Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Marlins dipped a toe into free agency but didn’t commit to anything substantial. Their larger moves were trades of established pitchers for controllable young talent, as the team continues to chase the ever-elusive idea of a “sustainable,” cost-controlled core.
Major League Free Agent Signings
- Pete Fairbanks, RHP: One year, $13MM
- Chris Paddack, RHP: One year, $4MM
- Christopher Morel, INF/OF: One year, $2MM
- John King, LHP: One year, $1.5MM
- Total spending: $20.5MM
Trades and Waiver Claims
- Traded RHP Edward Cabrera to Cubs in exchange for OF Owen Caissie and minor league INFs Cristian Hernandez and Edgardo De Leon
- Traded LHP Ryan Weathers to Yankees in exchange for minor league OFs Dillon Lewis and Brendan Jones and minor league INFs Dylan Jasso and Juan Matheus
- Traded OF Dane Myers to Reds in exchange for minor league OF Ethan O’Donnell
- Traded INF Eric Wagaman to Twins in exchange for minor league RHP Kade Bragg
- Traded OF Victor Mesa Jr. to Rays in exchange for minor league INF Angel Brachi
- Traded LHP Josh Simpson to Mariners in exchange for cash
- Traded OF Joey Wiemer to Giants in exchange for cash
- Acquired OF Esteury Ruiz from Dodgers in exchange for minor league RHP Adriano Marrero
- Acquired RHP Bradley Blalock from Rockies in exchange for minor league RHP Jake Brooks
- Claimed RHP Garrett Acton off waivers from Rockies
- Claimed RHP Osvaldo Bido off waivers from Rays (later lost to Angels via waivers)
- Claimed RHP Zach Brzykcy off waivers from Nationals (later outrighted to Triple-A)
Minor League Signings
Extensions
- None yet (team has had discussions with OF Kyle Stowers and with OF Jakob Marsee)
Notable Losses
- Cabrera, Weathers, Myers, Wagaman, Mesa Jr., Simpson, Wiemer, Troy Johnston (claimed by Rockies), George Soriano (claimed by Orioles)
The Marlins closed out the 2025 season with a 56-50 record over the final four months of the year. That wasn’t enough to erase a poor start to the season, but Miami’s 79-83 record overall was good for a third-place finish in the National League East — a surprisingly strong result for a club whose biggest moves of the preceding offseason were trading away Jesus Luzardo and Jake Burger. Right-hander Cal Quantrill, who didn’t even finish the season on the roster due to his significant struggles, was the only veteran free agent addition for Miami last winter.
That strong four-month stretch ensured at least something of a different tone this winter, though the Marlins didn’t fully commit to pushing into a win-now mentality. The third offseason for president of baseball operations Peter Bendix and second for manager Clayton McCullough was punctuated by a handful of free agent pickups but also saw the Fish continue trading from their perennially strong collection of starting pitching depth.
Miami entered the offseason with needs at first base, in the bullpen and in the outfield. They were each addressed to varying extents, but in typical Marlins fashion, those solutions generally came in the form of low-budget transactions. Miami jumped early to bring slugger Christopher Morel into the fold after he was non-tendered by Bendix’s former Rays club. Bendix was the general manager in Tampa Bay, but he was out the door by the time the Cubs traded Morel to the Rays as part of the Isaac Paredes return in 2024. It stands to reason that the Rays’ interest in Morel dated back several years to when Bendix was their GM, and he’ll now get his hands on a player with big power but also alarming strikeout concerns and no true defensive home.
The Marlins are rolling the dice on Morel as their primary first baseman — a position he’s never played before. (Insert your “Tell ’em, Wash” jokes here.) Morel has huge pull-side power and comes to Miami on just a $2MM salary with three seasons of club control remaining. If they can coax a breakout, he’ll be a bargain for them, though it’s also fair to wonder whether he’d play out all three seasons with the perennially frugal Fish in that scenario. Tapping into that raw power and unlocking a full-fledged breakout would likely lead to substantial arbitration raises, so even if Morel can finally put it all together, his price tag down the road in 2028 might prove steep enough that Miami deals him before his final arbitration season.
