With all that Miguel Cabrera has already achieved in the majors it’s easy to forget that he’s only going to be 24 years old this season!  I still remember his rookie season when Roger Clemens threw a pitch under his chin and then Cabrera hit the next pitch out of the ballpark to right field (he was only 20 years old)!  That was just the beginning for Cabrera as he’s gotten better every single season!  He’s improved his batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage every year he’s been in the majors….so will he improve on a .339 batting average, .430 OBP and .568 Slugging Pct.?  I wouldn’t best against him doing exactly that this season.  Cabrera played in 158 games last season and he hit .339 with 112 runs scored, 50 doubles, 26 homers, 114 RBIs and a .998 OPS!  The one area that Cabrera can improve on is his defense.  He made 17 errors in 157 games at 3B and he didn’t show much range.  Hopefully he will improve his defense now that he can concentrate on the hot corner.  Look for Cabrera to be a serious contender for the MVP of the National League this season!

34 year old Aaron Boone will be the likely back up at third base for the Marlins.  He didn’t show much range and made 15 errors there in 101 games for the Cleveland Indians.  Boone will likely improve on defense with Perry Hill around to push him as he used to be a really solid defender.

36 year old Jason Wood will also get a chance to earn a reserve job for the Marlins this season.  He hit .288 with 11 homers, 77 RBIs and a .775 OPS for the Marlins AAA team last year.  Wood then played in 12 games for the Marlins and went 6 for 13 (.462 avg).  Wood will likely be in AAA for the Marlins and called up if the Marlins suffer any injuries to the corner infield slots.

31 year old Scott Seabol played in 71 games in AAA and he was dominating.  He hit .314 with 17 homers, 46 RBIs and a .998 OPS.  He last played in the majors in 2005 with the St. Louis Cardinals and has played in 60 games in his major league career and has a .217 batting average and a .562 OPS.  He likely will also start the season in the minors.

31 year old Joe Dillon has returned to the Marlins after he found out that Japanese Baseball is as hard as the majors.  Dillon played in 31 games in Japan and only hit .195 with a .585 OPS before his team in Japan sent him home.  Dillon played in 27 games for the Marlins in 2005 and he only hit .167 with a .489 OPS.  Dillon will likely play in the minors and have to work his way up.

The Marlins also brought in 30 year old switch hitter Zach Sorensen to compete for a job on the bench.  He played in 75 games in AAA last season and hit .262 with 2 homers, 22 RBIs and a .681 OPS.  He last played in the majors in 2005 with the Angels and he has a career batting average of .143 with a .495 OPS.  He will likely start the year in the minors and give the Marlins depth in their minor league system.

23 year old Hanley Ramirez exploded on the scene last year for the Marlins.  He played in 158 games and scored 119 runs, hit 46 doubles, 11 triples, 17 homers, knocked in 59 runs and stole 51 bases in his first season in the majors.  He also finished with a .292 batting average and a .833 OPS which are both fantastic marks for a rookie.  Ramirez is going to lead off again for the Marlins this season but he could develop into a middle of the order run producer in a couple of seasons.  Ramirez showed above average range last season in the field, but he made 26 errors last season and he will need to cut down on them.  Look for infield coach Perry Hill to work hard with Ramirez this Spring to improve his defense.  Ramirez might even improve on last season with the bat and if he does he will definately be on the All-Star team in July.

Switch hitting 29 year old Alfredo Amezaga will likely be Ramirez’ back up at shortstop this season.  He played in 11 games at short and didn’t make an error.  He showed slightly below average range at shortstop but he should improve on that now that he will likely concentrate on playing the infield. 

Soon to be 23 year old Robert Andino will probably open the season at AAA unless Ramirez or Amezaga are injured in Spring Training.  Andino played in 120 games last season in AAA and he hit .255 with 70 runs scored, 8 homers, 46 RBIs, 13 stolen bases and a .667 OPS.  He had trouble hitting with the Marlins though as he only hit .167 in 11 games for them.  Andino made 1 error in 9 games at short for the Marlins, but he showed slightly below average range. 

GM Larry Beinfest pulled a rabbit out of his hat when he selected Dan Uggla in the Rule 5 Draft last season.  When Pokey Reese quit the team, the Marlins pretty much handed him the starting job.  Uggla went on to have a fantastic rookie season.  The 27 year old hit .282 with 105 runs scored, 27 homers, 90 RBIs and he had an .819 OPS!  What an amazing season as he looked like a Jeff Kent clone.  His reputation was that he wasn’t a very good defensive second baseman but Infield Coach Perry Hill worked hard with him during the year and turned him into a average defender.  Out of all the starting second basemen in the majors, Uggla finished 12th in Bill James’ zone rating.  He did make 15 errors and that needs to improve, but that’s nitpicking.  Uggla should have a good season and he might even return to the All-Star game again. 

29 year old switch hitter Alfredo Amezaga will be playing all over the place this season.  He played in 23 games at 2B last season and he made 2 errors (in 127 innings) and he needs to improve on that.  He hit .260 last season with a paltry .664 OPS, 3 homers, 19 RBIs and 20 steals in 334 at bats.

