Miami Marlins get an injured hitter back and more...

What a weekend! The Miami Marlins lost the road series to the Chicago Cubs, but won a classic finale on Sunday. The offense showed up for once and one of our hopes for May is working out. The Fish were also busy making transactions and getting injured players back. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's get started...

The Miami Marlins have a returning hitter.

SS Joey Wendle is back from the injured list. Wendle hasn't been very productive so far this season, batting .111/.200/.333 in 5 games and 9 AB. The sample size is so small however, that it's hard to write him off as a bust as a starter. Wendle is a career .270/.322/.399 hitter who has a total of 30 home runs for his entire 8 year career. Of course he's not the Miami Marlins starting SS for his offense, he's a starter due to his great defense.

In 2022, Joey Wendle was worth an excellent 1.7 dWAR, and in 2021 he was worth 1.5 dWAR. It's obvious that he can play great defense at a premier defensive position. Who is going to the Minor Leagues to accommodate Wendle's return? Xavier Edwards is going back down there.

Xavier Edwards is a top Miami Marlins prospect who batted .167/.167/.167, with no home runs and RBI in 3 games and 6 AB. It was another short sample size to judge on, so we'll see how he does in his next call-up. I don't think that the team is giving up on him, there's just no room for him on the Major League roster at the moment.

There were other news from this weekend that I wanted to discuss... ace Sandy Alcantara seems to be back in top form. He pitched for 8.1 innings and accumulated 9 strikeouts and gave up just 2 runs and 9 hits. This was an excellent performance by the 2022 NL Cy Young award winner, who largely struggled this season until this point. A healthy and productive Alcantara is key to the Miami Marlins making the playoffs this season. It's just not possible with the current hitting, but an elite pitching staff headlined by Sandy...