Miami Marlins About To Decide If They Can Compete In 2021

With their best player headed to the IL, Miami Marlins fans are bout see what the front office thinks of this 2021 club.

The moment of truth has arrived for the 2021 Miami Marlins.

Three weeks into the season, that might seem outlandish to say. Unfair even, and downright dire. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it any less true.

Because the following two things are also true about this 2021 Marlins team. On the one hand, they just lost their player for an indefinite amount of time this past Sunday, when Starling Marte went down with a fractured rib. On the other hand, this team might have the best starting rotation in their division, and easily one of the top five in the National League.

So what is the Miami Marlins front office to do?

The last twenty-four hours since the injury has, of course, seen no shortage of next man up talk from Don Mattingly and the Miami clubhouse. The only problem is that there is zero evidence to date that next man up is currently on the Marlins roster.

Magneuris Sierra and Lewis Brinson are fine pinch runners. Someday, Monte Harrison might be a solid fourth outfielder. But none have showed they are capable of making the kind of offensive contribution needed to fill in for a star like Marte.

Blasting those players for not being able to channel 2003 Miguel Cabrera might seem grossly unfair. Yet blasting them for not being able to channel 2003 Jeff Conine, 1997 Darren Daulton, or even a 2008 Wes Helms or 2016 Ichiro isn’t unfair at all. It’s, well, accurate.

Which means the Marlins front office might not have the luxury of waiting until July to decide whether they are buyers or sellers in 2021. They probably need to decide in April.

If the team makes a modest trade, or signs one of the remaining free agents, in the next couple weeks, then it’ll be clear they believe that a return to the playoffs are possible this season. If they start pushing the narrative that this is the kind of moment Lewis Brinson is made for…then fans will know the front office has their sights fixed firmly on 2022.

One wild card option would be an earlier than expected promotion of J.J. Bleday or Peyton Burdick, presently the two highest regarded outfield prospects in the organization. That too could provide the spark Miami needs to keep things rolling in the here and now.

But two things are for certain. On the transaction front, no news is most certainly not good news if Marte is going to be on the IL for anything longer than two weeks.

That, and that Marlins fans are about to find out what the Marlins’ brass really thinks of the current club.