Fish Stripes: All Posts by Thomas Bennett

Fare thee well, Fish Stripes

2018-04-22T11:01:01-04:00

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Thanks for a fun few years.

The long and short of it is this: it’s come time for me to move on, and make way for a new head honcho here at Fish Stripes.

When I joined the staff in early 2015, I had no online publishing experience to speak of, no writing samples to offer up, nothing to point to except that I was an old hand in the Lookout Landing commentariat. I applied on a whim, looking for a chance to write for a public audience on a topic I loved (baseball).

Michael Jong and Scott Gelman took a chance on me despite my inexperience and somehow, over three years later I am bowing out as the managing editor. I’ve made podcast appearances, radio appearances, interviewed tv personalities, talked with players, coaches and members of the Miami Marlins organization, all while writing close to 400 articles on these pages. Let’s just say that I wasn’t planning on all that when I signed up, but I’m thrilled that it took place.

The Marlins were kind enough to provide some on-the-field highlights of their own over my years here: Dee Gordon’s batting title in 2015, Jose Fernandez’s triumphant return from Tommy John surgery, Edinson Volquez’s no-hitter, Justin Bour in the home run derby, hosting the All-Star game, Stanton’s amazing second half home run tear in 2017. Strong individual performances too numerous to recall.

And, of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that there were a few lows, too: the predictable demise of Dan Jennings, manager/GM, Gordon’s PED suspension, the early PR missteps of the Jeter/Sherman group, and the lowest low of losing Jose Fernandez.

Through it all, I’ve come to greatly admire the Marlins fan base, the guys who float around twitter (both Fish Family and Marlins Party), the diehards over at r/letsgofish, the people who continue to show up to games. I’m particularly thankful to those who read us, and those who frequented the Fish Stripes comment sections over the years. I don’t believe there is a fan base in baseball that has the dual “distinction” of having been treated so poorly by the team’s ownership groups over the years and simultaneously getting dumped on by the national media. They say you don’t care. They say you don’t exist. Well, I’m here to say that I see you, and more then anything, I want to see the Marlins win for you, the ever-faithful.

I want to give thanks to my staff, without whom this place would be but an empty shell. I’ve worked with so many great writers, some of whom have gone on to work for teams, and some of whom may yet go on to do great things of their own accord. Would that I could name them all, but much like an academy award speech, I’m on a strict word count...sorry fellas. You know who you are and you know I appreciate ya.

I will thank my wife Jessica by name, who has tolerated many an evening of me pounding furiously away at a keyboard recounting yet another Marlins’ loss in another Marlins’ lost season. We were married back in February of 2015; I started writing for Fish Stripes two weeks later. It’s not hyperbole to say that she’s had to share me with this blog.

A few months back, we lost her father unexpectedly. A great baseball fan in his own right, I was looking forward to attending a few games with him this year. We can logically know that time is passing, day in and day out, but we don’t always feel it, and losing Cody made me realize that I can’t sit on my goals and dreams forever.

I need the time I’ve been giving this place.

The good news is, there is always someone hungry to step up and take the reigns. I don’t know who my successor will be, but I am sure that SB Nation will leave you in capable hands.

While I’m taking a little break, I’m not done writing about baseball entirely. With Ryan Romano’s good graces I’ll still be appearing on the pages of Beyond the Box Score from time to time...and I’ll be kicking around here for a bit longer while the powers that be look for my replacement, but for all intents and purposes I’ve written my final piece for Fish Stripes.

So thanks for having me, and a few years down the road, when the process finally comes to it’s glorious, inevitable conclusion, know that there’ll be at least one fan as far as you can possibly get from Miami in the contiguous United States jumping up and down alongside you.

Go Fish.

Marlins blow sizable early lead, lose on walk-off

2018-04-22T00:26:49-04:00

Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Re2pecting the process can be difficult on nights like these.

