Miami Marlins Must Give Fans Hope For Improvement In 2025 This Trade Deadline

Can the Miami Marlins be any better in 2025 than they were in 2024?

That's really the only question what's left of Miami's fanbase will be pondering as the rest of this terrible season plays out.

Granted, this is the week to talk long term picture, with the MLB Draft underway. Especially as the Marlins chose to start it off with a pair of prep players in PJ Morlando and Carter Johnson. While rapid ascents to the majors have certainly become a touch more frequent as of late, the smart money still says by the time those two show any flash of what they might do at the MLB level, we'll have moved on to reading up on the 2028 election and Olympics, as opposed to 2024.

Even just in terms of development in the minors, that makes it at least two years before any sort of meaningful conclusions about the players drafted this week can really be reached. Which makes it very different from the two seconds Marlins fans will need to be able form some pretty reasonable takeaways from whatever shakes out on the trade front between now and the MLB trade deadline.

When the dust settles on the seemingly inevitable trades of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Tanner Scott, will the Marlins have continued to go uber young, stockpiling players that won't be able to legally drink until after 2026? Loading up on prospects that likely won't even start earning MLB service time until 2027 at best? Consequently forestalling the opportunity for all the but the most diehard prospect hounds amongst Marlins fans to get excited about the direction of the franchise? Or will they actually obtain a young talent that has some buzz and hype right now, and could actually push to make the Opening Day roster in 2025?

Without question, the Miami Marlins have to do the later.

None of that is to say Miami is just a piece or two away, or that contending next season is a real possibility. Having a starting rotation that should at some point boast Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, and Max Meyer will be huge...but not even a rotation featuring prime Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, and Pedro Martinez is delivering a team with the offensive talent Miami currently has to the postseason.

However, that doesn't mean that the Marlins can get away with not improving on a team that has been threatening all season to be the worst in franchise history either. Given this club's particular history, fans in this market are not just going to accept effectively being told by the front office that if you thought 2024 was bad, hold on to your butts! Perceptible progress has to be made, and while 2024 was clearly about behind the scenes progress, it needs to start showing up on the field in 2025.

Partly that's on account of the fact that the aforementioned pitching talent the Marlins have demanding it. But it's also just about having some reason show up to the MLB ballpark everyday, and allowing fans to start forming attachments to players that could be part of the future. It took five seasons for the Marlins to return to championship form after the dismantling of 1997 team. Yet by 1999, South Florida baseball fans were able to start aquainting themselves with Luis Castillo, Derrek Lee, and Mike Lowell. Hanley Ramirez won Rookie of the Year in 2006 following the breakup of the 2003 championship core. The 2013 Marlins were horrible, but still featured star slugger Giancarlo Stanton, and flashes from Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich.

In short, there has always been some position player fans have been willing to invest in, to be excited about watching them play the game of baseball. Even in the most recent lean stretch of 2018-2019, fans got to watch J.T. Realmuto fully develop into a All-Star force. They saw multiple big league caliber players like Brian Anderson, Starlin Castro, Garrett Cooper, and Miguel Rojas take the field.

Sure, the trades don't always work. Just see the fruits of every trade of a 2017 Marlin save for Marcell Ozuna if you want proof of that; you'll notice I didn't mention Jorge Alfaro or Lewis Brinson. Yet that doesn't mean trading for MLB ready prospects is a bad idea. Just those particular deals.

Bottom-line, the Marlins need to take a shot at having their next All-Star hitter on the roster as soon as possible. Worst case scenario, hold off on trading Chisholm until the offseason if the right deal doesn't present itself. Then at least fans can keep alive the dream of a Chisholm extension for a few more months.

There already is about to be little or no reason to watch the Marlins again in 2024. The club would be wise to make sure the last memory of their fans before turning their attention to football isn't that there probably won't be anything new to get excited about in 2025 as well.