Ely Sussman

It's a vicious cycle—the Miami Marlins put a mediocre product on the field, fans don't attend the games, ownership spends minimally on the roster due to low gate revenue, and with the exception of occasional lucky breaks, the product continues to be mediocre. As encouraging as the 2025 season was in certain aspects, the Marlins once again sold a lower percentage of their ballpark's seats than any other MLB franchise. That will in all likelihood dissuade ownership from setting payroll high enough to pursue true needle-moving free agents this offseason. As deflating as that is, at least the Marlins are trying something with their latest job posting. They're now accepting applications for a new director of fan experience position. The job's responsibilities include "identifying creative, data-driven improvements" for loanDepot park visitors and ensuring "product offerings enhance gameday and reflect fan culture" with the objective of "driving deeper engagement, loyalty, and return rates." To make my stance on this clear, the Marlins don't need your donations. Like any for-profit business, they should have to earn money by satisfying their customers. Independent of wins and losses, they seem to recognize that more can be done to make game attendance a better proposition for fans. I'm eager to see what the new executive comes up with. On Thursday in fall/winter ball, Starlyn Caba went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run, PJ Morlando went 1-for-3 with a walk and Fenwick Trimble went 1-for-4. Karson Milbrandt pitched well in relief (2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 59 pitches/33 strikes) and leads the entire Arizona Fall League with 18 strikeouts. The Mesa Solar Sox lost, 7-5. Jared Serna (Mexico) again started in center field—something he had never done professionally prior to this week. Only 153 days away from Marlins Opening Day. 🔷 Following a scouting trip to the AFL, Keith Law of The Athletic described Caba as the "best defensive shortstop prospect I’ve seen since Jose Iglesias in 2009-10. Caba makes every play look routine, with plus range in both directions and outstanding instincts. He barely has to hit to be a big leaguer…but that’s still a question." 🔷 Kyle Stowers is hoping to become the first Marlins outfielder since 2017 to win a Silver Slugger Award. No other Marlins are Silver Slugger finalists this year. The award winners will be announced on November 6. 🔷 Locked On Marlins interviewed Marlins minor league pitching strategist Mitchell McIntyre. "The outs definitely matter and we certainly care about performance, but at the lower levels, we're straight up trying to maximize guys' stuff," McIntyre explained. "Our slogan is very clear about what we want to do, and for us, it's simply 'throw nasty strikes.'" 🔷 Miguel Beltre, who's a member of the Marlins' international scouting department, will work for Team Dominican Republic during the upcoming World Baseball Classic as part of their advance scouting staff. 🔷 There is a Bullpen Mafia meet-up at The Tank Brewing Co. tonight. Marlins broadcaster Kelly Saco is one of the special guests. You can RSVP here. 🔷 Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium gave us a glimpse of their ongoing renovations via TikTok (I have muted the Sabrina Carpenter song that was originally included with this video because it was giving me a headache). ckh3gz_1.mp4 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the San Francisco Giants hired Tony Vitello and the Los Angeles Angels hired Kurt Suzuki to be their new managers. That still leaves the Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals with managerial vacancies. The Milwaukee Brewers promoted Matt Arnold to president of baseball operations. On the eve of the World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced that Alex Vesia is away from the team due to a personal family matter. Fish On First sends positive thoughts to the former Marlins reliever. View full article

Miami Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers is one of the finalists to win a 2025 Silver Slugger Award, as announced on Wednesday. In 117 games, Stowers slashed .288/.368/.544 with 25 home runs, five stolen bases and a 149 wRC+. That slugging percentage led all National League outfielders who had at least 450 plate appearances. It's a far cry meaning from the year before when he was significantly below replacement level and homered only twice following a midseason trade to Miami. Stowers, 27, was the Marlins' lone All-Star representative this season and continued mashing after that to earn July NL Player of the Month honors. His performances on either side of the break—July 13 vs. Orioles and July 18 vs. Royals—combined to form arguably the best two-game span by a hitter in Marlins history (8-10, 5 HR and 11 RBI). b080c8ba-4b563cb0-ce88063d-csvm-diamondgcp-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 Stowers' campaign was cut short by oblique issues. He suffered a left oblique strain on August 15. He began a minor league rehab assignment on September 5, but then experienced discomfort on his right side. He has fully recovered since then, so his readiness for 2026 won't be impacted. The NL's other outfield finalists are Corbin Carroll (Arizona Diamondbacks), Pete Crow-Armstrong (Chicago Cubs), Juan Soto (New York Mets), Kyle Tucker (Chicago Cubs) and James Wood (Washington Nationals). I fully expect Carroll and Soto to be awarded, but the third spot is wide open. NL winners will be announced on November 6. View full rumor

