Right-hander Max Meyer will be part of the Marlins’ Opening Day roster, the Miami Herald’s Craig Mish reports (via X). Meyer “has the inside track” to win the fifth starter’s job, Mish writes, which would line the rookie up to face the Angels on April 1 in what would be Meyer’s third career MLB start.
Meyer’s first two big league outings took place in July 2022, with the second appearance ending after just two-thirds of an inning due to some elbow pain. That discomfort was revealed to be a UCL tear, and the subsequent Tommy John surgery kept Meyer sidelined for the rest of the 2022 season and the entirety of the 2023 campaign. Returning to the mound this spring, Meyer has looked very sharp in seven scoreless Grapefruit League innings, with only four hits and a walk allowed.
While Meyer has done well to earn his return trip to the majors, it is fair to say that this opportunity wouldn’t have been available if the Marlins weren’t dealing with a spate of injuries within their projected rotation. Eury Perez (elbow inflammation), Edward Cabrera (shoulder impingement), and Braxton Garrett (shoulder soreness) all look to be starting the season on the injured list, and ace Sandy Alcantara was already ruled out for 2024 due to a Tommy John surgery of his own. Manager Skip Schumaker said last week that “everyone’s on the table” in terms of potential fill-in starters, including Meyer, who had already been optioned to Miami’s minor league camp.
Bryan Hoeing seemed to be the favorite for fifth starter work considering how Meyer and other pitchers were optioned out of the big league camp, yet now it seems like the Marlins will give Meyer a look. Jesus Luzardo, A.J. Puk, Trevor Rogers, and Ryan Weathers will seemingly act as the top four in Miami’s rotation, with Meyer slotting in as the fifth man. It seems possible that Meyer and Hoeing could be paired up in a piggyback type of scenario, if the Marlins wanted to be cautious about limiting Meyer’s innings after such a long layoff.
Despite Meyer’s lost 2023 season, Baseball Prospectus (86th) and Baseball America (89th) still included the 25-year-old on their preseason lists of the top 100 prospects in the sport. Meyer drew a lot of hype coming out of the University of Minnesota, and he lived up to predictions that he would ready for the majors in pretty short order. Meyer posted a 2.77 ERA over 172 career innings in the minors, along with an impressive 28.67% strikeout rate and an 8.79% walk rate that is a little on the high side. The right-hander also had pretty strong grounder rates over his relatively brief time in the minors.
The marlins really got nothing going for them right this year so far
No way they make the playoffs again. I see Braves, Phillies, Mets then Marlins/Nats on NL east.
Yeah, it’s a good thing they didn’t follow through on those rumors to trade Luzardo.
They wanted baty for luzardo a while back.Stupid for the mets not to make that trade, but great for the marlins it wasn’t done. He’s the only one left standing
And it was very stupid for the Marlins to send Pablo AND prospects away for Luis Arraez last year.
@Hammerin’ Hank
Pretty sure Miami isn’t hurting too much from that trade because 1. Arraez has been an All-Star caliber player for them and 2. the prospects given up have so far performed atrociously in the minors. Try again.
Nationals have an outside chance to climb into that 3 spot
Not headed for the playoffs? Think again. This is good news. Max and the other guys we have left are more than capable of holding their own. We just need to crank up the bats and do a better job scoring runs. And contrary to popular opinion, we now have the guys in the lineup who can do it, as well as a lot more position-player depth this year. We didn’t spend big $$? We didn’t make any huge trades? I don’t care. The Mets are unimpressive, and the Phillies, although strong, are unpredictable. If we manage a .260 team BA and end up middle-of-the-pack in runs scored, we’ll be playing in October. Guaranteed. Does that sound overly optimistic? I just feel the Marlins are way underrated, and that last year was no fluke. Only time will tell if I’m right.
A .260 team batting average is quite high. Not sure the Marlins can anywhere close to that this season. What they need is to be in the top 15–18 in runs scored to have any chance of making the playoffs as a wild card . I’m still not sure they have enough offense to do that unless 2-3 players have career years at the plate.
