Do My Eyes Deceive Me?

 

Every year, in addition to the teams we figure are gonna do well, there's always one that has a strong start that nobody is expecting to. A couple years ago the Pirates were one of the best teams in April, and then a joke by June. Last May the Twins had a ridiculous winning streak and by July the Pohlads decided it wasn't sustainable. I like to think, at this point, that I know the difference between the start of something beautiful [the 2015 Mets in April] or a complete mirage [the 2013 Brewers]. 

But I'm looking at this Marlins team right now and I don't know what I believe. Yes, it is more likely than not that the Braves, Mets and Phillies will come storming back and control the division like everyone is expecting them to. But the Marlins...look good. I know they played the Rockies in the first series and have had to play the White Sox this week, but even if it is against bad teams, this is a more confident, well-assembled Marlins team. Clearly.

There's so many pieces of this team that, in 2025, were thought as perfunctory or auxiliary pieces, and those guys are now plugged into this team firmly. Javier Sanoja seems to have a permanent infield position and is hitting .583. Liam Hicks is no longer a fledgling backup catcher and now he currently leads the league in RBIs with 12. Janson Junk was a swing guy who took a few starts when the Marlins had no options, and now he's a trusty fifth man who does what he's supposed to. Additionally, there was a spot on this team to fit Owen Caissie [perpetually blocked behind PCA and co], and he's been tremendous in Miami, hitting .350 with 8 RBIs. I do think about what the outfield is gonna look like when Kyle Stowers gets back, and how he, Caissie and Jakob Marsee could form a pretty powerful unit out there.

The new factors of this team are also reestablishing just how well-ironed some of the preexisting aspects are. Xavier Edwards and Otto Lopez, their first couple years in Miami, felt like potential place-filler options until better guys came along, and as something resembling elder statesmen on this team, they still have a big role to play. Edwards's contact game has been sharp, as he's currently hitting .409 with a steal. Lopez is hitting .318 and has a homer. Sandy Alcantara is back to his old self, 2-0 with no earned runs and 12 Ks through his first 2 starts. There's a chance some may be dealt later on this year, but knowing how impressive the youth movement is on this team, it could just be for all the right reasons. Besides, considering how ready Deyvison de los Santos looks for the majors, I kinda wish for any sort of move to justify bringing him back up.

The real test for this Marlins team will be how they do against the Yankees this weekend. There's a good team with a much fuller lineup and a much scarier pitching staff. Can they show they can be a spoiler, even this early? Or will this go...just about as well as everyone's thinking it will?

Coming Tomorrow- A guy that made a postseason roster, than an Opening Day roster, then he hit a ton of home runs.

That Certain X-Factor

 

Here's the wildest thing about the 2025 Miami Marlins, already the most fascinating of the 'bad teams' this year. Statistically, their best player right now is a reliever named Lake Bachar. Bachar toiled in the Padres' minor league system for 8 years, signed a deal with the Marlins and snuck onto the roster last year. So far he's been excellent in relief. Bachar is perfect for Miami baseball, because he has he look of someone who just crawled out of a swamp. He's got long hair, asymmetrical eyes, is somehow gangly and bloated at the same time, and looks perpetually like the mysterious insane drifter in a television show. Equal parts Old Man McGucket from Gravity Falls and Horace Goodspeed from Lost. More relievers should look like barroom denizens. We had Rod Beck, we had Bob Wickman, and now Bachar will do the trick.

I bring this up because the Marlins' thing so far this year has been getting wins out of the most anonymous, incomprehensible types of players. Going into the season, the narrative the Marlins were going with was 'Sandy Alcantara is back, Xavier Edwards, Jesus Sanchez and Connor Norby are the stars of this team, and we're building on last season in order to hopefully be good again soon'. Alcantara so far has a 7.27 ERA, Edwards is decent but limited, Norby and Sanchez just got activated and the team again seems to be reshuffling. And...in the most bizarre way, it's kind of working? The Marlins aren't in last, they're scraping by, and yesterday they won on a 5-RBI day from rookie Javier Sanoja, who also hit his first career home run.

This was against the Philadelphia Phillies, by the way. As was the previous game, which the Phillies won but the Marlins nearly flipped by tacking on 6 runs in the ninth. And you can easily go 'oh, well the Phillies bullpen is having troubles right now', but if the Marlins' lineup wasn't sneakily good then they never would have had much of an issue. 

