MLB Season Preview: Florida Marlins

Florida Marlins

Last Season's Standings: The Florida Marlins went 78-84, including 3-7 in their final ten games to finish 4th in the NL East.

In: 3B Aaron Boone (prev. team: Cleveland Indians); RP Roy Corcoran (prev. team: Washingston Nationals); RP Nate Field (prev. team: Colorado Rockies); RP Mike Koplove (prev. team: Arizona Diamondbacks); RP Eddy Rodriguez (prev. team: Baaltimore Orioles); 3B Jason Wood; SP Dontrelle Willis; RP Felix Rodriguez (prev. team: Washington Nationals); C Miguel Olivo; 3B Miguel Cabrera

Out: RP Joe Borowski (new team: Cleveland Indians); RP Jim Brower (new team: Pittsburgh Pirates); 3B Wes Helms (new team: Philadelphia Phillies); SP Mike Mohler (new team: Houston Astros)

Starting Pitching: Dontrelle "the D-train" Willis sets the tone on this team, how he performs is how the Marlins do. The Marlins feed off his energy and really appear to get up for his starts. Willis will be looking to get back to the 2005 season in which he went 22-10 with a nice 2.63 ERA. It's obvious that Willis needs to work on his slider and change-up and his game when facing a right-handed hitting batter, hence his 12-12 record with a 3.87 ERA. That record is not necessarily reflective on his inability to keep runs from scoring than of his team giving him run support, or lack of it. Fellow southpaw Scott Olsen will likely follow the "d-train" in the rotation. Utilizing his fastball more, keeping the ball down and improving his stamina are areas in need of improvement from this 23-year-old. He went 12-10 with a 4.04 ERA in 31 stats in 2006. Rightie Josh Johnson is entering his second full season in the majors and is looking to repeat or better his fine rookie campaign where he went 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA in 31 appearances, 24 of those being starts. Johnson must improve command of his pitches and work on his stamina as a starter. So far, Anibal Sanchez has remained healthy throughout his career, but his pitching style (hard-throwing) and that fact that he's a small man are two factors that could lead to injury problems, something the Marlins better pray does not occur. Especially considering how well he did last season in going 10-3 with a 2.83 ERA. Sophomore Ricky Nolasco should have the fifth starter's spot locked up. He was 11-11 with a 4.82 ERA in 35 games played, 22 of those being a start. Nolasco needs to watch that he doesn't get too low after a bad outing or too high after a good outing. Must work on his mechanics and performance with runners in scoring position and against left-handed hitters.

Bullpen: Entering just his first full season in the bigs, southpaw Taylor Tankersley will likely be thrown to the wolves and expected to shut things down in the ninth. He notched 3 saves last season, and had a further record of 2-1 with a 2.85 ERA in 49 appearances last season. He needs to locate his pitches to be effective and needs to work on changing speeds. Battling for a job as a long man or possible fifth starter is rightie Sergio Mitre. However, he is coming off a serious shoulder problem and will likely be taking a cautious approach. Look for him to start at a lower level, likely AA Carolina or AAA Albequerque. Rookie Matt Lindstrom will be given a hard look, but his inexperience is glaring and he'll all but certainly start in AAA Albequerque. Southpaw Renyel Pinto is also entering his first full season at the major league level. In 27 games last season, he saved one and had a 3.03 ERA. He should serve as the primary setup man to Tankersley. Rightie Yusmeiro Petit is likely to be a setup man from the right side, as well as a middle reliever. Petit was 1-1 with a brutal 9.57 ERA in 15 appearances last season. There is great concern that his fastball doesn't strike fear into big league hitters. Randy Messenger will all but certainly be an option as a setup man. He went 2-7 with a 5.67 ERA last needs; he needs to work on command of his slider and curve and his game when facing a left-handed batter. He'll need to help the less experienced pitchers along. Jose Garcis will be looked at but, due to lack of experience look for him to start the season either in Carolina or Albequerque. Rookie Paul Mildren is in camp, but will be starting the season in the minors for further fine tuning. Rightie Henry Owens, who has a 9.00 ERA in 3 appearances will be starting the season in Carolina and will likely be a September call-up. Sophomore Logan Kensing is looking to bounce back after a serious wrist injury. He'll likely be a middle reliever, coming into the game in the 6th or 7th inning. He was 1-3 with a 4.54 ERA in 37 sppearances before the wrist injury. Working ahead in the count is the key to Kensing's success; is very ineffective working on consecutive days is terrible with runners in scoring position. Finally, coming off Tommy John surgery is Carlos Martinez, he will be unavailable at the start of the season and may not even be a September call-up. He was 0-1 with an impressive 1.12 ERA in 12 appearances in 2006.

