BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
The 2023 Season has definitely been a period of adjustment for the Miami Marlins.
Did anyone know what to expect when Skip Schumacher became the team’s skipper replacing Don Mattingly?
This guy is a first time pilot so you never know what you’re going to inherit.
Schumacher did inherit Cy Young Award Winner Sandy Alcantara, eccentric outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr and retained Pitching Coach Mel Stottlemyer Jr.
During the off-season, GM Kim Ng added 2022 American League Batting Champion Luis Arraez, the second basemen in a trade for hurler Pablo Lopez from the Minnesota Twins.
She added third baseman Jean Segura in free agency from the Philadelphia Phillies.
Yuli Gurriel came in from the Houston Astros to play first base.
Miami was hoping that last years free agents Jorge Solar (Atlanta Braves) and Avisail Garcia (Milwaukee Brewers) would have bounce back years.
At the moment, Garcia is on the 10 day injured list due to back tightness.
During the season, a team is going to use a lot of pitchers, and the Marlins made a bold move by promoting top prospect Eury Perez from their AA Affiliate in Pensacola, FL.
Perez put himself into the record books with his first start at 20 years and 27 days.
Following Perez, was Jose Fernandez (20 and 250), Ryan Dempster (21 and 29), Joe Fontenot (21 and 64) and Brad Hand (21 and 79).
In three starts, Perez is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 14 innings with 16 strikeouts.
In the game we saw on Saturday, May 13 against the Cincinnati Reds, Alcantara had his hands full in 7.2 innings by giving up seven hits and six runs but amassed nine strikeouts throwing 106 pitches, 72 for strikes.
Reds left fielder Jake Fraley went 2-4 with a homer and four RBI’s. Right fielder Henry Ramos went 2-4 for another RBI.
On May 14, Mothers Day, Miami defeated the Reds 3-1 and avoided the three game sweep.
Miami would proceed to sweep the Washington Nationals from May 16-18. Then it was time to go West where the San Francisco Giants took two of three from the Fish from May 19-21.
Things didn’t get any better when Miami traveled to Denver and face the Rockies in the high altitude at Coors Field. The Marlins lost three of four from May 22-25. Miami’s only victory was 10-2 in Wednesday, May 24.
The final stop on this West Coast trip is the LA Angeles Angels where Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani await them this weekend.
On Tuesday, May 28-30, the San Diego Padres come to town and to round out the week, the Oakland A’s will make an appearance at LoanDepot Park.
For some reason, I’m intrigued with the A’s Series.
Oakland has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
They’re seeing crowns in the 2000-3000 range and it’s a foregone conclusion that they’re moving to Las Vegas after their lease expires at the Oakland Coliseum in 2024.
They’ll most likely play the first couple of Season in the Las Vegas Ballpark. They’ll share that venue with their AAA team.
At the moment, the A’s are 10-42 while Miami is 25-26.
But what’s most intriguing about this game will be the attendance. It’s safe to say, the A’s will see attendance figures above 10,000 which is more than triple of what they’re seeing now.
Not that Miami is in the higher echelon of attendance, but the A’s are an absolute train wreck and there is no doubt that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred would like to get this train wreck completed and back on the right.
There is a lot of baseball to be played when Miami returns home next week, but when I plan to return to LoanDepot Park, it will be interesting to see where both teams stand at that time.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and you can see his broadcasts by Subscribing to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.