Attempting to defend their World Series title, the Los Angeles Dodgers will oppose a Toronto Blue Jays team that has far less Fall Classic experience. In his seventh MLB season, face of the franchise and ALCS MVP Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has reached this point for the first time, while the Blue Jays fanbase waited 32 long years to get back. It has been an especially arduous journey here for Don Mattingly. More than 43 years after making his major league debut as a player, Toronto's bench coach will make his World Series debut on Friday. Mattingly has been tantalizingly close on numerous occasions. When he got called up by the perennially competitive New York Yankees in 1982, they were the reigning American League pennant winners. However, his playing career coincided with an uncharacteristic fallow period. Despite establishing himself as the AL's best first baseman, Mattingly wouldn't even get to appear in the postseason until 1995, his final season. Immediately after that, in 1996, the Yankees snapped their 18-year title drought and won it all. Mattingly officially retired in 1997 and was loosely connected to the Yankees organization during their ensuing dynasty as a special instructor. On the heels of yet another pennant in 2003, he was hired as their major league hitting coach. In his first year on the job, the Yankees took a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead over the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS, only to notoriously choke it away. He remained on their coaching staff through 2007—consistently qualifying for October, but never getting over the hump. As manager of the Dodgers, Mattingly's club was eliminated by the eventual NL pennant winners in both 2013 (St. Louis Cardinals) and 2015 (New York Mets). He stepped down from the position after five seasons. His successor, Dave Roberts, has led the Dodgers to five WS appearances since then. Next, Mattingly became the winningest skipper in Miami Marlins history, though that's not saying much. The Fish only finished above .500 once during his tenure (2020) and got swept out of the NLDS. Now in his third year coaching with the Blue Jays, Mattingly is closer to a championship than he's ever been before. As fate would have it, one of the few Jays players with World Series pedigree, George Springer, blasted the go-ahead home run in Monday's pennant-clinching victory over the Seattle Mariners. The Dodgers are favored to go back-to-back, though a superior regular season record earned Toronto home-field advantage. Rogers Centre hosts Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night. View full article

In preparation for the 2025-26 offseason, DiamondCentric has created sortable lists containing all pending free agent hitters and pitchers. The lists also include a search function for narrowing your focus to individual players or teams that the FAs previously played for (searching "MIA" on the pitcher list will bring up Cal Quantrill, for example). Bookmark and enjoy! On Sunday in fall ball, Starlyn Caba went 2-for-6 and committed an error, Fenwick Trimble went 0-for-4 with a walk, PJ Morlando went 2-for-5 with 3 RBI—matching his professional career-high for a single game—and Darwin Rodríguez pitched two innings of hitless relief. The Mesa Solar Sox won, 12-6. On Sunday in winter ball, Jared Serna (Mexico) went 3-for-4, finishing a home run shy of the cycle. Through four games with Charros de Jalisco, he has posted an otherworldly 1.896 OPS while playing different defensive positions each night, most recently shortstop. Serna's 2025 minor league season was very disappointing, so this is a refreshing reset. Maximo Acosta (Venezuela) went 2-for-5 with a stolen base. Only 157 days away from Miami Marlins Opening Day. 🔷 The Marlins re-signed left-handed reliever Justin King to a new minor league deal, as first reported by USA Today's Bob Nightengale. King will be a non-roster invitee at big league spring training for the second straight year. In 33 innings pitched this season (31 G/0 GS), the 27-year-old posted a 3.55 ERA and .236 BAA, but also walked 19.0% of the batters he faced, which is horrible. Most of that workload came with Double-A Pensacola. 