The Miami Marlins organization is still reeling from the heartbreak of losing starting pitcher Jose Fernandez after he passed away following a boating accident last September. The 24-year-old was a force of life and one of the best pitchers in the majors so he will undoubtedly be impossible to replace both in the clubhouse and on the field. Miami will attempt to turn the page this season but they will be in tough to contend for a playoff spot in the loaded National League. The Marlins have plenty of talent but they will have to overcome holes throughout their lineup if they are going to take another step forward and finish with a record better than .500 in 2017.
Key Additions: SP Edinson Volquez, RP Brad Ziegler, SP Dan Straily, SP Jeff Locke, RP Junichi Tazawa
Key Losses: SP Andrew Cashner, RP Fernando Rodney, Mike Dunn
Strengths
Miami owns one of the best outfield trios in the National League with Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich set to lead the way. Yellich and Ozuna are both coming off strong seasons but they cooled off down the final stretch and will need to put together a complete season in 2017 for the Marlins to truly contend. Stanton struggled with multiple injuries and hit a career-low .240 average so he definitely needs to be a lot better in order for this team to reach their potential. Miami threw darts at a number of starting and relief pitchers with the hope that at least a couple of them could perform at a high level but there are no guarantees. The Marlins have holes in both their starting rotation and their bullpen so they will need the offense to overachieve in order to make up for it.
Weaknesses
The starting rotation could turn out to be an absolute disaster with Edinson Volquez signed to take over as the team’s ace following off a shaky season while Dan Straily attempts to build off his best season after he posted a 3.76 ERA a year ago. Volquez and Straily will likely be slotted in the top two spots in the Miami rotation followed by Wei-Yin Chen, who simply doesn’t have what it takes to be an ace regardless of where he is listed. Of course, they’re missing Jose Fernandez, who tragically died in a boating accident in the offseason. He was the stuff ace and is obviously going to be a big loss to the team. They simply don’t have anyone to replace him right now.
Adam Conley and Tom Koehler will be asked to round out the rotation and there isn’t much reason to expect either one of those pitchers to exceed expectations. The Marlins have plenty of arms in their bullpen but they don’t necessarily have the impact arms that can make a major positive difference. Meanwhile, there is no guarantee the Miami offense is a top-15 group in the major leagues and if they struggle to produce runs then this group could be in for a long season.
2017 Miami Marlins Depth Chart
| Catcher | J.T. Realmuto | A.J. Ellis | Tomas Telis | ||
| First Base | Justin Bour | Derek Dietrich | Miguel Rojas | J.T. Realmuto | |
| Second Base | Dee Gordon | Derek Dietrich | Yefri Perez | ||
| Third Base | Martin Prado | Derek Dietrich | J.T. Riddle | ||
| Shortstop | Adeiny Hechavarria | Miguel Rojas | J.T. Riddle | ||
| Left Field | Marcell Ozuna | Ichiro Suzuki | Destin Hood | ||
| Center Field | Christian Yelich | Marcell Ozuna | Ichiro Suzuki | ||
| Right Field | Giancarlo Stanton | Marcell Ozuna | Ichiro Suzuki | Destin Hood | |
| Starting Pitcher | Wei-Yin Chen | Edinson Volquez | Adam Conley | Tom Koehler | Dan Straily |
| Relief Pitcher | Brad Ziegler | Kyle Barraclough | David Phelps | Junichi Tazawa | Dustin McGowan |
| Closer | A.J. Ramos |
Projected Win Total:
World Series Odds: +6000
Outlook
Miami finished third in the NL East a year ago but they could struggle to finish ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves as they face much more uncertainty heading in to the 2017 season. The Marlins have some quality pieces in place including a strong outfield group but they have too many holes in their lineup and rotation to expect them to compete for a playoff spot this coming season.
Prediction: 74-87
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