With that said, I’m happy they chose to give Max Meyer a chance in the rotation. He is immensely talented and could have a breakout rookie season if he can stay healthy. Only concern is how many innings can be pitch coming off 1.5 years of no pitching at all
@Dorothy If Jazz stays healthy they add production there, as well as a full season from Burger. Anderson has potential upside, I don’t know what to expect from him at this point. Bell should provide stability @ 1B, not the most exciting option but decent. Berti can be a sneaky catalyst for production in utility role. The biggest impact though could be loss of Soler and trying to replace that production.
Overall I think there offense should be similar to last season which doesn’t exactly complement their pitching all that well. But who knows maybe Avisail and TA have a bit of a resurgence and they could be a dangerous team.
@Tigers3232
I agree with everything you’ve pointed out. But in addition, let’s not overlook Sanchez and DLC in the outfield. They’re both capable of hitting .280 w. 25 HRS. and 90 RBIs if healthy. And don’t forget the under-the-radar depth guys at AAA JAX. Troy Johnston, Xavier Edwards, Dane Myers, Jonah Bride, Vidal Brujan – all have established themselves as excellent pure hitters. They just need the opportunity to get steady major league reps. They represent the Marlins’ secret weapons, and could all end up being impact players. And, of course, there’s always my favorite guy – Luis Arraez!
What are you smoking? Even with all these injuries they might still have the best rotation in the division lmao. They have like 15 guys who would start on any of the other 29 teams
@Chemo I don’t think many would dispute they have a strong rotation. The issue is likely going to be run support. This was a team that had a -57 run differential last season whose lineup possibly got worse.
The airplane rides should give Max some Headroom.
Hand over that stick!
Do you ever hang around the gymnasium?
Is he worth a look in a deeper fantasy league?
Depends on categories. Max is talented, but I see few wins and few six inning quality starts.
Also, stay away from his cousin Oscar.
He’ll be a strict pitch count.
Yes he is. I’ve been drafting him in the later rounds often since I started doing NFBC draft and holds back in November. He’s probably on about half of my 17 teams, lol.
Absolutely! Dude is for real; he’s just been lost in the shuffle. He is earned his spot in the bigs when he got hurt and a former top pick.
@Sodo I don’t see much value for him in head to head leagues. Even if he pitches well like all Marlins pitchers offensive support could be an issue. In Roto leagues though I think he could definitely provide some value.
Doesn’t matter how you get there. Good luck to him. Hope he gives the Marlins difficult decisions to make when the rest of the staff return from their respective injuries.
Good for Meyer! Marlins do need to manage his innings though despite needing them with so many guys down.
Really excited to see what Max those this year. They need to watch his innings close though. Limit him to 4-5 innings early on
I think the plan would be that and backpig him with 2-3 of Hoeing. Meyer looked good in ST and deserved a shot.
Having a guy with Meyer’s pedigree and track record win the 5 spot in camp says great things about the Marlins pitching depth. Good for the Marlins. Good for Max.
Overall though, as much as I want to believe in this team, it’s difficult because it doesn’t even seem like their own front office believes in them.
Just a very strange approach to team building featuring strong pitching while ignoring the value of defense.
He’s thrown 7 innings this spring. No way is he built up yet to go more then one a line up. With all these injuries they’ll be lucky to finish .500 and that’s optimistic. God forbid they spend a few bucks and plug the rotation with Clevinger or Lorenzen. Then you’ve got Jazz going off about how badly he was treated as a younger player and he even named Rojas. He might be a bit of a head case. Just my thoughts.
@Chris from NJ
Agree with you about Meyer. He needs to be built up gradually.
The injuries aren’t a problem. We have plenty of pitching depth. No need to waste resources on overrated, injury-prone veterans like Clevinger and Lorenzen.
The Marlins will win between 87 and 93 games this year and return to the playoffs. A .500 finish would be a disappointment. Read my other comments above, where I highlight the reasons for my optimism.
Concerning Jazz, I think you’re referring to his early days with the Diamondbacks. Since becoming a Marlin, he’s been a solid citizen, a hard worker, and a fan favorite. He’s colorful, sure. That’s his style. But a head case? If he ever was, those days are long gone. If there’s one thing apparent with Skip Schumacher and the new front office, it’s that a player can express himself and be an individual. That’s fine. But no prima donnas allowed. Everyone is an equal among equals. Which is good. Because in other organizations, it’s a known fact that some are more equal than others.