🔷 After managing DSL Miami to a successful 2025 season, Gianni Bloom is the new manager of Dominican Academy development. "Our mission is to develop players as completely as possible—as athletes, leaders, and teammates," Bloom wrote in an Instagram post, "and truly I believe this holistic approach is the best path to lasting success on the field. 🔷 While acknowledging that he made significant mechanical adjustments, Kyle Stowers attributes his 2025 breakout season mostly to the mental side of the game, as detailed by David Laurila of FanGraphs. "The swing has always been good enough to compete at this level," Stowers said. "I just didn’t allow myself to believe that, because when you’re in the big leagues and struggling, you feel like you have to be someone different." 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners to force a winner-take-all Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. Catcher Martín Maldonado has retired after 15 MLB seasons. He is best known for his days with the Houston Astros, with whom he won a World Series title in 2022. Although highly valued for his defense and intangibles, Maldonado was a poor hitter, even by catcher standards. His 69 wRC+ from 2011-2025 ranked last among major leaguers who had at least 4,000 plate appearances during that span. Jesús Montero, a New York Yankees top prospect who spent most of his MLB career with the Seattle Mariners, tragically died at age 35 due to injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident. View full article

On Thursday in fall/winter ball, Karson Milbrandt made his first start (second overall appearance) in the AFL. His final line: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K (60 pitches/38 strikes). Fenwick Trimble went 1-for-4 with 1 RBI. PJ Morlando went 0-for-4. Morlando is now 1-for-15 overall in the AFL with strikeouts in 43.8% of his plate appearances. Darwin Rodríguez retired the side in order in the ninth inning. The Mesa Solar Sox lost, 6-2. This tracker will be updated frequently with news and highlights pertaining to Miami Marlins players. Only 160 days away from Marlins Opening Day. 🔷 Xavier Edwards (second base), Kyle Stowers (left field) and Javier Sanoja (utility) are all National League Gold Glove finalists. No Marlin has won a Gold Glove since Marcell Ozuna in 2017, unless you're counting 2021 Adam Duvall, who played the majority of that season in Miami before being traded to the Atlanta Braves. 🔷 Louis Addeo-Weiss is pessimistic about Josh Simpson's chances of rebounding from a brutal rookie year. 🔷 Alex Carver wrote about each of our 2025 FOF Award winners, with featured comments from SuperSubs. 🔷 Ian Cundall of Baseball America explained why the Marlins have a "difficult decision" to make regarding whether or not to protect Andrew Pintar from the Rule 5 draft. Pintar was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2024 A.J. Puk trade. I was conflicted as well earlier in the year, but the encouraging performances by a handful of other outfielders at both the Triple-A and MLB levels should make it an easy call to leave Pintar off the 40-man. If he gets selected, they have the depth to withstand it. 🔷 Happy 22nd birthday to Marlins top draft pick Aiva Arquette. Selected with the seventh overall pick, the right-handed-hitting shortstop received a franchise-record $7.15 million signing bonus and began his professional career with High-A Beloit. 🔷 As the weather cools down in most parts of the country, a reminder that HOMAGE still sells this sexy teal Marlins Starter jacket (sizes XS through XL are currently in stock). Fish On First earns a commission on products purchased through that link. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers are win one away from clinching the National League Championship Series. Tyler Glasnow was the latest starting pitcher of theirs to contain the Milwaukee Brewers offense. Dodgers pitchers collectively have a 2.60 ERA during this postseason. The ALCS is tied 2-2, with road teams winning each game of the series thus far. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered again. No exaggeration, he is putting together one of the best deep postseason runs by an individual hitter in MLB history (.455/.500/.970, 5 HR and 290 wRC+ in eight games). The New York Yankees are expecting to begin the 2026 season without Carlos Rodón and Anthony Volpe as they rehab from elbow and shoulder surgeries, respectively. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Serna crossed my mind. I was a big believer in him and this season was brutal. That being said, I'm pretty confident the Marlins will want to re-evaluate him in spring training before making that decision. He'll definitely be under pressure to perform in early 2026 to keep his spot.

