5 Biggest off-season losers and how they affect the Miami Marlins

How long will a key Miami Marlins pitcher be injured for? That's the question that a lot of fans have on their minds these days. With the season so close, it's a good time to think about mistakes that were avoided in the past, and mistakes that actually took place this off-season. Which five teams had the worst off-seasons? How does that affect The Fish?

Five teams made big mistakes this off-season and the Miami Marlins can learn from them.

5. CLEVELAND GUARDIANS

Cleveland won the AL Central in 2022, but could not repeat in 2023. The culptit? Terrible hitting. Cleveland is not a good hitting team to say the least. They scored an abysmal 4.09 runs per game last season. They were in the bottom four in that category in the entire Major Leagues. It was that bad.

What does a team that is trying to return to the playoffs do? The obvious answer is try to acquire hitting. This could mean splashy free agent signings, or in small-market Cleveland's case lower tier signings and trades. They would at least bring in someone to improve the dreadful lineup right?

They did....nothing. Nothing. It's like that "Seinfeld" episode where George says "the show is about nothing". You can't make this up. They're lucky that they're in arguably the worst division in the Majors, but it's hard to excuse not trying to improve the team's weakest area. I guess they expect a lot of break-outs, but that's way too optimistic. At least the Miami Marlins did something.

NEXT: AN EVEN MORE INEXCUSABLE NOTHING

4. TEXAS RANGERS

For the fist time in franchise history, the Texas Rangers won the World Series. This was a major accomplishment for the team and after spending a lot to make that happen, it was a no-brainer that they'd make an effort to repeat right?

Texas had a loaded lineup last season, but if there was an issue that was in the rotation and the bullpen. Naturally, they hardly did anything to address those issues. As of this writing, postseason hero SP Jordan Montgomery is still a free agent. They seem to have move don from him however, by signing...Tyler Mahle. Um. What? It gets worse, their rotation looks downright awful going into the season. The top starters are out until at least mid-season and so is Mahle himself.

What did Texas do to address their bullpen? They signed David Robertson for a year, after he posted a 5.06 ERA for The Fish in the second half of the 2023 season. I find it hard to believe that the 38 year old has much left in the tank. Considering their bullpen was shaky to begin with, this is an eyebrow raising move. This is not the way to follow up a World Series win, though it's still better than the 1997 Florida Marlins selling the team ff.

NEXT: NO DIRECTION = BAD DIRECTION

3. BOSTON RED SOX

It's weird to see Boston finish last in the AL East and then do nothing to improve the team. It's inexcusable that a big market team would do nothing, when their archrivals the New York Yankees had a pretty good off-season. Why didn't they sign Jordan Montgomery for example? Their rotation is pretty bad and they could've used an upgrade, when they're enough below the luxury tax to make a splash.

The big rotation fix that Boston did is moving on from bad contract Chris Sale, only to add Lucas Giolito as his replacement. I don't blame Boston for Giolito then getting a season-ending injury, but the fact that they signed a pitcher with a 4.89 ERA over the last two seasons is ridiculous.

To be fair to Boston, they did lock up SP Brayan Bello long-term, but how does that improve the team now? They're nowhere near the top of the division, looking like a last-place team once again. They're also not rebuilding, so the question is what is the team's direction? They don't seem to have any and that is frustrating for the fans and not fair to the players. Maybe they need new owners.

NEXT: BOSTON'S DIVISION RIVALS

1. LOS ANGELES ANGELS

It's almost impossible to believe how bad this team's off-season went. The Angels are in a terrible position, playing for Los Angeles, when they actually play in Anaheim. What makes it worse, is that their neighbors the Los Angeles Dodgers happen to be regular contenders with a better history.

The Angels seem to be on a mission to waste Mike Trout's best years and the only thing worse was losing Shohei Ohtani...to the Dodgers. After losing a generational superstar to their biggest rivals, there was only one way to go. After losing a competitive race for Ohtani, they needed to grab the attention away from their rivals by turning themselves into division favorites.

Wait, they didn't actually have a competitive race, they weren't even mentioned to be in the running for Ohtani. That begs the question of why they didn't just trade him at the trade deadline. The team promised to be "aggressive" this off-season, which seemed to be code for just adding to the bullpen.

I honestly don't understand the logic. They lie to the fans about trying to improve the team and lose a generational player to their biggest rivals while seemingly just watching it happen. They couldn't sign anyone?! Their rotation is pretty bad, the lineup has a lot to be desired... they didn't actually try to improve the team or rebuild. It was an off-season I hope never to see from the Miami Marlins.