Right now the Marlins' best starter is Max Meyer, who had some excellent 2024 starts despite spending a chunk of the year in the minors. He's got a 2.10 ERA and 41 Ks so far, and as we speak he's silencing the Reds' offense. The team's best power hitter is former Cubs prospect Matt Mervis, who has 6 homers and 12 RBIs despite struggling in most other aspects. Kyle Stowers is undeniably the team's best clutch hitter, as he's been proving since the season started. And the best defender is Otto Lopez, though his contact numbers aren't all the way there yet this year. Plus, Ronny Simon and Agustin Ramirez got called up tonight and both have fit snugly into the equation. 

The injuries to this team...you'd think would be more destructive. Obviously Eury Perez and Braxton Garrett are out for a bit, but this team is also without Ryan Weathers, Nick Fortes and now, just as he was getting going, Griffin Conine. And yet the roster depth and farm system are keeping the Marlins in it right now. Maybe not in the starting pitching division, but the variable quality of the lineup is definitely keeping the team fresh. Dane Myers, Eric Wagaman and Liam Hicks have played crucial roles in this team despite having more minor roles at the onset of the season. Only one person has truly outright failed so far, and he's off the team...though Cal Quantrill is close to that designation. 

The Marlins, despite any indication that they would be, aren't terrible this year. They aren't GREAT, but they haven't been as much of a disappointment as someone like Atlanta. Hopefully they build on this.

Coming Tomorrow- Fifteen years ago, if you had told me that this guy, all those years later, would still be starting for Cleveland, now coming off a gold glove season as a 1st baseman, I wouldn't have believed you. 

Xs and 0s

 

Xavier Edwards is in a really interesting position right now, because for the first time in his career, the skies have opened up specifically for him to become a star. 

You probably recall some of the journey Edwards took to this moment in Miami. He was a big infield prospect in San Diego upon being drafted in 2018, but in 2019 it seemed like Fernando Tatis would be the answer at shortstop for the Padres for a while. So after the 2019 season, the Padres trade Edwards to the Rays for Hunter Renfroe. Then a season or so later the Padres move Tatis to center and sign Xander Bogaerts, who was hurt for the majority of 2024. Meaning the Padres...really could have used Xavier Edwards.

But then he plays in the Rays' system for a while, begins to work his way up there. Then in 2022, the Rays call up THEIR top shortstop prospect, and he's immediately a hit, and they sign him to a 10 year deal. Again, no reason to keep Edwards, as he's not exactly the kind of talent meant to back up other guys, so they trade him, and J.T. Chargois, to the Marlins at the end of the 2022 season. Of course, in mid-2023 the Rays' shortstop of the next ten years becomes a waste of several hundred million dollars, and the Rays are now stuck between Taylor Walls, Jonathan Aranda, Junior Caminero and eventually Jose Caballero for short. Which means the Rays...really could have used Xavier Edwards.

Edwards finally saw the majors last year with the Marlins, and because of the crowded infield situation he didn't have much to do there. He still hit .295 in 30 games, with 23 hits and 3 RBIs, but it wasn't as much of a big breakout as he'd hoped after years in the minors. 

So this year, not only did the Marlins trade Luis Arraez, not only did they get rid of Joey Wendle and Garrett Hampson before the season, but they cut Tim Anderson after a miserable year. Meaning, as more and more people were getting traded, and as Edwards was more and more in demand, Xavier Edwards was the Marlins' active leader in WAR after the dust settled on the trade deadline. 

I'm honestly happy that someone, at the very least, is keeping the lights on in Miami right now, and the fact that it's Edwards, who's been looking for a hero moment his whole career, is pretty cool. In 32 2024 games, Edwards is batting .383 with 13 RBIs, 44 hits and a .925 OPS. For comparison's sake, nobody else on the Marlins has an OPS over .800. Edwards is the kind of contact hitting standout that this team needs to build on in the wake of Chisholm's departure. The closest thing this team has to a veteran right now is Jesus Sanchez, and while he's been hot lately it mostly looks like he's auditioning for an offseason trade. Edwards, and to a lesser extent Kyle Stowers, could anchor this team as they rebuild, and I'd be fine with that. 

So yeah, I'm just happy that Xavier Edwards' breakout moment gets to be one where he's so high in demand, and one where the Marlins are actually winning games. In a season most Marlins fans would prefer to forget, that's pretty cool.

Coming Tonight: The third-most-consistent White Sox pitcher, who's now been upgraded, unfortunately, to the second-most-consistent White Sox pitcher. In his rookie season.