Miami Marlins need to balance defense with hitting

How many times have you heard the old saying that “defense wins championships”? It’s true. Good defense is key to winning in the Majors and we can’t take it for granted. A big reason why the Miami Marlins are looking for CF help, is because none of our current options are adequate there defensively. The less runs we allow, the less pressure it will put on our struggling offense, where improvements will go a longer way to building a contender.

The Miami Marlins need to prioritize defense alongside hitting.

The Fish don’t have a good offense at the moment, so it’s tempting to want hitting improvements no matter what. It’s not how things work however….for every run that we score, if we lose one due to bad defense it becomes a wash. I want to reiterate that better defense will take pressure off the offense and help us quote a bit.

The most important defensive positions are catcher, shortstop and centerfield. That means that we need elite defenders in each of these positions. We don’t have to sacrifice offense for defense, but we can bring in bats at other positions. Remember, saving runs can be as good as scoring runs.

The Miami Marlins have Miguel Rojas at SS. Rojas has a 2.6 dWAR and will likely win a Gold Glove for his work at the position. Unfortunately, he batted .236/.283/.323 and was a pretty big liability at the plate. If we decide to keep him as a starter, we need to definitely get a massive offensive upgrade at a different position.

Catcher is a concern, with Jacob Stallings having a terrible season defensively and at the plate. Stallings batted .223/.292/.292 with -0.7 WAR and 0.0 dWAR. He was much better for the Pittsburgh Pirates last season, so it’s a question of what to do with him and the position for next season.

I’m not going to talk too much about CF, as I’ve done so repeatedly lately and Ialready linked to an article about options that Kim Ng is looking at. There’s another option that has been rumored by fans as well. One option that Kim Ng is pursuing is Michael A. Taylor, who had a 3.2 WAR and 2.4 dWAR this season.  A lot of fans will be turned off by his hitting, but consider how many runs he can save defensively and that the Miami Marlins can acquire hitters for other positions.

The Miami Marlins need good defense and it shouldn’t be sacrificed for hitting. We can balance good hitting and good defense without sacrificing one or the other.