3 takeaways from yesterday’s Miami Marlins doubleheader

2. Edward Cabrera might be the next Miami Marlins ace

Edward Cabrera rose up the ranks of the Miami Marlins farm system with a lot of hype, but as with all pitching prospects, you had to wonder just how good he would be. I wrote about his potential recently and was glad to see that he lived up to the highest of expectations. At least in his only start in the Majors so far this season. Could The Fish be getting a new ace?

Edward Cabrera might just be the new Miami Marlins ace.

Cabrera wasn’t very impressive in his brief call-up to The Show for the Miami Marlins last season. He started 7 games and had a 5.81 ERA/6.63 FIP with 9.6 K/9 and 6.5 BB/9. The strikeouts were impressive, but the rest was not. Cabrera’s young age made you think that it could be just a case of some growing pains, but the bottom line results were not very pretty to say the least.

Cabrera wasn’t particularly impressive in the Minors either this season, as he had a 4.56 ERA/3.40 FIP in 7 games (all starts) and 23.2 innings pitched. He also had 13.5 K/9 and 6.0 BB/9. The walks continued to be a problem and made it seem that he might not last as a starting pitcher in the Majors. Luckily, he proved the naysayers wrong in at least one Major League game.

I speculated that if Edward Cabrera didn’t work out as a starting pitcher he could move to the bullpen, that doesn’t seem like a viable solution anymore. Not after Cabrera arrived almost pitched a no-hitter with 13.50 K/9 and a 0.00 ERA/3.14 FIP in his start yesterday. Cabrera’s walk rate on the high side at 6.0 but his fastball velocity was elite at 97.1. He definitely lived up to the hype.

The walk rate is still high and it was only one start, but the hype is being proven correct. Edward Cabrera pitched like an ace and could very well be turning into one for the Miami Marlins. Remember this though? More on that…

3. The bullpen has become the “Achilles’ Heel” for the Miami Marlins

The Miami Marlins are losing way too many one-run games. 6-15 is a terrible record in those games and comes off amazingly unlucky. I don’t think that it’s a mystery to figure out why it’s been happening. The blame has to fall on the bullpen, as it has been surprisingly underperforming this season.

The bullpen keeps costing the Miami Marlins games.

The Miami Marlins bullpen has a 3.85 ERA/3.65 FIP. This isn’t terrible and doesn’t really underscore the team’s issues, but it’s clear that it isn’t exactly an elite unit. One obvious problem is the closing situation. Who is the closer? Is it Anthony Bender and his 4.50 ERA/5.36 FIP? Is it Cole Sulser and his 5.00 ERA/3.87 FIP? Is it Dylan Floro and his 5.40 ERA/5.54 FIP? It’s clear that these guys aren’t pitching like an elite unit.

Did you ever wonder what record the Miami Marlins would have if the bullpen pitched better?  I’ll tell you.. The Fish have 5 blown saves, so if all those leads weren’t blown, we’d have a 25-23 record (20-28 is our record). This isn’t far off from our 26-22 Pythagorean W-L record. The lack of saves cost us a winning record and it’s incredibly frustrating to realize that.

The Miami Marlins need better results from our bullpen. I do believe that the struggling pitchers are capable of doing better, so waiting seems to be the only logical solution at this point. It just doesn’t seem very practical to acquire anyone by trade at the moment and I don’t see any starters that make sense to convert into relievers. Had there not been a blown save, we would’ve won both games.