Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 84 | Miami Marlins | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: February 15, 2020

Let's talk about this Miami Marlins team. They added a bunch of Major League talent to the squad this year. What are they up to? Who did they add? Who did they lose? What prospects do you need to know and who may be moved at the deadline? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Oh, yeah, another mini episode, another team profile and projection. Another 20 minutes with Jake and myself going through this time. The Miami Marlins. Hey, oh, you guys voted that they were the fourth worst team in Major League Baseball. Jake, do you think the fans got the vote correct? Ooh, record-wise, I haven't thought of it. James, you got to tell what? For our four and a half Marlins' listeners,

they're about to like what Poppy Gordo has to say. I like some dudes on the team. Miami Marlins' enthusiasts, Jake Storelli. I love the Florida fish, baby. What's your favorite kind of fish to eat? Ooh, I grew up in a not very fish-friendly household. Same, very same thing. That's Italian, like, you know.

My mother hates fish. Eating or in general? Live fish. No problem eating fish. Okay. There was a situation with my uncle, her older brother with a live fish that was a little bit of a horrific experience. So live fish were not welcome in my home growing up. I like eating fish, though. Okay, cool.

I had a stuffed halop bit in Savannah and it was delicious. Just for the halibut? Yeah. Yeah. If we went fishing and we went fishing. and we casted a couple lines in a lake and there was a bunch of fish and you caught one. Would you hesitate to like take the fish off the rod? No interest.

So you're not touching the fish. I mean maybe I touch it. Maybe I hold it if it's a little guy. But like taking the hook out of its mouth and all that stuff, no interest. Holding it by its like lip like the trophy pictures, no interest. Yeah. I have to hype myself up so hard. I'm like it's just fish.

It doesn't have teeth. Like just put your thumb in there. Nothing bad's going to happen. We should do something with ploof that's fishing because I think ploof is like a man and does fishing stuff. That'd be good content. One time we went on my uncle's boat and we caught some flounder and then he was like showing me how like he kills a flounder and slices it open and filet and all that. And I was like, oh, I don't care. I have no interest in this.

Speaking of floundering. The Marlins have been floundering for a while. They have a lot of ex players in the league that are really, really good. they had if they were in another division i mean there's four teams that have the other four teams in their division have legitimate anales hopes yeah but yes but even that i'm saying like if like uh yellich stanton yeah like they had a board they had this group i don't know bore should be part of that yeah definitely not at one point they were excited about i'm not in the same elk but uh you know they had this group that they were like the futures here.

And then it all, it all, it all went away. I mean, honestly, I don't know if they redo the Stanton trade because I mean, that dude was owed a lot of money and that goes into Marlins ownership, blah, blah, blah, Jeffrey Loria. The Yelly one, they would have liked maybe watch him be MVP level for half a season and then trade them. There are dudes from that trade who are starting to play for them, but they are not. Christian Yellage.

They aren't. But the Marlins made some moves this offseason. A nice Marlins offseason, Jim. A step up the ladder. Next rung. They can't see the horizon yet, but they're climbing the wall. They're getting themselves out of the pit, I think. Yeah, I mean, they're waiting for the Mets to burn themselves out, which, I mean,

this season seems fight or flight for the Mets and they literally just lost an ownership group. The Nats are going to age out in a little bit. and Minas Soto. And then, yeah, I mean, the Baby Brave seem like they're going to be around for a little bit, and we'll see what goes on with the Phillies. But, yeah, I mean, the Marlins, you're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. A lot of young players.

And yeah, this is, as we've talked about with these kind of rebuilding teams or however we want to label them in the rebuild. Like the Marlins, if a couple things go right this year, whether it's Dickerson, Aguilar, VR and they can get a couple more assets. I mean, you're starting to get to a two-year, like, almost competitive plan? Almost. So let's go through the ads and the drops. They lose Martine Prado, Granderson, and Neil Walker to free agency. They sign those guys on one year, one year, like prove it deals or whatever.

Pillow contract. I don't know what you want to call it. They're gone. They picked up. And they also got rid of Starlin Castro is no longer on Miami. Right. But they did. 162 games, Starlin Castro.

162 games last year. Jesus Aguilar, they claimed him off waivers from the race. They pick up Jonathan VR. I think that was a trade, like a waiver trade. They picked up Jose Estrada, a catcher, Stephen Tarpley from the Yankees, Corey Dickerson's the big one. Who else, Jake?

