With Spring Training wrapping up, the Marlins have made their final cuts and have their 26 man roster more or less set on the eve of the season.
Their Opening Day lineup should look something like this:
LF
Bryan De La Cruz
2B
Jazz Chisholm, Jr.
RF
Avisail Garcia
CF
Jesus Sanchez
DH J
orge Soler
3B
Isan Diaz
1B
Curtis Mead
C
Jacob Stallings
SS
Jose Devers
Bench: IF/OF
Yoenis Cespedes, IF
Wilfredo Tovar, IF
Luis Rengifo, OF
Brian Miller, C
Payton Henry
Diaz will be holding down the fort at third while
Mike Moustakas recuperates from his injury. Jose Devers will get first crack at shortstop, with his bat keeping him in the 9-hole and his glove hopefully carrying his value this year.
The rotation had a couple surprises after
Jesus Luzardo’s oblique injury:
LHP
Trevor Rogers*
RHP
Sandy Alcantara
RHP
Sixto Sanchez
RHP
Mitch White
RHP
George Soriano
(* - Opening Day Starter)
Soriano was just ranked #46 in the preseason Top 100 Prospects list, and won the impromptu battle for the fifth starter spot over
Jacob Lopez after both were added to the 40-man this past winter. Mitch White also successfully stretched out back into a starter’s role after spending most of 2022 as a reliever with the Blue Jays & Marlins.
As far as the bullpen,
Tanner Scott &
Dylan Floro return as the late-inning anchors, along with offseason signing
Victor Gonzalez. The bridge from the starters to the high leverage boys will be almost all new faces - last year’s waiver claim
Tom Cosgrove is the only returning face, with trade acquisition
Alexis Diaz, Rule 5 pick
Oliver Ortega, and NRI
Andrew Vasquez all breaking camp with Miami.
BNN released its preseason projections based on the team’s Opening Day rosters, and the National League is shaping up to be a real slugfest this year:
Rare to see such a bunching up of teams - every NL squad is predicted to win between 70 and 89 games. Zero 90 win teams, and only the lowly Colorado Rockies projected to lose more than 90 - the 2023 season looks like it could be anyone’s ballgame.
Miami’s 74-88 prediction is a little lower than where owner Bruce Sherman & GM Jackie Daytona want to land, but with the return of last year’s best starter
Pablo Lopez expected around June 1, and Mike Moustakas coming back even sooner than that, there’s a good chance that they’ll be able to squeeze a few extra wins out of this roster.
The picture’s a little brighter on the Miami farm, though - the Marlins were recently ranked by BNN as the 4th best farm system in the league, with 7 prospects in their season-opening TOp 100 list - including 5 in the top 50!
Lots to like in this system - the players are starting to move up through the system, with a glut of those prospects in High-A & Double-A.
Colby White should be ready for the beginning of the Triple-A season, giving the Marlins another high-end relief prospect that they can bring along slowly.
Jake Eder’s in the same boat - he’s fully recovered after missing the entire 2022 season and will look to pick up where he left off starting with Double-A Pensacola this season. The only disappointment on the list is
Lester Nin - the 19-year-old righty underwent TJ surgery this spring and won’t be back til next May at the earliest.
Miami is a team on the cusp - the pieces all look good on paper, but it still remains to see if this is the year they finally manage to put it together. The team enters the season about $4.6M under Bruce Sherman’s budget, so they’ll have room to add bats if they get the chance - not a ton to work with, but more than the Marlins typically have had in the last few years. It’s a start!