Free agent outfielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler is drawing interest from “around 6 teams,” reports Francys Romero, adding that the Marlins are interested in bringing him back on a multi-year deal.
Soler, 32 in February, is coming off a strong year though his overall career is defined by inconsistency. In 2023, he hit 36 home runs in 137 games while walking in 11.4% of his plate appearances. His 24.3% strikeout rate was slightly above league average but a strong result relative to his own previous seasons. His overall batting line of .250/.341/.512 resulted in a wRC+ of 126. He did most of that damage from the DH slot, only taking the field in 32 games on the year.
That was the best form Soler had shown since late 2021. That year, he hit just .192/.288/.370 for the Royals but then was traded to Atlanta and got in a good groove. He hit .269/.358/.524 in the regular season after the deal and then .242/.342/.606 in the postseason, winning World Series MVP in the process. That led to a three-year, $36MM deal with the Marlins, with Soler able to opt out after each season.
The first year with Miami didn’t go well, with injuries limiting him to 72 games and a tepid line of .207/.295/.400. He declined his first opt-out chance and returned to the Marlins before getting on track with the aforementioned strong 2023 season. He triggered his second opt-out and is now free to sign with any club, with this year’s market generally light on impact bats. MLBTR’s list of the Top 50 Free Agents put Soler in the #16 slot with a prediction of three years and $45MM.
There would be risk in giving such a contract to a player like Soler with his oscillating results, but the market conditions should help him out and it’s unsurprising multiple clubs are interested. A return to Miami is sensible from their perspective since they could use his slugging ability. The club had a wRC+ of 94 in the season that just ended, which placed them just outside the bottom 10, and now face the possibility of losing their best power hitter in Soler.
Whether he’s a top priority would be a fair question to ask, however. Neither the shortstop nor catching position provided much for the Marlins in 2023 and those positions stand out as more important targets than corner outfield/designated hitter, where the club has Jesús Sánchez, Bryan De La Cruz and Avisaíl García. Roster Resource currently pegs the club’s payroll just under $100MM. Non-tendering a few players in their arbitration class such as Garrett Hampson and Jacob Stallings could knock that down a bit, but they would still be in range of last year’s payroll. Cot’s Baseball Contracts estimated their 2023 Opening Day payroll at $93MM, meaning the Marlins might need a sizeable increase to consider adding Soler, as well as finding solutions to their other weak spots.
Solar to solar power!
Going Green is the Way to Go
The only reason he performed well was due to large government subsidies
Brought to you by Ex President/GM of the Cubs Epstein. Possibly the worst baseball executive who traded All-Stars for utility players.
Theo Epstein that won 4 championships for teams that hadn’t won in 100 years? Soler was traded for Wade Davis, who was an All-Star closer at the time. Soler has been very inconsistent in his career.
I hope the Braves can get him. Ozuna and Soler play left with wall coming in later in the game for defense.
Soler needs to be DH only. That guy stinks in the field and is a major liability.
Saw him in RF for the Braves in ’21, he’d be more than adequate in LF. Would def be an upgrade over Rosario
I predict Tim Anderson signs with Miami.
I picked the Nats as their next Candelario-type dice roll, but Miami makes a ton of sense.
Myaccount2
Excellent point. Nationals would probably get Tim on a one-year low-cost deal, and hope for a bounceback similar to Candelario’s and flip him at the deadline.
@acoss13- Precisely my thinking. I think something like 1/$10M makes sense for them. We know they have funds to spend.
The Nationals have a SS for the next half decade. I can’t imagine they kick the tires on TA unless they want to move him around the diamond.
I’m pretty sure Anderson’s days as a SS are over. He’s already said he would move off the position, and I think that has to happen to make him worth rostering.
I envision the Nats signing him to play mostly 2B, maybe some 3B, then release/deal him if Garcia starts to push for the role. But at this point, I think Garcia needs to earn ABs.
Here’s two good reasons why Miami won’t sign him: he sucks and he’s clubhouse cancer.
Soler is an excellent DH and I have not heard many people say that he is a bad clubhouse presence. He does play poor defense.
@Manny/@Marlins- I believe Big Smoke was referring to Tim Anderson, not Soler.
MyAccount
That would make much more sense.
Um, Seems like the Marlins players love Soler. They loved him in Atlanta too.