Let me begin by clarifying that Xavier Edwards (second base), Kyle Stowers (left field) and Javier Sanoja (utility) are not really "finalists" for National League Gold Glove Awards. Using the term implies that the competition is still ongoing, when in fact all of the award winners have already been determined—Major League Baseball just wants to keep it under wraps for a few more weeks and build suspense in the meantime. More accurately, Rawlings teased on Wednesday that Edwards, Stowers and Sanoja finished top three in the selection process at their respective positions. Quoting directly from MLB.com: "To determine the winners at the nine standard positions, the 30 MLB managers and up to six coaches from each team vote from a pool of players in their league, excluding players from their own team. These votes comprise 75% of the selection total, with the SABR Defensive Index counting for the other 25%. For the utility position, Rawlings collaborated with SABR to create a specialized defensive formula separate from the traditional selection process." Edwards made the switch to second base on May 31. In 96 games there (814 ⅓ innings), he had plus-12 defensive runs saved and plus-seven fielding run value. Stowers got reps at all three outfield spots, spending 541 ⅔ of his 857 total defensive innings in left, where he had 2 DRS and 1 FRV. Sanoja was the quintessential utility player, contributing at every position with the exceptions of catcher and right field. Overall, he had 7 DRS and 2 FRV in 785 innings. Edwards, Stowers and Sanoja each had MLB experience prior to 2025, but this is the first time that they have accrued enough playing time to qualify for Gold Glove consideration. With coaches having such a big say, a player's reputation inevitably influences the process—veterans have the upper hand. It's a testament to the true ability of these Miami Marlins youngsters that they garnered so much support despite their brief career track records. The other NL second base finalists are Nico Hoerner (Chicago Cubs) and Brice Turang (Milwaukee Brewers), the other NL left field finalists are Ian Happ (Cubs) and Tommy Pham (Pittsburgh Pirates), and the other NL utility finalists are Miguel Rojas (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Jared Triolo (Pirates). The irony is, Otto Lopez was the Marlins' most important defensive player this season, yet he is not a finalist. Lopez stabilized the club's shortstop position for the first time since 2022 and ranked above average there by every publicly available metric. His prowess on the left side of the infield directly made Edwards' job easier on the right side. Nick Allen (Atlanta Braves), Mookie Betts (Dodgers) and Masyn Winn (St. Louis Cardinals) are the NL SS finalists instead. The Gold Glove Award winners will be announced on November 2. View full article

When it comes to roster construction, if you give the Miami Marlins a mile, they will take 5,279 feet. Within five days after the World Series ends, all MLB teams must make roster moves to accommodate players who finished the season on their 60-day injured list. For teams that missed the playoffs, there is ample time to do this early! You have the entire month of October to decide. In all likelihood, the Marlins have already made their decisions internally, but being consistent with how the front office has operated since Peter Bendix's arrival, do not expect any announcements until we're on the doorstep of that deadline. A year ago, the Marlins were carrying a lot of dead weight. Their 40-man roster casualties entering the 2024-25 offseason were Shaun Anderson, David Hensley, Anthony Maldonado, Darren McCaughan, John McMillon, Roddery Muñoz, Adam Oller, Michael Petersen, Sixto Sánchez and Josh Simpson. None of them substantially boosted their stock during the subsequent season. Getting the marginal moves right was crucial to the Marlins' 17-win improvement in 2025. Those decisions will be tougher this time around because not as many of their players are clearly expendable. As of Wednesday morning, Miami's roster is full, six players are waiting to be activated from the 60-day IL, and top catching prospect Joe Mack needs protection from the upcoming Rule 5 draft. It's 47 guys for 40 spots (without even diving into several other Rule 5 eligibles who merit strong consideration for their own roster spots). Most likely to be cut Jack Winkler: The Marlins used Winkler as a benchwarmer—he totaled only 16 plate appearances during his 55 days on the active roster. In the middle of the season, they designated him for assignment, making it crystal clear that they don't believe he is 40-man roster material. Tyler Zuber: Lifetime 6.26 ERA and 6.50 xERA in 66 appearances and he's out of minor league options. George Soriano: Lifetime 5.95 ERA and 5.87 xERA in 72 appearances and he's out of minor league options. Jesús Tinoco: Tinoco is expected to miss the entire 2026 season while rehabbing from right elbow surgery. He showed intriguing upside with his performance in August/September 2024, but his overall career