The Marlins took a large lead early on against the Milwaukee Brewers, but they failed to hold on to it, as they fell in a fitting fashion: on a walk-off home run. Jesus Aguilar, who came in as a late-inning substitution, hit a homer in the 9th off Junichi Tazawa, to give Milwaukee a 6-5 victory, and it also gave them the win in this series.

The Marlins got off to a quick start in the very first inning, when Derek Dietrich homered, giving Miami a 1-0 lead. In the next inning, rookie outfielder Lewis Brinson, who’s playing against his former team, continued to break out of his season-long slump, when he launched the ball to center for a three-run homer, his third of the series, to give the Fish a 4-0 lead.

The Brewers would start to climb back into the game, as Travis Shaw homered in the bottom half of that inning. By the 4th inning, Milwaukee had cut the lead to one, but the Marlins would increase their slim lead in the 5th. Rookie Brian Anderson singled home Starlin Castro to give Miami a 5-3 advantage. Milwaukee would cut into the lead again in that inning, when Ryan Braun hit a sacrifice fly, shrinking the Marlins’ lead to 5-4. Milwaukee knotted the game at 5 in the 8th, when Eric Sogard doubled home Shaw.

Finally, one inning later, Aguilar‘s heroics gave Milwaukee their third win in the series. That home run gave the Marlins their sixth loss in seven games, and they were dropped to 5-15 on the season. Jose Urena struggled in his start for Miami, as he allowed four runs and four hits in 5.0 innings pitched. Tazawa was given the loss, while Jeremy Jeffress earned the win for Milwaukee.

If there’s any good news for the Marlins, more reinforcements are coming back from injury. Veteran third baseman Martin Prado played tonight at Single- A Jupiter, while pitcher Dan Straily is expected to pitch on Tuesday for Double-A Jacksonville. The Marlins will look to salvage this series and avoid a sweep with a win tomorrow afternoon. Caleb Smith will pitch for Miami, while Junior Guerra will go for Milwaukee.

Courtesy of Fangraphs

Swordfish: Jesus Aguilar (.355)

Blowfish: Junichi Tazawa (-.355)

Play of the game: Aguilar walk-off (.355)

Attendance: 37,175

Today's Lineups

MIAMI MARLINS	MILWAUKEE BREWERS
Miguel Rojas - SS	Lorenzo Cain - CF
Derek Dietrich - LF	Christian Yelich - RF
Starlin Castro - 2B	Ryan Braun - LF
Brian Anderson - 3B	Travis Shaw - 3B
Justin Bour - 1B	Eric Thames - 1B
Cameron Maybin - RF	Eric Sogard - SS
Lewis Brinson - CF	Jonathan Villar - 2B
Bryan Holaday - C	Jett Bandy - C
Jose Urena - RHP	Brent Suter - LHP

Thread Question:

Has Lewis Brinson turned the corner?

Lewis Brinson finally comes up big, but Brewers clobber Marlins 12-3

2018-04-20T00:14:01-04:00

Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Two dead-center bombs from Miami’s native son not nearly enough.

It can be nightmare fuel for fans of players who switched teams in the offseason, watching them come up big against their former team. Kind of a “you should never have traded me” gesture.

Marlins fans dodged that bullet in New York with Giancarlo Stanton and immediately had to face down the chance that Christian Yelich could rain some pain. He did chip in with a couple hits tonight, but the vast majority of the damage was done by his teammates.

Brewers fans, meanwhile might have been the recipients tonight as Lewis Brinson, fresh off of being benched, responded beautifully in his return to Miller Park with a pair of impressive long shots.

Back in Milwaukee? @LewisBrinson decided he would go yard. Twice. pic.twitter.com/3GYNYNq4N2
— MLB (@MLB) April 20, 2018

The Fish Faithful will certainly remember Brinson’s performance, but the Brewer’s potent offense unfortunately made it an after thought as they got to Dillon Peters first (four runs, five walks in four and two thirds innings’ pitched), and Junichi Tazawa second (six runs on four hits including a couple of long balls).

