Offishial news, 10/5/23: Drowned in sea of red, Fish enter offseason

[Ely Sussman]

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[Guest Kommenter]

I predict Kim Ng will not renew her contract. It was a bit of an insult for Bruce to say he would not renew her mid-season. Now she has become a mini celebrity with numerous media outlets profiling her during the post season. Other teams, like the Red Sox, will surely approach her. She is now the strongest candidate out there. And the Red Sox can pay her several times what the Marlins can.

For Kim, who is now 54, she needs to consider what she wants to accomplish in her career. The Red Sox offer an unlimited budget and a strong fan base, things the Marlins lack. In the words of the Red Sox CEO: "If you want to run a baseball organization, this is where you want to be. You want to be in Boston. Why? Because it matters here more than anywhere else."

Perhaps Kim has developed some affinity for Miami, but she has no prior ties. The Fish depleted their farm system, overspent Sherman's payroll budget by $20 million and blew out the arm of their ace, just to get to get embarrassed in the Wild Card series. So 2024 is looking bleak with Sandy out for TJ, payroll down, multiple holes in the roster, and a bare farm system cupboard. Perhaps she wants to finish what she started and will accept less money to do so. But she was mistreated under Jeter and Denbo for two years and insulted not being offered a contract extension during the season, so she is probably gone.

[Guest Leo Armbrister]

Made some very good points. I hope your prediction that Sandy will need TJ surgery is wrong but the Sherman snub of Ng was a mistake. If my memory serves me right Skip was only given a two year contract when he was hired so next year is his final year under contract unless he signs an extension. That may be why he didn't relocate his family. I hope we can sign him to an extension. Having said that it was nice to have some success this year. I hope we can build on that success next year.

[Guest Kommenter]

Schumaker’s contract runs through the 2024 season, and the Marlins hold a club option on his services for 2025, according to MLB Rumors.

[Ely Sussman]

Impossible to say what extension negotiations between her and Sherman may have been like during the season. They did a good job keeping those conversations quiet, but I would be shocked if they didn't take place at all. Presumably, she has been paid less than the average GM during this period. It could be simple haggling over the price rather than her being a serious threat to leave.

[Guest OneRegend]

I had my doubts about Kim Ng before this season. As a whole, she did nothing (both literally and figuratively) to deserve being the GM. The first two offseasons were nothingburgers (though you could blame Jeter on the first offseason), and she had opportunities to sell pieces like Garrett Cooper and Pablo Lopez for greater packages than they would have gotten at the time during the 95+ loss seasons, instead of doing absolutely nothing at the deadline. I emphasize the words "at the time", because we ended up getting Luis Arraez from Pablo Lopez after all. It's hard to beat getting a batting champion. But more on that trade, in a bit.

 

Kim Ng had a better offseason this year. Sure, Jean Segura melted when he arrived here, but at the time, it was a decent signing. Nobody could have expected him to fall off a cliff like he did. Not even the offseason pundits. And Luis Arraez needs no explanation. But what really made me warm up to Kim Ng was this year's trade deadline acquisitions. I was so close to calling for her to be fired when we arrived in the final hours of the trade deadline with only David Robertson as our lone acquisition. But then she swung and connected on two bats in the final hour, and was even able to drop an underwater contract (Segura) and an underachieving youngster who kept shooting himself in the foot repeatedly (Khalil Watson) in the process. We lost Jake Eder, which may hurt us in the near future (I'll explain why shortly), but at the time, these were significant moves. And it's safe to say, if we didn't get Josh Bell and Jake Burger, we would not be talking about the Marlins being postseason bound, PERIOD.

 

So, yeah, Kim Ng finally lived up to her role this year. But I have my questions surrounding the Marlins. It's regarding pitching depth. As you know, we lost Sandy Alcantara, our ace of the staff, who was pitching really well in the 2nd half before going down to a UCL injury. And though no one has been talking about it, he feels like a Tommy John candidate waiting to happen. UCL sprains usually lead to needing Tommy John surgery after all. There hasn't been a single word on Trevor Rogers, and I fear he may be going under the Tommy John knife too. Max Meyer is still recovering from Tommy John surgery too, and the Marlins taxed the crap out of Eury Perez's arm, causing him to be on the 15 Day IL and unavailable for the Marlins when they desperately needed him.

 

More than half of the Marlins rotation was 6 ft under by the time they reached the postseason, forcing them to start a pitcher that has a very well-documented history of choking in big games in Game 1, in Jesus Luzardo. His postseason starts with the A's are total chokejobs, and they're no different in a Marlins uniform. You've seen how he got cratered by the Phillies (He honestly should be fortunate he only gave up 3 runs), but leading up to that start he had must-win starts against 2 Brewers games and failed to deliver both starts. The fact that he was our "best" pitcher that was healthy was a damning testament to how awful our rotation depth is. We needed to rely on an 88 mph meatball dispenser (Braxton Garrett) to try and force a Game 3 against the Phillies. Shocking, I know, but that didn't work out either.

 

Remember when I mentioned Pablo Lopez earlier? I know we got Luis Arraez out of the deal, and our lineup would probably be worse without him, but as crazy as this may sound, we needed Pablo Lopez more than we needed Arraez. Alex Ligero, even though I've had my disagreements with him over the years, was right. Being without Pablo Lopez created a ripple effect that we never truly recovered from. If we still had a pitcher like Pablo Lopez, we're not starting washed up Johnny Cueto during meaningful games down the stretch, we're not forced to start a choke artist like Jesus Luzardo in Game 1, and our Wild Card games may have looked a bit different. And though Jake Eder certainly would not have been ready this year, he probably could have been a factor in 2024. And considering how many of our rotation pitchers are currently, or about to, go under the Tommy John knife, he certainly could be needed at some point in 2024.

 

So the question is, what could we do with our rotation next year? Half of our rotation will be down. Do we rush Patrick Monteverde to the bigs, even though he looked overmatched in AAA this year? Do we sign like 2 free agent starting pitchers, even though we will likely need a bat or two? (Catcher and 3rd Base looks like huge holes to fill.)

 

A lot of questions for Kim Ng, or whoever takes her role in 2024, to address.

[Ely Sussman]

I share your concerns about the rotation, but wanted to clarify that Rogers entered the offseason healthy. He suffered a biceps injury, followed by a lat injury in his non-throwing arm. He began a throwing progression several weeks ago. He's understandably a wild card moving forward given the long layoff and his mediocre performance dating back to late 2021, but still part of the 2024 equation.

[Guest Kommenter]

In Kim's defense, Derek Jeter did not resign until February 28, 2022. By that point, the off season trading and signing period was over, and Spring training was underway. Prior to that, Kim was treated like a glorified secretary and can't be blamed for trades, signings or the lack thereof. The Miami Herald had a good story on how Avi Garcia was signed which was representative of how Derek, Gary, Bruce and their secretary worked together. Jeter had breakfast with Garcia, without Kim or even telling her, then went to get the contract approved by Bruce Sherman. Kim found out about it after the fact. And Gary Denbo was reportedly an even bigger jackass. So I date Kim's start as GM really to the trade deadline trades in 2022 and this year's trades. On that basis, especially considering the lack of payroll money that caused Jeter to leave, I would say Kim has done an excellent job. Of course we would love to keep her, but logicially, I think she is Beantown bound.