Potential serious issue for the Miami Marlins

I was worried about this for over a month now, but now it's starting to look like a reality... Garrett Cooper is going to be the starting first baseman for the Miami Marlins in 2023. Cooper may not be a one-year wonder like this former Miami Marlin, but he's very unreliable despite the fact that he was an All-Star in 2022. Cooper just can't stay healthy and now it appears that he'll be the team's first baseman with basically no real depth options to back him up.

The Miami Marlins are gambling with Garrett Cooper at first base.

The Miami Marlins can make the playoffs in 2023. I truly believe that this is a possibility. This does mean that The Fish need to be careful and not take unnecessary risks where we don't need to. Garrett Cooper debuted in 2017 with the New York Yankees, batting .326/.333/.488 in 13 games and 43 AB. The late-blooming 26 year old was then traded to The Fish.

Garrett Cooper has played with the Miami Marlins since 2018 and has never played a full season due to constant injuries. In fact the 119 games that he played in 2022 is his career-high. Cooper's second highest total was the 107 games that he played in 2019. Even in the shortened 2020 season, he was unable to play the full 60 games, only playing in 34 games.

Cooper wasn't exactly bad during his time here, he batted .273/.349/.439 in 345 games and 1311 AB with 39 home runs and 155 RBI. That's solid production, but is it that good when he can't play for most of the season? More importantly is that good enough for the Miami Marlins not to have a hole at first base for a big part of the season? We do have an internal solution... Luis Arraez can slide over from second base. A lot of fans would perhaps be happy if he was no longer at second base, considering he isn't known as a good defender to say the least.

I think that Garrett Cooper cannot be trusted as the first baseman and Kim Ng needs to either find a more dependable starter, or have a strong contingency plan such as having Luis Arraez take over first base in case of Cooper's injury.