Marlins links, 6/15/18: road trippin’ again, Denbo’s new approach, baseball back in Batavia

How sweep it would’ve been...

The resilient Marlins again fell behind early to the Giants and again rallied back to make things interesting. Taking advantage of a dropped pop-up in the ninth inning, they put the leadoff man in scoring position, representing the tying run. Lewis Brinson drove him in to tie the score 3-3...and they played two more hours of baseball from there.

But the offense went quiet, including missing a golden opportunity to put the game away in the 15th. As Don Mattingly has been known to do, he over-extended a relief pitcher—this time, right-hander Elieser Hernández—and the Giants broke through the following inning. The final score was 6-3.

In 2018, Miami dropped to 5-18 in games that J.T. Realmuto doesn’t start. Despite beginning the season on the disabled list, Realmuto ranks seventh in the National League in innings caught.

No more Mr. Nice Guy

Courtesy of @Marlins/Twitter

Jon Heyman has a fascinating feature for FRS Baseball on Gary Denbo, the new Marlins vice president of player development and scouting. He began leaving his marking on the organization this spring by leading the first-ever Marlins “Captain’s Camp” for promising prospects. Denbo also reportedly had the loudest voice in the room during the 2018 draft selection process.

The Derek Jeter confidant is, in his own words, “very direct” and unafraid to be critical when a job isn’t being done to his liking:

“I don’t want to say anything bad about people who were already here. But obviously, things weren’t going well,” Denbo said. “If you’re not winning and you’re (also) losing money, then things have to change. Things had to change.”

One more time, here’s the link.

Minor league scoreboard

Triple-A: Fresno 1, New Orleans 4 (31-35)

Double-A: Jackson 6, Jacksonville 0 (27-38)

High-A: Jupiter 4, Lakeland 3 to finish suspended game; Jupiter 9 (39-27), Lakeland 3 in regularly scheduled game

Low-A: Hickory 6, Greensboro 4 (31-35)

Dominican: DSL Marlins 4 (4-7), DSL Astros 3

June 14 box scores courtesy of MiLB.com

NY-Penn League season opener

The short-season affiliate in Batavia finally gets to work on Friday night. The player roster isn’t updated on their website, but Marlins 2017 top draft pick Trevor Rogers is among the minor leaguers assigned to the Muckdogs.

More #BA2DC material

The Marlins have been stockpiling the farm system with young outfielders since last winter. I don’t think even they expected Brian Anderson to make such a smooth transition.

The most David Samson thing ever

As admitted during his latest appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show, the former Marlins executive says his administration would occasionally buy thousands of game tickets from themselves to pad official attendances figures “if the numbers are lower than we would like” (h/t Barry Jackson, Miami Herald). They would then emphasize the fraudulent totals in their pitches to prospective sponsors.

The new Marlins policy for 2018 is to be brutally honest in reporting turnouts. The team ranks dead last in average attendance as a result.

As easy as it gets?

Team records and run differentials can be deceiving, but they carry more weight at this point in the season. The Baltimore Orioles are worse than the Marlins in both aspects and riding the longest active losing streak in the majors. An astounding 26 games back of the Red Sox for the AL East lead (in mid-June!!!), the O’s are now the odds-on favorite for 2019’s No. 1 MLB amateur draft pick and expected to be big sellers over the next month-and-a-half to secure that asset.

They begin a three-game series in Baltimore on Friday night (7:05pm first pitch). It’s José Ureña vs. Kevin Gausman.