Cooper: Segura and Arraez bring a needed new dynamic to lineup
Miami Marlins first baseman Garrett Cooper, like so many Marlins fans, was waiting for the first real domino to drop. The Marlins’ moves to start the offseason were minimal — one trade with the Rays for reliever JT Chargois and infielder prospect Xavier Edwards and a slew of minor-league signings.
Cooper was hopeful more impactful moves would come, especially after the Marlins finished 69-93 last season.
“As you wait all offseason to see what kind of moves they do, you’re like, ‘Oh, maybe we’re just gonna run it back with the same guys and the same team,’ ” said Cooper, one of two players remaining from Miami’s Opening Day roster in 2019 (Sandy Alcantara is the other). “Nothing against the guys I played with, but we didn’t win as a team, and there was something that needed to change — new guys to come in, a different philosophy, just a different vibe. The whole mantra needed to change.”
And then, once the calendar flipped to January, the dominoes started falling.
The team signed infielder Jean Segura and pitcher Johnny Cueto as well as traded pitcher Pablo Lopez and two prospects to the Minnesota Twins for infielder Luis Arraez. Miami also traded shortstop Miguel Rojas to the Los Angeles Dodgers for infielder prospect
Jacob Amaya, and reliever Richard Bleier to the Boston Red Sox for reliever Matt Barnes.
The additions of Segura and Arraez, in particular, intrigue Cooper from a lineup-construction standpoint. The two are primarily contact hitters, and their presence, Cooper hopes, will lessen the burden on any one particular player.
“Those guys bring a different dynamic to the lineup that we haven’t had too much of,” Cooper said.
Just look at what happened when they lost their top two power hitters — Jazz Chisholm Jr. and
Jorge Soler — midway through last season.
In the Marlins’ first 73 games of the season, through the last game Chisholm and Soler played together on June 28, the Marlins had a collective .244 batting average (14th in MLB), .706 OPS (16th in MLB) and 80 home runs (14th in MLB) while averaging 4.4 runs per game.
Those are middle-ofthe-road offensive numbers, for sure, but it was enough to keep them competitive when paired with Miami’s high-end starting pitching.
Miami’s collective stats in the final 89 games: .216 batting average, .278 onbase percentage, .331 slugging, 60 total home runs and 2.9 runs per game — all the worst in MLB in that timeframe.
“If you’re relying on one or two guys, I can tell you the lineup’s not going to do well and the team’s not going to do well,” said Cooper, who earned his first All-Star nomination and hit .261 with nine home runs and 50 RBI in a career-high 119 games last season. “It’s one through nine with the DH. You need table-setters. You need hitters. Hitters is the key word I’m saying. You don’t need power hitters. You need hitters first and foremost to get guys on base. Every good team has one or two at the top of the lineup that are getting on base.”
Whether the moves translate to more wins is to be seen. Miami begins spring training next week, with the first full workout for pitchers and catchers on Feb. 16 and the first full-squad workout on Feb. 21. The season starts a little more than a month after that, on March 30 against the New York
Mets at loanDepot park.