What happens if a Marlins starter misses time? Here’s what. And notes from Media Day
A six-pack of Marlins notes off Thursday’s media session with several players:
▪ No big league team can count on all of its position players staying healthy for a full season. That’s especially the case for the Marlins, who have two players (Jazz Chisholm and Avisail Garcia) who haven’t been able to stay healthy the past two years.
Chisholm played in 60 games in 2022, 97 games in 2023.
Garcia, an immense disappointment who has two years and $29 million remaining on his four-year contract, has played in 98 and 37.
So this leads to one question: Who can the Marlins comfortably call their best bat off the bench if a starter sustains a multiweek injury?
With Garrett Cooper traded and Jorge Soler unsigned, Miami has eight established big league hitters on major league contracts: first baseman Josh Bell, second baseman Luis Arraez, shortstop Jon Berti, third baseman Jake Burger, outfielders Chisholm, Jesus Sanchez and Bryan De La Cruz and OF/DH Garcia, who has a .215 batting average, (.260 on base) with a combined 11 homers and 47 RBI in his first two years as a Marlin.
Then there’s the catcher -- some combination of Nick Fortes and Christian Bethancourt, who hit .204 and .225, respectively, last season.
So who exactly is the bat who will invariably need to fill in if there’s an injury?
Perhaps it’s a free agent infielder who hasn’t yet been signed.
Perhaps it’s Xavier Edwards, who raised his stock considerably internally with his breakout season at Triple A Jacksonville last season and then hit .295 in 84 Marlins plate appearances.
Perhaps it’s Dane Myers, who hit .269 in 70 plate appearances for the Marlins last season.
Perhaps it’s veteran first baseman/outfielder/DH Trey Mancini, who signed a two-year, $14 million deal with the Cubs last offseason but was subsequently released by the Cubs and later, by the Reds.
On Wednesday, he signed a minor league contract with an invitation to Marlins spring training. The Marlins will owe him only the league minimum if he makes the team out of camp.
Mancini, 31, has been in gradual decline this decade.
He hit .291, with 35 homers and 97 RBI for Baltimore in 2019; missed 2020 when he courageously and successfully battled Stage 3 colon cancer; hit .255, 21, 71 for the Orioles in 2021; and then hit .239, 18, 63 for the Orioles and Astros in 2022.
Mancini descended again last season, hitting .234 (.299 on base) with four homers and 28 RBI in 79 games for the Cubs before his release. He struck out on 29.7 percent of his at bats.
As mlbtraderumors.com pointed out, since the 2022 All-Star break, Mancini has 499 plate appearances and has a .204 batting average and .280 on-base percentage.
Heck, I’d rather bring back Cooper, who hit .251, with 17 homers and 61 RBI in 123 games for the Marlins and Padres. He remains unsigned.
Bottom line: Whoever the Marlins add in free agency (and they’re planning to add someone) needs to be a legitimate big league hitter, because at the moment the Marlins have only have seven hitters who A) have considerable experience and B) hit decently last season. (So that excludes Garcia and Fortes and Bethancourt and the promising but inexperienced Edwards.)
Other bench options include more unproven hitters: Vidal Brujan, Peyton Burdick and Jacob Amaya.
Perhaps first baseman and former 17th round pick Troy Johnston gives the Marlins something to think about this spring; he hit .307, 26, 116 at Double A Pensacola and Triple A Jacksonville and was named the Marlins’ Minor League Player of the Year.
Quick FYI on Garcia: First base coach John Jay checked in with him recently and he’s in good shape. He’s determined to show the Marlins that he’s still the player who was very productive for the Brewers. The Marlins cannot move his contract, so all parties need this to work.
He’s due $12 million each of the next two seasons. And the Marlins must then pay him $5 million to buy him out before the 2026 season, as opposed to paying him $12 million to play for them that season.
▪ De La Cruz, who hit .257 with 19 homers and 78 RBI last season, said his goal is to hit 25 homers and drive in “around” 100 runs.
He walked only 40 times in 579 plate appearances, accounting for his .304 on-base percentage.
“I’m definitely looking to take more walks, to make me better, to make me a more complete player,” he said Thursday.
▪ The question with Sanchez is whether the Marlins will give him more at-bats against left-handers. (Manager Skip Schumaker was traveling to South Florida from his offseason home in California and unavailable on Thursday.)
Last season, the left-handed hitting Sanchez hit .259 (.338 on base) with 13 homers and 50 RBI in 352 plate appearances against right handers.
He had only 50 plate appearances against lefties and hit .213 (.245 on base) with 15 strikeouts, one homer and two RBI.
“I really think honestly if I get to see more lefty hitting, I think that I could do a little bit better,” he said. “I think that I’m good against lefty [pitchers]. It’s all about being able to have that confidence out there, seeing more lefty pitchers and seeing their pitches. I think that will give me better results.”
▪ The Marlins consider Burger an adequate third baseman, but there’s a chance he could end up at first base long-term in a post Josh Bell era. That must still play out. But Burger knows he must improve defensively.
“I’ve been focused on defensive stuff, been taking ground balls since November,” he said. “My first step was a little late. [Need] to make sure it’s on time.”
▪ Reliever Andrew Nardi might have been the most pleasant surprise on the team last season; he had a 2.67 ERA and 8-1 record in 63 in games and struck out 73 in 57 ⅓ innings.
Does he want to be a closer eventually?
“Definitely,” he said, adding he hopes to “have a long career being a closer.”
But for now, Tanner Scott “deserves it. He’s older. He was here first. He deserves it.”
▪ Fortes on pitcher Eury Perez entering year two: “He’s obviously got weapons you need to be an All Star. Throws 100 miles per hour. Wipeout slider. What separates him is his demeanor. He’s wired differently. Great kid. Has all the makings to be a superstar.”
Perez was 5-6 with a 3.15 ERA in 19 starts as a rookie, with 108 strikeouts in 91 ⅓ innings.
This story was originally published January 25, 2024 at 3:36 PM.
