The rebuild continued in South Beach, as the Marlins continued to move experienced talent for prospects.
Major League Signings
- Cal Quantrill, SP: One year, $3.5MM
- Eric Wagaman, IF/OF: One year split deal ($770K in majors, $200K in minors)
2025 spending: $3.5MM
Total spending: $3.5MM
Option Decisions
- None
Trades & Claims
- Acquired minor leaguers SS Starlyn Caba and OF Emaarion Boyd from Phillies for SP Jesus Luzardo and minor league C Paul McIntosh
- Acquired minor leaguers 2B/SS Max Acosta, 2B/SS Echedry Vargas, and LHP Brayan Mendoza from Rangers for 1B/3B Jake Burger
- Acquired 1B Matt Mervis and cash considerations from Cubs for IF Vidal Brujan
- Acquired cash considerations from Athletics for C Jhonny Pereda
- Acquired minor league RP Will Kempner from Giants for international bonus pool money
- Claimed RP Brett de Geus off waivers from Pirates
- Claimed RP Ronny Henriquez off waivers from Twins
- Claimed RHP Connor Gillispie off waivers from Braves
- Claimed RHP Christian Roa off waivers from Reds
- Selected C/1B Liam Hicks from Tigers in the Rule 5 Draft
Notable Minor League Signings
Notable Losses
- Luzardo, Burger, Brujan, Sixto Sanchez, Roddery Munoz, Adam Oller, Mike Baumann, John McMillon, Anthony Maldonado, Michael Petersen
Miami's offseason began with a big internal housecleaning, as the Marlins parted ways with their entire coaching staff, and several behind-the-scenes employees ranging from the team's dietician to the traveling secretary. The headline name among all the Marlins' new hires was Clayton McCullough, chosen for his first big league managerial position after a long career as a coach and coordinator in the Dodgers' organization, and as a manager at multiple levels of the Blue Jays' farm system.
McCullough's history of working in player development and with players at both the Major and minor league levels bodes well for his stewardship of a Marlins team that continues to look towards the future. Of all the players on the Marlins' 40-man roster, only Sandy Alcantara and new signing Cal Quantrill have more than four years of MLB service time, as president of baseball operations Peter Bendix has already significantly overhauled the roster after a little over 16 months on the job.
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Offensive Rebuilding:
The trades have resulted in an influx of prospects, but immediate offensive production is a major question mark. The focus is clearly on the future. This area would likely receive a D+ to C- grade.
Pitching Restructuring:
The loss of key pitchers creates significant uncertainty. The team is relying on young pitchers and reclamation projects. This area would likely receive a D to C- grade.
Young Talent Development:
This is the core of the Marlins’ strategy. While the potential is there, it’s too early to assess the success of this approach. This area is hard to grade, but I would give it an incomplete, but the outlook is that they are focusing on the right thing.
Team Identity:
With a new manager, and front office, and many player changes, the team is in the process of creating a new identity. This is also hard to grade, but I would give it a C grade, as they are actively trying to make changes.
Overall Evaluation:
The Marlins’ offseason reflects a clear rebuilding strategy. Therefore, the overall grade would likely be in the D range.
A realistic win projection for the Marlins would be in the 60-65 win range.
This is all “lather, rinse, repeat” with this team
Of the 7 “Notable Losses” that you listed, they have a combined career bWAR of -2.7. They are not noteworthy in any way, shape of form.
Out of 29 position players listed on their BR team page for 2024, only 3 position players produced greater then 1 bWAR last season, while 26 were below 1, and of those 26, 13 (half) produced negative war.
For a well run, or even a half decent organization, those ‘Notable Losses’ would not be notable. For Miami, the players lost were pretty much exactly as good as the ones they still have, therefore, they are at least somewhat notable… by Miami’s standards.
The bad news Marlins..
They remind me of the Tigers in that most of their prospects were pitchers and then they got injured. The Marlins still have Alcantara, Perez, Edward Cabrera, Ryan Weathers, Max Meyer, and others. If they start getting healthy they can get to .500 and build on that. Or more likely have some nice trade pieces.
Surprised by the f grades, I think Bendix is doing a good job staying “light” on his feet with the team while bringing in a lot of young talent, and rebuilding the structure of the team could be the most important aspect.
I like the direction. The most important thing to keep in mind, imo, is that the Marlins were going to be a bad team. I don’t think it matters much whether they lose 100 or lose 105. Caba looks like he’ll be a player, and a couple of the others might play smaller roles in time.
Of the “losses” only Burger and Luzardo are actual losses, the rest not so much.
Offense is going to be rough, lots of low scoring games. This team will need significant contributions from Sanchez, Norby, Stowers, Edwards, and Mervis if they hope not to be White Sox level bad
They hit 5 HR’s off the Cardinals yesterday. 3 off of Fedde. Look out!
Fedde has given up as many Home Runs as he has strikeouts so far in training camp. Whatever KBO magic he brought back with him last season must have been left in Chicago
Firing the entire coaching staff seems weird. Not a single coach was an asset to the team?
Yes Charlie, I thought that a bit strange. From the quotes during the season I wondered if the club house erupted into prayer meetings or gathered for bible classes from time to time.
Apart from the coaching staff being picked by Schumaker, I can’t think of any other reasons