The Wonder of the Waves: A Miami Marlins Dynasty

[MountUrCastle]

No lead in. You know who the Marlins are. You know what they stand for. You know their folly.

MIAMI MARLINS
Season One

March 26th, 2020

It’s a sunny day in Miami, estimated to be a vibrant 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit. In the blue cloudy sky, an airplane is seen soaring across, leaving to head to some unknown destination. By the decaling on the sides, you can only assume it’s heading to Canada. “Back to the north”, you think. “What I would give to be in the cold rather than this torrid place.”

You turn to your left. Sitting next to you wearing a Marlins-branded light blue polo, a pair of baggy khaki shorts, and the nicest pair of Ray-Bans you’ve ever seen is Derek Jeter! One of the most notorious baseball players of the era, a 14 time all star, and current team president of the Miami Marlins. He approaches you with a smile. “Welcome to Miami, kid. He’s really excited to meet you in the flesh.” The car speeds onto the highway as the GPS rings. “Headed to: Miami Marriot”.

You strike idle conversation with Jeets. The usual stuff, y’know? How playing with A-Rod was, how playing for the Yankees was, how he’s enjoying retirement. Just idle chit-chat til you make it to the location. Jeter doesn’t want to talk business yet- as the big boss is the one to make the final decisions, after all. But, you feel confident. You’re the only one, to your knowledge, to even get flown in. Just don’t mess up and you’re in, and your dreams will be realized! Just as simple as that.

The limo pulls in. You hop out, and help the bellboy with the bags. You can tell you’re being judged, but quite frankly, you don’t care. It’s a show of character! And ever since you were a child, you’ve had a little something that pushes you to help people. You load your bags on, and follow the crowd. You, Jeets, and a few others hop into the elevator, headed to the top floor- executive suite. You start to sweat. Meetings, especially those that are truly important, have always gotten to you a bit. You muster a slight cough, to break the silence. You focus in on the elevator. Nicely painted, great color. Love the railing. Wonder how old the elevato- *ding*. Ah, well… here goes.

“Welcome!” You hear a voice exclaim from another room. “I take it you’ve made acquaintance with my associate?” they ask. “Yeah” you respond. “Had trouble thinking of things to ask him”. Jeets and the mystery man laugh, as you hear the strangers' voices get closer. “Well, let's get to business, shall we?” you look up and it is Bruce Sherman, majority owner of the Miami Marlins. See, I left a detail out of this story for a reason- your name.

That’s because you are Jean-Gabriel Galarneau. Potential (and future) GM for the Miami Marlins.

[MountUrCastle]

Jean-Gabriel Galarneau

Jean-Gabriel Galarneau is a 29 year old Quebecois from Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. As a child, he fell in love with the MLB via the Expos, watching them intently starting in 1996, falling in love with one Vladimir Guerrero along the way. This inspired young Galarneau to take up baseball as his sport of choice, as opposed to the ever so popular hockey most of his peers chose. Taking Guerrero’s plate approach, He would impress MLB scouts all throughout his teens, including playing a pivotal role for Team Canada in the Little League Baseball World Series notching a boggling 8 home runs in as many games. Former scouting director for the Cardinals, Marty Maier, was quoted as saying “I don’t even think we have a player on our team at the moment who can hit the ball as hard as him.” Sadly, in his 2nd year of highschool, a freak accident while out snow-mobiling ended up breaking his collarbone, shoulder, and radius in the process, which healed incorrectly and permanently shortening his swing as a result. Galarneau could not adjust to keep up his torrid production, and dropped all the way through draft day. This coupled with a loss of interest as a result of the loss of the Expos a few years prior inevitably pushed Galarneau to retire from baseball in 2009. Unbeknownst to everyone except him, his family, and a few close friends, Galarneau would take a role in the San Diego Padres scouting staff for Canadian players, which he took a year after his retirement. He would fly under the radar until last December, when he reached out to Bruce Sherman himself with a promise: “I will bring a competitive team to Miami, with your payroll, in less than 4 years. “ The newly-minted owner of the Marlins couldn’t resist his bravado, which is why he finds himself in a hotel room with the big boss himself, contract in hand.

