For most of this off-season, I’ve operated under the assumption that the 2025 Marlins were full of skunks, pumpkins, liars. Over performers bound for regression. For every Kyle Stowers in Marlins history, there is a Justin Ruggiano. Recently, I wondered if the 2026 fish would mirror the 2016 team.
Jakob Marsee, for example, is bound to hit a few bumps during his first full big-league season. He could go blind, after all, or eat too many croquetas and render himself unable to steal bases. I don’t know. Kyle Stowers is a complete wild card in whom I have no trust. Can he maintain his Cliff Floyd impression while striking out 28% of the time and avoiding the injury list?
And about the pitching…. If you haven’t already read this on Janson Junk, who is suddenly a shoo-in for the opening day three hole after the trades of Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers, I suggest changing that. The rest of the rotation isn’t perfect, either.
Will Eury finally put it together and stop getting randomly shelled five times a year?
Is Sandy still capable of being Sandy for a full season?
Can we expect Braxton Garrett to slide back into his old abilities, after seeing how hard it was for the likes of Sandy and Eury?
All to say reasons abound to pour cold milk over this sudden optimism.
Then again—the Marlins may not have had a more exciting young core since 2006. With an increasingly loaded farm system, to boot.
The emergent group of Marsey, Otto Lopez, X, Stowers, Owen Caisie, Griffin Conine, Augustin Ramirez & soon Joe Mack leads a far deeper and more formidable positional group than the franchise has seen in decades, plural, not just since the 2016 squad.
Perhaps I was unkind in my initial assessment of the ’25 squad. I hadn’t considered, for example, that guys like Xavier Edwards could be even better next year. That feels like a mistake.
X’s transition from shortstop to second base has been well covered. If you’re reading this, you likely already know that he ended up being a very valuable defender after going back to second, and it seemed to provide his offensive game with a boost, at least initially.
And you know that he was under fire from fans for his weak throwing despite an unfair burden playing out of position at short. Going back to second let him focus on hitting. He hit to the tune of a 127 WRC+ in June and July. I think X left some meat on the bone last year, and a full year at second could make him a 5-WAR player.
Otto Lopez is an elite defender at short with underlying metrics suggesting he was an unlucky hitter in 2025. Graham Pauley and Connor Norby can spar for the corner infield reps. I suppose Christopher Morel also exists. Every left-handed hitter playing outfield is better than anyone the team has had since Christian Yelich. The depth pieces are there in Sanoja, Heriberto Hernandez, Liam Hicks, Esteury Ruiz.
I am now just naming the 40-man roster. But in how many years past could you survey a Marlins depth chart and see the potential in almost everyone to be a positive contributor? There’s talent all over the diamond. All of that, and upper minors depth knocking on the door in the form of Robby Snelling, Thomas White, and Mack.
Sure, it’s all projections and hope in the continued development of these young players. There are few sure things. So, they had a few good months in 2025. But this fan base is starving. I’ve always believed that if the team won more than they lost and had maybe two marketable stars, Loan Depot would be packed every weekend. Jose Fernandez used to jam the place by himself when the team had no hope of being competitive. The Yankees series last summer was loud on TV. And wildly entertaining. But since the place opened in 2012 the team has been horrible. They’ve gone 947-1217, to be exact.
But pitchers and catchers report this month, and for once, there’s a note of hope drifting south from Jupiter. Last year, they made a big jump. This year, with the only meaningful free agent contract of the off season going to Pete Fairbanks, they’re going to have to do it again. And I’m starting to talk myself into the idea that they just might.