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NL Notes: Giants, Schumaker, Kelly

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The Giants recently signed veteran skipper Bob Melvin to a three-year deal, filling their managerial vacancy ahead of what could be a busy offseason. However, if they had not been able to woo Melvin, they likely would have hired either Mariners bullpen coach Stephen Vogt or Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza (per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle). The only other candidates to receive an interview were Giants coaches Alyssa Nakken, Kai Correa, and Mark Hallberg, although the team also expressed interest in Red Sox player information coach Jason Varitek, Angels third base coach Bill Haselman, and Rangers special assistant Nick Hundley.

Mendoza’s candidacy comes as something of a surprise; he is seen as a possible contender for the Guardians managerial opening, but he had not previously been linked to the Giants.

After four years as a player in the Yankees farm system, Mendoza moved into a minor league coaching role in 2009. Over the next nine seasons, he took on various coaching roles at various levels before he was promoted to the big league staff ahead of the 2018 campaign. He spent two years as the infield coach and has been Aaron Boone’s bench coach since 2020.

More coaching and managerial news from around the Senior Circuit…

  • Jon Heyman of the New York Post identifies Marlins manager Skip Schumaker as a potential target for the Padres – the team loved him during his tenure as a coach in San Diego – although it doesn’t seem likely that the Marlins will give him permission to interview with another club. The 2024 season will be the last guaranteed year on the skipper’s contract, but Miami has a club option for the 2025 campaign. Still, Heyman suggests the rookie manager might already be looking to move on; he is reportedly upset with the way the team pushed former GM Kim Ng out of her role. Ng hired Schumaker last October, and presumably, he planned on working with her for more than a single season.
  • Heyman also brings up Pirates bench coach Don Kelly, dubbing the former utility player a “future manager” – although he doesn’t link him to any specific teams. In fact, Kelly isn’t planning to throw his hat in the ring for any of the managerial openings around the league. Following the recent passing of his father-in-law Tom Walker, he would prefer to remain close to family in Pittsburgh, where he has spent the past four seasons working under manager Derek Shelton.

Offseason Outlook: Miami Marlins

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The Marlins made the postseason in 2023, their first time in the playoffs of a full season since 2003. But the good news stopped there. They were quickly swept by the Phillies, then their ace announced that he underwent Tommy John surgery. This was followed by general manager Kim Ng stepping aside after disagreements with chairman Bruce Sherman.

Guaranteed Contracts

Option Decisions

  • 1B Josh Bell can opt out of $16.5MM salary
  • OF/DH Jorge Soler can opt out of $13MM salary
  • Club holds $10.5MM club option on RHP Johnny Cueto with $2.5MM buyout
  • Clubs holds $9MM club option on RHP Matt Barnes with $2.25MM buyout ($8MM option increased to $9MM when Barnes was traded, per Associated Press)
  • Club holds $3.625MM club option on IF/OF Jon Berti with $25K buyout (Berti can be retained via arbitration even if option is declined)

2024 financial commitments (assuming Berti’s option is the only one exercised): $24.625MM
Total future commitments: $107.625MM*

* Includes $30MM owed to Yankees as part of Giancarlo Stanton deal, to be paid from 2026-2028

Arbitration-Eligible Players (projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Non-tender candidates: Stallings, Hampson, Davis

Free Agents

The Marlins went 84-78 in 2023, just enough to squeeze into the Wild Card picture during the final weekend of the season. It would be fair to wonder whether the club was actually as good as that record would indicate. Their run differential was -57, which would be more in line with a 75-win club. Despite allowing more runs than they scored by a significant margin, they succeeded by going 33-14 in one-run games, a difficult tightrope to walk for an extended period of time.

Whether you think the club deserved their record or not, they will be challenged just to stay at that level. Sandy Alcantara required Tommy John surgery at the end of the season and will now miss the entire 2024 campaign. He wasn’t quite in his previous Cy Young-winning form in 2023, but the Marlins are nonetheless worse off without him.

There will likely be losses in the lineup as well. Each of Jorge Soler and Josh Bell have upcoming opt-outs that allow them to return to free agency. Soler’s deal originally had a $9MM salary for 2024 but he upped that to $13MM via plate appearance escalators. He hit 36 home runs this year and walked in 11.4% of his plate appearances, leading to a wRC+ of 126. Even though he’s not a strong defender, he should be able to parlay that platform into a strong multi-year deal. Whoever is in charge of the Miami front office will then have to decide whether to extend a qualifying offer to Soler, with this year’s QO likely to be around $20.5MM. If they decide to make that offer, he would be a borderline candidate to accept, but it may not be possible with the club’s financials. More on that later.