I really have to disagree with you saying injuries aren’t a problem. Injuries are a huge problem. The starting rotation that carried that team last season is currently not pitching which means the depth you are talking about is now your rotation and your depth is gone. If Garrett and Perez are back by early May they may be Ok but it would be foolish to rush Perez back. With the staff Miami is rolling out there are going to be a lot of games going to the bullpen early and until Miami proves that that is no longer an area of weakness they are gonna be in trouble. The lineup doesn’t have the firepower to carry the staff. As for Jazz I’m not sure if you read the interview he gave a week back. He said his first 3 years in Miami where hell on earth. He was hazed. Veterans weren’t nice to him. It sounds more like a young guy complaining about having to conform. Just my take. But according to Jazz, Schumacher has made all the difference that and Rojas being gone. He actually named names. If you haven’t read it you should. Very insightful. You being a Miami fan you might read it differently than I did but it’s big talk from a guy who hasn’t done much. If he had problems in Arizona which I had never heard of. I’d have to say Jazz has got some issues.
@Chris from NJ
My assessments regarding the depth of our pitching and strength of our offense will be put to the test between now and Memorial Day. That should be a decent-sized sample, enough to judge if I’m right or wrong.
I never read SI, which is why I missed the Jazz article. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. The clubhouse back then was toxic and dysfunctional. Those washed-up veterans had nothing to offer the younger players. Yet they sure had a sense of entitlement. Schumacher completely changed the clubhouse culture. A total paradigm shift. So I have to agree with Jazz. He was being honest and accurate. But you don’t come out and say it, because that’s not diplomatic. You open yourself to criticism and being labeled as controversial, a bad influence. Jazz is a good guy, IMHO. Now he just needs to go out and have a great season.
I’d say Memorial day would be fair. But you’ll probably know by the end of April where you stand. I saw the Jazz article in the Athletic. What washed up veterans are you referring too? I was looking at the rosters and with the exception of Starling Marte,Sean Rodriguez,Corey Dickerson,and Adam Duvall are the only veteran players who were on those teams from 20-22. And none of those guys stuck around plus they went to the playoffs in 2020. Nobody except Jazz has ever mentioned a toxic clubhouse and I’m sure with Mattingly as the manager it would have came out that he lost control of his veterans. Jazz’s take is really refreshing to you? I have to disagree. That’s exactly what’s not needed. Like you said he really needs to learn some diplomacy otherwise it’s gonna be tough on him because not everyone is gonna bend over backwards to make his trip an easier one. If he had/has a problem with Rojas he should have took it to the Manager not waited 2 years to bash a guy in an article. I see a future head case if not a full fledged one all ready. That article is a giant red flag. All IMO.
@Chris from NJ
Thank you, Chris, as usual, for your excellent input. Again, as an admitted Jazz fan and Marlins diehard, it’s entirely possible that I could be misreading the situation. Only time will tell on that score. I liked Mattingly as manager. But (no fault of Donnie’s) the 2021 and 2o22 teams were dreadful. No offense whatsoever. Those were bad years. And I do believe that on-field success and a winning record can go a long way toward solving (or at least diminishing) any lingering personal resentments a player may have. In the case of Jazz, we’ll have to wait and see. One thing’s for certain, though – in terms of health and on-field production, this is his absolute make-or-break year.
Marlins went extra slow on building Meyer up this spring. They really didn’t want him on the opening day roster, but he forced his way on with excellent performances. I’m really pulling for him and Rogers in particular. And Sixto.
Marlins defence will be better at the beginning of this season than it was at the beginning of ’23. I hope that and a bounceback year from Anderson keeps our playoff hopes alive
I’m hoping Sixto puts up some innings this year. The guy that worries me is Weathers.
Weathers has all the firepower and tools needed to be a dominant ace. With respect to his talent, there can be no doubt. But can he command and execute his pitches consistently in high-pressure game situations? That is the unknown element, the big question mark.