2012 MLB Preview #28: Miami Marlins

Greetings all... Ozzie-ball returns, and brings a new team name and logo with him....

Lineup

C - John Buck
1B - Gaby Sanchez
2B - Omar Infante
SS - Jose Reyes
3B - Hanley Ramirez
LF - Logan Morrison
CF - Emilio Bonafacio/Chris Coghlan
RF - Giancarlo Stanton

Suddenly a really, really interesting lineup. The acquisition of Reyes is a huge one, coming off a season where he was tremendous before getting hurt down the stretch. The contract is another issue, but if you have him in the lineup, it only helps. Hanley moves to 3B coming off his worst season, but I expect a bounce-back and all reports are that he's in tremendous shape. I'd bank on a return to 30/30 type of production. The outfield is young and interesting. Stanton is a bonafide star in the making after 34 homers and a near .900 OPS, Morrison hit 23 homers in just 123 games, and Bonafacio stole 40 bases and hit nearly .300 in 500 ABs. The right side of the infield doesn't inspire great awe with Sanchez being solid (.779 OPS) but uninspiring from a 1B position that should bring power, and Infante's utility value being wasted as an everyday, soft-hitting starter.

Starting Rotation

1 - Josh Johnson
2 - Anibal Sanchez
3 - Ricky Nolasco
4 - Mark Buehrle
5 - Carlos Zambrano

Another really interesting unit. Josh Johnson is an elite-plus starter with HUGE injury risk with that recurring shoulder issue. If he's right and healthy, he's a top-10 guy, and if he's hurt, that's a huge loss. Sanchez had the best year of his career in 2011 with a 3.67 ERA in 196 innings, and when you had Buehrle's wild consistency to that, that's pretty solid. Nolasco is an enigma with tons of talent, but his K-rate plummeted last year and his ERA was near 5. Zambrano is a pure flier at this point coming off the "retirement" but if he's good, that's a far-above-average 5th starter.

Bullpen

Heath Bell sounds better on paper than in real life, but he's still an MLB closer and they could be worse there. Mike Dunn and Edward Mujica bring value from each side of the rubber, and this is a unit that should be mostly average if Bell can keep himself to form after leaving Petco.

Prediction

85-77, 3rd in NL East