As for Bell, his season wasn’t quite as potent as Soler’s, but he finished strong. He hit .233/.318/.383 for the Guardians but then .270/.338/.480 after being traded to the Marlins. He is ineligible to receive a qualifying offer because of that trade. Given that, and the weak market for impact bats, he may be able to leave that $16.5MM on the table and find a multi-year deal of some kind.

Chairman Bruce Sherman will first have to find someone to navigate this, with general manager Kim Ng deciding not to trigger her end of a mutual option. It was reported that she did so because Sherman planned to hire a president of baseball operations to work above her, in addition to reported disagreements about some other staff decisions. Given that reporting, it’s possible he has someone in mind, but few details have been leaked about the front office search.

That makes it somewhat difficult to project what the winter plans are, but there will be some early decisions to be made, whether someone has been hired or not. The Soler QO decision is the only challenging one, however, as the others are fairly straightforward. Both Johnny Cueto and Matt Barnes had injury problems and poor results when on the field, so their options will be bought out. Jon Berti just had his second straight season of managing to produce more than 2 WAR in a utility role, so his option should be picked up. He can be retained via arbitration even if it’s not.

But after that, there will be bigger choices to be made about the club’s path forward. In terms of the financials, the 2023 Opening Day payroll of $93MM was the highest of the Sherman era, according to data at Cot’s Baseball Contracts. They are currently projected for a budget of $103MM next year, per Roster Resource. If Soler and Bell opt out and a couple members of the arb class are non-tendered, that number will drop down to around $70MM.

That will give the club some money to spend, but they will have to replace two key bats from the lineup. The Marlins scored 666 runs in 2023, better than just four clubs, while their wRC+ of 94 was better than just 10. With Soler and Bell perhaps set to become free agents, the Fish will need to find ways to add offense just to break even. Giving a qualifying offer to Soler risks tying up $20.5MM in one player when they have multiple needs to address.

In recent years, the focus has been on the Miami pitching staff and how it could be parlayed into an offensive upgrade. That may be a little trickier now that the club already made a significant move, flipping Pablo López and prospects to the Twins for Luis Arraez prior to 2023. With Alcantara’s surgery and trade of prospect Jake Eder, the rotation surplus doesn’t seem quite as robust as it did a year ago.

There is still a strong foundation there, with Jesús Luzardo, Eury Pérez and Braxton Garrett giving the club a strong front three, but it gets shaky after that. Trevor Rogers was excellent in 2021 but struggled in 2022 and then missed most of 2023 due to injury. Edward Cabrera has flashed a tantalizing strikeout-groundout combo at times but the walks have become a serious concern. Former first-round pick Max Meyer underwent Tommy John surgery in August of 2022 and missed all of 2023. Ryan Weathers, a former first-round pick of the Padres, has a 5.88 ERA in his major league career thus far. Sixto Sánchez was once a highly-touted prospect but has been limited to just one inning of minor league work in the past three seasons and is now out of options.

After the López trade in the last offseason, the Marlins pivoted to grab Cueto from free agency. Perhaps they find someone to trade in this group and try a similar path this winter. Cabrera is now out of options and could be plausibly flipped to a rebuilding club with the ability to be patient with his development, but that would likely leave the Marlins looking for at least one free agent starter, as well as relying on Rogers or Meyer to be healthy and effective.

If the Marlins look to add offense via free agency, catcher would be one obvious target. Jacob Stallings hit .210/.287/.290 over the past two seasons after coming over from the Pirates in a trade. Nick Fortes took over as the primary backstop in 2023. He didn’t hit much either but his defensive grades were generally strong. With Stallings about to turn 34 and set for an arbitration raise, it seems fair to expect the club to move on. Fortes is still is in his pre-arbitration years and can act as a cheap glove-first part of a catching tandem.