[MountUrCastle]

Team Overview

Marlins

No team is as intriguing as much as they are underwhelming at the MLB level than the Marlins. With a rotation that has an average age of 24 and a half, the Marlins are certainly faithful in their young arms. The player that Galarneau has the most faith in? Panlo Lopez, the 24 year old righty from Venezuela. Over the past 2 seasons, Lopez has played in 31 games with a combined era of 4.76, a WHIP of 1.25, a WAR of 2.3, with an average 7.46/2.38/1.22 per-9’s. Additionally, FIP and ERC are both very kind to the young Lopez painting him closer to a low-4’s to high-3’s ERA pitcher in a vacuum. These statistical boons coupled with his unprecedented control at his age points to him being a very reliable starting pitcher at worst in the foreseeable future for the Marlins. Galarneau is also excited to see Sandy Alcantara, and work with him to juice as much production out of his 97-99 MPH fastball and 95-96 MPH slider. Finally, in the bullpen, Jose Urena awaits. Urena, the oldest pitcher of this trio, is similar in style to Alcantara, where he throws very hard and has a wipeout slider- the difference being Urena’s slider is more of a changeup pitch, and breaks much more aggressively.
Not mentioned: Caleb Smith, Elieser Hernandez, Drew Steckenrider, Yimi Garcia, Ryne Stanek, Brad Boxberger, Brandon Kintzler


Infield
In the infield, there truthfully isn’t too much to be said. Jorge Alfaro projects to be the starting catcher for most games this year, and he has Francisco Cervelli to mentor him. This is good for the young Alfaro, as the core hole in his game is his fielding- he’s good at dishing the ball to second and third, with a rocket arm, but struggles to take it back when a runner tests him. An underrated aspect of him, however, is that he’s actually fairly fast! So if the Marlins are in a close game, they can sub in Cervelli to have more reliable plate defence, while if they are down a few, they can swap in Alfaro for a boost to their bats. Secondly, first base will feature a tandem of Jesus Aguilar and Garrett Cooper for this season. Galarneau is sure to love Cooper especially, who’s tenacity at the plate tends to spell trouble for opposing batters. However, he struggles with hitting left-handed pitchers, so Aguilar's role on this team is clear- DH versus righties, start versus lefties. At second, the Marlins have one of their two hopefuls for the future in Isan Diaz. Diaz is a prototypical 2nd baseman, with a strong bat, good fundamentals, and a bit weaker of an arm than his shortstop/third-basemen counterparts. However, Diaz still has huge struggles hitting pitchers of both handedness, so it is very likely Galarneau seeks out another 2nd basemen to allow Diaz to go to the minors and ripen a bit more before giving him the starting role. Third base is occupied by another interesting player in Brian Anderson. Anderson's main draw is his defense coupled with his positional versatility. While not quite a Mr Everything, Anderson’s flexibility coupled with his defensive and offensive rigidity makes him a tasty piece for Galarneau to play with. The only downside to him however? He has a mere 4 years of control left, and every team could use an Anderson.

Outfield
Infield is another position where the Marlins are interesting, and actually pretty good! Corey Dickerson projects to get a lion's share of the starts in the corner outfield. Dickerson, 30, signed a two year deal worth 8.8 million dollars a year with the Marlins last offseason. With no team control, and a wonderful bat, one must wonder what Galarneau plans for the Mississippian. In the Center, Johnathan Villar awaits- and hoo boy is he a good one. Boasting above average speed, fielding, and batting as well as insane positional versatility, Villar is likely the best player on the team- and getting paid like it too, hauling in the second most salary (as awarded in arbitration) on the team. With this being his last year before free agency, it will be a tough decision on what to do with Villar, especially if the Marlins somehow end up in a wildcard hunt this year. Regardless, Miami fans will get treated to the beast that is Johnathan Villar for a large sum of games this year.
Not Mentioned: Matt Joyce, Harold Ramirez

[MountUrCastle]

