The Miami Marlins Coaching Search: Curing Mediocrity
Photo by Marlins Maniac
The Philadelphia Phillies are off to the 2022 World Series. This marks the third NL East team to win the NL Pennant in the last four years. With this though, the Marlins and the Mets are the outliers. However, the Mets have had success recently winning the NL pennant in 2015, and winning 101 games this past season. In the past decade, all the Marlins have to show is one winning season in 2020 where they made the expanded playoffs, but fell in the NLDS to the Atlanta Braves. They have since regressed having back to back losing seasons.
The Marlins have been the definition of mediocrity and the laughing stock of baseball since 2004. The talent has been there, but they have never been able to pair a good pitching staff with a good hitting staff. In 2017, they had one of the best offenses headlined by Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and JT Realmuto. However, their pitching staff was one of the worst in baseball. In 2022, it was the exact opposite.
Photo by Marlins Maniac
They currently possess one of the best pitching staffs in baseball that includes the front runner for the 2022 NL Cy Young, Sandy Alcántara. This rotation also includes young studs in Pablo Lopez, Edward Cabrera, Max Meyer, and soon to be in the rotation top 100 prospect Eury Perez. However, the Marlins were one of the worst hitting teams in 2022. They finished 27th in OPS, 28th in SLG, and 27th in team batting AVG. None of these statistics will lead to a playoff baseball team.
Photo by Marlins Maniac
So, the topic of this piece. Who should be the next man to try and lead this team? Joe Espada of the Astros has been talked about, Matt Quatraro, the bench coach for the Tampa Bay Rays, and Luis Rojas, former manager of the Mets in 2020 & 2021. Espada has been close to securing managerial positions in the past, but has never been anyone’s first choice. Espada’s strong suit as a coach is hitting, which is what the Marlins need to prioritize. Quatraro has been with the Guardians and the Rays, so he is familiar with small market teams. Rojas became the Mets’ manager in 2020 after the Carlos Beltran cheating allegations. The Mets had two disappointing seasons under Rojas as they went 26-34 in 2020 and 77-85 in 2021.
The bottom line for the Marlins is that whoever becomes the new manager needs support from the front office. That means increasing a $50 million dollar payroll, so that the Marlins have the ability to be successful. Sherman will need to spend money on bats, or the Marlins will continue to rot in mediocrity. Ng will also needs to pursue the correct pieces in free agency, or her job will soon be on the hot seat, as well.