In between those two, Odrisamer Despaigne threw sixteen pitches and was charged with a couple runs courtesy of Tazawa’s blow-up BECAUSE he had to leave the game with a right forearm strain. He is day-to-day.

A bright spot for the Marlins occurred when Merandy Gonzalez debuted in the seventh inning. He would go on to pitch two shut out innings, giving up three hits and tallying a K. Solid debut that should give hope. And hope is what we roll with these days.

Trevor Richards vs Jhoulys Chacin in game two tomorrow, 8:10 eastern start.

Courtesy of Fangraphs

Swordfish: Lorenzo Cain (.362)

Flounder: Odrisamer Despaigne (-.272)

Play of the game: Brinson two run shot in the fifth (.216)

Attendance: 26,087

Trevor Richards strong but Marlins blow it in the ninth

2018-04-14T22:30:53-04:00

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Fall 1-0 to the Pirates.

Trevor Richards was determined not to let his first couple of major league starts define him, coming out strong against what had been a hot Pirates lineup.

Trevor Richards is dominating. Ground balls, pop-ups and very little else. Living at the bottom of the strike zone.

Shutout thru 6 innings (and only 71 pitches). pic.twitter.com/DrhW9SH6Nk
— Fish Stripes (@fishstripes) April 15, 2018

Richards would ultimately go seven full innings, giving up a scant two hits with one walk and two strikeouts to his name. An excellent performance that should keep his name in the hat as far as future starts are concerned.

Unfortunately, the Marlins could not muster anything against Jameson Taillon and then the Pirates bullpen, which gave an opening for the buccos to get to Brad Ziegler in the ninth (assisted by the notorious defensive chops of Starlin Castro, who misplayed a bunt to get the rally going). The Marlins could not counter, and there you have it.

It should be noted that Drew Steckenrider pitched a clean eighth and now has seven scoreless appearances under his belt to start 2018.

Ivan Nova will clash with Jose Urena in tomorrow’s finale at 1:10 pm.

Swordfish: Trevor Richards (.438)

Flounder: Brad Ziegler

Play of the game: Josh Bell ninth inning single advancing Starling Marte to third (.182)

Attendance: 26,816

Place yo Itchy picks down below (explainer)

Today's Lineups

PITTSBURGH PIRATES	MIAMI MARLINS
Josh Harrison - 2B	Derek Dietrich - LF
Gregory Polanco - RF	Miguel Rojas - SS
Starling Marte - CF	Starlin Castro - 2B
Josh Bell - 1B	Justin Bour - 1B
Corey Dickerson - LF	Brian Anderson - 3B
Francisco Cervelli - C	J.B. Shuck - RF
Colin Moran - 3B	Lewis Brinson - CF
Jordy Mercer - SS	Bryan Holaday - C
Jameson Taillon - RHP	Trevor Richards - RHP

Matchup Summary:

Jameson Taillon has really come into his own as a pitcher and was probably a big reason the Pirates (9-4) felt comfortable trading Gerrit Cole. He’s a tough draw for the Marlins (4-9), who will counter with Trevor Richards in their bid to win back to back games for the first time this year (the Fish were victorious 7-2 in game one of the series).

Thread Question:

There was admittedly a bit of a hype train (as much as there can be for an undrafted pitcher, anyway) for Trevor Richards before he debuted. Will he turn it around and meet some of those initial expectations?

Jarlin the Marlin has a memorable first start, but the pen falters late

2018-04-11T23:31:56-04:00

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Mets complete the sweep courtesy a 4-1 victory.

Jarlin Garcia made the most of his debut as a starting pitcher, going six strong no-hit innings before being lifted for Drew Steckenrider by the start of the seventh.