While Morel was the first to sign, the Bendix-led Marlins made it clear early on that former Rays closer Pete Fairbanks was a target. Fairbanks’ $11MM club option being declined by Tampa Bay rated as at least a mild surprise, and he was met with robust interest early on. In the end, it was the Marlins who bid $13MM to install Fairbanks at the back of their ‘pen, giving McCullough the sort of established closer he lacked in 2025, when six Marlins players logged between three and 15 saves. It’s the largest one-year salary the Marlins have ever given to a reliever. Fairbanks will be able to remain in Florida and continue piling up saves in a pitcher-friendly setting, making it a sensible move for all parties.
Also joining the Miami pitching staff are right-hander Chris Paddack — a former Marlins prospect — and lefty John King. Paddack will step into the rotation on the heels of a career-high 158 innings pitched but also the second-worst ERA (5.35) of his seven-year run in the big leagues. The former top prospect’s brilliant 2019 debut with the Padres is a distant memory, but he’ll pitch all of 2026 at 30 years old and brings some of the best command in baseball (career 5.2% walk rate) to South Florida.
The 31-year-old King was a quality middle reliever for the Rangers and Cardinals from 2021-24 before a tough season in 2025. He has one of the game’s lowest strikeout rates among relievers but also boasts plus command and one of the top ground-ball rates in the sport: 61.8% over the past half decade. Southpaw Cade Gibson gave Miami a strong rookie showing out of the bullpen in 2025, but the only other left-handed relievers to make an appearance were Josh Simpson (7.34 ERA, 30 2/3 innings), Anthony Veneziano (4.71 ERA, 21 innings) and Patrick Monteverde (four runs in 3 2/3 innings). Veneziano is no longer with the organization. Simpson was designated for assignment and traded to the Mariners (for cash) after Miami signed King.
All of Miami’s free-agent additions were, in some way or another, buy-low acquisitions. Morel and King were non-tendered despite affordable arbitration projections. Fairbanks’ club option, which looked fairly reasonable, was declined (partly due to budget constraints for the Rays). Paddack was traded from Minnesota to Detroit at the deadline and quickly lost his rotation spot. He has a 5.23 ERA over the past three seasons. All four have traits on which Miami can dream — Morel’s power, Fairbanks’ velocity/strikeouts, King’s grounders, Paddack’s plus command/formerly plus changeup — but they’re all projects.
Beyond the level of aggression the Marlins would or wouldn’t show with respect to their veteran additions, the biggest question surrounding the club was whether they’d once again deal from their stock of talented young starters. As we’ve seen so often in the past, even under prior front office regimes, Miami isn’t afraid to deal away young arms, trusting in the development staff’s ability to continue to turn more out.
If you’d told most fans, pundits and even other teams at the end of the 2025 season that Miami would trade two starters, most would have assumed longtime ace Sandy Alcantara would be one of them. He had a rough year overall in his return from Tommy John surgery, but the former NL Cy Young winner finished strong and is heading into the final guaranteed season of a contract that guarantees him at least $19MM more ($17MM salary, $2MM buyout on a $21MM club option for 2027). That’s a reasonable price for most clubs but a steep one for the ever-cost-conscious Marlins.
Instead, it was 27-year-old righty Edward Cabrera — long rumored as a trade candidate in his own right — and 26-year-old southpaw Ryan Weathers. While many expected Cabrera to be a popular trade target this winter, the Weathers trade came somewhat out of the blue, given that he only made eight starts last year due to injury and had three years of club control remaining.
