The Miami Marlins: Outfield? Check. Pitching? Check. Infield? … Infield? …

A few days ago, the Miami Marlins signed outfielder Giancarlo Stanton to a 13 year, $325 million contract, the largest contract in North American sports history. Many figured that would be it for the Marlins, probably for many years to come. Not quite the case. In fact, part of Giancarlo’s agreement includes a lot of deferred money toward the later part of the contract. The reasoning behind the deferred money is to give the Marlins a chance to build around Stanton in the early parts of his mega-deal. The Fish are reportedly interested in extending the contracts of outfielders Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna, as well as shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria. The Marlins would obviously love to extend ace pitcher Jose Fernandez as well, but as a Scott Boras client, he is considered a long shot to accept any kind of deal that would not allow him to reach free agency.

Aside from extending their current players, the Marlins are also interested in adding to the team through free agency. They have already been linked to several players, and will surely be linked to more during the Winter Meetings in a couple of weeks. The Marlins outfield is a dream come true, with superstar Giancarlo Stanton in right field and emerging stars Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna in left and center.

The infield, however, is pictured here:

The Miami Marlins got horrible production from every single infield spot last season, and project to be even worse this year. Some ugly numbers to follow, so Marlins fans may want to avert their eyes:

-The Marlins are projected to receive the worst production in baseball from catcher (1.6 fWAR)

-The Marlins are projected to receive the worst production in baseball from first base (-0.2 fWAR)

-The Marlins are projected to receive the 4th worst production in baseball from second base (1.1 fWAR)

-The Marlins are projected to receive the 3rd worst production in baseball from shortstop (0.4 fWAR)

-The Marlins are projected to receive the 2nd worst production in baseball from third base (1.0 fWAR)

So, in other words, the Marlins project to be 30th at catcher and first base, 27th at second, 28th at short, and 29th at third. That’s not a winning team unless the outfielders and pitchers all have career years. Upgrades are necessary at all infield positions, but will realistically only happen at one or two.

The Marlins seem enamored with the left side of their infield, so Casey McGehee and Adeiny Hechavarria are locks to be the starters there in 2015, despite their clear lack of talent and ugly projections. As mentioned earlier, the Marlins are even considering an extension for Hechavarria, despite the fact that he is one of the worst position players in the game. McGehee had an excellent first half of 2014, but it was based mostly on luck and reality reared its ugly head in the second half. Realists expect a lot more of second-half-McGehee, but the Marlins seem to be hoping for first-half-McGehee to come back.

The other side of the infield seems a bit more likely to be upgraded. The Marlins signed Garrett Jones to a two-year deal before last season, but he was awful offensively and a liability defensively as well. The Fish have been in contact with former National, Brave, Diamondback, and Pirate Adam LaRoche. LaRoche hits left-handed like Jones does, so he would make a good platoon partner with Jeff Baker, who can only hit lefty pitching. Against righties, LaRoche is a career .272/.353/.489 hitter. He is also able to somewhat hold his own against lefties (.240/.298/.420), something which Jones could not do. Long considered a plus defender and one of those guys who can “pick it”, LaRoche’s defensive metrics actually view him as well below average throughout his career, albeit slightly better than Jones. Reports say the Marlins have already offered LaRoche a 2 year, $20 million contract. If he were to sign, it would be an immediate upgrade and take the Marlins out of the bottom rung of first baseman projections. LaRoche is projected to amass 1.9 fWAR in 2015, and could prove to be even better than that if he is platooned correctly by manager Mike Redmond.

For second base, the Marlins seem somewhat content with an in house competition between Donovan Solano, Derek Dietrich, and Kike Hernandez. The problem with that is: Solano is bad and has proven it, Dietrich cannot play defense and has proven it, and Hernandez has not played enough to prove anything. Dietrich has the highest offensive ceiling by far while Hernandez may be the better overall player. Solano’s already bad numbers are inflated by a few unsustainably huge games. He cannot be a starter on a team with playoff aspirations.

Catchers Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jeff Mathis project to be awful again next season. Salty signed a three-year contract after coming off a career year in Boston, but predictably came crashing back down to Earth, hard. Mathis is a defense-first, defense-second, and defense-third catcher. In fact, he is one of the worst hitters in league history given the amount of at bats he has received. Earlier reports stated that the Marlins were telling other teams that Salty was available for trade, so promising rookie JT Realmuto may see more time in the Major Leagues in 2015, unless the Fish acquire someone else to crouch behind the plate.

Overall, it is a promising and exciting time to be a Marlins fan, but a lot of work needs to be done in the infield before this team can be considered anything other than a mediocre team with a great outfield and an above average pitching staff.

Author: David Marcillo

David has been a Marlins fan since 1993. ’97 and ’03 were nice. Best of times, worst of times, mediocre times in between.

You can follow David on Twitter: @DavidMarcillo77 or you can email: [email protected]

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