The free agent options aren’t amazing, but they are certainly more enticing than Stallings. Gary Sánchez had a strong second half with the Padres, hitting 19 home runs in 75 games, but should still be affordable. In 2023, he had to settle for minor league deals with the Giants and Mets. The latter selected his contract but designated him for assignment less than a week later. A waiver claim by the Padres gave him the chance to launch those 19 home runs and raise his free agent stock, but his season was ended by a wrist fracture in September, which could give some clubs pause.

Mitch Garver would be an excellent fit as a bat-first catcher, combining with Fortes behind the plate. But he hit well enough in 2023, including for the Rangers in the playoffs, that they may give him the qualifying offer. For an oft-injured catcher going into his age-33 season, it would be tough for him to walk away from over $20MM.

A player with a similar profile is Tom Murphy. He’s only been able to play 315 games dating back to the 2015 season due to various injuries, but he generally hits well when he’s in there. In 2023, he served as backup to Cal Raleigh of the Mariners, hitting eight home runs in just 47 games before a thumb sprain ended his season in August.

The Marlins could also look for an upgrade at first base, with Bell maybe opting out, Garrett Cooper having been traded and Yuli Gurriel now a free agent. Giving Bell a new contract would be one option, but the free agent market also features Rhys Hoskins, Brandon Belt, Carlos Santana and others. The club almost signed Justin Turner last winter and he is likely to end up triggering his own opt-out. But many of the available options are veterans best suited to a part-time role, also spending significant time at designated hitter. Hoskins is one of the younger ones in the group but he missed all of 2023 after tearing his ACL in the spring. Players like Rowdy Tellez and Dominic Smith could wind up non-tendered by their current clubs. Pete Alonso is the crown jewel of theoretical trade candidates but it’s hard to imagine him going to a division rival.

At the other infield positions, Luis Arraez should be back at second base and Jake Burger at third. Neither is an excellent defender but they both had strong seasons at the plate and the Marlins need their bats in the lineup. Shortstop is wide open at the moment, with Joey Wendle having struggled and now a free agent anyway. Berti and Garrett Hampson are still on the roster but better suited to utility roles than a full-time shortstop gig. Jacob Amaya struggled in his major league debut and had a subpar season in Triple-A.

Finding an everyday shortstop this winter won’t be easy. The free agent market doesn’t really have a viable option unless the White Sox turn down their option on Tim Anderson. But even then, he’s coming off a horrible season in 2023 where he had a .286 on-base percentage and just one home run. The trade market could theoretically feature names like Willy Adames, Ha-Seong Kim or Tommy Edman, but their respective clubs will undoubtedly set high asking prices given the weak free agent class.

The outfield picture looks a bit better, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. in center, flanked by Bryan De La Cruz and Jesús Sánchez. With Soler opting out, there would be room to add someone and perhaps push De La Cruz into a fourth outfielder/designated hitter role, but the club also has Avisaíl García still on the roster. His past two seasons have been disasters, with injuries and poor performance making him a sub-replacement contributor. But if the club thinks it can fit another outfielder into the mix, they could perhaps make sense for Adam Duvall, Tommy Pham or Jason Heyward.

The bullpen is losing David Robertson and Matt Moore to free agency, but they were midseason pickups anyway. Overall, the group is still strong, with four viable left-handers in the bullpen. Left-handed relief tends to always be in demand, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Marlins call around to see if they can exchange one of Tanner Scott, Andrew Nardi, A.J. Puk or Steven Okert for offensive help.

Whoever is eventually hired to make the baseball decisions in Miami will have quite a to-do list. The club’s offense was fairly tepid in 2023 and could see Bell and Soler depart in the coming weeks. The Fish could use upgrades at catcher, first base, shortstop and perhaps an outfield corner, and likely won’t have a ton of money available for those pursuits. Amid all of that, the National League East is in strong shape, as Atlanta and Philadelphia are two of the best clubs in the league. The Mets had a down year in 2023 but have the resources to bounce back quickly and the Nationals will be emerging from their rebuild eventually. Although the Marlins are fresh off a postseason berth, there are plenty of questions and we don’t currently know who will be providing the answers.

In conjunction with this post, Darragh McDonald held a Marlins-centric chat on 10-26-23. Click here to read the transcript.