Weathers’ trade to the Yankees netted the Marlins a quartet of prospects, none of whom are expected to be immediate contributors. Outfielder Dillon Lewis was the most highly touted prospect in the swap but hasn’t even played in Double-A yet — nor has young infielder Juan Matheus. Outfielder Brendan Jones and infielder Dylan Jasso reached Double-A in 2025, but both will presumably require further development time in Triple-A.
Weathers originally came to the Fish in what’s now a clearly lopsided trade sending Garrett Cooper to the Padres — a swap put together by former general manager Kim Ng. That acquisition gave way to a 2024 breakout and enough promise in 2025’s limited sample for Bendix to cash in on a four-prospect package that deepens the Marlins’ position player pool.
The trade of Cabrera was both more expected and more consequential in terms of 2026 impact. While he was far from a lock to change hands, Cabrera has been discussed frequently in recent years. Interest in the former top prospect’s electric arsenal has been widespread, and his 2025 breakout was enough to push it over the top. There are big durability concerns with the 6’5″ flamethrower, but Cabrera’s 3.53 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate, career-best 8.3% walk rate, 97 mph average heater, 12.6% swinging-strike rate and three remaining years of club control pushed the Cubs to part with a three-prospect package headlined by Owen Caissie, who’s now the favorite to break camp as Miami’s right fielder.
Caissie, 23, is a 2020 second-rounder who has spent several seasons ranked among baseball’s top-100 prospects but had no clear path to regular at-bats at Wrigley Field (at least not this year). He’s a three-true-outcomes lefty slugger with a big arm — a prototypical right field mold whom the Marlins hope can pair with 2025 breakout bopper Kyle Stowers to give the Fish some genuine middle-of-the-order thunder for the foreseeable future.
Caissie mashed at a .286/.386/.551 rate and popped 22 homers in only 99 Triple-A games, but he also fanned in 28% of his Triple-A plate appearances (against a 13.2% walk rate). The Marlins also added minor league infielders Cristian Hernández and Edgardo De Leon in that swap, but they’re both down-the-road considerations; Hernández hasn’t played above A-ball, and De Leon is only 19. Caissie is the headliner, and he gives the Fish a potential lineup cornerstone with six full seasons of club control and two minor league option years remaining. In Caissie, Stowers and center fielder Jakob Marsee (.292/.363/.478 in 55 games as a rookie), Miami has the makings of an excellent young outfield — no small feat considering the years of turnover they underwent on the grass prior to the arrival of this trio.
Most of Miami’s other dealings centered around role players. Dane Myers is a solid fourth outfielder who runs well, but he’s entering his final minor league option year and was shipped to the Reds for minor league outfielder Ethan O’Donnell, who’s not yet on the 40-man roster. Another fourth outfield option, Victor Mesa Jr., went to the Rays for lottery ticket teenage infielder Angel Brachi. Utilityman Eric Wagaman was traded to the Twins for minor league reliever Kade Bragg, who could make his debut at some point in 2026 — a nice bit of business considering Wagaman was a minor league free agent who signed a big league deal with Miami last winter.
In addition to selling off that trio of role players, the Marlins brought in some depth pieces by acquiring righty Bradley Blalock from the Rockies and speedster Esteury Ruiz from the Dodgers. Blalock replenishes a bit of rotation depth. He’s coming off a brutal year in the Rockies organization but had some decent results in the minors with the Brewers before that. Ruiz is in his final minor league option year and offers more speed than Myers. He could fill a similar fourth outfield role.
Setting aside the trades of Cabrera and Weathers as well as the signing of Fairbanks, most of Miami’s moves amount to tinkering around the margins. The 2026 season will be pivotal to determining their identity. They’ll see if a combination of Morel, Graham Pauley and Connor Norby can handle the infield corners. The middle infield is set for now with defensive standout Otto Lopez at shortstop and exciting leadoff man Xavier Edwards at second base. Stowers, Marsee and Caissie are the outfield hopefuls. Former top prospect Agustin Ramirez will try to improve behind the plate, but top-100 prospect Joe Mack is nipping at his heels in Triple-A, so Ramirez could eventually move to more of a first base/designated hitter/third catcher role.
