Good enough to dream
Sure it's a fantasy, but this "What-if" Marlins roster would win a lot of games and be a lot of fun to watch
The Marlins are 10-9 heading into today’s doubleheader in Cleveland, with new faces Luis Arraez and A.J. Puk making a major impact in the opening month of the new season.
While there were only 7 players new to the organization on the club’s Opening Day active roster, this past winter was noteworthy in that, with the non-tender of Brian Anderson and the trade of Miguel Rojas, the club said goodbye to the last 2 players who had played for the Marlins prior to the October, 2017 sale of the team.
This is now, for better or for worse, 100 percent Bruce Sherman’s team.
No Marlins fan will forget the trades that were made early in this ownership’s reign. Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees brought massive salary relief. Marcell Ozuna to the Cardinals produced Sandy Alcantara and, indirectly, Jazz Chisholm. Christian Yelich to the Brewers will go down as a bust of historic proportions, as will J.T. Realmuto to the Phillies unless Sixto Sanchez can return from injuries that have cost him more than 2 years and emerge as a dominant force on the mound.
While time has removed the initial sting of those deals, and many have moved on from what feels like ancient history, I was thinking recently: What might a 26-man Marlins roster look like today if it were made up entirely of active players who the club has traded away over the years?
It’s the ultimate “what-if” exercise, and we all realize it’s not realistic for financial reasons as long as the current ownership is in place. But it was still fun to take a shot at building the roster.
So what does it look like?
To me, it looks a lot like a playoff team. It looks like a team that, while lacking in a couple of places—with decent health and a few breaks—might even have a chance to make a deep October run.
I say that based on the players’ performances in 2022 and, in the case of some who missed time due to injury a season ago, what you might expect them to produce at this stage in their careers in a healthy 2023.
Remember, this roster only includes players who were traded away. It does not include players who left the Marlins via free agency (Ryne Stanek, for example), were non-tendered (Brian Anderson, for example), were claimed off waivers (Brad Hand and Harold Ramirez, for example) or were selected in the Rule 5 draft (Mark Canha, for example).
So let’s see what this fantasy roster could look like…
Let’s start with a rotation of Zac Gallen, Pablo Lopez, Luis Castillo, Nathan Eovaldi and Anthony DeSclafani.
Those 5 combined for a WAR of 13.0 in 2022, according to Baseball Reference, nearly double the Marlins’ 7.2 rotation WAR (and that was with Sandy Alcantara’s performance that earned a unanimous Cy Young Award). That 13.0 WAR would have ranked 5th in the NL and 8th in MLB last season. The 2022 Marlins rotation tied for 19th in MLB in WAR.
I’ll put Domingo German and Andrew Heaney in the bullpen as long men who could start if needed.
As for the rest of the bullpen, how about Michael King, Alex Vesia, Anthony Bass, Yimi Garcia, Richard Bleier and Nick Anderson.
That’s an 8.6 WAR bullpen in 2022, which would have ranked 3rd in MLB. The 2022 Marlins’ pen was 23rd with 2.8 WAR.
Is there a clear-cut closer in that bullpen? No. But there are pitchers who have previously closed, and there’s good left-right balance. Most importantly, there are a lot of arms that have been—and remain—very successful.
The combined 21.6 WAR between starters and relievers in 2022 would have ranked 4th among ML pitching staffs, behind the Dodgers, Astros and Braves (the last 3 World Series champions). Meanwhile, the 2022 Marlins staff ranked 10th at 17.3.
Now, let’s go around the horn:
Catcher: J.T. Realmuto. He’s the best all-around backstop in the game.
First Base: Miguel Cabrera. He’s no longer the perennial MVP candidate of yesteryear, but Miggy is a 3,000-hit, 500-home run Hall of Famer in waiting.
Second Base: Kike Hernandez. He brings defensive versatility and a hard-nosed approach to the game.
Shortstop: Miguel Rojas. While his offense has declined in the last couple of years, there’s no denying the Gold Glove-caliber work he does at shortstop.