Marlins Offered Yadier Molina Coaching Role In 2023

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With Yadier Molina and the Cardinals in talks about a coaching job for the longtime catcher, Molina discussed the situation in an interview with 550 KTRS radio (hat tip to Luis Nolla of KTRS for the partial transcript).  “I think there is something cooking with St. Louis,” Molina said, estimating “a 90 percent chance that it happens.”  After retiring following the 2022 season, Molina revealed that he had offers for some kind of coaching roles from both the Cardinals last year and from the Marlins.

Marlins Part Ways With Scouting Director D.J. Svihlik

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The Marlins are parting ways with director of amateur scouting D.J. Svihlik, per Barry Jackson and Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. Svihlik, who had been part of Miami’s front office since 2017 including six years in his current role as scouting director, did not have his contract removed following the 2023 campaign and is now set to join former GM Kim Ng in departing the organization. The move to part ways with Svihlik is hardly a surprise given Sherman’s previously reported discontent with the club’s amateur scouting and player development apparatus.

While very few of Svihlik’s draft picks have played a direct role for the Marlins at the big league level (with right-hander Max Meyer and catcher Nick Fortes among the best examples), Jackson and McPherson make the important point that many of the club’s highest picks in recent years have been used in trades to acquire key talents on the big league roster such as Jake Burger, Josh Bell, and A.J. Puk. The duo go on to note that the task of finding a replacement for Svihlik figures to be likely left in the hands of the club’s next baseball operations leader, the search for whom Sherman has already begun. Installing a president of baseball operations who would take control of the department and lead a restructuring of the club’s amateur scouting department was one of the key goals Sherman held for this offseason that led to Ng parting ways with the organization.

MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: Boston Searches for a Boss, Kim Ng and Surgery for Brandon Woodruff

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • What is one team you anticipate will aggressively attempt to contend this season but believe should focus on rebuilding, and one club you expect to act passively during the offseason but think should make a more concerted effort to contend? (15:45)
  • The Pirates’ competitive window should start to open in 2024 but they badly need to address 1B and SP this winter. I’ve talked myself into Ty France (if Dipoto feels the need to upgrade there) and Patrick Sandoval (if the Angels decide to blow it up) as being great fits. Do you like those options or have any other names that could wind up in Pittsburgh? (20:00)
  • To me it seems to be very futile to have great success in the 162 game grind, win your division (by a large margin often) and lose to a lesser team. I get it that baseball is all about who’s hot at the moment but when the best all get upset in the beginning of the playoffs it does give one pause. There surely should be more advantage/reward for regular season achievements. (22:25)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The Mets’ Front Office, TJ for Alcantara and the D-Backs Extend Their GM – listen here
  • Mariners To Spend? Tigers To Contend? And Managerial Vacancies – listen here​
  • Free Agent Pitching Dark Horses, Padres To Cut Payroll, and If The Angels Should Rebuild — listen here

Kim Ng Preferred Justin Turner To Jean Segura Last Offseason

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Former Marlins GM Kim Ng remains a popular topic of conversation around baseball, following her surprise departure from the organization earlier this week. This morning, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald provided some insight into one of Ng’s worst errors of judgment during her tenure in Miami: signing Jean Segura to a two-year, $17MM deal last winter. According to Jackson, the executive wanted Justin Turner to play third base for the Marlins in 2023, but she was forced to change gears and pursue Segura after Turner signed with the Red Sox.

From 2020-22, Segura was an above-average hitter and a capable infield defender for the Phillies. However, the 33-year-old struggled tremendously in 2023, hitting .219 with a 52 wRC+ in 85 games for the Marlins. He also had trouble on the other side of the ball, committing 10 errors and compiling -9 Defensive Runs Saved and -4 Outs Above Average. With -1.3 FanGraphs WAR, the former All-Star was one of the least valuable players in the National League. Ultimately, the Marlins dealt Segura to the Guardians at the deadline, and Cleveland released him the same day. He has not played professional baseball since.

Turner, on the other hand, played a solid campaign for the Red Sox. His 114 wRC+ was his lowest since 2013, but he set a new career-high in plate appearances and RBI. In 146 games, he smacked 23 home runs and put the ball in play at an elite rate, finishing with the seventh-highest contact rate in the American League. That said, it’s worth mentioning that he took most of his reps at DH and first base. The 38-year-old played just 58 games in the field and only seven at the hot corner. He made three errors in 57 innings at third base, so it’s fair to wonder if he could have handled the position on a full-time basis for Miami.

