The Miami Marlins are looking to use this years spring training to set the stage for a strong comeback following a season in which they under preformed, lacked any consistency and were just generally bad. Their ballpark attendance ranked 15th out of 15 venues in the National League for attendance, with just 1,752,235 fans making it out to games for the whole year at Marlins Park.
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The Fish had a very quiet off season. Their biggest signing came when they inked Taiwanese pitcher Wei-Yen Chen to a five-year contract with a vesting option for 2021. It is the Marlins hope that Chen will provide support for their pitching rotation which gave up 678 runs over the entirety of last season. Chen is expected to fill the hole in their pitching rotation that was vacated when starting pitcher Henderson Alvarez signed a one-year contract with the Oakland Athletics. Alvarez missed much of the season with a shoulder injury and only appeared in one game with the Marlins.
Marlins fans are looking forward to the 2016 season. Their stud pitcher, Jose Fernandez, is scheduled to come back after rehabbing from TJ surgery.
Giancarlo Stanton will make a strong comeback from injury and undoubtedly be the player we all know he can be. The Marlins will be looking to 1B Justin Bour to improve his bat so he can be a larger force in the lineup. In just his second season in the league, Bour batted .262 with 23 home runs and 73 RBI. These numbers are nothing to scoff at. Any second year player would love to have these stats. It is upon Bour to improve and if he can, the Marlins will undoubtedly be a contender in the NL East.
As the team went into the offseason, they were in free fall and in dire need of a leader. The managerial position of the Marlins, in all honesty isn’t a coveted job. In the 2015 season, the Marlins fired their manager, Mike Redmond after a disappointing 16-22 start to the season. Dan Jennings took over the role and did not do much better as the team finished 71-91 and third place in the NL East. As the offseason progressed, the Marlins were on the lookout for a new manager and the found him in former New York Yankee first baseman and Los Angeles Dodger skipper, Don Mattingly.
In his five seasons with the Dodgers, Donnie Baseball went 446-363 with three post season appearances. None of these appearances resulted in a World Series ring. Mattingly was plagued by postseason woes throughout his tenure with the Dodgers. Perhaps he believes that by signing with the Marlins and managing this club, he can right his woes and finally claim a World Series championship, an achievement that has eluded him his entire career.
Mattingly brings experience to the managerial position and hopefully this experience will help the Marlins in their efforts to once again achieve the ultimate dream of a World Series championship.