Offishial News: Why the Marlins can't have their own 'practice squad'

Major League Baseball has stepped in to thwart the Miami Marlins' plans to assemble a Jupiter-based practice squad, according to The Athletic's Andy McCullough and Sam Blum. "MLB officials contacted the Marlins about the practice squad, which could have run afoul of baseball’s roster rules and labor practices, according to people briefed on the situation."

There's a limit to how many total players each MLB organization can have stateside at any particular time. The practice squad guys would have been contributing to player development efforts without being officially rostered by any minor league affiliate.

Even though the public job posting has been taken down, the brief questionnaire that candidates were asked to fill out is still available.

Marlins Opening Day is nine days away.

More Marlins news and content below:

🔷 Edward Cabrera (right middle finger blister) has resumed throwing. Part of his fingernail was removed to expedite the healing process. Good chance we see Cabrera make one more appearance this week before the Grapefruit League concludes, but I still anticipate a season-opening stint on the injured list to allow him to stretch out as a starter.

🔷 We put Kevin Barral in charge of Fish On First's final roster projection update. Changes from the previous iteration include squeezing Connor Gillispie into the starting rotation.

🔷 Son Los Marlins assesses the Marlins' bizarre payroll situation.

🔷 Congratulations to Zach Letson on joining the Marlins communications staff! Letson already knows the team intimately and appeared on several Fish On First LIVE streams last season.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, as I type this, the 2025 Major League Baseball season is underway! The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs are battling in the opening game of the Tokyo Series, fittingly with Japanese pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga on the mound. After 10 MLB seasons as an outfielder, Joey Gallo is attempting to convert to pitching.

🔷 Today's Grapefruit League game: it is the penultimate meeting between the Marlins (probable starter RHP Connor Gillispie) and St. Louis Cardinals (RHP Miles Mikolas). Gillispie has retired 23 of the 25 batters he's faced in the Grapefruit League. It'll be televised locally on FanDuel Sports Florida at 1:05 p.m.

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