There's some others. Well, you know who they got in the minors? Pat Vendette. He can throw with his left hand and his right hand. How about that? Matt Joyce on a one-year contract. Which pitcher? Francisco Sorvelli on a one-year contract.

Matt Kemp's on a minor league contract. Some pickups, man. Jim, everyone on this team is either like major, league or a young guy with hope. Like there's no one you're looking at that's like this dude is a black hole and has no chance. I mean, uh, you know, some of these guys, I mean, Garrett Cooper is not going to get someone excited.

But as a bench MLB bat for the Marlins, like that dude could fill in for a two week injury and do really well. Matt Joyce currently listed on the bench. I mean, that guy's a major league baseball player. Survelli, uh, he's technically the bench catcher right now. So they've got major league players. players, Major League Dept. It's going to be interesting to see what young guys take the leap. And like where I started, those MLB dudes that we do know, the Aguilar's, Dickerson, and VRs,

how can they get off? How much does Miami as an organization like them? And, you know, when deadline season comes, I mean, these guys are in a similar, a very similar position to Pittsburgh. Like, we kind of like this lineup. The pitching's not going to be there. And the other four teams in each of those divisions is like really a really good ball club. So you have to keep things in a certain scope. But again, that kind of first look at the full Miami lineup, like what I'm seeing. Well, you talked about Cooper and first base was a huge platoon for Miami last year. They had like Cooper played a bunch, Neil Walker played a bunch, Martine Prado played a bunch.

And they bring in Aguilar who had a bad season after I think two good ones or just one good one. I forget. But they bring him in. I think that's going to be a little playoff battle for first that our French Air Force told us isn't real, but could be in this case. Who knows? So, like, if they just get a guy at every position,

that's kind of an improvement, I think. Yeah, and I mean, think, again, when you're the Marlins, you do have to operate differently. I mean, we're not going to go into the whole ownership spiel, but they clearly are a team that does that. And, I mean, you got VR and Aguilar, are two guys that can, you know, put together a baseball season for almost nothing. You signed Dickerson when, you know, he was a free agent.

Any team could have had him. So it was a really nice offseason as far as Marlin standards go. And yeah, man, I want to see this lineup. And I'll just burn through it quick in case you don't know VR's allegedly going to be at third. They want to move him around a lot. Miguel Rojas, shortstop, Brian Anderson listed in right field. that's my guy that I'd probably say, if you don't know him, that's the guy you should know.

He's put together a couple nice seasons for a young ball player. Dickerson, Aguilar, Jorge Alfaro, behind the plate. He's pretty solid. Icen or Ysen, I think it's Yen Diaz, Isam. He's a young second baseman. They're hoping he was part of that Milwaukee trade. So is Lewis Brinson projected to be the center fielder. So they're hoping those are the two young guys that if one of them could figure it out,

that would be really huge for the Marlins. Brinson's hitting stats are pretty atrocious. But again, MLB dudes are young guys with hope, which, hey, not bad. Brian Anderson was pretty good last year. Thoughts. He's just solid. I mean, it's a tough case of A, having one of the more generic names you could possibly have. Yeah.

And then B, yeah. Also generic looking. He, yeah. And he, you know, fourth in the rookie of the year in 2018. He made a nice step up last year. bump that OPS, 50 plus points, 20 home run guy and only 126 games. But just a really solid ball. He's Brian Anderson all around.

He's a, he's a B plus version of a Brian Anderson. Wow, that's tough, man. Kupaloop hit pretty well for them last year. I'm telling you, man, the fact that he's listed as a bench guy and maybe they're going to platoon him and Dickerson because I think Dickerson's got some pretty tough with two numbers. I mean, this lineup is watchable. like we did a couple of the first teams and it was like, oh, but these marlins are a watchable ball club. They got the catcher. Alfarro, like you said,

Cerelli is going to be the backup because that guy is pretty good. You can throw out runners like crazy. And I think he's a really good defensive catcher. And his hitting numbers are good. They're not great. I think he had like maybe one walk on the season. Yeah, he, uh, uh, a hundred thirty games. games, 22 walks. But yeah, 736 OPS in his age 26 season. And you and I, we've mentioned before, but only so many catchers played over a buck 20 games. Al Faro played a buck 30. So that's a, that's a really solid year for a young catcher slash just being back there for 130. You know what I really like? Who do you really like? Rojas at short. Just because of the one

the one breakdown I made of him last year where he was yelling at the umpire. And he was very much like, you have to do your job and respect this game and you have to do the right thing. And that was like the tone of his argument with the hump instead of, that's horseshit. That's fucking horseshit. It's like, you have a job and you need to do it right. Yeah. Very genuine. So he's got a fan in me.

You got a fan in me. Should we do that? Is that a good parody song? Nope. No. What about Birdie? You did Bertie. I'm a birdie, birdie man. What is digging on the inside?

Who are you? Oh, John Birdie, the utility guy? The 20 30.30.30.0, Jim. Did he just have his birthday? He's fine. Yeah, I don't have anything on John Birdie, but he had a solid utility season last year. You're just a jerk. I'm a jerk. Let me see. Let me check the process.

Can you go, can before we get to the pitching? Yeah. Do the pitching first. And then I want to go over potential free agents and trade season stuff. Do the pigeon first. The last thing I want to say in the lineup, Lewis Brinson and Issa and Diaz, again, two of the main pieces, along with Jordan Yamamoto, my guy from the yellow trade.

Brinson and Diaz's hitting stats were atrocious on the major league level. So, yeah, they need one of them to figure it out. Diaz only had 49 games. Yeah, it's still bad. Pitching. they've got a Caleb Smith is the one. I think Alcantara probably gets the pill on opening day. He had a really nice year last year.

Caleb Smith, former Yankee farmhand, Jordan Yamamoto, like I mentioned, a piece in the Yelie trade. He got the call last year. Pablo Lopez and Eliezer Hernandez, a rule five guy from Houston a couple years ago. Very young pitching staff. And, yeah, I mean, Alcantara put together a nice season last year. It was funny MLB put out.

last week or two weeks ago, the best rotations, if you take the best pitcher from each team. And the NL East, it was like, damn, Scherzer, Nola, de Grom, I forget who, Soroka on the Braves. And then it was like Alcantara, throw him out there. He's okay. He's okay. What, what, I mean, what, what, what do you? a need from this pitching staff, Jim? Because it's very young, very unproven.

I mean, we need one and a half guys to have good years. No, you need a good bullpen. It's not happening. You need the Marlins, I mean, you know, it's going to be a group effort. Not the starters nor the bullpen's going to carry

them. Yeah. But Caleb Smith can be good. We've seen him be very scared to throw a two strike pitch. Like, almost two years ago, Caleb Smith didn't have an out pitch. And hitters would just, like, swing for the fences the first two because they didn't care about getting two strikes on them.

But he improved. He got a lot better. So that's good. Good for him. Brutal finish to the season. In August and September, he had a 639, a 639 ERA in both months to finish the season. He was having a really nice year. Yeah, I was trying to see what he does good because when you watch Caleb Smith,

it's hard to figure out what's working. I mean, he's a lefty. He could pump it a little bit. No third pitch. His change-up is his third pitch, and he throws it 14% of the time. He throws his fastball 50% of the time. So is, I've got a question. And his change-up gets kind of rocked.

Tough. He only throws it. He only throws it 14% in time, and it's got a 346 Wobah, expected Wobah. Wobah. I don't know, man. I'm looking at five young pitchers. Let's root for two to figure it out.

I think that's optimistic yet realistic, right? Okay, so which two are you rooting for? Because I'm rooting for, oh, sorry, got a phone call. You know, I love Yamamoto. No, so I was about to take him from you and snag you. And someone from. No, he's my guy. Someone from Greenwich.

I can talk about him on talking baseball like every episode for a week. I know he's your guy. That's why I was going to snag him from you in a snaky move, but someone called me from Greenwich, Connecticut, and they interrupted my flow of my sentence. And now you have Yamamoto, and I have Alcantara. So then who's your second? And hey, both of those guys could do it maybe.

Honestly, I don't know enough about the other dudes. I mean, we've already done enough on Caleb Smith. I mean, Pablo Lopez is young. He's 23. He'll be 24 when the season starts. Elis or Hernandez, he's 24. I don't know, but yeah, I think Yamamoto and Alcantara,

you bet on those dudes. And yeah, the other guys are wildcards for me. I can't speak well enough on them. Who's the better off-season guy, Dickerson or Sovelli, to add to the clubhouse and the statistics? Dickerson's probably the best. It's Cervale.

