Our Noticias, 7/10/20: Marlins sim games; 2021 schedule; Jack McKeon

More Marlins Summer Camp takeaways

The Marlins held a simulated game at Marlins Park late Thursday afternoon involving more than 20 players, most of whom are expected to be active for the club on Opening Day two weeks from now. They played 7 ¹⁄₂ innings with the contest ending in an unofficial 3-3 tie.

Alex Krutchik was on the scene for Fish Stripes. Without the Marlins providing a publicly available livestream, Alex’s Twitter videos are the next-best thing.

Lewis Brinson, Jazz Chisholm and Matt Joyce continue to be absent from camp (at least during daily media availability). Without naming any of them specifically, manager Don Mattingly acknowledged that players who haven’t been at team workouts yet will find it difficult to get up to speed in time for the July 24 regular season opener in Philadelphia.

The leading beneficiary of their misfortune is outfielder Monte Harrison. He launched a no-doubt home run off of Caleb Smith (again) during the sim game. In the absence of Minor League Baseball this summer, it will be difficult to justify denying him a spot on the initial 30-man Marlins active roster.

Another game is on deck for Friday. Expect to see Brian Anderson, Pablo López and José Ureña participate. Alex Contreras (@TheRealACoN) will attend. First pitch at approximately 5:30 p.m. ET.

2021 schedule

I’m finding it difficult to form any strong opinions about next year’s schedule until seeing how this summer plays out. The super-early release appears to be financially motivated, as the Marlins and all other MLB teams attempt to persuade 2020 ticket holders to roll over their investments to 2021 rather than request full refunds.

The Marlins will spend much of the first quarter of the season on the road. There’s a stretch of 26 games in 27 days during May that should have huge implications for them as a playoff hopeful. Interleague matchups come against AL East teams.

Walk-off links

• Legendary Marlins manager Jack McKeon was a riveting guest during the local hour of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. Now contributing to the Washington Nationals front office, he is admittedly disappointed to have been fired during 2017’s ownership transition, and he says Derek Jeter promised to follow up with him about having a role with the organization but never did.
• Old friend Justin Bour continues to be the everyday first baseman for Japan’s Hanshin Tigers. He has posted a .235/.298/.431 slash line entering Friday’s game, including three home runs.

• I greatly enjoyed joining the Fish Across the Pond podcast this week with Peter Pratt and Jeremy Taché. We covered a variety of key storylines heading into the 2020 Marlins season.
• You have until 8 p.m. ET to enter to win a Jordan Yamamoto baseball card courtesy of the Exit Velocity baseball podcast.
• It’s also the final day to support Riverfront Stadium, home of Miami’s new Wichita MiLB affiliate, in the Best of the Ballparks 2020 MiLB Triple-A finals on Baseball Digest.
• Beginning Tuesday at 12 p.m. ET, Front Page 305 will be airing on SLAM Radio. The new program features former Marlins beat writer Andre Fernandez.
• Check out these Isan Díaz custom cleats: