It was a blast while it lasted. The Miami Marlins' surprise run in the MLB playoffs took them from a 105-loss team in 2019, through a COVID-19 outbreak at the start of this season, to a wild-card round victory against the Chicago Cubs, and finally to the NLDS, where they were swept by the Atlanta Braves.
David Schoenfield takes a look at where the Marlins stand and answers three key questions for the club for 2021 and beyond.
Miami Marlins
Notable free agents: Matt Joyce
Trade candidates: Starling Marte
Extension candidates: Not really in the Marlins' repertoire
1. How do they improve the offense?
It was a fun ride, especially given how bad the Marlins were in 2019 (57-105) and then the COVID-19 outbreak after the first series that forced the club to dig deep into its roster (and beyond). The offense was much improved over 2019, but it still ranked below average. One positive sign: They improved from 28th in the majors in walks to the middle of the pack. Bringing in some veterans like Jesus Aguilar and Joyce helped in that area, but those were stopgap-type players (although Aguilar played well enough to earn first-base duties for 2021).
Given that the Marlins aren't going to be in the sweepstakes to sign, say, a George Springer or a DJ LeMahieu, they will most likely have to rely on improvement from some of the young players -- except it's worth noting that the young Marlins aren't really that young. Jorge Alfaro will be in his age-28 season, Lewis Brinson will be 27, even Monte Harrison and Isan Diaz will be 25. These are ages at which players typically do not show dramatic improvement. It's possible, of course, but there are no guarantees, and strikeout-to-walk ratio remains a huge problem for all four of those guys. It will also be interesting to see if Jazz Chisholm is ready for a full-time job. Maybe he's the second baseman of the present rather than Diaz. Chisholm is tooled up, and the Marlins probably rushed him to the majors in 2020 given his contact issues in the minors in 2018 and 2019, but he has the most upside of any of the young position players.
2. Will they trade Marte?
Marte has a $12.5 million club option, which is cheap enough that the Marlins will have to pick it up. That doesn't mean he won't be on the trade block. Brinson did finally hit a little down the stretch and he's a better defensive center fielder than Marte, so the Marlins may want to give him one more chance to take that job. Certainly, the best defensive outfield would feature Brinson in center and Marte in a corner. Marte also gives them a little dependability; if Brinson and Harrison can't hit and you trade Marte, the outfield could end up being a disaster.
3. Do they have enough pitching depth?
The rotation looks promising with Sixto Sanchez as a potential ace and Pablo Lopez, Sandy Alcantara and Trevor Rogers all having their moments. They got some good work from a grab bag of relievers -- almost all of the Marlins' primary relievers were 32 or older and career journeyman types. You can't count on that group being as productive again. Mike Hill and Derek Jeter will have to be careful not to think the pitching staff is set just because of a solid performance in 2020.