April 2021 game thread

[rmc523]

Of course offense shows up when the pitching doesn't.

[Maddawg]

So we've now been through 4 years of a rebuild, the team was 77-85 in 2017 (.475) and they are on pace to be 72-90 (.447).

What has changed ? The farm is better ? (Yep), the team isn't burdened by a lot of bad contracts and extra debt (truth).

But has an interest in the Marlins, increased both locally or nationally, despite a playoff run last year? Well the Marlins, had just over 5,000 in attendance at their last game. They could have had 12,000+.

The team is now extremely profitable. What incentive is there for them to want to go any further ? They have already shown a disinclination to sign anyone to a committed contract. Fans will not return until they see some kind of commitment they can latch onto. It looks like they're ready to let Anderson either walk or be traded. Is it because he is a creature of the former regime? Then why not get rid of Anderson 2 years ago when he might have had his highest value ? ......it's just all disappointing.

[Nick]

So we've now been through 4 years of a rebuild, the team was 77-85 in 2017 (.475) and they are on pace to be 72-90 (.447).

What has changed ? The farm is better ? (Yep), the team isn't burdened by a lot of bad contracts and extra debt (truth).

But has an interest in the Marlins, increased both locally or nationally, despite a playoff run last year? Well the Marlins, had just over 5,000 in attendance at their last game. They could have had 12,000+.

The team is now extremely profitable. What incentive is there for them to want to go any further ? They have already shown a disinclination to sign anyone to a committed contract. Fans will not return until they see some kind of commitment they can latch onto. It looks like they're ready to let Anderson either walk or be traded. Is it because he is a creature of the former regime? Then why not get rid of Anderson 2 years ago when he might have had his highest value ? ......it's just all disappointing.

I don't know why I bother, but we're 4 games back in the division and there is 124 games left, and we've been without our 2 best offensive players for the last 3 weeks and a top of the rotation arm for the entire season. Pointing out attendance numbers is completely pointless right now. Calm the F down.

[Lee Stone]

I'm not disappointed.

Cody Poteet throwing 97! Awesome. Cabrera, Sanchez and Hernandez all working their way back to the mound! Exciting. Eder, McCambley, Nicholas all throwing like first round talent. Who knew? An answer to RF for the Marlins in a newly focused Jesus Sanchez? An answer to Conforto, Soto, Harper and Acuna? I'm thinking so. An energetic new face of the franchise in Jazz? A bullpen that can hold a lead? Love it.

[Erick]

I, too, am liking the direction of the team.

[fish16]

I don't know why I bother, but we're 4 games back in the division and there is 124 games left, and we've been without our 2 best offensive players for the last 3 weeks and a top of the rotation arm for the entire season. Pointing out attendance numbers is completely pointless right now. Calm the F down.

also, it's great to say "Spend money!!!!" but specifically who would he have liked them to spend on? I could see where one could be disappointed in not signing a big name bullpen arm or a complementary rotation piece knowing we were going to have to be careful with the young arms and coming off a pandemic shortened season, but those would be short term additions, nothing significant long term. But the bullpen they seem to have gotten right, at least thus far. We have a shut down bullpen for the most part and its deep.

The only real gripe I have is not addressing the clear need at Catcher in some sort of way other than Sandy Leon as replacement level depth. It's clear alfaro is not the answer and I found it inexcusable that we didn't at least add someone to at the very least compete for the starters role. Other than that, it was absolutely the right move to let this year play out and get further answers on some of the younger SP's and position players. theoretically we have some sort of long term piece at every position other than C. Given that we arent 1 player away from competing this year specifically, it wouldn't really make sense to go sign a guy to big money long term when we might have a cost controlled team controlled option in the organization within the next year.

1b- Lewin
2b- Jazz/Isan/Devers
SS- Jazz/ Devers/Nunez/Johnson
3b- Anderson
OF- Bleday/Sanchez/Burdick/Encarnacion/Scott/Conine etc.

Especially coming off a year without minor league games, it made all the sense in the world to make smart, short term additions to help the team this year, evaluate the minor leaguers after a year off, and then consider a big splash move after this year, or make the move to sign an in house guy long term. Bottom line is all of these guys are under control for years to come and they don't have to make these decisions now when we are likely a year away until these prospect hitters make the jump.

[fish16]

looks like braxton garrett against bauer tonight. this should end well.

[fish16]

jazz is in LA. not active for tonight but he should be for tomorrow id assume

[Nick]

I gotta say, this organization has something figured out when it comes to developing pitching. Holloway looks good and if he continues to be a valuable piece he is probably their biggest achievement, but think of the other names that have made a jump under their watch. Trevor Rogers was a pretty good prospect that now looks like an ace. The Zac Gallen jump was under their watch, as was Edward Cabrera’s. Cody Poteet looked like a completely different pitcher earlier this week. The 3 pitchers drafted last year after Meyer and Fulton were all guys with big stuff but clear flaws, well they’ve all looked excellent so far in the minors.