track record has been too inconsistent to justify a spot on the 40-man right now. Fringy but complementary pieces Joey Wiemer: The Marlins project to use an all-left-handed starting outfield on most days. Righty Heriberto Hernández will help balance things out. That still likely leaves room for an additional righty with center field ability. Dane Myers is a superior candidate than Wiemer for that role. The midsummer waiver claim is prone to expanding the strike zone (35.9 chase%) and whiffing on hittable pitches as well (75.9 zone contact%). Andrew Nardi and Josh Simpson: The Marlins will keep at least one of these bullpen lefties given the dearth of internal alternatives. The decision hinges on Nardi's health outlook. If there is conviction internally that the 27-year-old has resolved his nagging back injury, they'll part with Simpson, who was outrighted to the minors last November after going unclaimed. But as of Tuesday, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that it is "uncertain" whether Nardi will be tendered a contract. Brian Navarreto: Squeezing Navarreto off of the roster would be a no-brainer if the Marlins genuinely believed that Agustín Ramírez could become a viable defensive catcher. Despite a lukewarm vote of confidence from Peter Bendix, it's painfully clear that Ramírez's future will be at a less strenuous position. Navarreto had an impressive defensive campaign in 2025, though only 36 innings of that came in the majors. He turns 31 in December. Others on the hot seat Christian Roa and Freddy Tarnok: These right-handers posted very solid and comparable numbers for Triple-A Jacksonville, but only combined for 10 ⅓ MLB innings. The Marlins also burned Tarnok's final option year. With rumors swirling that they may actually spend money on an experienced, high-leverage reliever in free agency, retaining both Roa and Tarnok may be redundant. Valente Bellozo: Bellozo limped to the finish line, allowing eight earned runs on six homers in 2 ⅔ innings pitched after experiencing right triceps tightness. That put a major dent in his otherwise-decent season stat line. Already working against Bellozo, Marlins pitching development covets velocity and swing-and-miss, particularly out of the 'pen. Eric Wagaman: If the Marlins were patient enough to give Wagaman 514 plate appearances in 2025, it would be surprising to see him dumped so early in the offseason. On the other hand, he was arguably the worst qualified first baseman in the league. View full article

Only 164 days away from Miami Marlins Opening Day. 🔷 Here's what new Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker had to say about his Marlins tenure during his introductory press conference on Friday: "The last thing that I ever wanted to be was 'one foot in, one foot out' of anything, even though I had an idea of where that was gonna end up. But I got to learn how different front offices think—how they acquire players, how they try to get players better, learning how different minor league systems are run. I was very grateful for the first regime in Miami and the second regime in Miami because they were both different in how they thought. I'm very grateful. Even though it didn't end like we wanted it to end the second year, they treated me really well and my family well. I can take some of those experiences hopefully and try to make this place as good as it could be." 🔷 Fresh off his second season coaching in the Marlins organization, Royce Carlton has been promoted to minor league pitching coordinator. Carlton spent most of 2025 working with pitchers at the Dominican Academy. Outside of his Marlins duties, he also coaches at PitchWerx, a player development facility in Indiana. 🔷 Tigres del Licey officially announced the signing of Griffin Conine to a 2025-26 winter ball contract. Licey's season opener is on Wednesday. I wrote about the surprising statistical similarities between Conine and his father through their first 54 career games with the Marlins. 🔷 Marlins assistant pitching coach Alon Leichman will serve as Team Israel's pitching coach for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Israel begins the tournament in Pool D, which is being hosted at loanDepot park. Even if they improbably advance beyond pool play, Leichman won't have to leave South Florida. 🔷 Inclement weather wiped out this weekend's Arizona Fall League action, so we're still dealing with microscopic sample sizes. All eight Marlins prospects participating have taken the field at least once. Starlyn Caba has a 1.000 OPS through seven plate appearances. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Seattle Mariners pitchers Bryce Miller, Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz combined for a two-hitter to take Game 1 of the ALCS from the Toronto Blue Jays. Cal Raleigh homered, his 62nd of the year if you combine the regular season and postseason. Power-hitting corner infielder Munetaka Murakami will be posted by his Japanese team this offseason. Early reporting links Murakami to many of the highest spenders in MLB, so the likelihood of the Marlins getting him are extremely low. Would be an ideal fit for their roster, though. The 25-year-old has a lifetime .951 OPS in Nippon Professional Baseball, including a 1.043 OPS in 56 games this season. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