Jarlin García is getting a lot of weak contact like this. Mets got nothing going on thru 4 IP. This could get interesting... pic.twitter.com/k9ftJPAIeY
— Fish Stripes (@fishstripes) April 12, 2018

Many Marlins fans questioned this decision, as Jarlin was only at 77 pitches, but it seems pretty clear that they had a pitch limit for him (he’d only thrown 73 pitches in a single outing once before), and once they reached that, he was going to be done. Jarlin’s fantastic final line was no run on no hits through six innings pitched, two walks and three strikeouts. Yeah, we’ll be seeing some more of him in the rotation.

Perhaps some of the trepidation regarding Mattingly’s decision to yank Garcia lay less in the fact that he had a no-hitter going and more in the observed early season shakiness of the bullpen.

Steckenrider survived his inning just fine, but things fell apart for the rest in the eighth. It went like this:

Tayron Guerrero ¹⁄₃ innings pitched: Plunks Kevin Plawecki, strikes out Amed Rosario.
Chris O’Grady 0 innings pitched: Michael Conforto double, Adrian Gonzalez single plates two, Asdrubal Cabrera singles.
Junichi Tazawa ²⁄₃ innings pitched: Wilmer Flores ground-rule double scores Gonzalez, Cabrera moves up to third and scores on a Todd Frazier sac-fly, Tomas Nido grounds into fielder’s choice.

Four runs in, 4-1 Mets. Brutal.

Offensively the Marlins couldn’t get much going against Zack Wheeler, who should be given credit for his seven inning, one run performance (replete with seven K’s).

The lone blemish on his resume was courtesy of Miguel Rojas, who made sure the Marlins made it onto the board today with a first inning solo shot.

Miguel Rojas just reached a career high in homers in a season — 2. #Marlins
— Fish On The Farm (@marlinsminors) April 11, 2018

Rojas also had an outstanding snag of a would-be liner in the seventh, at the time preserving the no-no. Old friend AJ Ramos came on to finish the the Fish off in the ninth, and just like that, the mighty Mets have won eight straight.

The Marlins, meanwhile, fall to 3-9 and will have a day of rest tomorrow, before welcoming the Pittsburgh Pirates into town for three.

Courtesy of Fangraphs

Swordfish: Jarlin Garcia (.365)

Flounder: Chris O’Grady (-.530)

Play of the game: Adrian Gonzalez 8th inning single (.288)

Attendance: 6,150 (for reals)

Today's Lineups

NEW YORK METS	MIAMI MARLINS
Asdrubal Cabrera - 2B	Derek Dietrich - LF
Wilmer Flores - 1B	Miguel Rojas - SS
Yoenis Cespedes - LF	Starlin Castro - 2B
Todd Frazier - 3B	Justin Bour - 1B
Jay Bruce - RF	Brian Anderson - 3B
Kevin Plawecki - C	Cameron Maybin - RF
Amed Rosario - SS	Lewis Brinson - CF
Juan Lagares - CF	Chad Wallach - C
Zack Wheeler - RHP	Jarlin Garcia - LHP

Matchup Summary:

Pressed for time today friends, so in the immortal words of Perd Hapley:

"Here is a game thread, which is a thread where you can talk about the game."

Don't forget them Itchy picks.

Phillies blank Marlins 5-0: Chart

2018-04-05T18:25:19-04:00

Wheeeeeeeeeeee! | Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

That wasn’t competitive.

Final Score: Phillies 5, Marlins 0 Chart

Courtesy of Fangraphs

Swordfish: Nick Pivetta (.213)

Flounder: Caleb Smith (-.179)

Play of the game: Maikel Franco 2-run single in the 1st (.157)

Don’t forget to get your Icthy picks in!

To see the standings (or find out what it is we’re talking about), click here.

