Marlins coaching change shows exactly why Miami is stuck in MLB's basement

It's not just Skip Schumaker. The lowly Miami Marlins have cleaned house even before the postseason has kicked into high gear. Not a single member of the coaching staff who was a part of the 100 loss 2024 campaign will return. With a 39-year-old at the helm, confusion reigns about the direction.

Mel Stottlemyre Jr., who is widely regarded across the league as one of the best pitching minds out there, will no longer be in the Miami dugout. Craig Mish of the Miami Herald was the first to report on the news. The former Kansas City Royal had one year left on his contract with the Marlins which he inked back in 2022. Wellington Cepeda, his right-hand man and the club's bullpen coach since 2020, has also been let go, along with many many others.

Stottlemyre Jr. took the controls of the pitching lab in December 2018, coming over after two seasons in Seattle with the Mariners. Over the years, his expertise honed one of Miami's main strengths: a knack for progressing arm talent, particularly young ones.

While the Marlins haven't found much success in terms of the postseason in recent years, he and Cepeda were key players in the growth of some of a plethora of productive hurlers. Those include the 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcántara, one of the best relievers if not the best in baseball Tanner Scott and the current Twins right-hander Pablo López.

Let's not forget the Peruvian Jesús Luzardo, talented youngster Eury Pérez or even Braxton Garrett who was fourth in the NL in BB/9 last season (1.63) among pitchers with at least 150 innings. Under the tutelage of Stottlemyre Jr., Miami saw three pitchers combine to make four All-Star appearances.

Luzardo is even quoted as saying, "He (Stottlemyre Jr.) pounded it into my head and kind of got me to believe in myself again."

You can also look at the numbers to piece together exactly how impactful this man was.

Miami finished as a top-ten pitching staff in the National League in back-to-back seasons (2021 and 2022), while sitting in the top half of the league in fWAR and K/9 dating back to 2021.

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Dismissal of Stottlemyre Jr. tells you a lot about the future direction of the Marlins

I'm sure there are going to be several ball clubs attempting to acquire his services ahead of the 2025 season. Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, a return to Seattle might be worth watching. That said, the team hardly needs another boost to its already strong pitching staff.

You can't tell me that any combination of coaches was going to save the 2024 Marlins. The injuries coupled with the lack of investment by the front office put the leaders in the dugout in such a poor spot. Stottlemyre Jr. worked with an absurd 45 different pitchers. For reference, Miami had 32 hurlers toss at least one inning in the previous two campaigns.

What is Miami's loss is another team's treasure. It'll be interesting to see where this team goes from here. But after this decision, it's pretty clear the answer is going to be nowhere. The recent dismissal of a key piece from the Marlins' staff has only reinforced the perception that this ball club is destined to languish near the bottom for years to come.