Offishial News: Remembering Jeff Torborg

[Ely Sussman]

Today's news roundup also includes a huge payday for a former Marlins player.

Jeff Torborg died on Sunday at the age of 83. Torborg played parts of 10 seasons in Major League Baseball as a catcher and managed five different MLB teams across parts of 11 seasons, including the Marlins. Jeffrey Loria brought him over from the Expos organization after taking ownership of the Fish in 2002. Torborg's club went 79-83 that season. They were on a similar trajectory in 2003, but then had a frustrating stretch in early May of losing seven out of eight games with all of those defeats coming by slim margins. The Marlins fired Torborg to end the final managerial stint of his career. They famously replaced him with Jack McKeon, who despite inheriting a 16-22 record, led them to a World Series title.

Following his passing, numerous people who crossed paths with Torborg during his baseball life reflected on how kindly he treated others. He is the first former Marlins manager to die. Fish On First sends our condolences to Torborg's family and loved ones.

Marlins Opening Day is 66 days away.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 Kyle Sielaff is making the transition this season from Marlins radio play-by-play to television. Some examples of his calls have been embedded below. In my eyes and those of 65.6% of the FOF Twitter audience, the Marlins got it right, while 26.2% would have liked to keep Paul Severino and 8.2% expressed a preference for somebody else. How do you feel about it? Cast your vote in this poll. No word yet on who will fill Sielaff's old role.

🔷 Following last week's signing day, I published a guide to the Marlins' history of international free agent deals, documenting close to 400 individual signings with as many specific bonus amounts as I could verify. Sources tell FOF that another notable signing could be announced as soon as today. The guide will be updated accordingly.

🔷 Tigres del Licey clinched a berth in the Dominican Winter League's championship series, in large part thanks to Troy Johnston. In 14 postseason games, Johnston slashed .294/.345/.471 with two home runs.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Dodgers, who were rumored to be the favorites to sign Japanese RHP Roki Sasaki throughout his posting process, reached a deal on Friday, as announced by Sasaki himself. He is reportedly receiving a $6.5 million bonus. On paper, their starting rotation looks like baseball's best. The L.A. bullpen is in great shape too following the addition of old friend Tanner Scott on a four-year, $72 million deal. Like many prominent multi-year Dodgers contracts, this one includes some deferred money ($21M). What a dramatic turnaround for Scott who was a low-leverage guy for the Marlins entering the 2023 season and is now (deservedly) one of the best-compensated relievers ever.

 

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[rurrusuno]

RIP Jeff Torborg

The Dodgers sure do have the money to sign players. Their roster was already loaded with talent and now it's stacked even more. It wouldn't be a surprise if they run it back again and reach the World Series.

[Ely Sussman]

I should've also noted in here that yesterday was the first anniversary of re-launching this website in partnership with DiamondCentric!

So grateful for the tech support and many new bells and whistles we have. The site was a hot mess when I tried handling all of that stuff myself in 2023 😅

[rurrusuno]

1 hour ago, Ely Sussman said:

I should've also noted in here that yesterday was the first anniversary of re-launching this website in partnership with DiamondCentric!

So grateful for the tech support and many new bells and whistles we have. The site was a hot mess when I tried handling all of that stuff myself in 2023 😅

Happy anniversary! The site is great, and everyone does a fantastic job running it.