
If The Miami Marlins Get Healthy Starting Pitching
For the Miami Marlins, as always, it all starts with starting pitching.
Even after the recent losses of Jesus Luzardo and Braxton Garrett, the starting pitching should be much stronger this season. Largely this is due to the return of staff ace Sandy Alcantara, who projects to take the ball for his franchise record fifth Opening Day start. It should come as no surprise that the 2022 NL Cy Young winner was sorely missed last year. With Sandy leading the way, even if he does have an innings limit coming back from Tommy John, his presence will be huge on and off the field.
Speaking of Tommy John recoveries, it's not just Alcantara returning to the Marlins fold in 2025. Eury Perez will return at some point this season as well, likely around the All-Star Break. So that's at least 35 more starts worth of All-Star caliber pitching at Miami's disposal than they were able to take advantage of last season. The benefit of such a talent infusion in those games is obvious, but just as important is the stabilizing effect that can have on the rest of the rotation. Whether it's by virtue of leading by example, or just the benefit of having a couple "set it and forget it" spots in the rotation to build around, the Miami Marlins pitching rotation should be much more consistent this time around.
Welcome news for a club whose pitchers combined for a worse ERA than the woeful White Sox last season.
There is also a lot to like about the rest of those pitchers filling out the rotation. Ryan Weathers is back and looking to build on his 2024 breakout. Plenty of Marlins fans are very likely done being excited about Edward Cabrera, but don't count his new manager among those throwing in the towel. Max Meyer returns as well, joined by newcomers Adam Mazur and Robby Snelling. All of that before the addition of some cheap veteran over the next month. The law of averages alone dictates that the Marlins are due for one of those signings to work out, not to mention a little bit of injury luck.
If nothing else, the losses should be a lot closer. Especially...