26 year old lefty swinging Mike Jacobs will play against all right handed pitchers this season, but he won’t get much playing time against lefties as he hit a very weak .182 against them last season.  He hit .262 with 20 homers, 77 RBIs and a .798 OPS last season but the Marlins were expecting a little more from him.  They wanted him to be a full-time player but his weaknesses were exposed last season.  He will hit well for the Marlins again this season and should see a spike in his average with the limited exposure he will have to lefty pitchers.  He does need to improve defensively as he made 7 errors in 972 innings in the field.  He also mis-played a lot of balls that turned into errors for other players.  He’s basically a DH playing first base in the N.L.

The Marlins signed righty swinging 34 year old Aaron Boone to platoon at first base and back up at the other positions in the infield.  He only hit .251 with 7 homers, 46 RBIs and a .684 OPS for the Indians last season.  He just doesn’t look like the same player he was before missing the 2004 season with two knee surgeries.  He should be a good platoon player for the Marlins as he hit .280 with 3 homers, 13 RBIs and a .790 OPS in 107 at bats against lefties last season.  He should have no problem handling first base on defense as he will be much better than Jacobs is.

The Marlins expect their catchers to play good defense and handle the pitching staff well.  Anything they get on offense out of this position is a plus.  Miguel Olivo had a surprising season for the Marlins as he hit .263 with 15 homers and 58 RBIs, but odds are against a repeat of last season on offense.  When putting the first pitch in play, Olivo hit .444 with 11 homers last season so look for him not to get too many first pitch fastballs….or strikes for that matter.  He’s also not very selective as he struck out 103 times and only walked an amazing 9 times all season.  He also wore down badly at the end of the season and only hit .203 in September because of his heavy workload and the Florida heat.  He’ll have to play a lot again this season because his backup can’t he hit way out of a paper bag.  Olivo threw out 34% of the runners that tried to steal on him but he needs to tighten a couple of things up on his defense.  He had 7 errors and allowed 10 passed balls last season and that’s not acceptable.

31 year old Matt Treanor is the backup for the Marlins.  He is a very solid defensive catcher but the Marlins have some pitchers that can hit better than him and that’s why he doesn’t get to play much.  Treanor hit .229 last season with a .646 OPS….which is pathetic.  For his career, Treanor is a .220 hitter with an on-base % (.315) that is higher than his slugging % (.289) and that speaks volumes about how weak he is with a bat in his hands.  Treanor only made 3 errors and had 2 passed balls last season and he threw out an incredible 42% of potential base stealers.  His defense will likely keep him in the majors for one more season.

31 year old Paul Hoover will likely be in AAA again for the Marlins.  He hit a solid .278 with a .765 OPS last season in AAA.  He also played a couple of games with the Marlins and went 2 for 5 (.400 avg), but he made an error and had a passed ball in his limited action with the Fish.  Maybe he was nervous.

It’s amazing how the Florida Marlins didn’t even try to bring any impact players in at all during the past off season after their kids showed so much potential last year.  The Marlins signed Aaron Boone to replace Wes Helms as Mike Jacobs’ platoon partner at first base.  Boone should be able to handle first base pretty easily on defense and he hit .280 with a .790 OPS against left-handed pitching so he might do a good job for them.  Alex Sanchez was brought in by the Marlins to compete for the starting center field job.  Sanchez spent all of last season in the minor leagues, but he has a .296 career batting average with 122 stolen bases.  The problem with Sanchez is that he’s an awful defensive outfielder, but that’s something the Marlins might be willing to live with if he hits the ball.  The rest of what the Marlins brought in almost have no chance of helping them.  Zach Sorensen, Joe Dillon, Scott Seabol, Chad Hermansen and John Gall are all career minor league types that will likely wind up being Albuquerque Dukes.

The Marlins have brought in a lot of pitchers to compete for bullpen spots.  Kevin Gregg appears to have a reasonable chance to contribute to the Marlins bullpen.  Gregg had a 4.14 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP last season for the Angels but he didn’t pitch one game with a lead and had no holds.  I’m sure the Angels will lose no sleep because they traded Gregg.  The Marlins acquired a couple of soon to be 28 year old relievers from the Mets for Jason Vargas and they hope that Henry Owens and Matt Lindstrom will be able to help them.  Owens was 2-2 with 20 saves and a 1.58 ERA in AA last season with 74 strikeouts in only 40 innings. Owens could get a shot to battle Taylor Tankersley for the stopper job for the Marlins.  Lindstrom was awful last season in AA as he had a 2-5 record with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.98 WHIP, so I wouldn’t hold my breath hoping he’ll help the Marlins.  Mike Koplove was brought in as a minor-league free agent and he has had some success in the majors so the Marlins will give him a long look.  Koplove has a career record of 15-7 with a 3.76 career ERA and a 1.31 WHIP.  He could be a darkhorse candidate for the stopper job.  Felix Rodriguez was also brought in by the Marlins to compete for a bullpen job but he hasn’t pitched well the last two seasons.  Rodriguez has a 6.28 ERA over the last two seasons so he might be considered a long shot to make the bullpen.  Eddy Rodriguez might have a decent shot to help out the Marlins pen as he was 3-1 with 12 saves and a 1.71 ERA in AAA for the Orioles last season.  Nate Field has a career record of 4-5 with 3 saves and a ERA of 4.88 but he also will have a shot to make the pen for the Marlins.  The rest of the guys they’ve brought in are longshots to make the team.  Starters Wes Obermueller and Chris George and relievers Jimmy Serrano, Roy Corcoran and Lee Gardner.