The Marlins are continuing to look for upgrades wherever they make sense, taking a flexible approach to improving their roster as they look to put a winner on the field in 2015. Speaking from the GM Meetings in Phoenix, president of baseball operations Michael Hill and GM Dan Jennings told MLBTR that the organization is very high on its assemblage of controllable talent and is ready to take the next step.
Of course, as has been reported recently, the primary focus now is on locking up superstar Giancarlo Stanton while also exploring early extensions with several other younger players. Hill characterized those efforts as exploratory, but backed by intention. “When you lock up your core, good things happen,” Jennings explained.
Though Hill acknowledged that the team had not done that at times in the past, he made clear the team is serious about committing future cash to its homegrown talent. Miami is aided in that effort, of course, by a virtually unblemished future balance sheet.
In terms of outside additions, Hill and Jennings emphasized the organization’s ability to act opportunistically.
Miami has long been said to be in the market for a veteran pitcher to insert into a rotation that is full of live, young arms. The optimal addition would, of course, be young and cost-controlled, in the mold of Jarred Cosart, who was added in a trade-deadline deal last year. Hill touted Cosart as a durable, solid arm who has yet to reach his ceiling.
Ultimately, Hill says the team is most interested in adding a “little more established” starter to anchor the staff, rather than making a high risk-high reward play. “We already have the upside,” he said.
In terms of bats, the Fish would be interested in an upgrade if the incremental improvement it could expect would warrant the price tag, as Hill put it. That holds true at first base as well as second.
Regarding the keystone, Hill and Jennings expressed comfort in the team’s internal options, naming Derek Dietrich, Donovan Solano, and Enrique Hernandez as possibilities to battle in camp. Though the power-hitting Dietrich has had his struggles, Jennings emphasized that “nobody is giving up on him.”
In that sense, the flexibility afforded by the team’s slate of young keystone options has it well positioned. Hill and Jennings indicated that the Marlins will consider several high-profile international middle infielders on a case-by-case basis. The team will not be impacted by the uncertain timing of the market entry of players such as Jose Fernandez and Hector Olivera, per the front office duo, in part due to their familiarity with that pair of Cuban stars and in part because a plausible internal solution is already in place.
Good things happened when the Twins, Mets, and Cubs locked up their core. Oh wait.
“[Hill] made clear the team is serious about committing future cash to its homegrown talent.”
It isn’t just about signing homegrown talent. It is about adding the necessary talent that is out in free agency. If you can’t add talent to the current roster instead of constantly shuffling your roster with another team’s roster, you aren’t going anywhere.
A good farm system is a must nowdays. With revenue sharing and teams signing players to extensions, the players you need aren’t always available on the free agent market.
“Locking up your core” doesn’t mean “wait until they’re close enough to free agency where you don’t have much leverage and you sign them for market value rather than losing them for nothing”. At that point it’s no different than signing somebody else’s free agents…
Stanton is two years away, the other guys being discussed are significantly further.
Let’s be honest, though. He’s talking about Stanton. That’s all his audience cares about. He could lock up everybody else and lose Stanton and that’s all that will matter.
And Stanton has him over a barrel. Either they give him an extension that is equal to what he would make as a free agent or he walks. And they obviously can’t let him walk. So they’d have to trade him. And they have to trade him early enough to maximize their return. Only they still think they can sign him (or are using that publicly to endear themselves to fans), so they can’t pursue those trades right now. Over. A. Barrel.
The front office is not just concerned with Stanton, and that is not all that will matter in the long run. I’m not sure what your beef is here – sure, Stanton has tons of leverage. He’s the best young power hitter in the game and racked up service time early. What do you expect?
The Marlins say they don’t want to trade him to maximize value; they want to win, and try to extend him in the meantime. What’s wrong with that approach, exactly? Can always move him at the 2016 trade deadline if it isn’t working out. There’s risk, sure (e.g., Chase Headley), but it’s hard to blame a team for trying to build around a great young player.