The Marlins were one of the teams known to have interest in free agent first baseman Yuli Gurriel earlier this offseason. Some reports painted Miami as the favorite to land the longtime Astros infielder, though the Fish subsequently backed off their pursuit. According to Craig Mish and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, Miami had made Gurriel a one-year offer worth a bit more than $2MM this winter. After a week without getting a definitive response from the former batting champion’s camp, the Fish took that proposal off the table.
Gurriel was reportedly seeking a deal in the $3MM range at one point. Whether that’s still the case isn’t known, but he continues to linger alongside Luke Voit, Miguel Sanó and Mike Moustakas as the most accomplished remaining free agent first base options. Gurriel reportedly drew some interest, the extent of which is unclear, from the Twins. Houston brass has also praised his presence in the clubhouse over the last seven years, though Astros general manager Dana Brown indicated last week there might not be room on the roster after Houston brought in José Abreu to play first base.
Meanwhile, Jackson writes that Miami could look to bring in a different first baseman on a minor league contract with a Spring Training invitation. Garrett Cooper is in line for the starting job. He’s a quality hitter but has only twice reached 400 plate appearances in a season thanks to a lengthy injury history. Cooper has had injured list stints in all five years since the Marlins acquired him from the Yankees over the 2017-18 offseason. Miami has Luis Arraez as an alternative first base option but plans to give him more consistent run at second base.
The Fish made a more significant acquisition on the other side of the ball over the weekend, bringing in reliever A.J. Puk in a trade that sent outfielder JJ Bleday to Oakland. Puk jumps into the late-inning mix, while Miami’s ample rotation depth could lead to a camp battle for starts. Sandy Alcantara headlines the staff, with Jesús Luzardo, Trevor Rogers, Braxton Garrett, Edward Cabrera and offseason signee Johnny Cueto all options for the rotation. While it’s possible one member of that group starts the year in the bullpen, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. indicated today the team could carry them all in the rotation (link via Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald).
While the pitching coach didn’t commit to any roles at this stage of the winter, he noted that general manager Kim Ng and manager Skip Schumaker have discussed the potential for a six-man starting staff. Doing so early in the season could help manage workloads to ease into the year. Of course, it’s unlikely all six hurlers will stay healthy and perform well from Opening Day through year’s end, so injuries either in Spring Training or during the season are likely to sort things out.
On the other side of the equation, the Marlins could eventually welcome another talented young starter back from a laundry list of recent injuries. Sixto Sánchez hasn’t thrown a big league pitch in two years thanks to shoulder issues that required multiple surgeries. The most recent of those procedures came last fall. Sánchez told reporters last week he feels about 85% and has thrown a handful of bullpen sessions.
Stottlemyre declined to specify a timetable for Sánchez’s return to a big league mound but indicated the team continues to view him as a starting pitcher. The veteran coach expressed a desire to get the 24-year-old to rebuild a workload against live hitters. Once one of the sport’s top pitching prospects and the centerpiece of the J.T. Realmuto trade, Sánchez has seven MLB starts to date. He worked to a 3.46 ERA with an excellent 58% grounder rate over 39 innings during the shortened 2020 schedule.
I still believe, had Marwin Gonzales stayed in the States, he would’ve been a good fit for Miami.
Marwin the Marlin could give Billy a run for his mascot money
Sano and Soler! Combining for 100 HRs and 400ks in 2023. Sounds like it would be a fun team to watch.
Goodness I hope so
Is Marlins fans deserve it, lol.
Gurriel cheater turns down 2 million. Ok, buddy
He can go coach with Cheater Beltran.
Probably can’t hear you with those two huge rings over his ears. Cheater Yankees almost won a game…
Cheater Bellinger got almost $20 million. So what’s your point?
The handle Kewldood69 may be a greater crime against humanity than a team banging on a trash can on their way to a world Series title.
Is there no one in Miami more capable than Kim NG? Gurriel would only bring more people to the stadium than the rest of the team put together. This city needs Cuban and Venezuelan stars, Kansas City beat Chapman by three million, so Kim Ng couldn’t offer him 2.8? He declared many times that he would like to play here. but how will Kim Ng know that if she barely knows the city?
Would it be crazy to say if Puk and Sixto were to ok moving their careers to the bullpen (John Smoltz Esque) that the Marlins could have one of the most formidable 7-9th inning duos? Add JT Chargois, a rejuvenated Matt Barnes along with Dylan Floro, Tanner Scott, Steven Okert, and I forgot about the solid signing of Devin Smeltzer, the Marlins BP is looking a lot better IMO for the first time in years. I’m looking at it as if Sixto would go to the pen, but either way I’m not disliking their Bullpen like I have in the past. I think the Chargois and Smeltzer acquisitions were really good for the team.
Is Puk the favorite for closer? I think if Sixto is healthy he’d be a great option for the 8/9th inning this year.
I’m not sure, I believe it’s Floro but always looked at Floro as more of a 6-7th inning guy. He doesn’t have top tier closer stuff. He’s good, but I think JT, Sixto, or Puk would be the side choice.
Could be a smart move for both and a big boost for the Marlins
I think Floro will get the first look as a closer, but Puk will do so rather often. I guess Skip will decide depending on the righty/lefty matchup.
Even though Sixto is reported viewed as a starter, I think he can become the team’s closer by the ASG. The Fish are normally into the WC mix by mid-season, so he can give the team a good punch for a postseason run.
In any case, this is probably the best bullpen the Marlins have had since the new ownership took over, probably better than the 2020 season.
Puk has a lot of trouble with righties. He’s not closer material.
My point exactly about closing when matchups are favorable, i.e., situations where will face more lefties than righties.
Probably Mel St. can help him with his change up (according to baseball savant, he threw only ONE change up in 2022) or improving his third pitch: a power sinker… that can benefit his splits. We’ll see.
They should be competitive with that pitching staff. Liking how they set up rotation with Cueto signing/ Sanchez trade. Depth now, and next season fully repaired Sanchez and Meyer returning could make things really interesting. Also wonder if they could try to sign Sano on minor league invite deal.
I see all 11 Marlin fans have commented here.
This was funny in 1995. Glad to see you have so much time on your hands. Manly!
Still true. Still funny. Dork.
Had to throw the insult in there. Internet tough guy. If that’s funny you probably laugh at Jim Brauer making fun of vaccines. Dork. Mr. Personality with the sense of humor of a brick wall.
It sure looks to me that we may have one more trade coming. With Eder and Perez chomping at the bit, it seems likely that at least one arm needs to be moved. Wondering if we are holding onto everyone for now to see who comes up with the inevitable sore arm in spring training.
First base does not at all seem settled to me. Most likely need a left handed hitter in there as our fallback option
Signing Knebel/Leone/Britton/Giles/Nelson and Edwin Rios/Donovan Solano wouldn’t be that expensive (maybe Knebel is) and at the same time would solve some doubts about bullpen depth and 1B.
Call it an offseason.
Is there no one in Miami more capable than Kim NG? Gurriel would only bring more people to the stadium than the rest of the team put together. This city needs Cuban and Venezuelan stars, Kansas City beat Chapman by three million, so Kim Ng couldn’t offer him 2.8? He declared many times that he would like to play here. but how will Kim Ng know that if she barely knows the city?