On the pitching side, it’ll be Alcantara, Eury Pérez and the veteran Paddack, with former top prospects Max Meyer and Braxton Garrett returning from injury-lost seasons. Miami has two of the game’s top-ranked pitching prospects in Thomas White and Robby Snelling. Both could debut in 2026. Former prospects Dax Fulton and Adam Mazur are both still on the 40-man roster and have minor league options remaining, which gives the Fish some more depth. The bullpen already lost Ronny Henriquez to Tommy John surgery in December, but Fairbanks and King join holdovers like Gibson, Calvin Faucher and Anthony Bender to form a decent nucleus. If any of Meyer, Garrett, Fulton or Mazur don’t pan out as starters, they could shift there.
The Marlins thinned out their rotation but did so by shipping out a pair of starters who had durability issues — an all-too-common problem that seems to regularly plague their always impressive groups of young arms. Alcantara’s name could come up as a summer trade candidate, but if Miami is contending he’s not likely to go anywhere. The thought of a rotation including Alcantara, Pérez, White and Snelling is tantalizing regardless of who the fifth option would be.
Miami has the feel of an up-and-coming team, but it’s hard not to wonder what they’d look like with even a shred of payroll support from ownership. They’re currently projected to spend about $73MM on the 2026 payroll — a basement-level mark even by their standards and one of the lowest figures in the league. A bit more money on the bullpen or the infield could’ve made this club all the more compelling, and with only $83MM of luxury-tax obligations on the books, they’re running the risk of a grievance regarding the allocation of the reported $70MM or so of revenue-sharing funds they receive. Extensions for Marsee and/or Stowers — they’ve broached the subject with both young outfielders — could mitigate some of those concerns, but as MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows, Alcantara’s five-year, $56MM deal is the only extension of five or more years the Fish have given out in the past decade. It’s hard to imagine them going to the lengths necessary to sign one of their young outfielders for the long haul.
How would MLBTR readers grade the Marlins’ offseason? Have your say in the poll below:
How would you grade the Marlins' offseason?
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C 38% (510)
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B 27% (366)
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D 22% (288)
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F 9% (122)
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A 4% (51)
Total votes: 1,337
The Marlins are clearly banking on 2027 being their true year of starting their contention window in the hope that it also comes in the start of a new salary cap era of the league (if we have any shred of a 2027 season)
Ballllkkk. Nyy could benefit from the cap.
As die-hard Marlins Fans, we must endure this unfortunate typical stingy-owner situation one more year … but we definitely enjoy victory every time this hard-working group of (mostly) underpaid young players win a game!
I’m giving Miami a F. You may or may not agree with me. I’ll explain why I gave them a F. Now to be fair, their roster has a few good players and at the beginning of the offseason, their strength was the rotation. Then they traded Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers. Their roster now is all so-so. Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez are a good duo, but it’s misty after that.
Chris Paddack had a bad season, I believe Max Meyer is returning from injury and so is Braxton Garrett. Janson Junk could have had an outlier system. I don’t see what’s so good about Mazur, tell me. And Blalock and Gusto are largely unproven at the big league level.
Now sure, you have a good closer and setup man in Pete Fairbanks and Anthony Bender. I don’t have much against the Marlins bullpen and it seems like a solid one.
Agusitin Ramirez and Liam Hicks are so-so at the big league level and haven’t had great offensive numbers. Mack looks good but hasn’t made his MLB debut. First base is just horrible for the Marlins. THE END. Xavier Edwards looks nice at second, and so does Kyle Stowers in left field. Jakob Marsee looked good, and Owen Cassie is promsing but unproven. I think that the Marlins just don’t have enough provenness to compete. Their roster is very inexperienced, and their moves just don’t align with their goals. They are running back a so-so roster that has been slightly decimated.
