Winter Meetings reset: Catching up on what the Marlins have done so far this offseason

[Ely Sussman]

Not quite as splashy as committing three-quarters of a billion dollars to a single player, Miami has been focusing on "things you don't see."

When the Miami Marlins left the field in Toronto on the afternoon of September 29, they were one of the hottest teams in baseball, riding a four-game winning streak. Let's say that after you turned off the postgame coverage, you ceased following the Fish until this very moment. Here is what you missed...

 

Coaching staff turnover

On the evening of the 29th, Skip Schumaker and the Marlins officially parted ways. He has landed with the Texas Rangers as a senior advisor. A candidate to fill his shoes, Luis Urueta ultimately followed Schumaker to Arlington where he'll serve as Bruce Bochy's bench coach. Other members of the 2024 Miami coaching staff who have joined different MLB clubs include Jon Jay (St. Louis Cardinals) and Wellington Cepeda (Arizona Diamondbacks).

The process to find Schumaker's replacement took an awkward twist when perceived frontrunner Craig Albernaz decided to forgo managerial opportunities to stay with the Cleveland Guardians for another season. The Marlins pivoted to Los Angeles Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough and announced his hiring on November 11.

As of this writing, McCullough's coaching staff is approximately half-full. He'll be surrounded by bench coach Carson Vitale, hitting coach Pedro Guerrero, pitching coach Daniel Moskos, field coordinator Aaron Leanhardt and pitching strategist Brandon Mann (the lone uniformed holdover from the Schumaker era).

 

Baseball operations realignment

Peter Bendix continues to create positions that did not previously exist in the Marlins front office. Joe Migliaccio, Bill Hezel and Maxx Garrett are Miami's new directors of hitting, pitching and catching, respectively. Garrett was already with the organization last season, while the other two are newcomers.

There has also been a baseball solutions group established under the baseball ops umbrella. It's being led by Ryan Plunkett.

 

Player movement

For a meager 0.2% of the Juan Soto contract, the Marlins filled out their 2024 international signing class by inking Cuban INF Luis Manuel León for $1.5 million.

León might be a half-decade away from MLB readiness, but we should see some combination of OF Heriberto Hernández, RHP Robinson Pina, LHP John Rooney and UTIL Ronny Simon in Miami next season. Each of them have received minor league deals with invitations to spring training after spending some/all of the 2024 campaign at the Triple-A level.

Prospects 1B Deyvison De Los Santos, INF Jared Serna and LHP Dax Fulton have been selected to the 40-man roster in advance of Wednesday's Rule 5 draft. RHP Luarbert Arias, who was due to become a minor league free agent, was selected as well. The Marlins also tendered contracts to all of their arbitration-eligible players.

The following players are no longer with the organization after finishing the season finale on Miami's 40-man roster or major league injured list: Shaun Anderson, David Hensley, Anthony Maldonado, Darren McCaughan, John McMillon, Roddery Muñoz, Adam Oller, Michael Petersen and Sixto Sánchez.

The Marlins hold the No. 3 pick in the Rule 5, but their 40-man is currently full. Teams cannot participate in the draft's major league phase unless they have at least one open spot in advance.

 

Miscellaneous

• The Marlins and FanDuel Sports Network Florida have moved on from television play-by-play announcer Paul Severino whose contract had expired following the season. No word yet on the contenders to replace him.

 

• For the second consecutive year, Fish On First is providing in-person coverage of the Winter Meetings! Follow Alex Krutchik for updates from Dallas.

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[rurrusuno]

My predictions with Juan Soto were that he'd sign with the Mets for 15 years and $675 million, so I was only off on the money part. Although I wish the Marlins would spend money on bringing talent to Little Havana, I'm also not too keen on maxing out on one player either (although I'll give Shohei the exception). I didn't think his contract would be surpassed for a while, but it only took a year. It's like going all in on a specific stock, with a high risk/reward ratio. The Mets have a strong lineup, but still need to resign Pete Alonso, and they have questions marks at their rotation and bullpen. 

He's still in his prime and pretty much has played full seasons the last few years so it'll pay off the most these next few years. I'm sure Soto will be a "Marlin killer" when he plays us by driving in runs and contributing to key moments in the games. 

[rurrusuno]

My predictions with Juan Soto were that he'd sign with the Mets for 15 years and $675 million, so I was only off on the money part. Although I wish the Marlins would spend money on bringing talent to Little Havana, I'm also not too keen on maxing out on one player either (although I'll give Shohei the exception). I didn't think his contract would be surpassed for a while, but it only took a year. It's like going all in on a specific stock, with a high risk/reward ratio. The Mets have a strong lineup, but still need to resign Pete Alonso, and they have questions marks at their rotation and bullpen. 

He's still in his prime and pretty much has played full seasons the last few years so it'll pay off the most these next few years. I'm sure Soto will be a "Marlin killer" when he plays us by driving in runs and contributing to key moments in the games. 

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

Thanks for the updates and summary. Wondering if you saw David Samson's Soto take today? Perhaps I was not perceptive, but I thought he both acknowledged the gross systemic inequity in MLB while defending it as the preferred (pure capitalist) path. He does end with a statement that the low-revenue teams have the votes to effectuate change in the owners' position after the 2026 season as the CBA war starts. Frankly, there's no more time or reason to kick the can down the road. It's time for a reckoning with the runaway owners and the MLBPA. Are there any creative minds out there in both camps? Are the players going to be dominated by the top ten percent of big earners? The answers: are "no" and "yes," respectively. Accordingly, things appear quite bleak at this point. Although we shouldn't totally despair, it's ok for Marlins fans (and fans of the other low-revenue teams) to be deflated today.