It's what I just wanted to get to. Talk about how awesome Covelli is. Yeah, interesting clubhouse vibes on this team. I think it's been that way for a while. It's a lot of rookies hoping to get a shot, and they know they're a little earlier than maybe they are. And it's a lot of veterans, like one-year veterans who the rookies like have to act like, okay, come give us all your advice. Neil Walker, you're a veteran, been doing this forever. What do you have to teach me?

But kind of like, also I don't care. Yeah, I think if you're on this Miami Marlins team and you want to be a leader, maybe someone like Aguilar or one of the veterans. veterans. You do need to have before the season, that little break between spring training and the regular season, you need to go out and have a shit show Miami going out night. And that's your team bonding for the year. And you can all point at each other and be like, ah, remember you were drunk. And that's just your team bonding. And Cervilly keeps that intact. And I think that would be huge for this team going into the season. Do you know any of the minor league, minor league affiliates for the Marlins?

How many can you name? If you were a true baseball fan, you could name their AAA team. God, I never used them because the Marlins blow. God, off the top of my head, I'm not sure. I mean, I could talk to you about Riley Mayhand for a while or what Sixtho Sanchez could become this year. No, well, the answer was the Wichita wind surge. God, that's such a mistake.

Wichita to Miami? Yeah. How are you going to adjust? I mean, you get called up. You're also now going to just, like, party because you were repressed in Wichita. That's terrible. Yeah. Double A team is the Jacksonville Jumbo shrimp.

I should have known that one. The Advanced A is the Jupiter Hammerheads. So if you climb the ranks, you're going from Florida to Florida to Wichita, Kansas, and then to Miami. It's a huge mistake. That's an organizational flaw, man. Yeah, you can't. I mean, you cannot have that. Especially all the Spanish players, Spanish vegan players.

You drop them all around Florida. They're having a blast. They're in flow. Everywhere they go, they find the food they like then. They make it the AAA. Bam, Wichita. It's tough. Yeah.

Yeah, and we're, uh, I mentioned six-do Sanchez. That's the guy. Um, I think he might be the biggest, the, if, if you are a Marlins fan, I should, I feel like I shouldn't say that, but I do have. have to say that. He's a pretty good pitching prospect, starting pitcher. I wonder if he's the first injury. It looks like he's going to start in AA. You'd like to think they have a plan for him, so it's probably not the first injury, but he should get the call this year. And yeah, I mean, Miami is building something. I'm starting to believe maybe it's some Jeter bias coming in, but I don't know. I'm,

I'm okay with what I'm seeing around around the Florida fish, man. Their number one prospect is awesome. Okay. Jazz Chisholm. Jazz Chisholm from Bahamas. That was a funny trade this year because it was because jazz chisholm, I believe, was in the Diamondbacks organization. Yeah, he was.

Correct. Good knowledge, Jake. The prospect. Yeah, Zach Gallin. Yeah. We don't normally see that. Normally, dudes,

normally if you're a prospect on a team, that team loves you. So it's, it's kind of a, office, office finger guns, gift. Well,

the brewers and the Padres just did that as well. Well, wait, your, your prospect, well, I mean,

we like our prospect, but you, we like, so you like our prospect? It's a tricky game. Well, he's their number one prospect. His name is,

uh, Jistrato Hermice, Arrington Chisham. and he goes by Jazz Chisholm. Yeah. And he's 5-11, 165 pounds, shortstop from the Bahamas. So he's a ways out. No reason for me to bring him up besides I like his name.

And I like the fact he's from the Bahamas and I'm rooting for him. And that's all of those points are fair. Okay, thank you. What about J.J. Bladay? Oh, that's another fun name. J.J. Bladay? A great name. It's a great name.

Do you know who that is? He's their second. He's their second best prospect. J.J. Bladay. He's a long ways out as well. Day Bladay. Yeah, you might see Nick Knightard. I mean, at the end of this season,

it would be cool if they could get off to a decent start. You know, maybe have like a 500 April. And then, you know, the wheels are going to come off a little bit, maybe a trade deadline. And then, I mean, it's just going to be an army of young guys trying to figure it out. But yeah, they've, they've got some AAA arms that are going to come up this year.

