Miami Marlins: Faceless, Aceless, Five Most Lackluster Rotations

The 2017 Miami Marlins- Expectations Make A Difference 

The 2000 and 2013 rotations highlighted earlier on this list shared two things in common. For one, they both still contained what we’ll call a poor man’s ace. Somebody who at least had a track record with the organization of doing something constructive.

More importantly, though, both of those teams were blissfully free from the burden of expectation. Modest improvement was hoped for in one case, the apocalypse was expected in the other.

Yet this team is genuinely expected by the organization to contend for a playoff spot.

Because the only member of it who enjoys any kind of consistent track record with the team is Koehler, who despite actually being very similar to Nolasco in many respects, has never enjoyed that same level of trust from the fans.

Two members of the rotation are completely new, three if you count a Wei-Yin Chen that missed the majority of his maiden voyage with the club due to injury. No one in it has ever put together a season, for any team, which showed them to be capable of being anything more than a good No. 3 arm.

Yet this team is genuinely expected by the organization to contend for a playoff spot. The payroll has never been higher. Even most of the national pundits that discredit that notion do so based on organizational depth and Giancarlo Stanton‘s penchant for fluky injuries. If this team stays healthy, it’s supposed to win.

That’s got to be new ground for a team expected to do something with their season other than developing players. Definitely for the Marlins, and probably most teams, period.