Miami Marlins: Why Their Depth Could Be a Key to the Season

An often overlooked aspect of a long and grueling baseball season is team depth. For the Marlins, it's an area of strength with a group of guys who will be used often and a bullpen that can potentially throw seven quality arms onto the field.

Why is depth so important for the Marlins? This is a team with a large collection of guys with injury history. Yes, that can be said about many players on many teams, but take a look at the projected opening day starting lineup, and here's what you'll find: 

Jose Reyes—missed 191 games the past three seasons. 

Hanley Ramirez—90 games the past two seasons. 

Mike Stanton—currently injured, status for opening day in question. 

Logan Morrison—39 games missed last season. 

Josh Johnson—pitched fewer than 90 innings three times in his six-year career. 

Those are undoubtedly the five best players on the Miami Marlins roster. All five are injury risks and all need to have capable replacements. The Marlins have that. 

Starting in the infield, Greg Dobbs has averaged nearly 120 games played per season over the last five years. Last season he started games for the Marlins at third base, first base, right field and left field. In Dobbs, the Marlins not only have their backup corner infielder and outfielder, but a guy who essentially is used to starting on an every game basis. 

Emilio Bonifacio will likely be the opening day center fielder, but Boni is the ultimate utility man. Last season he played six different positions with regularity, and did it while leading the team in batting average. 

Then among the guys vying for a backup outfield role, you have a former Gold Glover in Aaron Rowand, a former Rookie of the Year in Chris Coghlan and Austin Kearns, who is hitting close to .400 this spring. 

Finally, in the bullpen, the roles are extremely well defined, with Randy Choate and Mike Dunn being the lefty specialists, Wade LeBlanc set to be the long reliever and newly acquired Heath Bell anchoring the pen. 

Don't overlook depth when talking about the Marlins. All 25 guys need to be ready and will be used consistently, which bodes well in a 162-game season.