On Tuesday in the Arizona Fall League, five Miami Marlins prospects made their Mesa Solar Sox debuts. Playing shortstop, Starlyn Caba went 2-for-3 with a stolen base. Unfortunately, Caba exited the game mid-plate appearance after fouling a ball off his right foot. Left fielder PJ Morlando went 0-for-4 and center fielder Fenwick Trimble went 1-for-4 with 2 RBI. Holt Jones (2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) and Jack Sellinger (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K) both pitched in relief. The Solar Sox lost, 9-6. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 Marlins Jeopardy is returning on Thursday! As always, I want to fill a category with your audience questions, ranging in difficulty from easy to borderline impossible. Please make these questions related only to the 2025 Marlins season. If interested, submit your ideas here. 🔷 Isaac Azout attempted a Marlins Opening Day roster projection, which includes Paul Goldschmidt as a hypothetical free agent signing. 🔷 Unsurprisingly, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald hears that the Marlins "prefer" to add a first baseman from outside the organization. "If they cannot find a first baseman, the bat added could be a third baseman or corner outfielder. But ideally, they would like to sign a proven first baseman, a source said." 🔷 Christina De Nicola's five questions for the Marlins offseason involve Sandy Alcantara, Agustín Ramírez, the first base position, potential contract extensions and the front office's general offseason approach. 🔷 According to Baseball America's Geoff Pontes, Marlins prospects Jake Faherty, Kifraidy Encarnación, Thomas White, Yohanfer Santana, Josh Ekness and Colby Martin each topped 100 mph in official minor league games this season. On a related note, all of them struggled with control problems to various degrees. 🔷 Happy 21st birthday to Marlins infielder Abrahan Ramírez and happy 26th birthday to Marlins right-hander Jesse Bergin. Ramírez was the youngest member of the prospect package that Miami received in the Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade. He spent all of 2025 with Low-A Jupiter. Bergin, who was drafted by the Fish back in 2021, is coming off his first fully healthy professional season (2.42 ERA in 52.0 IP). 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the New York Yankees rallied against the Toronto Blue Jays after trailing by as many as five runs, thanks to Aaron Judge's game-tying three-run homer and Chisholm's go-ahead solo shot. The Blue Jays still lead the ALDS, 2-1. The Seattle Mariners homered thrice in their road win over the Detroit Tigers to take a 2-1 series lead. For the final time during this MLB postseason, there will be a quadruple-header today, with the Yankees, Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs each needing victories to stay alive. View full article

Over the course of the 2025-26 offseason, 22 players from the Miami Marlins organization traveled the world and continued to get game reps, furthering their development and/or compensating for time they missed over the summer. In addition to the Arizona Fall League, they found work in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Australia. This page includes any Marlins offseason acquisitions who were fall/winter ball participants. Likewise, players who departed the organization in recent months via free agency, trade or waivers were removed. Player names are linked to their Baseball-Reference pages. Hitters are listed at the positions they played in fall/winter ball, even if they've been used differently by the Marlins organization. Click to see their full fall/winter ball history. Final hitter stats (regular season and postseason combined) Final pitcher stats (regular season and postseason combined) INF Maximo Acosta (Venezuelan Winter League, Tiburones de La Guaira) Finished 2025 minor league season at Triple-A Played in LVBP from October 16 to November 16 Reached base safely in 23 of 26 games Split defensive reps between second base, third base and shortstop OF/1B Chris Arroyo (Puerto Rican Winter League, Leones de Ponce) Finished 2025 minor league season at Low-A Played in LBPRC from November 7 to January 4 3B/SS Jesús Bastidas (Venezuelan Winter League, Cardenales de Lara) Finished 2025 minor league season at Triple-A Played in LVBP from November 27 to January 25 OF Jacob Berry (Puerto Rican Winter League, Leones de Ponce) Finished 2025 minor league season at Triple-A Played in LBPRC from November 29 to December 23 Reached base safely in 19 of 20 games started INF Starlyn Caba (Arizona Fall League, Mesa Solar Sox) Finished 2025 minor league season at Low-A Played in AFL from October 7 to November 10 Reached base safely in all 18 games played Fall Stars Game selection