Miami Marlins: Five 2018 milestones the Fish need to make happen

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It looks like it’s going to be a long road for the Miami Marlins when it comes to building back up their beleaguered franchise. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of steps to take during the 2018 season.

Saying that the new Miami Marlins ownership is playing the long game would be putting it mildly.

An offseason full of sweeping changes has the Marlins projected to be looking up at just about every team in the league by season’s end. Popular opinion on the franchise’s fifth firesale is mixed. Some see the club following the successful blueprint of the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs. Others see this as just the latest in a long line of betrayals, and proof that any money or attention paid to the Miami Marlins is a waste of effort.

That being the case, no matter how long-term Derek Jeter and Bruce Sherman might be thinking there is a lot riding on how this 2018 season plays out. There might not be a championship at stake, but which side of this Marlins divide feels vindicated come October will go a long way towards determining what kind of success the team will have going forward.

Consequently, the following are some benchmarks the Miami Marlins would do well to hit, and hit this year. Pull these feats off, and fans just might start buying back in. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it is fair to expect to see progress by season’s end. So far, everything the new management has done has only reminded most fans of Jeffrey Loria. Or worse, came off as even worse than some of Mr. Loria’s more notable moves.

Hitting at least a couple of these five milestones over the upcoming season would be a good barometer of what Miami Marlins fans can ultimately expect: business as usual, or an actual path to success.

Could Lewis Brinson be next Miami Marlins top rookie? MIAMI, FL – JULY 09: Lewis Brinson /

Find the Next Hanley Ramirez

Want a sure-fire way to fast-track the Miami Marlins? Find the next Hanley Ramirez.

More to the point, they need to find the franchise’s fifth NL Rookie of the Year winner.

If we throw out the fake fire sale of 2012, the 2006 iteration of the Miami Marlins were the last team to swim in the same waters this 2018 club finds themselves in. Projected to be terrible, all that team did was blow the doors off every projection levied in their direction. Twenty games under .500 in May, they played like the best team in baseball the rest of the season, reaching two games over .500 before smashing into the rookie wall over the final two weeks.

Confidence was back. A stunning six Miami Marlins received NL ROY votes, with three Fish ranking in the top four — winning the award? That’d be Hanley. Fans were floored.

That being said, there’s nothing to suggest this 2018 club is going to pull off being that prolific. Despite Hanley’s heroics, the backbone of the 2006 club was a starting rotation that had five starters win double-digit games. Four of those hurlers were rookies. Meanwhile, the 2018 Miami Marlins are returning a lot of familiar faces to the mound. To the lineup even; Cabrera was the lone holdover position player from 2005. Realistically, we’re looking at no more than four opportunities total for a fresh face to make a name for themselves in their debut campaign.

One of those four stepping up and being great would go a long way towards putting fans’ minds at ease. That would serve as proof that this new ownership group, with this new plan, knows what they’re doing. By no means does every prospect brought in this offseason need to pan out.

But considering all the star power that just went out the door, at least one of them needs to, and needs to do so this season.

Ricky Nolasco wasn’t much. But you can argue the Marlins franchise wins leader is the second best pitcher they ever produced. ATLANTA, GA – JULY 03: Ricky Nolasco /

Develop a Starting Pitcher

Next up for the new era of Miami Marlins baseball? Do something the Marlins have only done once since the last of those 2006 rookie pitchers walked out the door.

Develop a starting pitcher.

The late, great Jose Fernandez is the beginning and end of any conversation about pitcher development since that 2006 season — more specifically, since Ricky Nolasco left midway through Fernandez’s rookie year in 2013. There have been plenty of Miami Marlins clubs with a ton of offensive talent over the last thirteen years. But only two of those teams have had anything approaching a deep, intimidating starting rotation.

Instead, a revolving door of one-year rentals or serviceable journeyman has been the norm. Tom Koehler is actually in the Top 5 all-time in games started for Miami and is just outside the Top 10 in wins. I loved the guy, but that’s, unfortunately, all the proof you need for how good a job this franchise has done developing starters.

Changing that narrative would be a massive step in the right direction. Sandy Alcantara, or maybe someone more under the radar, doesn’t need to become the next Jose Fernandez. But is it too much to ask for a new Nolasco?

No, it isn’t.

Unfortunately, it seemed to have been too much to ask for twelve years worth of Miami Marlins drafts and trades. Granted, the Dodgers haven’t had much better luck coming up with anyone other than Clayton Kershaw, and no one hears their fans complaining. However, that’s the luxury of having one of the largest payrolls in baseball. Small market clubs need to supply most of their own answers when it comes to starting pitching, and Miami has with one massive exception been terrible at that for over a decade.

Showing fans this new ownership group can start turning that around would be quite the feather in their cap. Again, Cy Young candidate not needed. Just someone who can keep his ERA consistently under 4.00 and regularly provide six competitive innings will be fine.

Sign an International Free Agent

Recently, I suggested in this space that the Miami Marlins go all in on the latest name to come out of the Caribbean, Julio Pablo Martinez.

Unfortunately, the Texas Rangers recently came to terms with the 21-yr old outfielder. So there goes that MLB Top 100 prospect.

Even though that didn’t entirely go as I had hoped, it’s still good advice for this Miami Marlins franchise. The Julio Pablo ship might have sailed, but that doesn’t mean the club doesn’t need to break with tradition and become what they have no excuse not being:

One of the most dominant names in baseball when it comes to signing top international talent.

Fans will cheer for anyone that will help their team win. However, it’s always a bigger draw at the gate when fans feel they can identify with their favorite stars. Every Jose Day start, every inning of those World Baseball Classic names, all serve as a testament to the market potential for a Latin superstar suiting up in a Miami Marlins uniform.

Historically, the club has been too cheap to realistically throw their hat into the ring when it comes to landing these established international stars. Changing that when the 2018-2019 signing period gets underway this summer would likely turn the heads of many a fan.

It’s imperative the Miami Marlins come off smelling like roses this July. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

Win the Trade Deadline

The most accessible milestone for the Miami Marlins to check off in 2018 might also prove the most difficult. It’s undoubtedly the most difficult to pinpoint exactly what achieving it would look like.

The organization needs to own their upcoming Trade Deadline.

Of course, that criteria covers a lot of ground. Winning the deadline could mean wheeling and dealing like mad. It could mean standing pat. Hopefully, it’ll say something in between. It’s entirely dependent on how players develop to that point, and how the team is doing in the standings.

What cannot happen is to have another July come and go where every baseball expert observes the Marlins made a poor trade — that they could have gotten better prospects, if only they were willing to eat some of the cost. That what just happened was business as usual, about anything other than building a winner.

The Miami Marlins are more than welcome to trade J.T. Realmuto this summer. They just need to do so as part of a trade that is viewed as the outright robbery of a desperate contender’s farm system. Alternatively, they can stand pat, for better or worse letting this group play things out. Maybe not rushing any prospects to save money is what a win looks like.

Or they somehow find takers for that massive Wei-Yin Chen contract. Lots of ways to pull this off — just so long as fans enter August believing the best interests of the team were served, and not only the bank accounts of the Marlins new owners.

WASHINGTON – AUGUST 6: Shortstop Hanley Ramirez /

Have a Winning Season

For most Miami Marlins fans, it’s probably hard to even remember what 2009 felt like.

Which is unfortunate, considering that was the last time the Miami Marlins managed to produce a winning season.

That season saw Chris Coghlan win an NL Rookie of the Year award. It saw Hanley Ramirez win anNL batting title. And it saw the Marlins fall a painful five games short of the Wild Card, sticking in the race until the very end.

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The eight years since have seen no shortage of individual highlights. Gold Gloves. No-hitters. Home run chases. Every Jose Fernandez start. Even another batting title. But be it clubhouse chemistry, cheap ownership, or both (it’s both), none of those teams were ever able to do enough to completely and consistently win fans over. And more to the point, consistently win.

That’s a lot of losing to stomach, particularly in a front running sports town like Miami. The fact that the Miami Marlins have seemingly guaranteed that streak is going to hit double digits is not sitting well with the fandom. Or for that matter, with the MLB Players Association.

If this team were to go out and have everything go their way, and somehow stumble into an 82-80 finish, all criticism would evaporate. Fans were up in arms heading into 2006; the conversation changed in a hurry when that club played winning baseball over the final four months. Fans were outraged over the trade of Miguel Cabrera, but consecutive winning seasons helped quell a lot of that wrath.

Next: Fernandez’s death “turning point” for Marlins

It’s not gonna happen. But if it did, Jeter would go from carpetbagger to conquering hero overnight.

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