The Miami Marlins are coming off a dismal 62-100 season, so there is really on one way this these team to go and they are hoping that a strong crop of young talent will help them start their climb back to respectability. Vegas Odds have the Marlins listed at +3500 to win the NL East, +8000 to win the NL Pennant and +15000 to win the World Series.
Last year the Marlins were 30th in runs scored (313), 30th in BA (.231) and 30th in HR’s (95). This was truly one of the worst offensive performances in the history of MLB The big bat in the Miami lineup is Giancarlo Stanton and while he led the team in BA (.249), HRs (24) and RBIs (62), it was still very much an off year for him. The Marlins did sign Garret Jones, Rafael Furcal and Jarod Saltalamacchia to help jump start the offense and they should pay dividends. Those veterans will mesh will with young stars like Marcell Ozuna and Adeiny Hechavarria and overall this should be a much improved offense.
The Marlins had good pitching numbers last year as they ranked 11th in ERA (3.71) and 17th in WHIP (1.30). The pitching is clearly the strength of this team and they are led by Jose Fernandez, who won NL Rookie of the year last year. Behind him is Jacob Turner, who was just 3-8 last year, but with a decent 3.74 ERA and Nate Eovaldi, who may have the best fastball of all the starters. The Marlins need Nate to stay healthy, though, as he is injury prone. Henderson Alvarez and Tom Koehler (5-10, 4.41 ERA) round out a staff that has a chance to be one of the best in the NL. Steve Cishek is the closer for the Marlins and finished the 2012 season by saving his last 29 attempts. The bullpen has been retooled a bit with the additions of Brian Bogusevic, Carlos Marmol and hard throwing Carter Capps.
Outlook: The Marlins are still going to finish in the basement of the NL East, but they will be an improved team. The Staff is actually worthy of a playoff contending team, but the offense still has a long way to go to pick up the slack. Miami made some solid additions in the off-season, but it will take time for them to gel. This could be a fun team to watch in the 2nd half.
Info gathered from FoxSports.com and CBSSports.com
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