OF Griffin Conine (Dominican Winter League, Tigres del Licey) Played in LIDOM from October 15 to November 13 1B Deyvison De Los Santos (Dominican Winter League, Gigantes del Cibao) Finished 2025 minor league season at Triple-A Played in LIDOM from October 31 to January 17 Ranked third in the league in slugging percentage (.475) and RBI (28) INF Cristian Hernández (Dominican Winter League, Tigres del Licey) Finished 2025 minor league season at High-A Played in LIDOM from October 15-18 OF Daniel Johnson (Mexican Winter League, Naranjeros de Hermosillo) Finished 2025 minor league season at Triple-A Played in LMP from December 26 to January 8 RHP Holt Jones (Arizona Fall League, Mesa Solar Sox) Finished 2025 minor league season at High-A Played in AFL from October 7 to November 13 Pitched exclusively in relief akeadp_1.mp4 RHP Aiden May (Arizona Fall League, Mesa Solar Sox) Finished 2025 minor league season at High-A Played in AFL from October 10 to November 10 n1wk1j_1.mp4 RHP Karson Milbrandt (Arizona Fall League, Mesa Solar Sox) Finished 2025 minor league season at Double-A Played in AFL from October 8 to November 9 Ranked second among all AFL pitchers with 23 strikeouts Fall Stars Game selection OF PJ Morlando (Arizona Fall League, Mesa Solar Sox) Finished 2025 minor league season at Low-A Played in AFL from October 7 to November 11 C Brian Navarreto (Puerto Rican Winter League, Cangrejeros de Santurce) Played in LBPRC from November 7 to December 11 RHP Orlando Ortiz-Mayr (Puerto Rican Winter League, Leones de Ponce) Finished 2025 minor league season at Double-A Played in LBPRC from November 11 to January 13 1B Eric Rataczak (Australian Baseball League, Sydney Blue Sox) Finished 2025 minor league season at Double-A Played in ABL from November 13 to January 25 Tied for league lead with 19 extra-base hits during regular season; ranked third in OPS (.982) and hits (47) Used exclusively at first base after only being used at corner outfield spots during minor league season RHP Darwin Rodríguez (Arizona Fall League, Mesa Solar Sox) Finished 2025 minor league season at Low-A Played in AFL from October 9 to November 11 Pitched exclusively in relief OF Esteury Ruiz (Dominican Winter League, Tigres del Licey) Played in LIDOM from November 18 to December 22 Used exclusively in center field LHP Jack Sellinger (Arizona Fall League, Mesa Solar Sox) Finished 2025 minor league season at Double-A Played in Arizona Fall League from October 7 to November 13 Pitched exclusively in relief UTIL Jared Serna (Mexican Pacific Winter League, Charros de Jalisco) Finished 2025 minor league season at Triple-A Played in LMP from October 16 to December 7 Started games at five different positions (2B, SS, LF, CF and RF) Led all winter league players in extra-base hits prior to ending season Charros went on to win league championship RHP Riskiel Tineo (Venezuelan Winter League, Caribes de Anzoátegui) Finished 2025 minor league season at Triple-A Played in LVBP from October 25 to December 29 Pitched exclusively in relief OF Fenwick Trimble (Arizona Fall League, Mesa Solar Sox) Finished 2025 minor league season at Double-A Played in AFL from October 7 to November 13 View full article

The Miami Marlins can essentially "run it back" with the same cast of characters next season, if they choose to. Their roster consists of no pending free agents. Every player actually has multiple years of club control remaining. That being said, a handful of Marlins are going to receive slight pay raises in 2026 via the arbitration process. For as long as I've been covering Major League Baseball, MLB Trade Rumors has published annual estimates of the salaries that arb-eligible players will get during the upcoming season if their teams tender them contracts. From most expensive to least expensive projection, MLBTR shared the following figures for Marlins players on Monday: $3.7 million for Edward Cabrera (second arbitration year) $2.3 million for Anthony Bender (third year) $1.9 million for Calvin Faucher (first year) $1.53 million for Braxton Garrett (second year) $1.5 million for Ryan Weathers (first year) $1.3 million for Max Meyer (first year) $800,000 for Andrew Nardi (first year) It is a small class relative to the rest of the league—only four other MLB teams would be spending less than the Marlins' $13.03M total projection if they tendered all of their arb-eligible guys. Jesús Sánchez ($6.5M) and Nick Fortes ($2.4M) would've been in this class as well, but they were traded in July to the Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays, respectively. Everybody listed with the exception of Faucher missed significant chunks of the 2025 season due to injury. Those absences hurt the team's chances to contend, but also limited each player's earning power moving forward. Miami doesn't have obvious non-tender candidates this year. If any of these pitchers get let go, it's because the front office believes their current injury is career-threatening. The deadline to decide whether or not to tender contracts is 8 p.m. ET on November 21. View full rumor