The Mets and Nationals get all the buzz, but the Miami Marlins are looking ahead to an intriguing season. Here’s a look at some Marlins storylines heading into 2016.
Is 2016 the new 2012 in Miami?
The Marlins treated this offseason like it was 2012. Back then, the team was headed to Miami for a new “look,” replete with a new stadium, new uniforms and a new team name, even changing its moniker from Florida to Miami. This year, the Marlins will try to rebound from a 71-91 campaign. Their offseason moves evoke a pattern from their 2011 offseason.
This offseason, they signed Wei-Yin Chen to a five-year, $80 million deal and gave Dee Gordon a five-year, $50 million extension. Gordon was still under team control, but was eligible for salary arbitration, and the Marlins chose instead to give him a lucrative extension. The agreements were reported in a span of two days.
Chen’s is the second-largest contract by total value that the Marlins have ever given a free agent. It’s just the fifth deal of five years or longer they’ve ever given a free agent.
In Gordon, they inked a middle infielder known for his speed. Elias Sports Bureau research notes that Gordon became the third NL player to lead the league in hits and steals in the same season. In Chen, they signed a pitcher who has shown consistency in the last two seasons, making 31 starts in each with an ERA below 3.60.
Why the flashback? Consider what the Marlins did in the offseason prior to the 2012 season.
Two days apart in December 2011, they signed José Reyes (six years, $106 million) and Mark Buehrle (four years, $58 million) to free-agent deals. These were the largest free-agent contracts by total value the Marlins had ever handed out. Reyes’ six years were the most the Marlins had ever committed to a free agent. Reyes, also a middle infielder, had won the National League batting crown in 2011 and tied for the major league lead in triples. Buehrle had made at least 30 starts in each of his two previous seasons, just as Chen has.
They have also hired a new manager (Don Mattingly, who previously managed Gordon while with the Dodgers), to a four-year deal. Prior to the 2012 season, the team’s acquisitions began in late September, when they signed Ozzie Guillen to a four-year deal as manager. He, like Mattingly, had just ended tenure with a team in atypical fashion: He was released from his contract with the White Sox, where he’d been for eight years (and had managed Buehrle).
In the 2011 offseason, the Marlins acquired a middle infielder and starting pitcher in a short time span and had a new manager already waiting. In the 2015 offseason, they’ve acquired a starting pitcher and re-signed a middle infielder, again in a short span to go with an already-hired new manager.
The bad news is that the 2012 Marlins went 69-93, finished fifth in the NL East and dealt both Reyes and Buehrle that offseason.
One reason 2016 might be different is that though the players the Marlins committed to this offseason are similar in age to those from the 2011 offseason, they have less major league experience. This could mean they have yet to peak.
-- Sarah Langs
Barry Bonds is here to help
In December, the Miami Marlins hired Barry Bonds as hitting coach. Bonds has more career home runs (762) than the entire Marlins 40-man roster combined (549). Coincidentally, he’s tied with Ichiro Suzuki on the all-time hits list (2,935).
Bonds will be charged with fixing an offense that ranked 29th in the majors in runs and home runs and 26th in OPS last season. The Marlins finished last in the majors with 375 walks. Bonds had 380 walks by himself (in 4,821 fewer plate appearances) in 2003 and 2004 combined.
The Marlins struck out 3.07 times per walk, the worst rate in franchise history.
-- David Sabino
Stanton and Fernandez will carry them
Both slugger Giancarlo Stanton and star pitcher Jose Fernandez appear to be healthy and ready to go entering this season. Stanton’s season ended last June 27 due to a broken wrist. Fernandez has been limited to 19 starts over the last two seasons after Tommy John surgery and a biceps strain.
Stanton’s batting average and on-base percentage dropped considerably from 2014 to 2015, but his bump in slugging percentage made up for that. He hit 27 home runs in 279 at-bats last season and was on pace for 58 at the time of his injury, which would have matched the most in a season since Bonds hit 73 and Sammy Sosa hit 64 in 2001 (Ryan Howard had 58 in 2006).
At the time of Stanton’s injury, he was on a major tear, with a .344/.404/900 slashline in 24 June games.
One concern with Stanton was that he was having trouble catching up to hard heat from right-handed pitching. He entered 2015 a career .279 hitter against pitches 95 mph or faster from righties, but he went 5-for-34 in 2015, with more strikeouts against those pitches (18) than he’d ever previously had.
Fernandez’s fastball averaged 95.8 mph in 2015, fifth-highest among those who made at least 10 starts last season.
One thing to keep an eye on with Fernandez are his lefty-righty splits. Lefties hit .333 with an .860 OPS against him last season. Righties hit .176 with a .446 OPS.
-- Mark Simon