With a 41-55 record in 2021 and 10.5 games behind the leaders of the National League East division, the New York Mets, the Miami Marlins are virtually out of the race for a playoff spot this year.
It’s a highly disappointing outcome for a team that made the playoffs last year and was on the verge of bursting into the scene until an unfortunate series of events took place.
They haven’t been able to send star prospect Sixto Sanchez to the mound, as he battled through shoulder issues all year long and recently had surgery.
They had a pitcher getting hurt in the game he was returning from a long injury-related layoff, in Elieser Hernandez.
They spent significant chunks of the season without perhaps their two best offensive players, Jazz Chisholm and Starling Marte.
Now that they are out of the race, they will surely trade Marte since both sides couldn’t agree on a contract extension.
The Marlins also lost too many one-run games due to lackluster bullpen play.
Pablo Lopez, who had also broken out, will likely be out for the season with a rotator cuff injury.
Getting Offensive
Several position players who used to be high-profile prospects have failed to live up to expectations, including Lewis Brinson, Monte Harrison, Lewin Diaz, and Isan Diaz.
The result has been a last-place start so far, with a little under three months to play.
However, not everything is so dark for the Marlins.
They managed to foster the breakout of Trevor Rogers, who is among the best and most exciting young left-handers in the game, with a 2.37 ERA in 106.1 innings.
A perfect Trevor Rogers changeup to whiff Bryan Reynolds 🤩 pic.twitter.com/d6WE2HLNZB
— Fish Stripes (@fishstripes) June 5, 2021
Lopez and Sandy Alcantara have been amazing, too.
And the organization found some under-the-radar gems in Cody Poteet and Zach Thompson.
The impressive pitching depth extends to the minors, where Max Meyer and Edward Cabrera are developing nicely.
As far as offensive players, the Marlins need to find lots of them: only Chisholm, Garrett Cooper, Jesus Aguilar, Jesus Sanchez, and Brian Anderson have shown some semblance of promise (in the case of Cooper, Aguilar, and Anderson, they are established contributors) and can be considered long-term pieces with at least another season of team control.
JJ Bleday is a promising position player, as is Sanchez, who is already in the bigs.
Yet the lack of offensive talent on the roster is evident.
They Have The Pitching Foundation To Contend In 2022
Despite this shortcoming, the Marlins can contend again in 2022, even if they will likely be without Marte.
If Aguilar, Anderson, Chisholm, and Cooper remain on the team, the Marlins have four solid pieces to build around, and Adam Duvall could also stick around.
The development of Jesus Sanchez will be crucial, but Miami needs to make finding bats a priority that will likely start in this year’s trade deadline.
They will surely deal Marte, and they would love a promising bat or two in return.
As far as pitching goes, the franchise is well set and has as much depth as any other organization in MLB: Alcantara, Rogers, Lopez, Poteet, Hernandez, Thompson, Cabrera, Meyer, and Sixto Sanchez are a really solid foundation.
The Marlins could seriously have a 2022 Opening Day rotation of
Sandy Alcantara
Sixto Sanchez
Ed Cabrera
Max Meyer
Trever Rogers— The Fish Army (@FishArmy305) July 22, 2021
Miami’s ability to get more (and better) bats will likely determine their ability to contend in 2022, but they could conceivably fight for a Wild Card spot next season.
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