Catcher: Miguel Olivo will certainly be earning his stripes as a starter with this young pitching staff and bullpen. Olivo is difficulty receiving pitches, that is blocking ones in the dirt, is over-aggressive as a hitter and struggles when facing a rightie. He hit .263 with 16 HR and 58 RBI last season. Olivo should bat 8th in the line-up and play between 125-135 games in 2007. Backing him up will be 3rd year player Matt Treanor, who hit .229 with 2 HR and 14 RBI last season.

First Baseman: Entering just his second full season in the majors Mike Jacobs will be looking to build on his first full season in which he hit .262 with 20 HR and 77 RBI. Look for him to bat 7th in the line-up and play between 130 and 140 games if healthy. He must cut down on the strikeouts and not be afraid to take a walk once in a while (Jacobs struck out 105 times and walked just 45 times last season). Backing him up will be utility man and former all-star Aaron Boone. Boone is a notoriously slow starter at the beginning of the season, tends to swing at the first pitch and has trouble hitting off-speed stuff but he'll make a sound defensive replacement. Boone hit .251 with 7 HR and 46 RBI at the end of the 2006 season.

Second Baseman: Sophomore Dan Uggla is looking to build on his fine rookie performance from last season, in which he hit .282 with 27 HR and 90 RBI. Look for him to bat 3rd in the line-up and to play around 155 games if healthy. Uggla must improve his plate discipline and his defense is just passable, not horrible, not all-star calibre, but okay. The speedy Alfredo Amezaga will be the back-up at second base and also the starting center fielder; more on him later.

Shortstop: Budding all-star Hanley Ramirez will receive the bulk of the starts at SS. Expect to see this speedster, who stole an impressive 51 bases last season, to bat at the top of the line-up and to have the primary role of getting on base. He has fine defensive skills, and about the only flaw is a character flaw, as he has a poor attitude at times, but this has improved of late. He hates the breaking ball. Ramirez could well play all 162 games or close to it. Should Ramirez need a rest, then rookie Robert Andino will likely get called up from the minors if he's out any significant time. However, Amezaga could also get called upon to play SS. Andino hit .167 and drove in 2 runs in 2006 as a September call-up; look for him to start in Albequerque.

Third Baseman: The heart and soul of this team Miguel Cabrera owns this position. This all-star and potential 2007 MVP candidate if healthy, is expected to carry this offense on his back. He'll bat clean-up and could play all 162 games if healthy. Cabrera batted a career-high .339 with 26 HR and 114 RBI. Expect more of the same this season. The only flaws in his game are his inability to be entirely selective of pitches, not utilizing his speed game and being fooled by the breaking ball off the plate. Should the Marlins decide to give Cabrera a day off or he misses time to injury, Boone will provide the back-up.

Left Fielder: Starter Josh Willingham's game starts with offense first. He hit .277 with 26 HR and 77 RBI. He'll make a good insurance policy to follow Cabrera in the line-up as the 5th man up. However, he has been injury prone in the past few seasons and recent knee problems have slowed his running game and he's not great with runners in scoring position. If healthy, expect Willingham to play between 135-145 games in 2007. Backing him up will be Cody Ross, who should be the 4th outfielder for the Marlins. He has also been injury prone the last 2 seasons missing a month with various injuries, including a broken finger. His game, like Willingham's has slowed to a knee injury. Ross struggles when facing a lefty and isn't great with plate discipline. He hit .277 with 13 HR and 46 RBI last season.

Center Fielder: As mentioned earlier, Alfredo Amezaga is pencilled in as the evryday center fielder. He batted .260 with 3 HR and 19 RBI last season. Amezaga needs to improve his plate discipline to allow him to utilize his running game more effectively. Look for him to bat 2nd in the line-up and play between 125 and 135 games this season. Ross will be his primary back-up. Also battling for a roster spot is Reggie Abercrombie, who should be a platoon outfielder. He hit .212 with 5 HR and 24 RBI in 2006. Finally, rookie Eric Reed will be looked at to see how he has developed from 2006, but due to his lack of experience and shaky performance as a September call-up, batted just .098 last season, he'll all but certainly start in Albequerque.

Right Fielder: Last but certainly not least, and likely batting 6th in the line-up is Jeremy Hermida, who missed significant time last season to various injuries (56 games total) hence his lower average (.251), HR total (5) and RBI total (28). Look for him to play between 115 and 125 games if healthy. Hermida struggles against southpaws and in the outfield on defense. Joe Birchard should be the back-up to Hermida. He had so much potential earlier in his career, but all the hype has dissipated. His strike-out count is not something to smile about (69 times last season). He hit .230 with 10 HR and 28 RBI in 2006.

Season Prediction: The Florida Marlins will be fielding a very young team and Owner Laurier (sp?) appears to be doing everything in his power to cheapen his purchase, by making sure the Marlins don't succeed; case-in-point: the firing of manager of the year Joe Girardi. The Marlins will finish in the basement of the MLB or at the very most of the NL East, well back of playoff contention.