I’d say Soler is a much better value cost wise as a DH than Ohtani. They both played about the same number of games too. $15 mill aav vs $45 mill or so.
For 2024, sure, Soler is cheaper. But 2025 and onwards, Ohtani will be hitting and pitching so 45 million is right on the money.
Soler can’t pitch like a frontline SP. $45 million for a top HR-hitting DH and frontline SP is a bargain.
Ohtani brings massive revenue and attention to any team. How can you compare the two? Thats a bridge too far. But if you want to compare a hot hitter then go with Adolis Garcia. He is making small money. Or Yordan Alvarez, his only issue is injuries.
Ohtani’s a $30MM bat without factoring in the potential pitching and other revenue he generates for your club due to his massive following
Let someone else overpay for him.
Of course, the waiting is the hardest part and no domino has fallen yet, but MLBTR still wants to give their following something to read. Anyway, could you please refrain from the “Shohei Ohtani Drawing Interest From Multiple Clubs” news? Because I may not be able to not read it…
Gruß,
BSHH
I think he should stay right where he is and re-up on a similarly valued deal with a slight pay increase.
2 years/$29M plus a $1M buyout on an option of some kind or 3 years/$43.5M straight up and stay in Miami.
This makes sense, but we all know someone will throw some stupid money and an extra ill-advised year that will land Soler.
The Guardians are “in” on Soler and Merrifield
At the trade deadline the Guardians were all in on everyone. Then all dropped or traded.
I expect to see you on every article talking about the Guardians. Obviously this team lives in your head rent-free
Thoughts on Soler and the Marlins: If we don’t re-sign him…meh; if we do re-sign him, nice move. Marlins can go with Avi Garcia being our defensive corner OF, while moving either De La Cruz or Sanchez to DH.
Marlins bigger needs are SS and a legit Closer. And some sort of upgrade at Catcher…whether that would be a complete move for a better starting one or just an upgrade over Stallings with a solid catcher to share time with Fortes.
For me, the following moves are what I’d attempt to do.
For SS, either go after Tim Anderson or Amed Rosario. Or maybe a possible move for Harrison Bader with the thought of moving Jazz to SS.
For Closer, I take the money saved on Soler to go after Josh Hader.
With Catcher, I glance if there is a possible big contract move for either Sal Perez or Willson Contreras (with the move also involving taking Avi Garcia’s contract in return) or just a modest move of bringing in someone better than Stallings (not much of a leap). Either scenario, non-tender Stallings (which should be a no-brainer at this point).
Miami needs to trade their surplus of pitching talent for young controllable hitters. Or maybe soto
I’ve thought about Soto, but the price tag will be too much all the way through for the Marlins.
Now if the Marlins are able to bring in Soto financially at some point, the smarter move is to sign him and just lose the draft compensation which will be less than the trade chips they’d have to pay if they tried to acquire him directly from the Padres.
Soto would be great, but he’s a pipe dream for the Marlins.
As for controllable hitters in trades, they have been looking at it, but those trades would have to make sense for the Marlins. So far, the only one they’ve made of that type has been the Lopez for Arraez trade.
What other trades are out there? And It’s very likely not going to be the Marlins trading their surplus that is establishing themselves for prospect bats that haven’t proven anything. It’s going to have to be something like the Arraez/Lopez trade that involves proven pitcher for proven hitter.
I flew into Cleveland late this afternoon and sat right next to Jorge Soler. He said he has a meeting with someone named Chernoff.
Reds need a corner RH power bat. Could make sense. Steer in left, Friedl in center and Soler in right I could roll with.
I like benson and Fraley both better than soler. Soler prob would smash in GABP but he’s a lot older and will prob only deliver on one season of a 3 year pack
Probably older than the 32 he’s listed as being. Maybe 36. He’s not going to bring the results for three straight years and his fielding stinks.
I’m sure there is interest from several…on a one or two year deal after just one good season in the last several.
Buyer beware. He wouldn’t even be a top 50 FA this time last year
It’d make 0 sense for the Marlins to not extend him a QO, to then committ more money and more years to him?? But what do I know, I’m just a fan.
Wow the site says I responded here but I don’t see anything from me? Wow… I must be a ghost????
Wtf
Soler has only 3 20 hr seasons in his 10 year career. This guy is 100% fools gold. Thanks for finally giving Jesus Sanchez a chance to knock the cover off the ball for a change. We appreciate it.