Today's Lineups

MIAMI MARLINS	PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Lewis Brinson - CF	Cesar Hernandez - 2B
Derek Dietrich - LF	Carlos Santana - 1B
Starlin Castro - 2B	Scott Kingery - RF
Justin Bour - 1B	Rhys Hoskins - LF
Brian Anderson - 3B	Odubel Herrera - CF
Cameron Maybin - RF	Maikel Franco - 3B
Miguel Rojas - SS	Jorge Alfaro - C
Bryan Holaday - C	Nick Pivetta - RHP
Caleb Smith - LHP	J.P. Crawford - SS

Matchup Summary

The Marlins (2-4) take on the last place Phillies (1-4, enjoy it while you can) in a best of three in Philadelphia. It’s the home opener for the Phightin’ Phils, and they’re already having to plead with their fan base not to boo new manager Gabe Kapler.

The grass is not always greener.

Nick Pivetta will be on the mound for the Phillies, he was worth 1.1 fWAR last year for Philadelphia despite putting up an ugly 6.07 ERA/4.87 FIP. More importantly, this will be the second start for Caleb Smith, who delighted in his Marlins debut with five and a third’s innings pitched, one run on four hits, three walks and eight (!) punch outs.

Thread Question

Can we entertain the thought of Philadelphia actually finishing with a worse record than the Marlins this year?

Cubs knock Ureña around; Marlins fall on Opening Day

2018-03-30T15:11:02-04:00

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Final score: 8-4

José Ureña probably wants a do-over on his first Opening Day assignment, as he was manhandled by the Chicago Cubs lineup to the tune of six hits and five earned runs over four innings pitched, four walks allowed and a pair of strikeouts recorded. Ian Happ notably hit the first pitch of the season out of the ballpark.

Despite the Marlins lineup responding with four runs off of Cubs starter Jon Lester, the Marlins bullpen would cough up another three runs and put the game safely out of reach by a final score of 8-4.

Dylan Goldman’s comments:

“I’d say the park was almost 80 or 85% full, which is always a welcome sight, don’t know the exact totals. A good amount of the concession stands ran out of certain items because they weren’t used to the crowd size. Very nice flyover before. Jeter seems to be placing an emphasis on making the games more “Miami” with more Miami-type music and other stuff.”

Courtesy of Fangraphs

Swordfish: Brian Anderson (.230)

Flounder: Jon Lester (-.482)

Play of the game: Brian Anderson single to score Starlin Castro in the third (.147). For reals though, that Ian Happ first pitch home run set the tone for the game, so I’ll mention it again here in deference.

Attendance: 32,151

If you want to catch the game thread lead-up and subsequent commentary, read below.

Yes, the venerable and long-standing Fish Stripes tradition of Icthyomancy has returned! You can make your picks in the game thread comments below and in every game thread hereafter.

Here is an excerpt regarding the prediction contest, in case you have no idea what we’re talking about:

Attendance

Attendance is a big deal in Marlins baseball, like it or not. In each game, we will guess the attendance of the game, home or away, and the closest guess will be worth 2 points.

Individual Games

You can make your best prediction for game scores. A pass costs you nothing. Post your prediction of the score, and if it’s a direct hit (with the correct teams), that’s three points. If you pick the correct winner and by the actual number of runs, that’ll be two points. Predict which team wins, and that’s a single point.

Individual Predictions

These are our prop bets. You’re allowed to make up to two “outside the box” predictions for each contest. Points will be awarded based on the probability of something happening. If you’ve predicted something unfathomably rare (a no-hitter, pitcher hits two home runs, Justin Bour steals seven bases) and it comes true, that’s going to be a lot of points. Everyday things will be worth less. What the heck? The game is free - swing for the fences!

This season, community editor Michael Stephenson will be your host, and I can assure you that we will carry the contest throughout the entire season, because I’m paying Michael that sweet scrilla to make it happen. Michael will have a tallied standings post for you once a week on the weekends so you can see where you stand amongst your peers. Prize TBD.