And also, they didn’t spend enough. A projected payroll of $73 million, per Fangraphs. I can’t blame this all on the Marlins, as the Guardians also had a low payroll ($82 million), White Sox ($86 million), Rays (88 (I think you know what I mean)), Nationals ($93 million), A’s (95), and Cardinals (99) are also low spenders. I do want the Pirates, Rockies, Twins, Reds, Brewers to spend some more. I am truly disappointed in my own team, the Cubs, Giants, and others who clearly have a lot of money to spend big are spending like mid market teams. Maybe I’m asking too much.
Marlins Tier (tiny market teams)-Spend Like 120 million range
Twins And Pirates Tier (And Brewers Tier) (very small market teams)-Spend Like Mariners Range
160-200 million teams-Good spending
Teams that can clearly spend like large-SPEND BIG!
Dodgers tier-STOP SPENDING.
If I didn’t know the Marlins, I would agree with the F. But this is an average offseason for them. Gain controllable options while minimizing overall spending. Did the team get better? No. Did the team get worse? No. They likely made enough moves to avoid a grievance filed against them for team salary while still netting the owner a profit despite low fan attendance. I think they could be a .500 team.
In summary, expectations are low so I save my F for offloading all their current talent for prospects and restarting another rebuild, C for same old, and hell I’d give them an A for any long term signing
Grade A offseason: Your team is significantly better. Grade C: the same. Grade F: your team is worse. Complementing what @FishingforAnswers said, I graded them C because:
Caissie is taking over RF compared to last year’s revolving door after Sánchez left. Hopefully better.
Morel is taking over 1B over Wagaman. Better, on paper. When Ramírez takes over, then for sure better.
Fairbanks taking over the closer spot. Better, even after losing Henríquez.
Paddack is taking over Quantrill: same. The team expects some decent outings and an ERA low enough to ship him by the trade deadline.
Garrett taking over Weathers: not sure. The latter has better stuff, but only pitched 39 innings last season. The former is more a solid back-end piece, although more dependable.
Meyer over Junk: also not sure. Junk was great in the bullpen, and OK as a starter. Meyer has been inconsistent when starting, but has better upside.
No one is taking over Eddy Cabrera, and that’s worse. The team is counting on better contributions from both Alcántara and Pérez, as well as solid performances from Snelling and/or White.
Mazur and Gusto are expected to take some spot starts, just as last year.
So all in all, the lineup is narrowly better on paper (depending on how Caissie fairs), same for the bullpen, and the rotation is worse, but not significantly. What is much better is the bench depth, the closer, and farm system. I’d say is somewhere between B- and C+.
F? Nah you’re being waaaay to surface level here. Already wrote my B below, but this team did ok.
Didn’t read ur whole post but I agree. It’s was okay with Fairbanks to an extent but don’t like Morel and gee wiz not sure what they can expect from Paddack except about 80 innings of pure crap for 4 million. Dummy
Did you call me or Paddack signing dummy?
The signing
What is the marlins plan for becoming competitive again financially? Or they just want to make some profits while Miami is deprived of a good team ?
Steve–why did you use the word “aggression” when you meant “aggressiveness”? You’re better than that. That is Brett Taylor-level illiteracy.
The Marlins lost 3.9 WAR and gained 0.9 WAR in 2025 performance. They did get some decent prospects but overall are going backwards. Right now their over/under is 72.5 wins. I think that is about right. The Nationals will still be worse in the East, but only the Rockies and Nationals should finish behind the Marlins in the NL.
Rating a young team on last years numbers is ignoring the future. Young players often improve. Expecting last years result is unlikely to be reliable.
Right now the O/U for the Marlins is 72.5 wins. They have regressed from their win total in 2025.
