Miami Marlins: Realistic off-season hitting improvements

Neil Raymond

MIAMI, FL - MARCH 27: A general view of the new Marlins logo in the outfield during 2019 Workout Day at Marlins Park on March 27, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)

I still believe that Bruce Sherman is going to keep his word and spend on our Miami Marlins. What if he’s all talk though? Well if he is, he should still have enough money for less expensive acquisitions. Look, bottom line is we need hitting and unless he flushed his decency down the toilet with that money we gave Avisáil Garcia, he’s going to give Kim Ng something to work with. Get ready for… a REALISTIC Miami Marlins off-season.

The Miami Marlins can still build a decent lineup if Bruce Sherman cares about the fans.

Let me quarterback this thing as Denzel Washington said in Training Day… the Miami Marlins sign Miguel Sanó to take over first base for 1 year/$5 million. The Minnesota Twins will decline his $14 million team option, so we get him. Yes he’s a strikeout machine, he’s also an elite power hitter who might be motivated to cash-in on his potential. A change of scenery may get him back to the 30 home run bat from 2021.

Remember that pitching for hitting trade we were talking about? Let’s send Pablo López to the Minnesota Twins for SS Nick Gordon. Minnesota is desperate for starting pitching and free agents avoid it, I suspect they take the deal and we get our cost-controlled pre-arb young SS.

We move Jorge Soler to DH where he belongs (he’s a terrible defender), and can reasonably expect him to play better, as he has a player option for 2024 that will cut his salary in half basically. He won’t like that. Not. One. Bit. (Dark Knight reference now). So he’s motivated to play for a free agent deal. This opens up LF, so we’ll move Avi there 😭. Look, unless I can think of a bad contract swap I’m at least 80% positive about happening, we have to keep him around. I know, I wish that the Miami Marlins could just release him.

The above opens up RF for Mitch Haniger on a “prove it” 1 year/$15 million deal. .270/25 HR/90 RBI can be expected from him. Suppose we get bolder and also snatch up CF Cody Bellinger (who is a non-tender candidate for the Los Angeles Dodgers). Maybe he bounces back to his MVP form, at the very least he’s worth a cheap shot.

Let’s put this together…. Your 2023 Miami Marlins opening day lineup:

SS Nick Gordon

DH Jorge Soler

3B Joey Wendle/Jordan Groshans

LF Avisail Garcia

C Nick Fortes

Neil Raymond

Neil Raymond has been a lifelong Miami Marlins fan, with the 2003 playoff run being one of his favorite childhood memories. Neil has been called a "walking encyclopedia" for his knowledge of MLB statistics and the sport's history. He follows every game and actually invented his own statistic for player value on his side project BaseballAnalyzed.com. Writing for Fansided's Marlin Maniac since 2022, he also loves Fantasy Baseball and as such is an FSWA member. Neil also loves to travel, read and follow "Futbol" teams: Germany, Argentina, Greece, Inter Miami, Bayern Munich and NYC FC.