Today's Lineups

CHICAGO CUBS	MIAMI MARLINS
Ian Happ - CF	Lewis Brinson - CF
Kris Bryant - 3B	Derek Dietrich - LF
Anthony Rizzo - 1B	Starlin Castro - 2B
Willson Contreras - C	Justin Bour - 1B
Kyle Schwarber - LF	Brian Anderson - 3B
Addison Russell - SS	Garrett Cooper - RF
Jason Heyward - RF	Miguel Rojas - SS
Javier Baez - 2B	Chad Wallach - C
Jon Lester - LHP	Jose Urena - RHP

Matchup summary:

The Chicago Cubs enter the 2018 season as favorites to win the National League Central and a strong contender to represent the NL in the World Series for the second time in three years. The Miami Marlins are vying to not be the worst team in baseball.

Savvy veterans of rebuilds will be looking for great moments and individual performances more than team milestones this season. With luck, we’ll be witnessing the foundation of a championship caliber team being created, piece by piece, before our very eyes, and let me tell you, ain’t no better time to get on a bandwagon then when it’s empty.

In this game, I’m going to be watching to see how José Ureña handles the pressure of an Opening Day assignment. I’m going to watch for a Justin Bour moonshot. How Derek Dietrich runs routes. Lewis Brinson’s timing up at the plate. Mattingly’s trigger-finger. Brian Anderson’s offense. Starlin Castro’s defense. Junichi Tazawa’s stuff.

Did I say this game? Because I really meant this season.

The accumulation of these things will make or break the Marlins season, ultimately. I can’t wait to see which way the pendulum swings.

It all starts now.

Thread question:

Which Marlins rookie are you most excited about?

Fish Stripes staff predicts the 2018 MLB Season

2018-03-29T10:15:01-04:00

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-USA TODAY NETWORK

Glory to be found anywhere but Miami, apparently.

Baseball makes fools of us all, said some wise fan in the stands, somewhere, sometime (probably).

Every year, the so-called experts and novice fans alike gather together and come up with a cacophony of sage picks and hot takes; every year, most of us are wrong.

Call us gluttons for punishment if you must, but we just couldn’t sit idly by and let everyone else have all the fun. We wanted to put our opinions out there to be mocked alongside the rest of baseball’s punditry. We should probably note that not every writer filled out the entire survey, as if afraid to go too far off the deep end. You may find a nugget or two below that makes you wonder what kind of hallucinogens we’ve been passing around at staff meetings.

Without further adieu, the Fish Stripes staff presents their picks for the 2018 MLB season. Bookmark this post, because we will be coming back to it at season’s end to point out ~~how right I was~~ how wrong everyone was.

How do you see things playing out? Leave your own picks in the comments and laugh alongside us at our collective foolishness in seven months time. Happy Opening Day!

Miami Marlins links, 3/28/18: Opening Day is tomorrow!!!!!!

2018-03-28T11:12:50-04:00

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Wednesday Marlins links on the eve of real baseball.

Miami Marlins links for Wednesday, March 28th, 2018

Marlins’ Roster Solidifying

That leaves 3 spots for a backup catcher, at least one reliever, and potentially one other position player (but only if they're comfortable with 12 pitchers instead of 13)
— Fish Stripes (@fishstripes) March 28, 2018

Gracias a Dios Opening Day Roster con Miami @Marlins 2018!!! pic.twitter.com/g6n7Un2pF9
— Yadiel Rivera (@YADIELRIVERA13) March 27, 2018

There's a storied history of MLB players coming from the @OleMissBSB program.

Congrats to Braxton Lee on joining them! Sprinting straight from Double-A to the majors after a breakout 2017 season. pic.twitter.com/EYQfwgxWNL
— Fish Stripes (@fishstripes) March 27, 2018

In regards to those final three spots, Chad Wallach is the presumed favorite for the back-up catcher gig (until J.T. Realmuto gets back and pushes Tomas Telis back into said position), and hard-throwing Tayron Guerrero and minor league invite Jumbo Diaz are in play for that last reliever position. The final position is a bit of a mystery, I wont hazard a guess. The Marlins have until 11:35 am eastern to finalize the roster.

Opening Day primer

Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald has got you covered for Marlins Park Opening Day information

Marlins Rock The Hurricanes

The Marlins faced the University of Miami Hurricanes yesterday and demolished them.

