2024 Game Thread

[fish16]

I doubt Luzardo and Alcantra are Marlins past next seasons deadline. Nor should they be.

sandy should be 100%. there is 0 reason to trade him. luzardo we will see. but it's clear they should have dealt him last winter.

[Todd]

I doubt Luzardo and Alcantra are Marlins past next seasons deadline. Nor should they be.

[fish16]

i didnt even realize kitchen only started because cabrera was scrateched right before first pitch for yet another injury. Ideally, if we can have Cabrera, Meyer, and Nardi as our back end bullpen for the next several years, that is ideal. I would continue trotting meyer and cabrera out as starters untill it's clear it's not an option, but those 2 are ideally closers or back end arms with a full rotation of team controlled high talent guys. I dont want to seem like a cabrera hater but the guy cannot hold up as a starter, it's abundantly clear.were now going on 3 years straight of not only consistent injuries, but consistent arm injuries. And that's without even talking about the fact that he gets rocked the 2nd and 3rd time through the lineup plus the awful control. I look towards 2026 and Sandy, Eury, Weathers, Snelling, Luzardo?, Mazur, and then probably close to White and Meyer time with Cabrera and Meyer in the bullpen looks really good to me, plus whatever other bullpen arms pan out in the next year. That's a great start.

[fish16]

im fine trying out guys because its absurd how many injuries we have had in our rotation this year, but i can legitimately name like 3 guys on the pitching staff off the top of my head currently.

I saw Garrett and weathers are supposed to maybe make a return for a little to end the year. Cool i guess. What is the projected rotation for next year at this point? Sandy, Luzardo, Garrett, Cabrera, Weathers, with other options being Meyer and Eury when he comes back probably in July, Mazur should get close to full year in AAA next year but i guess is an option. Im probably missing someone injured right now, but while it looks good on paper with the top 5, we've said that for years, and as much as we talk about trading an arm like Luzardo (with way limited value now), honestly at this point we need a mid rotation innings eating type stabilizer for next year even without dealing someone currently. Mark redman 2003 would be the perfect addition for next year. He's probably not an option right now though as a 50 year old.

I dont think they have the MLB ready depth to deal a guy right now without making a significant free agent signing on a 1 year deal if not 2 of them. and that's without any further injuries. So the talk of dealing pitching depth for arms, while eventually a reality with Snelling, Mazur, and then the next wave of White and Meyer, that's probably a year away at the earliest.

Without that, next year is probably a cubs 2014 type year (we dont have anywhere near that type of high end talent) where we have intriguing pieces but service time games and realistic time lines mean we are a year away.

They will 100% play service time games or they wont be mlb ready with Ramirez and DDLS, plus guys like VMJR, Serna, Mack, Sanoja, and others are a year away at best. And as much as lou wants to will it into existence, they arent signing a major free agent, let alone more than 1. So we are looking at 2026 in my opinion for a team that is legitimately intriguing, though next year should obviously be a lot more fun with guys coming back from injury and young guys making their debut.

[Nick]

Some guy named Kitchen is pitching for us and getting torched.

[fish16]

Two things - I don't agree with you and you are welcome to not respond

*And I say that in the yes this is a lower single digit percentage chance the stars align and there is a total market collapse like what literally just happened with Chapman, Snell, Montgomery, and Bellinger, but their payroll is $65m and actually closer to $50m for the on field, with nothing on the books besides Sandy, so they do have the ability to make moves and it will eventually happen even if it's still 2-3 years out

you act like those players signed for pennies on the dollar on a 1 year deal.

Chapman signed for 3 years 54 million (18 per year) with opt outs after each year.
Snell signed for 2 years 62 million.
Montgomery signed for 1 year 25 million with an easy vesting option for next year at 20 million.
Bellinger signed for 3 years 80 million.

they have no intention of signing anyone for those amounts. No matter how many times you post the depth chart with 8 paragraphs of analysis.

Im also not even criticizing them for not signing those guys. i dont think its prudent to sign deals like that given our salary restrictions. if we are going to start spending some money, it should be on guys they already have, and do it early. Internal guys signed early is how almost the entire braves decade of success was built. Signing 30+ year old free agents for 20+ million for their declining years is a terrible way for this franchise to operate. Then, and only then, you can make smarter signings like the rays did to fill holes in the short term.

[Todd]

Two things - I don't agree with you and you are welcome to not respond

*And I say that in the yes this is a lower single digit percentage chance the stars align and there is a total market collapse like what literally just happened with Chapman, Snell, Montgomery, and Bellinger, but their payroll is $65m and actually closer to $50m for the on field, with nothing on the books besides Sandy, so they do have the ability to make moves and it will eventually happen even if it's still 2-3 years out

You can disagree all you want. You are wrong.

You are basically a flat Earther. You been making the same multi paragraph posts with depth charts and potential money for multiple years across two ownership groups and have never been right.

Evidence slaps you in the face but you believe.

It's a bit sad.

[lou]

Here's also 30 seconds of White strikeouts - https://www.mlb.com/marlins/video/ma...46-default-vtp

Hard to tell, but that 4th one I think is the sweeper FG talked about (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-n...grade-sweeper/) and that looks really nasty movement wise. All these hitters look overmatched on the fastballs, but of course, these are all the K pitches so they will look stupid.

