55 RBI in 125 games for the Mets). Miami might need to trade pitching for a center fielder.
Excluding Castellanos, the best corner outfield options in free agency are Canha, Conforto, Taylor, Eddie Rosario (.259, 14 HR, 62 RBI in 111 games for Atlanta and Cleveland) and Andrew McCutchen (.222, 27, 80 in 144 games for the Phillies).
Or the Marlins could trade pitching for a corner outfielder such as Toronto’s Lourdes Gurriel (.276, 21, 84 in 141 games) or Minnesota’s Max Kepler (.211, 19, 54 in 121 games).
▪ Did the Marlins see enough from Lewin Diaz in a 40-game, 128-plate-appearance sample size to feel comfortable projecting him as a starter at first base next season in a world in which the National League implements a designated hitter and Aguilar fills that role?
Diaz hit just .205 with a .242 on-base average but had eight homers, four doubles and 13 RBI.
“What I’ve liked is Lewin defensively is one of those guys that really plays first base well,” Mattingly said. “I know that gets overlooked a lot. You think about the shifts and where he’s playing; he’s playing in the middle of the diamond and basically taking a lot of that field over there. That side of it is really, really good.
“[Offensively], we’ve seen the power [from Diaz]. You would love to see more consistency, a guy getting on base more often, not only driving in runs but being out there for other guys on a consistent basis. He’s made progress and that’s what we’ve seen with Jesus and Jazz. He’s shown signs of being a guy that’s dangerous. He can be a run-producer.”
▪ Pitcher Trevor Rogers, who had a breakout rookie season (2.64 ERA in 17 starts with 157 strikeouts in 133 innings), said the most meaningful praise he received from an elite opposing player this season was this:
According to Rogers, six-time All-Star Bryce Harper told a Marlins coach that Harper has a “tough time when I pitch. Wow! I knew I was pretty good but didn’t know my stuff was that good! When an MVP player says that” it’s meaningful.
Former Marlins president/baseball operations Mike Hill, who now works for Major League Baseball, told Rogers at the All-Star game that “this is what we expected when we drafted you. It’s your first of many” All-Star appearances.
▪ Quick stuff: Good catching up last week with Phillies president/baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, the architect of the Marlins’ 1997 World Series championship team.
Jim Leyland, the manager of that team, and Dombrowski remain close; Leyland — who plays golf and is enjoying life in Pennsylvania — called Dombrowski before a Marlins game the other day. Dombrowski also stays in touch with Gary Sheffield (who called Dombrowski last week) and Moises Alou, among others…
When I asked Mattingly who can be safely projected as 2022 starting rotation members beyond Alcantara, Rogers and Lopez, he stopped there: “It’s very easy to say Sandy; Pablo when healthy has shown he’s a guy you can consistently count on. Trevor the same way and he’s still growing.
“Trevor had a little rough second half from the standpoint of a little back thing, missed a start, got out of his rhythm, then a family situation for over a month. Those are guys you can consistently say you can hang your hat on as an organization. We feel we can count on those guys as long as they’re healthy.”
That leaves Sixto Sanchez, Edward Cabrera, Elieser Hernandez, Luzardo and less likely, Max Meyer (figures to start 2022 in minors), Braxton Garrett and Nick Neidert and Zach Thompson, among those competing for spots 4 and 5 barring trades.
This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 6:03 PM.