Walking Wounded

The Marlins will start the season with seven players on the disabled list.

Dinger Machine Silenced

Whitney McIntosh of SB Nation notes that the Home Run Sculpture failed to go off for Lewis Brinson yesterday, perhaps signalling the beginning of the end.

Sun Sentinel Previews the Marlins

If you aren’t tired of previews yet!

Miami New Times Previews the Marlins

Ryan Yousefi, this time.

Here at Fish Stripes

The Marlins have (finally) finalized their rotation, and Aram Leighton talks to Al Yellon of Bleed Cubbie Blue in the latest Fish Bites podcast.

Got a Miami Marlins related story you think is worth reading? Send it to fishstripeswriters@gmail.com and we’ll put it in the next links piece!

Miami Marlins links, 3/27/18: Trevor Richards, Brian Ellington, Roster Finalization

2018-03-27T13:06:52-04:00

Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Miami Marlins news for Tuesday, March 27th, 2018

University of Miami vs. the Fish

Here is the #Marlins “Teach these kids a lesson” lineup vs. UM

1. CF Brinson
2. LF Dietrich
3. 2B Castro
4. 1B Bour
5. 3B Anderson
6. RF Cooper
7. DH Maybin
8. SS Rojas
9. C Wallach

P Peters
— Fish Stripes (@fishstripes) March 27, 2018

Roster round-up

As noted by Joe Frisaro, the Marlins have until 11:35 am eastern time on Thursday to officially finalize their roster. That being said, it appears they’ve come to a decision on a few things...

Caleb Smith will start 2nd game for Marlins. Despaigne will start the 3rd
— clarkspencer (@clarkspencer) March 27, 2018

Nothing has been announced, but the fact Trevor Richards, who isn't on the 40-man roster, was asked to be in Miami and not stay with Triple-A New Orleans could be a sign he will announced in the rotation later today @Marlins
— Joe Frisaro (@JoeFrisaro) March 27, 2018

Dillon Peters will start today, and this may just be a tuneup for him to be in the rotation. He would be my guess @Marlins
— Joe Frisaro (@JoeFrisaro) March 27, 2018

.@clarkspencer reporting Peter Mooney and Scott Van Slyke are not at @MarlinsPark today but Yadiel Rivera and @trevrchrds are, suggesting the former are out and the latter are in. If so, Richards could be making his MLB debut sometime next week. #JuntosMiami
— Fish On The Farm (@marlinsminors) March 27, 2018

The @Marlins have assigned Brian Ellington to Triple A New Orleans. Right now, the Marlins farm system is currently ranked at 19 going into the 2018 season. The system was ranked 29 last season!!!!!! #Re2pectTheProcess #GoMarlins
— Jorge Rodriguez (@MiamiJorge425) March 27, 2018

Scouts’ take on Marlins’ prospects

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald talked with a couple of scouts regardin their thoughts on the latest batch of Marlins prospects.

A gift guide for the Fish Fanatic in your family

Nathan Cunningham of Marlins Maniac brings us 10 “must-have” items for Opening Day.

A precipitous decline

The Marlins are the owners of the biggest decline in projected win totals from 2017 to 2018, according to Bovada.

Marlins player takes Jose Fernandez’s locker

The locker that was to remain empty was taken for a day by one of the team’s veterans.

Prospect preview

Kevin Kraczkowski has a prospect preview over at Marlins Maniac, as well.

Podcast preview

Will Manso and Clay Ferraro of WPLG Local 10 (ABC) preview the Marlins in their latest podcast.

Pitching preview

Nick Veronesi of isportsweb.com takes a look at the Marlins’ pitching staff.

Better later than never

Another preview (from a few days back), this from Steven Wine of the Times-Herald Record.

Got a Miami Marlins related story that you think is worth reading? Send it to us at Fishstripeswriters@gmail.com and we’ll put it in the next links piece!