Offishial News: Final thoughts on the 2025 Fish

My question is are they going to pry open the wallet and get a decent first basemen for next year. Naylor or the polar bear would be huge signings. Is it going to happen no and my guess is that they’ll be trading stowers, and alcantra for a bunch of single a prospects hitting 170 but with potential. 

If they can get an improved season from Agustin Ramirez and actually get him reps at 1B instead of stubbornly pidgeonholing him at Catcher, they might not even need a 1B free agent.

What they need is someone who can hold down the hot corner. Sorry, but Connor Norby isn't impressing me at 3B, and neither are the contemporaries there.

8 hours ago, Hans Herrera said:

5. Roster crunch: Say goodbye to Soriano, Winkler, Zuber, Arias, and Serna. The "maybes" are Myers, Bellozo, Simpson, DLS, Fulton, Mazur, Navarreto, and Johnston. Not sure about who must be protected under rule 5

I think, of that list, hopefuls may be:

-DLS is young enough to be given at least one more chance.
-Adam Mazur has had his share of decent moments at the MLB level, and he has nothing left to prove in AAA. Could be a solid 4th or 5th man in the rotation, or a swingman. I can see him having a Tom Koehler or a Ricky Nolasco type of career: Not a flashy name but may get the job done.
-Josh Simpson has amazing weapons, he just needs to put it together and show better control and consistency. Remember, like Josh Simpson, Andrew Nardi also took some massive lumps in his first season, and we've seen how capable he is as a reliever (143 SOs/107 IP, and a 3.48 FIP in the past 2 seasons), so the expectation is Josh Simpson develops from taking those lumps. I'm willing to hand-wave this year's performance because, more often than not, Clayton McCullough kept setting Simpson up to fail repeatedly.
-Tyler Zuber was incredible at getting batters to chase pitches out of the zone this past season. He also has okay velo. If he can patch up all the other warts, he could be useful out of the bullpen.

Unknowns are:
-Johnston did well here, but he doesn't have a place defensively on the team. The expectation is Gus is moving to 1B, and he's not gonna get reps in the overcrowded OF. He's not going to see time in CF, and Kyle Stowers is staying in RF. Heriberto has performed well enough to be given a look at LF. And the OF depth is pretty strong. Griffin Conine is a lefty with a strong bat. Victor Mesa Jr is a lefty with a strong glove (and is decent as a backup CF). Joey Wiemer is a decent righty bat, and Kemp Alderman may force Heriberto to DH if he performs well enough, I think Johnston performed well enough to be traded to a team that could use his services, instead of letting his talents go to waste by rotting on the bench.
-Bellozo is difficult to project. His stuff doesn't seem like it plays to this level, and while he did regress from last season, his results wasn't completely horrible. I really find it impossible what to expect from him, so it's 50/50 if he even makes it onto this roster.
-Dax Fulton is in a tough spot. I am willing to hand-wave his bad performance this year for having a year's worth of rust from having to undergo surgery, but 2026 will have to be the year where he will have to prove that he can be a valuable asset. I just don't know if the Marlins are willing to be patient enough to let him have that chance.
-Dane Myers is also tough to project. He regressed on all fronts in 2025. It's looking more and more likely that his hot start to 2024 and 2025 were flashes in the pan and he's not capable of maintaining those paces. Coupled with massive competition in the OF, he might be the odd man out. He does have 1 remaining option left, and there's a chance the Marlins might end up using that option if one or two of Conine, Mesa Jr, or Wiemer overperforms in Spring. Or if Alderman crushes the ball enough to give the Marlins no choice.

Easy cuts:
-To be honest, I don't know what y'all were expecting from Jared Serna. He's a 5'7 player who lucked into barrels the past couple of seasons. You should've known that his power numbers were going to be unsustainable from the start. Not every 5'7 player can be a Jose Altuve, because Jose Altuve is a unicorn himself, and he is likely Cooperstown-bound, so we shouldn't have unrealistic expectations like this.
-Luarbert Arias's stuff kinda underwhelms. Unless he takes a major step forward with movement on his pitches (or a higher velo bump), he likely won't see a future as a major leaguer with this team.
-Navarreto is a minor league journeyman. Moving on.
-Why are we still talking about George Soriano? He should've been released from the organization in July.

3 hours ago, Hans Herrera said:

As of today, there are 46 players in the 40-man roster, so 6 players will be out after the World Series. As you mention, there are 4 easy ones, but I think Winkler is pretty much gone as well; and there is a bunch of maybes. From those maybes, I’d cut Myers and Bellozo because Sanoja can play the OF and Mazur should take Bellozo’s spot if you have to pick one of them two. If you cut those 7, then your roster will have 39 players.

But in December, there is the Rule 5 draft and the Fish will protect Joe Mack and Josh White. Here is where things start getting interesting. Mack is a sure thing, and White was the most effective reliever in Jacksonville, so he will probably take either Simpson’s or Zuber’s place.

Borderline names are Martorella, Pintar, and Jacob Berry.

Martorella vs DLS? Pintar vs Johnston? Berry vs …????

To me, Johnston is a keeper. He started pretty bad but finished quite strong. I have more faith in him than… Norby. But that’s just me.

Yeah, with 46 players on the 40-man, it would make sense to do some process of elimination. I already outlined the four easy cuts.

