It's time to talk about the Miami Marlins

Liam Hicks, Otto Lopez, Graham Pauley, Agustin Ramirez. What are these names? These are Men of the Miami Marlins. Significant contributors actually. Even if you’re deep into Fantasy Baseball, I challenge you to email me your Otto Lopez scouting report. I stumbled on Miami’s roster and it felt like reading a foreign menu. To start, I’ll have the Connor Norbie followed by the Lake Bachar for my main. LAKE! Not knowing emerging middle relievers is a tired trope though, so let’s move past it. Miami will have to climb over the Mets, Phillies, and Braves if they want to make any noise in the NL East. Tall task. Interesting outfit though. Since firing Derek Jeter and Kim Ng, the Marlins hard pivoted to Mega Data Boy Peter Bendix. Bendix is a former Brain of the Tampa Bay Rays and now runs baseball ops in the Crypto Capitol of the World. His top deputy? Original crossover fringe theorist ex-player Gabe Kapler. You recognize Kapler from his days managing the Phillies and Giants (failed), but he’s now a GM. Ever the emerging boundary pusher, Kapler has been deputized as the go-between Bendix and the field. And Bendix is trying to get all up in the field! Miami will call every pitch from the dugout. Presumably sitting behind an iPad, a coach will relay pitch selection to the catcher and then pitcher. Ben Lindbergh did a much more elegant job outlining the practice in his piece for the Ringer and I actually don’t feel the need to take a position on it. I’m rooting for Miami. Not because I Crypto myself. Not because I need to align with any hedge funder who left NYC to live on Fisher Island. Not because I need more Peter Bendix. I’m rooting for the Fish because they’ve failed miserably for 30 years to build any sustainable baseball following in South Florida, but I believe the cast of characters running the team and the ethos of the city are slowly starting to converge. If Miami is an outlaw finance port, and the Marlins are running a Deep Data baseball production, then maybe the synergy can get more fans in the stands. Maybe Miami can move beyond every failed gimmick they’ve tried selling fans in the past and connect on a different level. Maybe I shouldn’t try to link Crypto Bros and Baseball. But when the cameras cut to the Marlins dugout, and some coach has 4 iPads in front of him to call a 2-2 slider, hopefully the cameras also capture 40k cheering fans after Francisco Lindor strikes out.