MINORS

Wichita Wind Surge
The Wind Surge are the Marlins Triple-A team, based in Wichita, Kansas. Why am I giving this long-winded explanation? Because there is very, very few players who Galarneau see factoring into the team long term on the roster. Wichita will be the home to both Sterling Sharp and Alex Vesia, two relievers who are a stone’s throw away from playing some role in the majors. I can’t guarantee their ETA as a full-season regular, partially because they aren’t terribly high-end relievers, but will probably see a lot of up/down movement dependant on the bullpen’s performances biweekly. A similar line of thinking can be applied to Gosuke Katoh, Magneuris Sierra, and Monte Harrison. All of these players have some specific utility to them Galarneau views as less valuable than most (namely, speed) but have positional versatility, decent enough batting, and an innate potential that even Galarneau can not deny. Galarneau views the Wind Surge as an extended bench for the Marlins, which means utility and depth players will spend most of their time here when not with the Marlins. One of Galarneau’s goals in this first season is to improve the depth of the Marlins, so this will extend into Triple-A.

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp
Jacksonville is where the meat of this first season will be focused. Boasting an already fairly incredible squad, Galarneau’s goal is to have Jacksonville consistently be the best team in the Southern League.

Starting with their pitching, when Galarneau is done with his initial moves expect Jordan Yamamoto to be finding his way to Jacksonville. Galarneau believes he needs to work on his walk rate a bit more before coming to the MLB, and Yamamoto still has all 3 of his options, so in all likelihood he will be leading this stacked rotation. Next up in the order will be top prospect and 36th best prospect in the league, fireballer Sixto Sanchez. The core part of the Realmuto deal, Sanchez boasts wipeout stuff but still has several years of development ahead of him. Likely seeing a relief spot as early as 2021, Sanchez and Yamamoto should form a fearsome duo for all AA batters. Joining this duo will be another high-end pitching prospect in Trevor Rogers. Rogers, the 13th overall selection in the 2017 MLB draft, is much more raw than Sanchez, but has an absolutely filthy curveball and has shown a propensity for working deep into games. Finally, Nick Neidert shapes out a beautiful pitching staff. While more of a reliable player where you always know what you are going to get on the mound, lacking the elite stuff of the other 3, Neidert is still a valuable prospect in his own right. Neiderts focus underneath Galarneau will be simply to become a good innings eater with reliable stuff day-in-day-out, and the product of Georgia could make the MLB sooner rather than later.

Moving onto the infield, leading the way for the Shrimp is the other half of the Diaz bros, Lewin Diaz. This 1st baseman already has an extremely good bat for his age, and has respectable defensive prowess at 1st base. With one of his main draws being a very strong arm, Galarneau may get Diaz to try himself at one of the corner fields in an effort to get his mature bat to the MLB ASAP. His complement in the infield is none other than Jasraldo “Jazz” Chisholm. Chisholm, who was acquired from the Diamondbacks for Zac Gallen last season, is a highly-touted player who follows the ideal shortstop mould- good speed, good reaction time and fielding, and can get on base with ease. Chisholm and Diaz make a lethal duo at 3 and 4 in the order, and Galarneau wants to see how dominant they can get.

The outfield does not house as much talent as the infield or pitching, but there are another 2 players who deserve a look: Jesus Sanchez and J.J. Bleday. These players are actually fairly similar to one another: They boast strong overall bats with great foot speed and a strong arm, but struggle severely against left-handed batters. Galarneau plans on taking great efforts to change this, but as a result of that lack of outfield strength, the need to give these two young players at-bat’s trumps their numerical results especially in a vacuum. It is worth noting as well that Galarneau apparently loves Bleday and thinks that with the right fine-tuning, he could become an all-star outfielder for the Marlins.