...Well, five actually, because I forgot Jack Winkler existed, which should honestly tell you all you need to know about how much I value what he brings to the team.

And I'll go and eliminate Dane Myers too. He was the runner-up for being placed on the easy cut list, but I put him in unknowns because maybe the team might value his clubhouse presence or something. But yeah, it's been clear for years that he isn't going to have a breakout season.

You do make a good point on Bellozo and Mazur. They're both 4th/5th rotation men that can be a swingman, and it wouldn't make sense to have both on the roster. I value Mazur over Bellozo. At least his stuff can play at the major league level. Bellozo has been dancing through raindrops, and I'm surprised he hasn't imploded yet.

Johnston plays best when he's actually given reps, and my fear is, his talent is going to go to waste on the bench. He played well enough to maybe have built trade value. A rebuilding team like the Twins might give him the runway and opportunity, and Miami and Minnesota have been trade partners before.

Still, that would leave our prospective roster at 39. Between Zuber and Simpson, I value Simpson more. So cutting Zuber would bring the 40 man roster to 38. This allows the Marlins to retain both Joe Mack and Josh White.

I did take a look at the 3 borderline cases, and honestly, I'm okay with letting all 3 walk away. None of them have any otherworldly tools to justify taking up a 40 man slot.
-Martorella can sometimes hit home runs, but that's literally all he can do well.
-Andrew Pintar is light-hitting middle infielder #3052.
-Jacob Berry has had his best season since signing with us, and as a first baseman, if slugging underneath .400 is what qualifies as his "best" season, then there's no reason to continue talking about one of the worst draft busts in recent memory.

There's also the 60-day IL guys which is also its own can of worms. Not sure if you've already accounted for those, though.

(redacted)

On 10/1/2025 at 6:53 AM, Hans Herrera said:

Then, we agree on the 40-man roster after the Rule 5 deadline:

Starters: Sandy, Eddy, Weathers, Pérez, Junk, Garrett, Meyer, Mazur, Gusto, Fulton (10)
Relievers: Bachar, Bender, Faucher, Gibson, Henriquez, Nardi, Petersen, Phillips, Roa, Simpson, Tarnok, Tinoco, Zuber, Josh White (14)
Catchers: Gus (LOL), Hicks, and Mack (3)
Infielders: Acosta, DLS, X, Johnston, López, Norby, Pauley, Sanoja, Wags (9)
OFs: Conine, Hernández, Marsee, Mesa Jr., Stowers, and Wiemer (6)

That's 42 players, another two need to go. They for sure will try hard to strike a trade before the Rule 5 deadline, but IF they don't find anything they like, the two players out should be between Simpson, Zuber, Johnston, and Tinoco, since he will not pitch next year anyway.

Notes: Luarbert Arias is not in the 40-man roster (I didn't know either), and Pintar played exclusively the OF this season, mostly CF and RF. His numbers do not impress (.722 OPS). Also, Matt Pushard (RP - 3.61 ERA with 73 Ks in 49.1 inn) had a solid AAA season and is eligible for the Rule 5.

I do see Tinoco as an easy non-tender candidiate, as he'll miss 2026 entirely, and it's impossible to know what to expect from him coming off of surgery in 2027.

I also do not expect Wagaman to be on the roster for much longer. He did catch second wind when put in an actual platoon role late in the season, but platooning 1st base isn't exactly what I'd like to consider an ideal situation, as first base is a position where offensive production is supposed to be expected.

You did mention Matt Pushard having a solid season, and I will say 73 K/49.1 IP is a very promising split. He also had a good 2024 as well, so his 2025 doesn't seem like a fluke. That might be worthy of being protected. But then we start running into hard decisions. Do we value Freddy Tarnok? He did produce well in a small sample of 5 games, and he did similarly well in AAA. There's no denying he has explosive stuff, but it might be offset by his very high BB rate. Michael Petersen might also be considered too. In my opinion, protecting Pushard would have to come down to whether the team values Tarnok, or Petersen, or not. It's a tough call.

On 10/1/2025 at 5:53 AM, Hans Herrera said:

Then, we agree on the 40-man roster after the Rule 5 deadline:

Starters: Sandy, Eddy, Weathers, Pérez, Junk, Garrett, Meyer, Mazur, Gusto, Fulton (10)
Relievers: Bachar, Bender, Faucher, Gibson, Henriquez, Nardi, Petersen, Phillips, Roa, Simpson, Tarnok, Tinoco, Zuber, Josh White (14)
Catchers: Gus (LOL), Hicks, and Mack (3)
Infielders: Acosta, DLS, X, Johnston, López, Norby, Pauley, Sanoja, Wags (9)
OFs: Conine, Hernández, Marsee, Mesa Jr., Stowers, and Wiemer (6)

That's 42 players, another two need to go. They for sure will try hard to strike a trade before the Rule 5 deadline, but IF they don't find anything they like, the two players out should be between Simpson, Zuber, Johnston, and Tinoco, since he will not pitch next year anyway.

Notes: Luarbert Arias is not in the 40-man roster (I didn't know either), and Pintar played exclusively the OF this season, mostly CF and RF. His numbers do not impress (.722 OPS). Also, Matt Pushard (RP - 3.61 ERA with 73 Ks in 49.1 inn) had a solid AAA season and is eligible for the Rule 5.

SO Gus Polidor move from  2b two catcher     Mesa Jr., lol that don't give me a lot fate/