Very encouraging stuff.

[fish16]

cooper has looked much better the last few days. he said something to the effect of playing OF everyday bothered his legs which led to struggles but he might be coming out of it hopefully

[Erick]

Holloway’s ERA would be under 1 probably if he could just pitch in his role, but he’s forced into starting so that sucks.

[Spork5812]

Automated balls and strikes cannot get here fast enough.

[Maddawg]

I don't know why I bother, but we're 4 games back in the division and there is 124 games left, and we've been without our 2 best offensive players for the last 3 weeks and a top of the rotation arm for the entire season. Pointing out attendance numbers is completely pointless right now. Calm the F down.

But have they shown a propensity to even care about getting offensive players? They failed with basically all of them so far. Corey Dickerson comes here his batting average drops to record low numbers, Matt Duvall comes here and isn't the guy he was for Atlanta. The Yelich trade is just so HORRIBLE. It's just frustrating to watch a team go through now the 4th year of offensive BS. You're wasting good pitching and in the end, these guys are going to be demanding trades, because of it. Their career numbers are suffering, and that means less money they can earn when they finally get traded to a team that will pay them & they're due a 2nd contract.

[Maddawg]

also, it's great to say "Spend money!!!!" but specifically who would he have liked them to spend on? I could see where one could be disappointed in not signing a big name bullpen arm or a complementary rotation piece knowing we were going to have to be careful with the young arms and coming off a pandemic shortened season, but those would be short term additions, nothing significant long term. But the bullpen they seem to have gotten right, at least thus far. We have a shut down bullpen for the most part and its deep.

The only real gripe I have is not addressing the clear need at Catcher in some sort of way other than Sandy Leon as replacement level depth. It's clear alfaro is not the answer and I found it inexcusable that we didn't at least add someone to at the very least compete for the starters role. Other than that, it was absolutely the right move to let this year play out and get further answers on some of the younger SP's and position players. theoretically we have some sort of long term piece at every position other than C. Given that we arent 1 player away from competing this year specifically, it wouldn't really make sense to go sign a guy to big money long term when we might have a cost controlled team controlled option in the organization within the next year.

1b- Lewin
2b- Jazz/Isan/Devers
SS- Jazz/ Devers/Nunez/Johnson
3b- Anderson
OF- Bleday/Sanchez/Burdick/Encarnacion/Scott/Conine etc.

Especially coming off a year without minor league games, it made all the sense in the world to make smart, short term additions to help the team this year, evaluate the minor leaguers after a year off, and then consider a big splash move after this year, or make the move to sign an in house guy long term. Bottom line is all of these guys are under control for years to come and they don't have to make these decisions now when we are likely a year away until these prospect hitters make the jump.

I have never said spend money on a big name....but you have to at least show some commitment for the future. As of right now, it looks like not only "still rebuilding next year" - a 5th year - fans are saying when does "the rebuild" end ? When will the Marlins at the major league level really commit to winning
?

You get all this pitching, but what good does it do, if you fail to score any runs ? You lose a lot of 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-0, 3-1. 3-2 games...pitchers get frustrated, and say to themselves "I have to be perfect" instead of being relaxed & just going out and pitching. It leads to worse outcomes & more frustration.

[Nick]

Fangraphs had a short write-up on Poteet:

Cody Poteet, RHP, Miami Marlins
Level & Affiliate: MLB Age: 26 Org Rank: 24 FV: 40 Line: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 6 K

Notes
Poteet was a prospect several years ago, last on the Marlins list in 2017 (it was just 13 names long) as a potential backend starter. He had a two-tick velo bump during quarantine, and after sitting 89-93 and topping out at 95 in 2019, he’s sitting 92-95 and touching 96 now. He had a 10-strikeout start in his first 2021 minor league outing then was immediately promoted to the big league team for Wednesday’s start. It’s surprising that Poteet had such a late bump in velocity. His era of UCLA pitcher had already adopted Driveline principals, and I would have guessed he was already maxed out. Of his three secondaries, Poteet most-often deploys his changeup, a heavy, sinking offering in the 85-88 mph range. His slider has more linear movement than two-planed sweeping shape, but it can still miss bats if it’s located away from righty batters. His curveball has plus-plus spin rates but is easy to identify out of his hand since he has a sink/tail-oriented fastball, and Poteet hung a couple of them Wednesday, one of which got put into the seats. The limited utility of his breaking balls and his fastball being more of a grounder-getter than a bat-misser holds Poteet in the low-variance backend starter bucket for me.