[lou]

Also this is fun. Since June 22nd, Fortes is hitting 127 PA, .322/.341/.426, 3.1% BB, 14.2% K (.364 BABIP). He's up to a .8 WAR on the season in 275 PA as he's very good defensively despite an overall sub .600 OPS. That's 33rd overall for catchers with over 100 PA.

He's having a fair year and not under or over achieving on the season. I hope this is more than a BABIP bender and he is trending to a mid .600 OPS bat like he was in 21/22 as he's very viable longterm if he can get there. Some hope here. He has looked much better recently (this is a good oppo on an pitch outside and what he should be doing - https://www.mlb.com/marlins/video/ni...0Inning%20=%20[5]%20Order%20By%20Timestamp%20ASC&p=1&pt=Pitch%20by% 20Pitch%20-%205th%20Inning). I didn't realize the slash was that high, but this could be an interesting few weeks for him if he maintains this and the BABIP drops a little. Big picture, I think it goes without saying but he's a viable backup catcher and is over some of the early season hitting yips.

[lou]

Lou. You can stop bringing up Adames. The Marlins are not going to be in on him in any way shape or form. It doesn't matter what other teams do. It doesn't matter what deal he is looking for.

He won't even be discussed in the office.

Two things - I don't agree with you and you are welcome to not respond

*And I say that in the yes this is a lower single digit percentage chance the stars align and there is a total market collapse like what literally just happened with Chapman, Snell, Montgomery, and Bellinger, but their payroll is $65m and actually closer to $50m for the on field, with nothing on the books besides Sandy, so they do have the ability to make moves and it will eventually happen even if it's still 2-3 years out

[fish16]

Lou. You can stop bringing up Adames. The Marlins are not going to be in on him in any way shape or form. It doesn't matter what other teams do. It doesn't matter what deal he is looking for.

He won't even be discussed in the office.

This. I don’t know why he does this every year. This ownership could not make it any more clear they are not going to spend big, especially on a free agent

[Todd]

Lou. You can stop bringing up Adames. The Marlins are not going to be in on him in any way shape or form. It doesn't matter what other teams do. It doesn't matter what deal he is looking for.

He won't even be discussed in the office.

[fish16]

Yes he looks good for his age, but 3 BB, 2 HBP, and 2 WP in 4.1 IP? What's going on there? 1 hit and 7ks is great, but some weird stuff going on in that game.

He seems like a slow burn and 2027 guy that needs to iron out some control. Nothing wrong with that of course.

he's had control issues all year but has gotten by with great stuff. thats the next step in his development. White had that too to start the year in jupiter but improved it in beloit. hopefully meyer does the same to start next year followed by a pretty quick jump to AA. I'd say late 2026 early 2027 depending on what we do with the pitching we already have and of course injuries.

[lou]

McMillion also looks completely awesome and the Royals might have really fucked up. I post this as he might be the most interesting guy on the team right now. A mini dive:


Statcast is incredible - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savan...r-pitching-mlb

This is disgusting - https://www.mlb.com/marlins/video/dy...0Inning%20=%20[10]%20Order%20By%20Timestamp%20ASC&p=0&pt=Pitch%20by% 20Pitch%20-%2010th%20Inning

This is even more disgusting - https://www.mlb.com/marlins/video/da...0Inning%20=%20[10]%20Order%20By%20Timestamp%20ASC&p=0&pt=Pitch%20by% 20Pitch%20-%2010th%20Inning

Fangraphs considered him for their top 100 list prior to 2024 this offseason because his FB looks like an 80 sometimes - https://blogs.fangraphs.com/names-to...ant-prospects/

They dropped his ranking because he has low control and had lower velocity in spring training, but it recovered. He just very volatile with the control - https://blogs.fangraphs.com/kansas-c...rospects-2024/

It's a SSS but is showing enough control. 4.22 BB/9. For perspective, Scott is 4.52 BB/9 this season and doing great. Scott was sub 3 BB/9 in 2023 when he was out of this world good. I don't think we can hope for that expectation, but a 4.5 BB/9 McMillion is probably a very good reliever - https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jo...ats?position=P



If they get the walks voodoo out of McMillion like they did with Scott, which they have so far (enough of them anyways), they frankly have a guy who is profiling as a right handed Scott or Puk and got for free on waivers. He has 2 more options too. I'm not sure if they can fully ever fix guys like this, but he's got the juice and they have a real chance of getting a very viable high leverage RP out of him for maybe a few years. Really hoping these last 6-8 appearances he has or whatever look sharp to build off of this into next year and don't become a walkapalooza. This one is super duper fun and the kind of good news they need for the right handed bullpen arms


Also a footnote here, Tinoco is also completely dealing - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savan...r-pitching-mlb. He is OOO, but he genuinely is playing himself into the bullpen next year. Can easily see McMillian, Faucher, Bender, Cronin, and Tinoco being the right handers, with Nardi the only lefty and a revolving door of option guys for the last spot.

[lou]

good outing for noble meyer last night. hasnt been dominant this year like white but really really good year for a 19 year old across A and A+ ball. looks like they crushed the top of last year's draft

Yes he looks good for his age, but 3 BB, 2 HBP, and 2 WP in 4.1 IP? What's going on there? 1 hit and 7ks is great, but some weird stuff going on in that game.

He seems like a slow burn and 2027 guy that needs to iron out some control. Nothing wrong with that of course.