Miami Marlins RTD: Best, Worst Moves of Offseason?

Aug 2, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jose Fernandez (center) celebrates with right fielder Giancarlo Stanton (left) after defeating the Cleveland Indians 10-0 at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

5. As of today, where do you peg the Marlins win total for the 2015 season?

Kassim: I have the Marlins as roughly an 84-win team. That number could change as I finish my season preview analysis, which we’ll be getting into in the next couple of weeks.

Zylberkan: With good injury luck and Jose Fernandez coming back as early as the middle of June I think the Marlins will be a step below being in Wild Card contention. 85 wins. They are unfortunately one player away and need a serious upgrade over Adeiny Hechavarria at the shortstop position.

Lepree: I’m taking the over and going with 88 wins. I think and hope that things play out nicely, and Jose Fernandez returns as (most of) his old self, propelling his squad into October for the first time in 11 years. 

Honeycutt: I think the Marlins will either “meh” or terrible this year. The former relies on most guys playing to their projections and allots for a couple down years from key guys; somewhere around the 83-84 win mark. That also assumes almost everyone stays healthy. If the team is around .500 or so when Jose Fernandez comes back, they might make a move or two at the trade deadline and really go for it all. Because, again, Loria and his dudes know that they probably have a very small window in which to contend. I still think they fall just short of the Wild Card though. The damn Nationals are going to be too good. And my “terrible” prediction would be similar to what happened to the Marlins in 2012, or if a bunch of guys gets hurt. Say Latos gets hurt again and a certain sexy right fielder pulls something trying to leg out a single (again) and Henderson Alvarez regresses to well below his mean, it could be a disastrous season — like 92 losses. But I don’t think this team will have the dysfunction or divas the ’12 club had (I’m looking at you, Hanley Ramirez.)

Murrell: Unfortunately, I didn’t get to run my yearly projections prior to this post. However, I’d peg the Marlins for 83 wins.

Posada: 83 wins. They’re moving in the right direction and should be make noise late into the season, but will ultimately fall short. Fernandez missing the first few months could hold them back, so it’s going to be important to see how the rest of the staff picks up the slack. As long as their young bats can take another step forward, this team will fun to watch. I really think 2016 is when they blossom into a major NL contender.