Brookover: Marlins will miss Fernandez even more this year

JUPITER, Fla. - Not enough time has passed for the Miami Marlins to fully grieve the most devastating moment of the 2016 baseball season. In fact, no amount of time can erase the searing pain that engulfed the entire franchise, the city of Miami, the country of Cuba, and all of baseball last Sept. 25.

So many awoke that Sunday morning to the news that 24-year-old Jose Fernandez was dead. Fernandez had been killed, along with two of his friends, in a gruesome early-morning crash when his boat - the Kaught Looking - flipped after hitting a cluster of rocks that jutted into the sea.

The Marlins' game against the Atlanta Braves was canceled and tearful tributes to Fernandez took place in the ensuing days. The most moving among them was a home run by Dee Gordon to lead off the Marlins' first game after Fernandez's death. Gordon cried all the way around the bases and only the most hardened of humans did not weep along with him.

It is not yet the five-month anniversary of the greatest tragedy in the franchise's 24-year history, but the Marlins were back at work for the start of another spring training last week, and several of them, including manager Don Mattingly, admitted that the memory of Fernandez's death is still fresh.

"Different things bring memories back," Mattingly said. "During a meeting [last week], somebody said something and it reminded me of Jose."

For pitcher Tom Koehler, there was a recent night out at dinner with his wife, Ashley.

"It was to a restaurant that we knew he went to a lot in spring training," Koehler said. "I got emotional that day because the last time we had been there, I saw him pulling up on his boat. There are just always little reminders here and there."

That's just one of the things the Marlins will constantly have to deal with this season, and to that point, Mattingly has encouraged his players to embrace and remember Fernandez's enormous personality, which was visible to those who did not even know him.

"When he would go to do his [pregame] bullpen in Philly, he would walk by you with such energy and a smile," Phillies pitching coach Bob McClure said. "He'd always say hello. I truly think baseball is going to miss that pure adulation of the game."

Fernandez had become so good on the mound and so much fun off the mound at such a young age. Last May, the cameras caught him swiping the keys from the Phllie Phanatic's ATV. After borrowing some handcuffs from a Philadelphia police officer, the Phanatic asked Fernandez to put his hands behind his back and the superstar pitcher did not resist arrest.

It was fun and it was funny.

The Marlins are surely going to miss that and so much more.

"He was one of the biggest personalities, if not the biggest personality, in this clubhouse," Miami reliever David Phelps said. "The energy in the room was always up when he was in it. That's one thing we're trying to focus on this season. We want to play the game the way he would - by always loving it."

That was the message Mattingly sent his players when they reported for this difficult first spring training without Fernandez.

"The thing that stood out about Jose to me was that little kid in him," Mattingly said. "That is something we all have when we start playing. We just have a joy for the game and it's just fun and sometimes you lose that as a professional. It gets to be business and you're playing every day and it gets to be this ho-hum type feeling and you just can't forget how special it is to be able to have the opportunity to play. It is a game."

The hard truth for the Marlins is that it is going to be even more difficult to replace Fernandez the pitcher. His stuff was electric, and as a native Cuban who reached the United States only after three failed attempts at defecting, he was the most embraced player on a team that has always struggled to attract fans.

In four seasons, he had won the National League rookie of the year award, twice been to the All-Star Game, and twice finished in the top seven in the Cy Young Award voting. His best days were in front of him and then, in an instant, he was gone.

The Marlins appeared to be a team on the rise for much of last season. They entered August nine games over .500 and only four games out of first place. They still figure to have a formidable lineup, but it will be difficult for them to improve without their ace.

An autopsy report released in late September revealed that Fernandez had traces of cocaine and high levels of alcohol in his body when the accident occurred. You can condemn him if you like. The bottom line is this: It made the entire incident even more tragic.

bbrookover@phillynews.com

@brookob