Web
“The Marlins lost 3.9 WAR and gained 0.9 WAR in 2025 performance. ”
Yeah, but they aren’t playing 2025, they are playing 2026 and 2027 and 2028 and …
The best way to predict the future is to look at past performance. The Marlins are looking at winning 72-73 games in 2026.
Web
“The best way to predict the future is to look at past performance”
It’s the only way.
But that it no way means that what happened last year should be expected to happen again this year.
I mean, at minimum playing time will be different.
FanGraphs projects 79 wins
PECOTA projects 75
I trust those more than I trust you
I was thinking they would get more near MLB ready types for the pitching they lost. Should have at least signed an O’Hearn type for 1B. Not contenders but could be exciting.
They did not need to, not this offseason. Two of the top 10 LH starters (Thomas White and Robbie Snelling) are already in AAA and most probably will take over a rotation spot at some point this season.
What the team needed the most was young bats. Caissie, Lewis, and Jones will boost the farm system. Morel is 26 and still has years of control, and even with the awkward positional change, there is some hopeful upside.
They just shuffled deck chairs on the Titanic. Being in the NL east, they’ll at least finish 4th because the Nationals are so bad, but I’ll be surprised if they beat out the Braves again.
To have a good season, many… many things have to go the right way. The lineup is not so different from last year’s, but if there is no significant injuries, the sophomores (Marsee, Ramirez, Pauley) take a step forward, the newcomers (Caissie, Mack) perform as expected, and the rotation is around league-average, you should have a .500+ team, which is enough nowadays to be in the Wild Card hunt.
None of those assumptions is crazy to achieve.
The Braves just need average luck with health and they’re playoff contenders again. Mets have turned over a bunch of the roster and I think overall they’re much better than they were last year, at least on the position player side. Phillies are still the big bullies. The wild card is even more crowded. Whichever of the Cubs/Brewers don’t win the Central, Padres, and even the Reds/Giants/DBacks are at least a bit better.
I just don’t think Braves have second highest chances in ALL of MLB. Dodgers highest chance (who disagrees), then Braves????!!!
And then you could go in a order of NYY, SEA, TOR, PHI, NYM (World Series caliber teams) Then some order of BOS, HOU, SD, DET, SFG, MIL, CHC, ATL, and BAL (legitimate contenders). After that, an order of TEX, KC, CLE, CIN,PIT (contenders), and TB, AZ, MIA, A’s (fringe contenders), and MIN, LAA, CWS, as bad teams but it’s not impossible. WAS, COL, ST have no chance.
You’re misreading me entirely but then again I don’t expect much from Astros fans these days. I said the Braves are more likely to contend for a playoff spot than the Marlins. Never said that they’re on par with the Dodgers.
Where did you say that?
Astros, Miami has no chance. It would take a legitimate miracle for them to win as many games as they did last season, and they were not a playoff team in 2025. They have a better shot at losing 100 games than winning the 85-87 it will take to make the playoffs this season. They will finish in front of the Nationals, but that is not saying much. Expect more trades at the deadline too. Sherman is profit taking this season in expectation of a labor stoppage in 2027.
True. The Marlins traded away one SP too much, but I guess they are betting on both Snelling and White by midseason; then things can get interesting if one of the “big three” in the division get nervous.
But even so, I bet the Marlins will be within 5 games of the Wild Card race entering September.
It will take Robbie Snelling and Thomas White to join the rotation from June on, while keeping Sandy and Eury the entire season. Plus maybe a great season from both Stowers and Caissie.
Is that a miracle to you?
Snelling and White are not even close to enough to be a miracle. Snelling is decent. He could be a back of the rotation starter in the 2nd half of 2026 or he could be Kyle Harrison redux or a LH version of Mick Abel. White has 12 starts above A ball. He walked more than 1 per inning in AAA and more than 5 per 9 IP last season overall. He will be back in AA or AAA in 2026 to try to get his command squared away. He might get a cup of coffee in September after rosters increase.