It isn’t news that the Marlins were interested in Turner last winter, but Jackson’s report clarifies why they wound up with Segura instead. This new information paints Ng’s decision to sign Segura in a more positive light – he wasn’t her first choice, after all – although if she so strongly preferred Turner, it’s hard to imagine she couldn’t have beat Boston’s offer. Turner signed for two years and $21.7MM guaranteed, only $2.35MM more per year than Segura would command.

More to the point, while signing Turner might have gotten the Marlins more bang for their buck, Ng would eventually find a way to right her wrongs. She flipped Segura to the Guardians for Josh Bell, who played an instrumental role in Miami’s run to the playoffs. Moreover, she traded for Jake Burger of the White Sox, who now looks like the Marlins’ third baseman of the future. All front office executives sign bad contracts from time to time, and to her credit, Ng did an excellent job turning things around. Indeed, if the Marlins had signed Turner instead of Segura, they might not have traded for Bell or Burger, and their improbable postseason run might never have happened.

Latest On Kim Ng, Marlins' GM Vacancy

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The Marlins recently parted ways with GM Kim Ng in a somewhat shocking move, considering Miami just made the postseason in a full season for the first time since 2003. Today, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald discusses the concerns Marlins owner Bruce Sherman had regarding the club’s front office. Per Jackson, ownership’s concerns centered around the club’s player development and drafting apparatus, specifically on the position player side of things. Top position player draft picks for the Marlins under Ng like catcher Joe Mack, infielder Kahlil Watson, and infielder Jacob Berry have all struggled to this point in their professional careers, though Watson is no longer part of the organization after being dealt to Cleveland at the trade deadline this year.

Ultimately, those concerns ended up being the trigger for decisions that led to Ng’s departure from the Marlins, including his desire to install a president of baseball operations above her and his move to pick up the team’s half of a mutual option rather than offer her an extension. Per Jackson, Sherman’s goal in hiring a president of baseball operations above Ng was to have someone else lead a restructuring of the amateur scouting and player development departments of the front office in addition to having a hands-on role in those areas. Jackson adds that Miami’s next president of baseball operations will have to fill out senior-level positions in the front office in addition to restructuring the aforementioned areas; along with Ng’s departure as GM, Jackson adds that senior director of international operations Adrian Lorenzo is departing the organization while senior director of player personnel Billy Masse was never replaced after exiting last offseason.

  • As the Red Sox continue their search for the club’s next head of baseball operations, former Astros GM James Click became the latest high-profile candidate to pull himself from consideration for the position today. Per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, Click talked to the Red Sox about the opportunity but has declined to pursue the organization’s top job, citing family considerations. In doing so, Click joins a number of other candidates who have to decline the spot at the head of Boston’s baseball operations department including former Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels, former Marlins president Michael Hill, and Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen. Click currently works in Toronto’s front office as vice president of baseball strategy.

Marlins, Kim Ng Part Ways

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11:25 AM: According to a report from Jeff Passan of ESPN, the Marlins planned to hire a president of baseball operations this offseason. The new president would have worked above Kim Ng as the team’s top baseball executive. It was this plan of action that led Ng to turn down her side of her mutual option with the Marlins for 2024.

9:05 AM: The Marlins and general manager Kim Ng have parted ways, reports Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. It was reported about a month ago that her contract was set to expire after 2023 and it seems that a new deal will not be worked out to keep the relationship going. The club’s chairman Bruce Sherman released a statement on the matter, as relayed by Jordan McPherson of the Herald. It seems the two sides had a mutual option for 2024, with the club exercising their end but Ng rejecting hers.

“We thank Kim for her contributions during her time with our organization and wish her and her family well,” the statement reads. “We will immediately begin a thorough and extensive search for new leadership as we plan to continue to invest in the Marlins organization both on and off the field. We are committed to our fans and the South Florida community and look to build off the momentum of the great progress of this year.” Barry Jackson of the Herald relays that director of player development Brian Chattin will serve as interim general manager during that search.

The departing GM provided a statement to Tyler Kepner of The Athletic: “Last week, Bruce (Sherman) and I discussed his plan to reshape the Baseball Operations department. In our discussions, it became apparent that we were not completely aligned on what that should look like and I felt it best to step away. I wish to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Marlins family and its fans for my time in South Florida. This year was a great step forward for the organization, and I will miss working with Skip and his coaches as well as all of the dedicated staff in baseball operations and throughout the front office. They are a very talented group and I wish them great success in the future.”