[MountUrCastle]

GALARNEAU MAKES FIRST MOVE AS GM, SIGNS FORMER STAR ZOBRIST

Newly-minted GM Jean-Gabriel Galarneau went right to work after being hired yesterday, inking the former Cubs and Rays infielder to a 1 year deal worth around 3.5 million dollars with another million in bonuses for games played. Zobrist, 38, has had a lengthy career in the majors appearing in 1,651 total games, posting a combined .266 batting average,and a .357/.426/.783 slash line with a sum of 42.9 WAR. He won the World Series once in his career, with the 2016 Cubs, helping bring Chicago it’s first title in over a century. Galarneau reportedly sees Zobrist lining up near the top of the lineup, in an effort to help get men further along the basepaths, an issues the Marlins had quite a bit last season. He and Zobrist apparently also do not view him as someone to play in Miami for long, as the 38 year old would like to win another title in his dwindling career, so the plan is to likely move the 14 year veteran at the deadline.

[MountUrCastle]

DOUBLE TROUBLE? GM GALARNEAU MAKES SECOND SIGNING, INKING FORMER DODGERS PITCHER

Mere hours after signing Ben Zobrist to the squad, the Miami Marlins announced that the team had signed SP Scott Kazmir to a one year deal worth 3.3 million. Kazmir, 36, had last appeared in the Majors in 2016 for the Dodgers, and had a 3 year absence from the league after that season. Kazmir has been steadily working towards a return to the Majors, and the Marlins were very interested in him in an effort to allow rookie talent Jordan Yamamoto to smoothly transition to Double A without leaving a hole in the rotation. Kazmir and Galarneau seem to have a similar agreement as to their one with Zobrist, meaning that his time as a Marlin may not be for long. Regardless. Kazmir is projected to get the call in the rotation for the next few months at the least.

[MountUrCastle]

2020 SEASON, GAME 1: MARLINS VS PHILLIES
RHP Pablo Lopez vs RHP Aaron Nola

Marlins Park, Miami, FLA

It’s a beautiful day in Miami as your Miami Marlins are set to kick off the 2020 season against the Philadelphia Phillies this afternoon in baseball. Pablo Lopez is getting the start for the Marlins, the right-handed pitcher coming off a 5-8 record in 21 games last season looks to impress the Marlins brass with a strong game to kick the young season off.

In the top of the first Pablo Lopez would throw a changeup to Phillies leadoff man, who would hit an 0-1 pitch out to Zobrist who would carroll the ball and toss it to 1st base, unfortunately hauling Cooper off the bag, giving the Phillies their first hit and baserunner before the Marlins first out. Pablo Lopez would bounce back quickly however, getting Andrew McCutchen and Bryce Harper to ground out, while striking out Rhys Hoskins.

For the Marlins half of the first Johnathan Villar would get to Nola quickly, hitting a single straight up the middle that Scott Kingery got to after the fact . Zobrist would then unfortunately hit into a double play, and Corey Dickerson would fly out to right field.

Moving on to the bottom of the second, Garrett Cooper steps up to the plate and takes Aaron Nola’s 2nd pitch deep, deep, DEEP to left field. Cooper watches the ball fall into the upper deck at Marlins Park as he notches his first home run of the season in his first game. Nola would recover however, as despite 2 solo base knocks from Brian Anderson and Miguel Rojas, he would strike out Jorge Alfaro and Harold Ramirez, while getting the pitcher Lopez to ground out to short.

Things would quickly die down on the batting side of baseball but pick up immensely on the pitching. Nola and Lopez would be locking down batters on both sides as they would combine for a total 19 K’s over the course of the game, with 10 of them coming in the following 5 innings. Sadly, Lopez would be taken out of the game to allow Jon Berti to pinch run for him in the seventh during a bid to increase the Marlins lead at the bottom of the seventh which would not pay off with 2 outs in the inning. Ryne Stanek would come in the game to pitch the top of the 8th, where he would put down the next 3 batters in order. Phillies manager Joe Girardi would also bring in his set-up man in Seranthony Dominguez to replace his ace.

Then the game would get interesting in the 8th for the Marlins, as Corey Dickerson would hit a 1-out liner down the left side, going all the way to the corner for a two-bagger in an attempt to take the lead. Garrett Cooper, the man who went deep for the Marlins all the way back in the 2nd inning, would ground out to the shortstop, placing the hopes of an extended lead into Brian Anderson. With the 7,682 Marlins fans eyes on him, the insurance run on 2nd, he would…… hit a weak chopper to Kingery who would make the play at 1st.

