Miami Marlins: Time to Let Justin Bour Take Over at First

The Miami Marlins are looking at veteran power hitters to platoon at first base. They may already have their answer in Justin Bour.

There’s no secret that the Miami Marlins’ biggest target of the offseason was rebuilding a rotation left without an ace after the tragic loss of Jose Fernandez. The Marlins have thus far addressed those issues. Though they haven’t found an ace, they did sign Edinson Volquez and trade for Dan Straily. It appears that they are now turning their attention to bolstering some pop in the heart of their lineup.

According to reports, the Marlins have had discussions about bringing in one of the big bats of Mark Reynolds or Chris Carter. Carter is coming off a career year of sorts, blasting a career-best 41 home runs. Mark Reynolds had a bit of a career rebirth, albeit in Colorado, where many a power hitter has found their stroke once they thought it was lost.

The biggest setback may be their cost.

That being said, it seems that the Marlins simply don’t have faith in Justin Bour righting his wrongs. Bour has long been seen as a platoon player, who has had career struggles hitting left-handers. In 2015, his breakout campaign that saw him blast 23 home runs, he slashed .221/.293/.279 against left-handers. Last year saw improvement, as he raised his batting average (.233) and slugging percentage (.300), but like 2015, none of his home runs came against lefties.

So, the Miami Marlins are looking at veterans with pop to platoon with Bour. While finances may be one concern, so may the players. Neither are tremendous upgrades against lefties, and neither seem to solve the problem of this young lineup.

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Last season was arguably Chris Carter’s finest as a big leaguer. He was tied atop the NL in home runs with 41, 12 of which came against lefties. But we all know the story with Carter. For the second time in his young career, Carter led his league in strikeouts, this time with 206. While he improved his hitting against lefties in 2016 (.224/.338/.537), he struck out 32 percent of the time, pretty much the norm of his career. Assuming that he would be batting behind the Miami Marlins’ franchise player in Giancarlo Stanton, that combines for a tremendous amount of strikeouts. Stanton struck out 28 percent of the time last year, down one percent from the previous season.

Mark Reynolds is now 34. Despite having a renaissance last season with the Rockies, it has to be taken for what it’s worth. Yes, he posted a career high batting average and on-base percentage. Yes, he posted the lowest strikeout rate of his career (still a staggering 25.4 percent), but he also played in Colorado. He had the added luxury of the highest batting average on balls in play (.361) since his 2007 rookie season. Reynolds is a nice player for a veteran platoon target, but at this stage of his career, he is who he is. Anything more than a minor league contract would be too big an investment.

Bour was amid a career season before being shut down with injury. He has improved every year that he has been a big leaguer. He has the ability to bat in front of or behind Stanton. Most importantly he struck out only 17.4 percent last season, improving nearly five percent from his debut year. Will Bour suddenly find a huge power surge against lefties? Likely not, but is benching him once every three or four days for an aging boom-or-bust veteran in the prime of his career going to help him overcome those struggles? Also not very likely.

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Carter’s and Reynolds’ big bats may seem like they bring a lot of run-producing ability to a team. Looking at their wRC+ they are merely league average players. Reynolds sported a 99 wRC+ last season (100 is the average) and Carter just a 112. While Bour’s was only 114, the promise of an ever-improving 28-year-old seems like the kind of player you hand the reins to for better or worse. It will be interesting to see what the Marlins decide to do.