Peter Bendix insists Marlins will be 'very much involved' in free agency this offseason

[Ely Sussman]

Miami Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix spoke to MLB.com's Martin Gallegos during this week's just-completed GM Meetings in San Antonio, Texas. As relayed via Christina De Nicola's Marlins Beat newsletter, here is what Bendix said in regard to possible offseason player movement:

"We will be very much involved in the free-agent market. We will be very much involved in the trade market. There's a lot of different ways that we can make our club better.”

You will recall that last offseason—Bendix's first as Miami's POBO—he utterly failed to make the club better. With the Marlins coming off a 2023 postseason berth, his most accomplished acquisitions, shortstop Tim Anderson and catcher Christian Bethancourt, struggled so badly that both were released before the All-Star break. Anderson was the only member of the 2023-24 free agent class to receive a guaranteed major league deal from the Fish.

This time around, Bendix has more payroll flexibility with which to operate, but external expectations for the club are lower coming off a 62-100 campaign.

Fish On First has highlighted Harrison Bader, John Brebbia, Jakob Junis and Yoán Moncada as free agents who should be attainable on short-term, relatively cheap deals.

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[One Regend]

That's a lot of fancy words for "We're not getting anything but the cheapest reclamation projects on the market." To me, this is all just Lip Service. That is all I can say to describe what Peter Bendix just told us.

Peter Bendix. Please don't lie to your team's fans. We all know what you're really doing. Just gut the team, give the team no reinforcements, and get the painfully awful season done and overwith.

The team isn't going to be competitive in 2025, and it might not even be competitive in 2026. Be honest what your game plan is. It's not like this team was historically ever above fielding unwatchable products on the field. Just get it overwith quickly, and get it out of the system.

[rurrusuno]

Here we go again. Another offseason that will probably result in the Marlins being frugal and not doing much. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the winter meetings came and went with the Marlins not doing anything at all.

Our biggest needs would be finding a centerfielder as well as even a corner outfielder. Jesus Sanchez is the only lock to be an Opening Day starter at this point. We really need a power hitter at one of these positions to fill up the hole that has remained here since Jorge Soler left. 

Another area of need again would be a middle infielder. Xavier Edwards has clear potential with the bat and while on the basepaths. The concern with him is his defense. The Fish may try to move him over to second base which leads me to believe that they may look to pursue a shortstop again this season who has better fielding abilities.

Also, I think it would be beneficial for us to look to upgrade at the catcher position. I think we have to take a good look at Nick Fortes as a player at this point and notice that his batting line over the past 4 seasons just doesn't add up to what you'd want from a catcher. However, the market doesn't look good for this position so I see him as out starting catcher for the next year. 

[Hal Daniels]

I want to see Deyvison De los Santos get a shot at the first base job at spring training.

I think Agastin Ramirez and Joe Mack should get a chance at the catching and DH jobs. 

I'd rather see Max Acosta play second and Otto Lopez get the super utility gig.