Putting their faith in Stanek to close out the game, he would then face Kingery in the batters box. Stanek fooled him with the splitter low, and in an attempt to blow one by the batter, Stanek winds up with all his might, trying to place a fastball high….. And he misses his spot.
Kingery nails it. And it sails. All the way out to the Marlins bullpen.

Kingery has tied the game at one apiece with the second pitch of the 9th.

You can hear the buzz escape the crowd. Mattingly looks on with awe from the bench. The whole Marlins team is crushed, including Pable Lopez, who is one bad inning from the bullpen away from seeing his herculean effort this game go to waste. Frustrated, and not wanting to let the Phillies immediately build momentum, Mattingly would call a double switch, putting Yimi Garcia and then Francisco Cervelli into the game for Jorge Alfaro..

Garcia would step up to the mound and get Phillies pinch hitter Adam Haseley to ground out to Rojas at short. Next up would be Jean Segura, whom as a result of Villars blistering speed, would line out to center-right. Finally, Garcia would put down McCutchen on strikes, bringing the Marlins to the 9th in a bid to tie the game. Harold Ramirez will be leading the inning off for the Marlins.

On the first pitch of the 9th, Ramirez would make good contact with a Dominguez 2-seamer, but Harper would eat it up out in right. Next, Yimi Garcia would be substituted for Jesus Aguilar, who would get into a 3-1 count and juuuust miss a home run to left field, being scooped up by McCutchen. Rojas would then step up to the plate, bobbling a pitch right in front of home, causing him to be the final out of the 9th. In the first game of the Galarneau era, we are going to extra innings, baby.

Drew Steckenrider would come out of the pen to pitch the 10th, hoping to have a considerably better season than his 6.19 ERA 2019. He would get to work early, striking out Bryce Harper, getting Hoskins to ground out, and knocking out Didi Gregorious on strikes as well. We then swap to the bottom of the 10th, where Victor Arano will come into the game to hopefully push us to the 11th. He would not get off that easily as new challenger Francisco Cervelli would take his 3rd pitch to right field, notching a single. Then, Johnathan Villar would just miss his spot, flying out to Adam Haseley out in center field, putting the Marlins down by 1 out. Ben Zobrist then takes the plate, the 38 year old former star who was signed by Galarneau during the pre-season. He takes his first pitch, a fastball high and in. He fouls off his second pitch, a low and away slider. With 2 strikes, Arano throws his pitch…

It’s a fastball, high and middle.

It drops juuuust a bit.

Arano already knows what’s coming.

Zobrist brings the hammer down. The 38 year old hasn’t hit more than 20 home runs since 2013. More than 15 since 2016. But in the top of the 10th, despite going down on strikes for a golden sombrero earlier in the game, he mashes it with all his might.

McCutchen is chasing it. It keeps carrying. He’s 30 feet from the wall. Now 25.

15.
10.
5.

And gone.
Ben Zobrist, in his first game as a Marlin, finds that magic he once had to juuuust scrape it over the fence. It’s a two-run home run to walk it off. He and Cervelli round the bases and jump into the teams arms. The Miami Marlins have won their first game of the season in a thriller, 3-1. Besides Zobrist, nobody is smiling quite as large as Pablo Lopez, who gets player of the game for his stellar start. He and Galarneau hope that this is a sign of things to come for the young righty.

Other notables in the game include Garrett Cooper blasting his 1st home run of the season, being one of 7 Marlins to record a hit in this game. Pablo Lopez went 7 innings striking out 8 batters and allowing a measly two hits, while Ryne Stanek was stuck with a blown save for giving up the home run to Kingery in the 9th.

[mlblover15]

Wow!!! you're taking me back with your passion and your writing back to the late 90's ad early 2000 when I had that flair for it all. I was about your age too if your age of the character in this story is your actual age...

I wish you and my adopted NL team the Marlins all the success in the word on this. I will do my best to try to keep up on this!!!

keep up the great work young man!!! you have a gift I wish i had never let die.