Atlanta Braves vs. the NL East in 2017: Miami Marlins
Strange Pursuits
The Marlins are poised to spend more payroll money than ever before this season… after arbitration estimates, that could exceed $105 million for Opening Day.
They tried to spend even more, being linked to Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman before both closers opted for other destinations.
It seems that Marlins’ execs figured they had one shot: since they couldn’t hire 5 starting pitchers, they’d try for big-time bullpen help instead.
They have managed to acquired Edinson Volquez and Jeff Locke to go with Adam Conley, Wei-Yin Chen, and Tom Koehler. But while that replaces the forgettable Andrew Cashner, it does nothing about Jose Fernandez.
But these were signings – not trades. One huge thing overlooked in the loss of Jose Fernandez was that he was modestly shopped around after the 2015 season. That might have been done a lot more this year… which could have brought the Fish an incredible haul… Chris Sale-like return? Yep… maybe more.
Their farm system is simply terrible. One of the worst in all of baseball. It simply cannot help their major league gaps as is, and short of trading their entire major league team, there’s no hope in sight for changing that situation. That’s why they are throwing money around this off-season: they have no other options.
Even so… it hasn’t exactly worked out as they’d hoped.
Maybe that’s also why there are reports that owner Jeffrey Loria is willing to sell the club now… for $1.7 billlion.
Good luck with that… Forbes pegs their values at under $700 million. This painting doesn’t look nearly that art-worthy.
About that Rotation
Even in 2016 with Fernandez, the Marlins used 13 starters. That would be more noteworthy, of course, if they weren’t in the Braves’ division. But 2017 is shaping up to be more of the same.
Conley threw 133 innings last year, Koehler 177, Locke 127, and Chen 123… and it wasn’t that good. The staff ERA – counting Fernandez – was 4.32. At least Volquez should give them some innings… maybe 5 of them per outing: his pitching wasn’t very good last year, either.
The bullpen depth chart features 13 names, including Hunter Cervenka, newly inked Junichi Tazawa, and Brad Ziegler (once his deal becomes official).
It actually sizes up to be better than most groups in the NL East, given the problems in every city other than Atlanta, but they will also have to work awfully hard to keep up.
I could actually see the Marlins carrying a ninth reliever for that purpose… which takes into account the fairly solid offense they have.
About that offense…