Third Base: (the one real stretch) Colin Moran, who is in Triple-A with the Mariners. It would have been nice to insert Brian Anderson here, but he was non-tendered, not traded away.
Left Field: Christian Yelich. His production has fallen off from his 2018-19 peak as he’s been slowed by injuries in recent years, but Yeli maintains a good eye at the plate. He’s an extra-base threat who can steal a base and help you win in a variety of ways.
Center Field: Starling Marte. A guy who can win you games with his bat, his glove, his arms and his legs. A winning player. I’ve said it before. Failing to extend Marte in 2021, when he wanted to remain a Marlin, is probably the biggest on-field mistake this ownership has made. The only mitigating fact is that Jesus Luzardo was acquired when Marte was dealt to Oakland.
Right Field: Adam Duvall. When healthy, he’s a big-time run producer and Gold Glove-caliber outfielder. Trading Duvall for Alex Jackson at the deadline in 2021 is right there with letting Marte go in terms of miscalculations made by this ownership. Consider this: They could have kept Marte and Duvall and wouldn’t have needed to bring in Jorge Soler and Avisail Garcia. The fact that they’re paying Soler and Garcia more than they would have had to pay Marte and Duvall is additional salt in the wound.
Designated Hitter: Giancarlo Stanton. How much has G’s thunderous bat been missed in Miami? He hit 59 home runs en route to winning the NL MVP Award in 2017, his final season as a Marlin. In 6 combined seasons since (2018-23), no Marlin has totaled more than 57 long balls (Brian Anderson), and no current Marlin has hit more than 42 (Garrett Cooper). Only the Tigers have hit fewer home runs than Miami since the day Stanton was traded.
Bats off the bench could include Austin Barnes, Josh Naylor, Corey Dickerson and Marcell Ozuna.
Admittedly, some of the names and resumes in that lineup are more impressive than their actual production in 2022 as several missed significant time due to injury, and Cabrera is riding off into the sunset of his Hall of Fame career.
That group combined for a 17.6 WAR a season ago, which would have been only 18th in MLB. But it was significantly better than the 2022 Marlins, who were 25th at 11.0.
And when your pitching is as good as this fantasy roster’s, you don’t have to rank at the top of MLB in runs scored to win a lot of games.
With health, there’s reason to think many in this fantasy group would be significantly better in 2023 than they were in 2022 (although Stanton and Duvall are already looking at long absences due to early-season injuries).
You could make a compelling argument that, assuming health for both this roster and the actual 2023 Marlins, this fantasy group of position players would be better at 6 of the 9 offensive positions (all but first base, second base and third base), and it is deeper and better in both the rotation and the bullpen.
Finally, since every team needs a manager, I’ll nominate Craig Counsell, the 1997 World Series hero, who was traded from the Marlins to the Dodgers in 1999.
An awfully enticing roster, huh?
Now, there is this complication: That 26-man roster would cost $249,550,000 in 2023, which would give Miami the 3rd-highest payroll in MLB behind only the Mets and Yankees, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. This roster would be less than $1 million more expensive than that of the Padres and about $6.5 million more expensive than the Phillies. The payroll would exceed that of the Dodgers, Angels, Blue Jays, Braves, Rangers and Giants, who round out the current top 10.
Putting the payroll aside, because this is fantasy after all, it’s very conceivable this roster could battle the Braves, Mets and Phillies for NL East supremacy. And once you get to October, as history has shown Marlins fans, all bets are off.
While the roster is make-believer, this reality is not: The Marlins should not own the worst record in MLB over the last 15 years, when you consider all the talent, and in some cases financial relief, that should have been brought back in return for the 26 traded players mentioned above.
There have been some major misses on trades along the way, and they are every bit as responsible, if not more so, than the club’s current payroll when you look for reasons why the Marlins have been where they’ve been in recent years, annually at or near the bottom of the NL East.
So what do you think? How far could that 26-man roster go? Let me know in the comments below.
It's almost as if you are saying that Marlins' ownership has been consistently incompetent, shortsighted, uninformed and just generally dreadful at their jobs.
Say it ain't so?! 😐😁
That roster could win over 100 games, am I wrong for that??