The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Chasen Shreve to a minor league deal today. Shreve is a crafty left that utilizes a devastating splitter to his advantage, which led to a solid 3.96 ERA over 25 innings with the Mets last season. The Miami Marlins had an interest in Shreve throughout this offseason, but couldn’t seal the deal.

Shreve Loss is not the issue

This is not a devastating loss, but Shreve offered another cheap option for the Marlins to bolster their middle of the road bullpen. As Kim Ng mentioned in her latest press conference, this Marlins team looks to be what we will see on Opening Day. Reports have led me to believe the Marlins are still looking for bullpen pieces this upcoming season. Names such as Brandon Kintzler continue to pop up, but with less and less time to pull the trigger, the Marlins may settle for what they have. 

Is the Marlins bullpen enough as is?

The bullpen, especially the backend, provided stability last season for the Marlins that allowed them to close out close games as most of their games were decided by a few runs. With less and less options on the market, it is hard to believe that the current bullpen will be enough to sustain a playoff run in a 154 game season. On the same end, it is unlikely any single addition would boost this bullpen to the next level. 

Overall

As more time passes and more names fall off the list of potential additions, Marlins fans may have to accept what we are seeing now is exactly what we are going to get. Nothing about this roster stands out to me as a playoff roster, but then again, neither did last year’s.