Marlins sign Cal Quantrill to major league deal

[Kevin Barral]

It took until the very end of the offseason, but Marlins have officially signed their first free agent to a major league deal.

JUPITER, FL—Starting rotation depth was a big question mark for the Miami Marlins entering 2025 spring training. Just as their first pitchers and catchers workout wrapped up on Wednesday, ESPN's Alden Gonzalez broke the news that they have signed veteran pitcher Cal Quantrill. SportsGrid's Craig Mish reports that it is a one-year deal worth $3.5 million and Quantrill will be reporting to Jupiter on Thursday. Incentives could boost the value to $4 million, according to FanSided's Robert Murray.

"We've had discussions with a lot of players over the entire winter," said Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. "We were able to make this come together now in a way that works for us and for Cal and we are very excited to add him to the team."

Quantrill, 30, was most recently with the Colorado Rockies where he posted a 4.98 ERA, 5.32 FIP, 6.7 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 through 148 ⅓ innings pitched. His best month came in May when he posted a 1.71 ERA through five starts, but Quantrill fell off after that. He also missed a few weeks due to right triceps inflammation.

The Marlins needed an innings-eater and they certainly got one. Quantrill has averaged 146 innings per season since 2021, including a career-high 186 ⅓ innings in 2022 with the Cleveland Guardians. "I think that he's demonstrated that he can do that," said Bendix. "That's a rare skill. It's hard to find, especially these days, and it's something that's gonna be really helpful for us."

The Rockies non-tendered Quantrill in November rather than pay him a projected $9 million in what would have been his final year of arbitration eligibility. The Marlins wind up getting the Canadian righty for a fraction of that amount, though he's still the second-highest paid pitcher on their roster behind only Sandy Alcantara. Quantrill is also second to Alcantara in terms of MLB service time (five years and 132 days).

"He brings a lot of just proven ability to go out there and pitch every fifth day and get good results," added Bendix. "He's been very successful in his career, and he's somebody that we think is going to really slide well into our rotation."

Even when Quantrill has been successful in the past, he has pitched to contact (career 17.5 K%). The Marlins will have to play solid defense to get the best out of him in 2025. He'll be looking to improve his sinker, which posted a minus-16 run value last season, per Baseball Savant.

 

Like Griffin Conine and Ryan Weathers, Quantrill is the son of a former Marlin. At the end of a 14-year MLB career, his dad, Paul Quantrill, pitched six games for the 2005 team. Conine and Weathers have adopted their dads' old numbers this season, but Cal will wear No. 40 (Paul wore No. 48).

Quantrill should be a lock for the Marlins season-opening rotation along with Alcantara, Weathers and Edward Cabrera. That leaves Max Meyer and Valente Bellozo as the primary candidates for the final spot with minor leaguers Adam Mazur and Robby Snelling also in the mix if injuries occur.

As the corresponding move to make Quantrill's signing official, the Marlins placed Braxton Garrett (left elbow UCL surgery) on the 60-day IL. Garrett is expected to miss the entire 2025 season.

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[rurrusuno]

Ditto to last year, when they signed Tim Anderson right as the offseason was coming to an end. 

Not the sexiest signing but it's a signing that I'll take. We definitely need an innings-eater than can give our bullpen some rest. 

At least the Marlins can now flex on the Cardinals and Brewers for having spent more money than they have. 

[Miami Italiano]

He's not allowed to pitch anything that is waist high.

[2qbn]

All things considered, and for what is expected of him, this is a good signing. At minimum hold the fort until Eury can pitch, though by that time I'm sure there will be other things that have happened to the starting unit. 

[Hans Herrera]

3 hours ago, 2qbn said:

All things considered, and for what is expected of him, this is a good signing. At minimum hold the fort until Eury can pitch, though by that time I'm sure there will be other things that have happened to the starting unit. 

And if he does decent enough by the All-Star game, he might be flipped to a contender for a prospect once Eury returns. 
Finally a signing that makes sense in several ways.

[One Regend]

If the infield defense improves (knock on wood), I could see Quantrill being a nice trade piece to get a prospect back in return. A nice buy-low guy for what's going to be a 105 loss season.

[Slacker Mills]

Quantril makes the Fish just a little worse than last year when the team ERA was 4.73 with a 1.38 WHIP. Quantril put up a 4.98 ERA and 1.57 WHIP for Colorado, which actually was better than his previous season in Cleveland.

[Ely Sussman]

7 hours ago, Slacker Mills said:

Quantril makes the Fish just a little worse than last year when the team ERA was 4.73 with a 1.38 WHIP. Quantril put up a 4.98 ERA and 1.57 WHIP for Colorado, which actually was better than his previous season in Cleveland.

The ERA for Marlins starters last season was 5.24 (compared to 4.15 for the 'pen).

It looked like Quantrill was on the way to a bounce-back year midway through last season. Didn't have a single "great" start from mid-June onward, unfortunately. Whatever went wrong for him impacted him on the road as well, so can't use Coors as an excuse.

Still a good value.

[One Regend]

8 hours ago, Slacker Mills said:

Quantril makes the Fish just a little worse than last year when the team ERA was 4.73 with a 1.38 WHIP. Quantril put up a 4.98 ERA and 1.57 WHIP for Colorado, which actually was better than his previous season in Cleveland.

Don't forget he was also pitching half his games in Coors Field. That ballpark has the tendency to deflate pitcher value in all of the wrong ways, even post-humidor. That can mess with a pitcher's head. It's why I don't view road splits from Colorado seasons as highly as some others do.

Either way, it's a tank season. You're still losing 105+ games even with a marquee pitcher. Might as well buy low on someone and, if it works out, you could get a piece of the future back at the trade deadline. I mean, what else can the Marlins do at this juncture?