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

2. TORONTO BLUE JAYS

There is something worse than not taking a direction. There's also wasting your supposed window of opportunity and actually making the team worse. The Toronto Blue Jays seemingly had a core ready for a run of contention. Homegrown 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and SS Bo Bichette, and acquisitions SP Kevin Gausman and RF George Springer.

A team needs help around the core and Toronto is clearly failing at it. They lost 3B Matt Chapman to free agency and did nothing effective to replace him. They signed Justin Turner to replace Brandon Belt at DH. Turner is unlikely to put up another big year at his age. Belt is still unsigned at this point.

Considering the competition in the AL East, it seems odd that Toronto didn't do more to improve the team. How about doing something about the bullpen or the back of the rotation? Why not doing something to add another big bat? It seems that they're just banking on Bo and Vlad to live up to their potential. It seems like a pretty big gamble to take, when adding a big bat in case that doesn't happen would have made more sense.

I would hope that the Miami Marlins wouldn't do nothing if in the same position.

NEXT: THE WORST OFF-SEASON WINNER...