Taking an early look at Marlins’ roster
A week from today, Miami Marlins’ pitchers and catchers will report to Jupiter for spring training.
By the end of the month, we’ll be watching exhibition games. You can practically smell Opening Day when the breeze hits just right certain times of day.
Speaking of Opening Day, now seems like as good a time as any to take a first shot at projecting the Marlins’ initial 25-man roster.
A lot can happen between now and the season opener on April 3 — injuries, trades, scorching spring-training job campaigns — but the Marlins are headed into camp with very few roster-related questions. It’s very possible the 25 players named here are indeed the ones who start off in the majors, even if certain players’ roles are up in the air. RHP Tom Koehler RHP Dan Straily Let’s not worry about the order in which these pitchers come out of the gate. (Conley and Chen are probably the top two starters, but Mattingly & Co. might want to split up the lefties.)
The top four names seem secure in the rotation. The No. 5 starter job will be up for grabs, with president of baseball operations Michael Hill pointing out the club has Jeff Locke, Jose Urena, Justin Nicolino and Odrisamer Despaigne in addition to Straily.
It’s safe to pencil in Straily as the winner, if only because he had a better 2016 than the other candidates. It would also be a weird look to trade three prospects for Straily only to put him in the bullpen, where he’s pitched 10 times to little success in his major-league career. him in last season.
That’s six spots in effect locked up, leaving one or two — probably two — up for grabs.
Here, we go with Locke (who has a major-league contract and was penciled into the rotation until the Straily trade two weeks ago) and Urena (who is out of minor-league option years). Those two and Straily are the safest bets for the No. 5 starter and two long-reliever roles, however it ultimately sorts out.
“Whomever the players are who aren’t a part of that five-man rotation will still pitch valuable innings for us,” Hill said.
Urena’s fate will be among the major storylines of spring training. The Marlins can either keep him on the active roster or designate him for assignment — thus risk losing him to other teams. Urena is a power arm and still only 25, and there are always major-league teams that will take a chance on a guy like that. (The Marlins could also trade him, but that would be selling low.)
“It’s a great arm, and the one thing that you want to do is give him every opportunity to reach his potential,” Hill said. “I think we’ve seen glimpses of it. Obviously, you want to see it on a consistent basis and I think that’s what he’s striving to do. If we are able to see a more consistent version from him, he will help us.”