Marlins 2018 Season Preview
Ready to check out our 2018 Miami Marlins predictions? No team made more headlines this offseason than the Marlins. Unfortunately they were all about how the transactions they made should assure a last place finish in the National League East. A would have been sleeper is now essentially a non-factor.
MLB Marlins Predictions & Handicapping Insight
The only good thing about the moves the Marlins made is that they set the expectation so low that nearly any positive results will be a pleasant surprise.
Some are pinning the hopes of decency on a group of pitchers that has potential but a slew of question marks. Overall I am not very optimistic about this group.
2018 MLB Team Previews – Miami Marlins
- National League East +10000
- National League +25000
- World Series +50000
Key Additions:
- Starlin Castro
- Cameron Maybin
- Lewis Brinson
In terms of on field product Castro was the biggest return from the Giancarlo Stanton deal with the Yankees. He can definitely hit but he has been getting shuffled around from team to team over the years.
Maybin is a long way from his prospect days in Detroit. He is 30 now and likely to be the starting center fielder for better or worse.
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Brinson is a nice prospect who will get more playing time than he was going to get in Milwaukee. Again, as an outfielder, who is going to replace him.
Key Losses:
- OF Giancarlo Stanton
- OF Marcell Ozuna
- OF Christian Yelich
There is no other way to look at this other than to say that the Marlins no longer have their three best offensive players. The fact that htey formed one of the best outfields is baseball is secondary.
Marlins Predictions: Projected Lineup:
- LF Derek Dietrich
- 3B Martin Prado
- 1B Justin Bour
- 2B Starling Castro
- C JT Realmuto
- RF Lewis Brinson
- CF Cameron Maybin
- SS JT Riddle
This is quite likely going to be the lowest scorig team in the National League. Bour and Castro have decent upsides but the rest of the group is not that fearsome.
One thing especially notable is the lack of power with this group. They are going to have to string together a lot of hits but I don’t see them made for that at all.
Marlins Predictions: Projected Rotation:
- RH Dan Straily
- RH Jose Urena
- LH Dillon Peters
- RH Odrisamer Despaigne
- LH Justin Nicolina
This is not a fearsome rotation. I have always felt that Straily was underrated but he would make a really good #4, not an ace. The rest of the group are big question marks.
Urena is the one with the highest ceiling, but that is really relative with this group. There are not going to be too many games where you think the Marlins have an advantage on the mound when the game starts.
Marlin Predictions: Projected Closer:
- RH Brad Ziegler
Ziegler has experience in the role but is not exactly ideal. My hunch is that he will be dealt to a contender if he performs.
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After him they have some arms that fit the profile but don’t have the experience in Kyle Barraclough and Drew Steckenrider. Neither are kids so the time to ride them is now.
The projected bullpen contains only one lefty in Chris O’Grady. I am not saying the Marlins will be in lots of tight ball games where they will want to mix and match but they won’t have a ton of options.
2018 Miami Marlins Prediction:
Most see this Marlins team as the worst in the league and I am not going to argue against that. Still even the worst teams win about 60 games per season so if we can crack the code with Miami there will be profits.
At this moment it is hard to see games where this team will be a favouite, unless they are taking on the other dregs of the league.
With a mediocre offense and subpar pitching it is going to make playing totals challenging, you just won’t know how much the Marlins can really contribute on either side of the ball.
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With so much unpredictability this season you have to try and maximize value if you are going to play the Marlins. To me that means looking for games in the +200 range and seeing if you can find some sort of edge.
Anything less than that and I think you are more gambling than anything else. This group just isn’t very good and predicting those 60 wins is going to be very difficult.
What do you think of our 2018 Miami Marlins predictions? Comments are welcome below.
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