Offishial news, 1/15/24: International signing period opens

Here's what you should know with 73 days to go until Marlins Opening Day...

• Follow Fish On First's coverage of 2024 international signing day here. I have gathered biographical information and video for many players who'll be officially joining the Marlins organization today. Assistant general manager Oz Ocampo is doing a media availability about the signings this afternoon.

• Congrats to @claudsluna, @DanielAlvarezEE, @LoudMiamiFan and @MiamiMarlins_UK on advancing to the Final Four of Marlins Twitter Madness. Making it to the Elite Eight was a personal best for me! Follow @marlinsminors to participate in all upcoming polls.

• Elsewhere around baseball, it was a very quiet weekend on the transactions front. Less than a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training and it's stunning how much talent is still available (via both free agency and plausible trades).

• A new FanPost by Sean Millerick calls out the Marlins for being the only MLB team that is still completely idle on the free agent front.

• With 158 BBWAA ballots entered into Ryan Thibodaux’s Hall of Fame tracker, former Marlin Gary Sheffield has received 74.7% of the vote (needs 75.0% for election). I’ll continue updating his status in Offishial News as more ballots come in.

• The Marlins confirmed that Peter Bendix and Skip Schumaker will take fan questions at FanFest during the "State of the Marlins" panel. Reminder that you can claim complimentary FanFest tickets here.

• Peter Flaherty of Baseball America highlights OF Andrés Valor, RHP Anthony Maldonado and OF Mark Coley as possible breakout prospects for the Marlins in 2024.

• Perhaps a combination of recency bias and fans' heightened expectations for Miami Dolphins, the vast majority of Twitter poll respondents felt that their postseason exit was "sadder" than the Marlins' NL Wild Card Series sweep..

Photo courtesy of @josemanuelcastr62/TikTok