Curtis Granderson isn’t the only veteran Marlins role player who’s open to a reunion with the club, it seems. Infielder/outfielder Neil Walker tells MLB.com’s Bill Ladson that he’s “not going to close the door” when it comes to re-signing with the Fish. Like Granderson, Walker relishes the opportunity to share more than a decade’s worth of big league experience with an up-and-coming wave of young players in the Miami clubhouse. “You feel like it’s necessary to share with the younger generation,” said Walker.
While it can’t be certain that any veteran in his mid- or late-30s will find interest in the current free-agent climate, Walker would seem to have a better case for a shot with the Marlins or another big league club in 2020 than Granderson — at least based solely on the pair’s on-field performance. The switch-hitting Walker, who just turned 34, has had a solid year at the plate, hitting .261/.346/.386 with seven homers, 18 doubles and a triple in 373 trips to the plate. He’s primarily served as a first baseman with the Marlins (510 innings) but has also logged 162 innings at third base. Walker, of course, has boatloads of experience at second base, where he’s amassed nearly 9000 innings at the MLB level. Walker also saw some time in the outfield corners during his 2018 stint with the Yankees.
Walker was able to secure a modest one-year, $2MM contract with the Marlins for the 2019 season despite a tepid .219/.309/.354 slash line with the Yankees last year. Given that he’s coming off a much better season at the plate, it stands to reason that Walker should be able to find at least another one-year pact to occupy a bench role — particularly with MLB rosters set to expand from 25 to 26 players beginning next season.
That said, if Walker isn’t able to find offers to his liking this coming winter, he’s already looking ahead to the future. Walker made clear that once he’s done as a player, he’d be interested in calling big league games — be it on TV or on the radio. Eventual broadcast aspirations aside, Walker seems like he has enough left in the tank at the plate to help a club in 2020 — particularly if said team is comfortable moving him around the diamond a bit more than the Marlins did this year. At the very least, it’s not hard to imagine another rebuilding club bringing him aboard as a low-cost bench piece.
Both had been solid ball players all their career, especially Grandy. I wish them luck for next year, provide some support for the young guys coming up.
Come back to Pittsburgh.
Going to the Rays to replace Sogard
That makes a lot of sense. Switch hitter that would be perfect for the Rays.
I think the marlins need to move on from the vets unless they are pitchers, which they actually have a good core of young pitchers so I see no need for many expensive vets. Look, they were a joke with the vets, if they want to rebuild they need to let these young kids play and figure it out at this point. Not to mention save money during this brutal rebuild. To be honest, their rebuild hasn’t look good at all… I do think they are trying to do it the right way, they just suck at it. They just traded away some really high end talent and it’s looking like their returns haven’t been that great, YET….
As much as i like Grandy and Walker.
I would rather them sign an innings eater vet pitcher and use prado,castro,grandy and Walkers money to take a shot at a power bat.
As much as i like Grandy and Walker.
I would rather them sign an innings eater vet pitcher and use prado,castro,grandy and Walkers money to take a shot at a power bat.
Cris Carter is available.
We already have him. He has been wearing a Pete O’Brien jersey for his time with the Marlins.
I’m convinced that Jon Jay will finish his career in Miami. He is, after all, a legend in the 305.
He’s actually a fit since we’ll need a versatile vet OF to fill in a void if our OF prospects can’t fill the three starting OF jobs, and he can rotate as a platoon or 4th OF is our guys can fill the roles.
I’m not interested in having too many vets next year. We need to keep spots open to give our MLB-ready kids a shot. If we get a vet OF, it should be a guy that can still play all 3 OF spots instead of a limited guy like Grandy was this year. As for infield, at most one guy. I prefer to look at guys like Berti as our regular utility guy. Maybe we can look at a guy like Josh Harrison to combine with Berti.
We also need some bullpen. And I’m content with seeing if Chen deserves to be on the roster during the spring. If not, I’d rather pay the money for him to go away and give the roster spot to someone that has the chance to be more productive. We need to be paying that money for more hope instead of guaranteed failure like this year. If Chen can’t hack it, bye bye…finally!
move on to tampa or pirates
need 1 at near 200 innings vet pitcher
prado, stay castro,grandy and Walkers move on
At this point, due to injuries and decline in abilities, Walker is a utility player at best. Def can play 2B, 3B, and 1B. Marlins would likely retain him if his price stays the same.