Excuse me. Nick Nider, it's a decent prospect. He's probably going to get the call at some point. Sixtho, as I mentioned, there's a couple other young guys at AAA. So yeah, you're hoping to get off to a decent start so there's a little

umph for the veterans. You know, if they come out the first two weeks with like a two and ten or something like that, you know, it might be tough for Jesus Aguilar to really dial it in. Shots fired, I guess. Yeah. And speaking of the trade deadline, which you brought up there,

these are the potential pieces to watch playing for a trade in their contract year. Francisco Sorvelli signed a one-year deal. Matt Joyce, Jonathan, VR. So those three, especially Survelli, people always need catchers. People always need catchers at some point in the season. They're always bouncing around. So So Cervelli, I mean, he's a backup, but still, if a team is like, you know, the Yankees don't have any in their farm system.

Maybe they, I think Cerelli has a chance of being grabbed by someone if he shows he's alive. Matt Joyce, all the guys they just got. They're not going to trade any of the prospects. Any veteran. Yeah. Who do they open up against, Jake? Do you know? Do you want to know?

No, I dare. Do you want them, do you want to find out they have a hard opening or? easy opening. I mean, I don't really care about the openings. You're getting pretty tuned into this because I think it's a double-edged sword. You say if they're playing a tough team,

you'd be like, well, they're not going to be in mid-season form or it's a tough start to the schedule. I mean, you could go either way on it. Well, you're talking, you were the one saying about if they get off to a hot start or bad start, so I just want to give you what their schedule is. It's pretty right. And I'm telling you the schedule doesn't, like

that could be a plus for them. Like we said the Orioles opened with the Yankees last year and took two out of three because they didn't really get rolling yet. Well, they have four against the Phillies, three against the Nationals, three against the Braves, three against the Nationals, four against the Braves. That's their opening stretch. It's their division, man. It's a tough division.

It's a tough division to be in. I'm glad I'm not in it. I mean, the NL, who are your, like, take a second to breathe teams? It's the Pirates. and it's the giant. And they don't play the Pirates until May. They don't play a non-contender until May. Tough April.

The NL is going to be brutal this year. That's a tough April for the Marlins. And then, yeah, then they go visit the NL West and Central a little bit in May. Crazy. That's a tough start. Well, have fun, Miami. Enjoy it. Have fun.

Jake, last year they went. 57 and 105. They won 57 games. Oh, you dirty dogs, Vegas. You know, I've been on the under kick, right? And I'm feeling guilty for taking all the unders. I feel like I'm being a fool. I'm going to be wrong eventually.

So I was telling myself, I'll take the over on the Marlins. They got some guys. But at 64 and a half games is what Vegas has it as. and we just talked about how brutal their division is, and that's 18 games against four teams that when they play the Marlins, they're like, hey, we better fucking win these. Right. So I'm taking the under again.

64, huh? 64 and a half. I was kind of hoping 62. I think if you're a Marlins' genuine goal, it's to not lose 100 this year. 64 and a half is tough, man. Especially when there's only two other bad teams in the NL. You know what?

I'm feeling lucky, punk. Give me the over. You'll have one NLE's team's going to get hit with injuries. And one NLE East team is going to have like a sad ending to their season because it didn't come together. So the Marlins will eat up some wins at the end of the year. That happened last year with the Mets and then the Philly. and they still only won 57 games. Dude, the Mets were trying their hardest at the end of the season.

They turned it on to win 84 games or whatever it was. I know. This year would be deflating. That would be last year was the buildup for them. Like, we're coming next year. This year, if it doesn't happen, they're going to be sad puppy dogs at the end of the year. Well, I'm just saying we started with four teams in it last year and two bounced.

Right. And I think the Marlins are a lot better. VR, Aguilar, Dickerson, the young. pitchers. I'll get a year older. It's a better team. I agree, too. I think it's a great line by Vegas. It's a tough one. And you're just the under guy. So who are, you have nothing to stand. Oh my God.

I'm clapping. That was me clapping. I was clapping for Vegas for setting a good over under. Maybe. It will see. It will all play out eventually. Fun fact to close the show about the Marlins. Jordan Yamamoto

took up hair cutting as a hobby in the minors. He cut his teammates' hair to hone his skills and help them save a few bucks. Huge. Thanks, Jordan Yamamoto.