Early, and I mean Early assessment of spring..

I would say 10 spring games constitutes as pretty damn early.. But here are a few takeaways of camp so far.

       Too much too soon

You ever heard of the old baseball adage “Don’t put too much stock into Spring Training or SEPTEMBER".. Peter O’Brien is a good story. South Florida kid.. Cuban American background… He had a decent final month with his home-town Marlins last year. But Gary Denbo, Don Mattingly, and the Marlins tend to forget he hit .215 in the minors a season ago. Mattingly had him hitting clean up towards the end of last year, and again to open up the Exhibition schedule. Remember, he also had Lewis Brinson in the leadoff spot to open up 2018. Brinson, who never really got going, and struggled mightily throughout his first full-season in the show.. Let a guy like O’Brien settle in. Place him a little lower in the order, take some pressure off him. He has legit power, and being a Denbo/Yankee guy (alas Garrett Cooper and Caleb Smith), will be given every opportunity to show off that pop.

A good start

Speaking of Brinson. No Marlin, and I mean No Marlin, has come close to impressing as much as Lewis has this spring. I mean 5 Bombs in just 16 AB’s, Whoa 😨. And I know, I know, I just said don’t put too much stock in spring numbers. But for a guy who's coming off as bad a rookie season at the plate as you can have.. I think it was, and is, important for Brison to have a good spring... Keep up the approach 'Sweet-Lew' !!

Alejandro Ramos

Merandy Gonzalez, the main piece that came from New York in the A.J. Ramos trade a couple years ago, was claimed by the Giants. I thought the Fish gave up too soon on Merandy, who came up for a handful of games last year. He had a stellar year in the minors in 2017. From the little I saw of em last year, he’s got good stuff. Deceptive delivery with a good breaking ball.. Big league middle reliever at worse… The Fish said they had to create room on the roster. Boy does it pay to have your daddy as the bench coach 🤔?! *Cough **Cough ***The Wallachs 😉.

Eastern 

Heard some NL East talk on the Houston broadcast the other day. Conversation was “the Marlins could be better than last year, but end up with a worse record”. Reasoning was “the entire Division has gotten much stronger”.. Ehhh, yes and no. In terms of each team (minus Washington) getting  more weapons offensively?? Yes. But let me tell you something that probably's never been more true in the game than it is today. "Good pitching beats good hitting anyday of the week". If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, “It all starts with pitching”. ‘Starting pitching” to be precise.  It's in that "Starting-Pitching" dept. where the Braves are pretty much the same in, if not, not-as-good as last year. The Phillies' rotation is also pretty much the same, and “same” wasn’t all that good in ‘18.. The Mets can’t stay healthy if Brodie Van Wagenen depended on it… The Nats with the addition of Patrick Corbin, are really the only ones who improved their starting pitching, which was already scary 😨. But like the Marlins, how many runs are they gonna score?! No Bryce Harper. And to which I’m really happy about, No Daniel Murphy🙏.. The Fish’s Rotation is only getting better. The goal for 2019 "is, was, and will be", Improvement. Didn't a "Hit-Man" once say that 🤔?! Only not that ⬆ Hit-Man 😉.