Brian Anderson

Marlins third baseman Brian Anderson will undergo surgery next week to repair a subluxation in his left shoulder, the team informed reporters (including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald). The team is hopeful he’ll be ready for Spring Training in 2022.

Anderson was already expected to be out for the rest of this season, and Craig Mish of the Herald reported last week that surgery was a possibility. It’s the second shoulder subluxation of the season for Anderson, who also missed two and a half months earlier in the year with a similar issue. Coupled with a brief IL stint for an oblique strain, those injuries limited Anderson to 264 plate appearances. The 28-year-old hit .249/.337/.378 with seven home runs in that time.

It was the least productive season of Anderson’s four-year big league career. He entered the year as a career .266/.349/.431 hitter. Along with his reliable defense at the hot corner, Anderson had been one of the Marlins’ more consistent performers. While his walk and strikeout rates weren’t meaningfully changed this year, his power production and batted ball metrics took a step back — perhaps in part due to his ongoing shoulder issues.

Anderson will be eligible for arbitration a second time this offseason. He agreed to a $3.8MM salary last winter and is slated to go through the process twice more before reaching free agency after the 2023 season. The Marlins and Anderson had discussed potential extension terms in the past, but new general manager Kim Ng said last winter that she preferred to evaluate Anderson’s 2021 season before reengaging in talks. With Anderson coming off a campaign diminished by injury, it seems the front office will continue to proceed year-by-year through the arbitration process for the time being.

The Marlins have placed third baseman Brian Anderson on the 10-day injured list with a left shoulder subluxation, the team announced. They reinstated infielder Isan Diaz from the 10-day IL in a corresponding move.

This is the second IL placement of the year for Anderson, who went on the shelf on April 21 with a left oblique strain. Anderson missed about two weeks then, but this appears to be a much more significant injury. General manager Kim Ng told Craig Mish of SportsGrid and other reporters that Anderson will sit out several weeks this time.

A key member of the Marlins since he debuted in 2017, the 28-year-old Anderson had an unproductive April this season but bounced back this month before returning to the IL. Overall, Anderson has batted .250/.316/.371 with three home runs and a trio of stolen bases in 136 plate appearances, and he has been an asset at the hot corner with two Defensive Runs Saved and a 1.9 Ultimate Zone Rating.

Winners of three in a row, the Marlins sit 23-24 and just a game back in the wide-open National League East. They’ll now have to go for the foreseeable future without Anderson, which will leave third to Diaz and Jon Berti, Ng said (via Mish). The position’s uncharted territory for Diaz, who has never played there in the majors. Additionally, he and Berti have gotten off to poor starts at the plate this year.

The Marlins’ postseason berth and series victory over the Cubs surprised much of the baseball world, and as they take steps with the hopes of a return to October baseball, newly appointed general manager Kim Ng tells reporters in Miami that the bullpen is her team’s primary focus this winter (Twitter link via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald). While Ng acknowledged that she would “love” to add another bat to the mix, the ongoing lack of clarity with regard to a National League designated hitter in 2021 clouds such pursuits.

[Related: Miami Marlins Offseason Outlook]

Miami has already shuffled its relief mix early in the offseason, opting to decline closer Brandon Kintzler’s $4MM option in favor of a $250K buyout, non-tendering right-hander Ryne Stanek, and acquiring righty Adam Cimber in a trade with the Indians. Cimber joins right-hander Yimi Garcia and lefty Richard Bleier as part of the team’s late-inning mix, but the Fish are lacking experienced veterans and more proven young arms alike.

Under previous president of baseball operations Michael Hill, the Marlins had done well to wait out the relief market and bring in some affordable names on low-cost deals late in the offseason. Miami landed Sergio Romo on a one-year deal in 2019 and flipped him to the Twins in a deal that netted first base prospect Lewin Diaz, and this past winter’s signing of Kintzler paid dividends when the 36-year-old tallied a dozen saves with a 2.22 ERA (albeit with much less-convincing peripheral marks).

At this point, it’s not known whether the club will take a more aggressive approach to bullpen construction under Ng’s watch, although it would be understandable if the 2020 playoff bid prompted some increased urgency. At the moment, the Marlins have $33.15MM committed to five players: Starling Marte, Corey Dickerson, Miguel Rojas, Jesus Aguilar and Garrett Cooper. That figure could jump another $9MM or so base on still-pending arbitration cases for Garcia, Bleier, Cimber, Brian Anderson and Jorge Alfaro. Even an aggressive slate of projections would only put payroll in the $60MM range.

It’s a good winter to be in the market for bullpen help, as we’ve already seen several quality names have options for the 2021 season declined. Several more who had solid 2020 seasons — Archie Bradley, Matt Wisler, Ryan Tepera among them — were cut loose prior to yesterday’s non-tender deadline. Certainly, the trade market poses countless other options, and the Marlins have a quality farm system from which to deal if they choose to go that route.

Turning to some in-house business for the Marlins, it was notable — as pointed out by Sportsgrid’s Craig Mish — to hear Ng indicate that her preference is to see third baseman Brian Anderson play for a year before engaging in long-term contract negotiations. The 27-year-old has been Miami’s best and most consistent player for several seasons, hitting at a combined .266/.350/.436 clip with 42 home runs, 74 doubles and six triples across his past three seasons (1419 plate appearances). Anderson has proven himself capable of playing quality defense at both third base and in right field.

Mish reported back in July that the two sides had been discussing a five-year deal in the range of $30MM guaranteed, but those talks took place prior to the league’s shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For the time being, at least, it doesn’t appear as though they’ll resume this winter. That doesn’t rule out an eventual long-term deal for Anderson, however, as the Marlins still control him through the 2023 season.