Ng, now 54, was hired to be the general manager of the Marlins in November of 2020, which was trailblazing on multiple fronts. Ng was the first woman to be a general manager for a men’s team in any of the four major North American sports and the first Asian-American GM in the history of Major League Baseball.

Since that time, the fortunes of the club have been gradually trending upwards. Though they made the expanded playoffs in the shortened 2020 season, the two full seasons prior to that saw them win 63 games in 2018 and then just 57 in 2019. The two seasons after Ng’s hiring saw them win 67 games in 2021 and then 69 contests last year. Here in 2023, they hired Skip Schumaker to take over as manager and were able to get all the way up to 84 victories, a strong enough season that they were able to make the playoffs in a full season for the first time since 2003.

The club has had an admirable supply of starting pitching during recent years, with their rotation featuring the likes of Sandy Alcantara, Pablo López, Trevor Rogers and Eury Pérez at various times. Those pitchers were all acquired prior to Ng joining the club, but she added to that group by acquiring Jesús Luzardo from the A’s in 2021, sending impending free agent Starling Marte the other way. The surplus of starting pitching was then used to upgrade the lineup, with López traded to the Twins in exchange for Luis Arraez, who flirted with .400 for much of 2023 campaign. At this year’s deadline, the club added some more offense by acquiring Josh Bell and Jake Burger, both of whom finished strong as part of Miami’s playoff push.

Every baseball decision maker has their misses and that’s certainly true of Ng. The Avisaíl García deal looks like a big misstep at the moment and the Jacob Stallings deal hasn’t worked out so far. But on the whole, the results have been positive with Ng at the helm. They just had their best season in quite some time and did so with very little margin for error, financially speaking. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the player payroll has been one of the lowest in the league, with their Opening Day outlay coming in 28th, 26th and then 23rd in her three seasons.

The club clearly felt things were going well, since they triggered their end of the mutual option. It’s possible the two sides discussed an extension, but there hasn’t been much public information about that. It’s perhaps worth noting that there have been some changes in the suit-and-tie levels of the Marlins organization in recent years. The club was purchased by a group led by Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter in late 2017. Jeter served as the club’s CEO until early 2022, departing at that time while stating that “the vision for the future of the franchise is different than the one I signed up to lead.” It was reported after that announcement that a change in spending plans is what caused Jeter to walk away, though others also suggested the relationship between Sherman and Jeter soured for reasons beyond just the financials.

In her statement, Ng also spoke of not being aligned with Sherman in their discussions, much like Jeter. The exact nature of their disagreement isn’t known, but the result is that she won’t be back with the club and will now be free to pursue other opportunities.

It’s unknown if she wants to immediately jump into another job, but there are some current openings. The Red Sox fired Chaim Bloom and have been looking to hire a general manager in recent weeks. Billy Eppler walked away from the general manager position of the Mets recently, though that would be a different situation with David Stearns hired to be that club’s president of baseball operations. The job with the Mets would have far more financial freedom than Ng had in Miami but it’s unclear if she would want to be second-in-command after a successful run as a club’s top baseball decision maker. It’s possible that more gigs will open up if any other clubs decide to part ways with their front office people.

Her plans will surely become more clear in the weeks to come but it’s fair to expect that she will draw interest. The Marlins, meanwhile, will look for a new head of their baseball operations department. Whoever steps into that role will seemingly have to align their vision with Sherman’s and likely work with a limited budget, but there would certainly be some appeal in taking over a club that is just coming off a postseason appearance and in decent shape to compete again next year.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

21 Players Elect Free Agency

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With the offseason quickly approaching, a number of players elect minor league free agency on a regular basis. Separate from MLB free agents, who reach free agency five days after the World Series by accumulating six years of service time in the big leagues, eligible minor league players can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season comes to a close. Each of these players were outrighted off of their organization’s 40-man roster at some point during the season and either have been outrighted previously in their career or have the service time necessary to reach free agency since they were not added back to their former club’s rosters. For these players, reaching free agency is the expected outcome, and there will surely be more in the coming weeks. Here at MLBTR, we’ll provide occasional updates as players continue to elect minor league free agency.

Here is the next batch, courtesy of the transaction tracker at MiLB.com:

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Pitchers

Show all

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