Entering Winter Meetings, Marlins still have so much to do

A month removed from hiring Peter Bendix to lead their baseball operations department, the Miami Marlins delegation is arriving at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee for the annual MLB Winter Meetings. They aren't realistic suitors for the much-buzzed-about Shohei Ohtani or Juan Soto, but it could still be a busy week for a club that would be unfit for postseason contention if the 2024 campaign began today.

As a refresher, here's how the Marlins roster has changed during the 2023-24 offseason (you can get up to speed about off-the-field moves with this tracker).

• Offseason additions: UTIL Vidal Bruján, RHP Calvin Faucher, RHP Ryan Jensen, RHP Kaleb Ort

• Offseason subtractions: RHP Matt Barnes*, RHP Johnny Cueto*, OF Jonathan Davis*, 1B Yuli Gurriel*, UTIL Garrett Hampson, RHP Tommy Nance*, RHP David Robertson*, DH/OF Jorge Soler*, C Jacob Stallings*, IF Joey Wendle

*Still available in free agency

Nearly half of these 40-man players have less than a full year of MLB service. The Marlins lost an All-Star to free agency and have a second one, Sandy Alcantara, who'll be stuck on the injured list throughout next season while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.

Let's get more specific about what areas must be addressed.

Catcher

Last season showed that it's possible to be competitive even with poor catcher production. However, it's not possible to pull that off with one catcher on your team.

After non-tendering Stallings, Nick Fortes is Miami's only viable option behind the plate. Will Banfield is the organization's top catching prospect, but that isn't saying much—the Marlins didn't regard him highly enough to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. Banfield (assuming he makes it through the Rule 5) and Paul McIntosh should be getting spring training invites. Somebody needs to be ahead of them on the depth chart, though.

The Marlins have checked in on longtime Houston Astro and current free agent Martín Maldonado, according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Maldonado can be had on a cheap, one-year deal. The best free agents available at the position are Mitch Garver and Gary Sánchez, both of whom provide enticing offensive upside, but come with concerns regarding their durability and consistency, respectively.

My preference would be trading for a veteran like Elias Díaz (Colorado Rockies) or Kyle Higashioka (New York Yankees).

Shortstop

The Marlins' outlook at shortstop is only marginally better than catcher. Wendle and Hampson combined to start two-thirds of their games at SS in 2023 and have already found new homes. That leaves Jon Berti as the default starter with the recently acquired Bruján spelling him against some right-handed pitchers and Jacob Amaya waiting in the wings.

There have been some Marlins fans clamoring for reigning International League batting champ Xavier Edwards to be rewarded with an expanded role. Although Edwards' pitch recognition and speed give him a solid offensive floor, much of that value would be negated by his sloppy shortstop defense. Unless he shows up to camp with revamped throwing mechanics, he cannot be trusted there.

Amed Rosario is an intriguing bounce-back candidate (2.7 fWAR/4.2 bWAR in 2022, but 0.2 fWAR/0.4 bWAR in 2023). Would he be willing to sign a one-year, $10M-ish deal with a 2025 club option? Outside of him, the free agent shortstop crop is shallower than the old Clevelander pool. The Marlins' next pivot would have to be the trade market, where they'd likely be expected to part with valuable starting rotation depth in order to get a controllable SS solution.

Innings Eater

Whether it's for a catcher, shortstop or an impact bat further down the defensive spectrum, I'm expecting the Marlins to be forced to sacrifice young arms via trade. They got burned by Cueto in 2023, but it's important to learn from that miscalculation and roll the dice on another veteran stopgap of his ilk who's capable of lengthy starts.

My Marlins offseason blueprint identified Jack Flaherty as an ideal pick-up, but early indications are that there's a strong enough starting pitching demand for relatively young guys like him to fetch multi-year guarantees. Maybe Martín Pérez instead?

The Marlins farm system is depleted. Whatever new ideas that Bendix and Gabe Kapler bring to player development, they can only do so much without talent. The silver lining of potentially struggling at the major league level in 2024 would be reloading the system by selling vets at the trade deadline. Can't sell vets unless you have some in the first place!

Extensions

I won't spend much time on contract extensions here because those are generally sorted out toward the end of the offseason. I'll just reiterate how useful it has been for teams like the Rays to buy additional years of club control over core players while it's still efficient enough to do so.

Luis Arraez is the Marlins' most obvious extension candidate, followed by Jesús Luzardo. It would be worthwhile to at least broach the subject with Eury Pérez, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and several others.

Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports