The 2011 Marlins Macropreview

Can the Marlins reverse their underperforming ways in 2011?

A long offseason finally ends tomorrow, which can only mean one thing at Marlins Diehards: it's macropreview time. For the third year in a row, Ted and I have compiled as many season previews and projections as we could find, and presented them in one spreadsheet for your reading pleasure. We looked for as many projection systems we could find (CAIRO, Marcel, Depth Charts, etc.), and also included less scientific projections from major media outlets and a few of our favorite blogs. Did we miss anything? Drop us a line in the comments, and we'll add it.

Here is the spreadsheet.The Marlins are once again projected to be a middling team, 83-79 and third in the NL East. The consensus on the Fish on the eve of the 2011 is quite clear. Most everyone acknowledges the Marlins' young talent, but they have a handful of question marks (relief pitching, defense, replacing Uggla, third base) that make it difficult for anyone to predict them  finishing above Atlanta or Philadelphia. The Marlins finished 80-82 in 2010, exactly as the macropreview projected that year. As always, we hope everyone is wrong about the Marlins, but we won't be surprised if things don't turn out quite as rosy as Jeffrey Loria would like.

Appendix: Other Marlins Previews:
New York Times
Big League Stew (1, 2)
Fangraphs
Hardball Talk
The Hardball Times
SB Nation
ESPN
Sports Illustrated