Re-View of the Preview: Florida Marlins
First of all, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it. As I type this, it is already halfway through said holiday her in France. I hope, though, no matter what a anybody believes, that this be a good day for them. Now, here, is the link to the first entry predicting the then Florida Marlins’ 2011 season.
Predicted Record: 75-80 wins
Actual Record: 72-90
So I was a little off on this prediction. Though, I was a LOT closer than I thought when I initially looked at the discrepancy between the two records. That is because, I failed to put Josh Johnson in the Notable Subtractions column. Does anyone remeber the first two months or so of the season? Josh Johnson had about 3 or4 starts it seems that he had a no-hitter for the first 6 innings of a game. He was THE best pitcher in baseball when he got injured, and that is with Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw included. Johson was their bonafide Ace and had I known he would have been down for most of the season, I would have down graded the Marlins about four wins. Case in point, the second to last video on Johnson’s Player Page is entitled, “J.J. is key to Marlins’ success.”
Just a side note, as much as I like Josh Johnson, I don’t think he will get over his injury woes. Last Year, when Stephen Strasburg was coming up, everyone and their mother had their eyes on him. Curt Schilling was no exception. He did a segment with ESPN or MLBN where he looked at both Josh Johnson side-by-side with Stephen Stasburg because he wanted to look at a Pitcher of the same height of 6’5″ (Strasburg is 6’4″ and Johnson is 6’6″, but whatever)
Had Josh Johnson been out from the beginning of the season, I would have adjusted my prediction correctly. So all things considered, I predicted the Marlins’ season pretty well. They were who I thought they were! A team that was above average offensively, but not so spectacular to overcome any lack in pitching. I’m not saying their pitching staff was horrible without Johnson, but they have a lot of slightly above average homegrown Pitchers and some below average mercinaries. All in all, this is a well run organization for the funding it provides its GM with.
Observing Baseball 
Sorry for the slight delay in getting back to you, but I just had to examine a couple of my entries of games where I saw the Marlins play to remind myself of the environment during their portions of bp. So, from what I have seen of them during batting practice, you are right in that they do silly things far too often, but there are *some* veterans/mature players on the team. The issue is: the veterans aren’t in positions of power on the team and they are out-numbered. For example, Omar Infante and John Buck aren’t going to tell Hanley Ramirez to tone it down, because of the peer-pressure not to and the threat that they might have their playing time reduced or something along those lines. Heck, Fredi Gonzalez essetially got fired for reprimanding Ramirez. I think something has to be done. I know that you are very happy with him, but Albert Pujols could have helped this team like no other player could have, and that is why they went after him so aggressively. That said, they have acquired some veterans that can help imporve the situation there.
…Well run up to a point. I think that last season the Marlins were starving for more of a veteran presence in the clubhouse that would have helped teach the kids on the team how to act appropriately and focus on their talent over some of the silliness that became so distracting. It will be interesting to see how the team works this season with the new aquisitions and Ozzie.
— Kristen