Caissie has 26 PA in the majors so far, struck out nearly 30% of the time in 982 PA in AAA, and you expect a great season from him? Projections are something like .238/.317/.402/.719 with a 100-101 OPS+. I think that is realistic with his swing and miss profile. At this point he is expected to be a platoon player against the strong side of the platoon as he hit poorly against LHP last season.
Something you need to keep in mind is that top 100 prospects become MLB average players, that is a 2.0 WAR, at a 17% rate. Less than 1 in 5. Yes, those guys are good prospects. That does not mean they will be good MLB players.
Alcantara was horrible last season. He might make a small improvement, but his peripherals say he won’t improve to better than average. Perez had 20 starts after he returned. Like Alcantara, Perez should improve slightly based on his peripherals, so what can realistically be expected is a 3.90 ERA. Good, but not enough to replace Cabrera and his 3.53 ERA.
Stowers had a great year at the plate. Not too much to expect him to continue to play well. That is not a point of improvement, just more of the same.
I give them a C. They held their ground. Peter Bendix seems to have a plan and it is starting to bear fruit. I think the most important aspect is hopefully last year’s solid finish inspired SOME interest from local fans. It offers proof of concept that fans can start to believe in. Building a fan base in South Florida needs to be the number one priority of the franchise. The Bendix brand of baseball is very watchable, and young players are easy to cheer for. Hopefully they can continue to make incremental improvements and the fans buy in.
Sorry to say it for Miami fans, but I think the plan is that using revenue sharing ownership will see profits for a few years and let the team value appreciate and then they will sell it for a multi billion dollar gain. Profit is the priority not winning. It’s a business and that’s the business decision.
And what makes you think we don’t know that already? I wonder how much Bendix had to beg Sherman to spend $13M on Fairbanks. He’s probably paying a couple of millions out of his own salary.
If they held their ground, their O/U would not have dropped 7 wins.
Their Pythagorean win total for last season was 72. So if they are projected for 72 wins again this season, by computer logic, they precisely held their ground. But, as we all know, baseball isn’t played in a simulation. I stand by my statement. They held their ground.
I was wrong on how many wins their O/U dropped. They were at a 75.5 win O/U on OD last season. They only dropped 3 wins.
They have a chance to have a great outfield for a while.
Marlins did pretty good, a solid B imo. Fairbanks gives them a solid closer who works well in that warm weather. Getting Owen Cassie to slot in with Stowers and Marsee is fantastic. 1b needs some work, not convinced Morel can ever get it together, but sure it’s possible he gets unlocked. Paddock is just holding the fort. White and Snelling are coming and the subtraction of Cabrera and Weathers was for their imminent arrival. Not only did they net Cassie, but they loaded up the farm with six more players. And oh Ruiz is a perfect 4th outfielder type. Overall not bad for this team.
How come some teams you can see the “offseason outlook” without being an insider, but other teams outlook you have to be an insider? I guess it depends on what fans they can rip off and who they cant. “Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox fans we rip off. Marlins not so much”
How did the Rockies get a worse grade than the Marlins? They essentially made the same type of moves, yet the Marlins get praised for it? The Marlins should be pushing closer to contention yet they pick up the same slop. The Rockies can be excused because they’re years from contention
To be honest, I think the Rockies actually had a better offseason than the Fish: The rotation is (hopefully) better, they got a couple of young players (Johnston, Rumfield), and the farm system, although still at the bottom of the league, slightly improved.
But the bar was so low that almost any moves would have improved last year’s roster. This is still a 100-losses team, though.
I get the logic of not overpaying for free agents, but they MUST lock up their young talent to contract extensions to keep the fan base happy. No reason payroll can’t be around 100 million at the minimum.
I’d prioritize extensions for Eury Perez, Stowers, Marsee and best case scenario, making Alcantara a Marlin-lifer.
Oakland athletics went in the right direction despite small budget, other small market teams need to learn from them