At Home Plate - 2008 Season Preview: The Florida Marlins

2008 Season Preview: The Florida Marlins

Written by Jonathan Leshanski (Contact & Archive) on February 01, 2008

2007 Regular Season Record: 71-91
Rank: Dead last in the NL East - 18.0 games back
Home Park: Dolphins Stadium

Reeled in:
C- Mike Rabelo - Trade with Tigers
1B - Jorge Cantu - Free Agent*
IF - Jose Castillo - Free Agent
OF - Cameron Maybin - Trade with Tigers
SP - Mark Hendrickson - Free Agent
SP - Andrew Miller - Trade with Tigers
RP - Eulogio De La Cruz - Trade with Tigers
RP - Burke Badenhop - Trade with Tigers
RP - Dallas Trahern - Trade with Tigers
RP- Randy Williams - Trade with Tigers

The Ones that Got Away:

C – Miguel Olivo - Free Agent to Royals
IF - Aaron Boone - Free Agent to Nationals
3B - Miguel Cabrera - Traded to Tigers
OF - Joe Borchard - Free Agent to Braves*
OF - Reggie Abercrombie - claimed on waivers by Astros
SP - Dontrelle Willis - Traded to Tigers
RP - Jose Garcia - claimed on waivers by A’s
RP - Mauro Zarate - claimed on waivers by Padres

Staying Put:
C - Matt Treanor
RP - Aldredo Amezaga
RP - Kevin Gregg
RP - Justin Miller
SP - Sergio Mitre

Likely Gone but still unsigned:
RP - Arnando Benitez
RP - Byung-Hyun Kim

* signed minor league deal

The Skinny:

It’s easy to look at the moves that the Marlins made this offseason and to expect a dismal showing but in truth things aren’t half as bleak as the deals superficially appear to be. That’s not to say that any offense would get better by subtracting Miguel Cabrera, but the loss of Dontrelle Willis won’t hurt quite as much unless he returns to his former glory in Detroit.

Strengths:

If last year was any indication these Marlins should still have a formidable offense even without Miguel Cabrera. The team hit 204 home runs last year (4th in the NL) so power shouldn’t be an issue. Cameron Maybin, one of the key players in the Miguel Cabrera trade, has tremendous potential and if he lives up to it he’ll do a fair bit to fill the void, and if he doesn’t Cody Ross might get a real shot to take over the position. In 173 at bats last season Ross hit .335 with 12 home runs and looked like he could graduate from being more than a part time player. Throw into that mixture the potential for injury free seasons from Mike Jacobs and Jeremy Hermida and things look good. Still 3B replacement Jorge Cantu could detract from that.

The Marlins bullpen was a the highlight of the team’s pitching situation last year - especially closer Kevin Gregg who notched 32 saves to go with a 3.54 ERA. He’ll be set up by the same core of solid pitchers including Lee Gardner, Matt Lindstrom and Taylor Tankersley which should help provide some stability in the late innings.

Weaknesses:

The starting pitching is a glaring weakness for the Marlins and the team will have to cross it’s fingers that lefty Adam Miller - a former top prospect can step into the rotation at the tender age of 22 and dominate in the way that Dontrelle Willis did in his rookie season. But even if that happens the team will still be weak, relying on Scott Olsen to anchor the rotation despite the fact he’s at best a number three or four starter.

Potential Lineup
SS - Hanley Ramirez
2B - Dan Uggla
RF - Jeremy Hermida
LF - Josh Willingham
1B - Mike Jacobs
CF - Cameron Maybin
3B - Jorge Cantu
C - Mike Rabelo

Rotation
SP1 – Scott Olsen
SP2 – Sergio Mitre
SP3 – Andrew Miller
SP4 – Mark Hendrickson
SP5 – Anibal Sanchez/Ricky Nolasco

Bullpen
CL – Kevin Gregg

Keys to Success:

For the Marlins to succeed to any degree they’ll need their starting pitching to jump to the fore in the same way that their young hitters have the past few seasons. If Andrew Miller doesn’t dominate right off the bat, and Anibal Sanchez doesn’t live up to his full potential the team will find that it has even less pitching than the rest of this pitching thin division. If somehow they manage to allow fewer runs to cross the plate they could be a surprise.

Prediction:

The Marlins are what a last place team look like - there are too many questions, too many holes, gaping ones in the case of the starting rotation. The team should score plenty of runs and hit plenty of home runs but even then there are some huge questions. Just what guys like Jorge Cantu, Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin bring to the table leaves a lot to the imagination, and imagination isn’t likely to translate to on field success this year.

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