Ely Sussman

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

The 2025 season was Jacob Berry's best since entering the pros. The former top draft pick slashed .261/.348/.394 with eight home runs and 27 stolen bases while leading Triple-A Jacksonville with 106 hits. View full video

🔷 Maximo Acosta has received permission from the Miami Marlins to play approximately 30 games for Venezuela's Tiburones de La Guaira during their upcoming season. It will be his first time participating in winter ball. 🔷 Thomas White (No. 18), Aiva Arquette (No. 38), Joe Mack (No. 39) and Robby Snelling (No. 50) are included on Eric Longenhagen's end-of-season Top 100 prospects list. The longtime FanGraphs evaluator wrote that Mack is "doing some absurd things throwing the baseball, stuff I’ve never seen before." After previously being skeptical of Snelling's upside, Longenhagen acknowledged the significance of the left-hander's 2025 velocity spike ("a nearly three-tick velocity spike across his entire repertoire") and pointed how an adjustment that's been made to his positioning on the pitcher's mound. 🔷 The latest prospect featured in my series of 2025 minor league highlights is Kemp Alderman. Next up will be Jacob Berry, followed by Joe Mack. 🔷 DYM published his ranking of the top 40 Marlins prospects, focusing specifically on those between the Low-A and Triple-A levels. 🔷 Tyler Boronski sat down with Clayton McCullough for an interview about the challenges he faced as a rookie manager, the areas he hopes to improve, how he interacts with the media and more. 🔷 All-MLB Team voting remains open until Friday at 12:00 p.m. ET. Kyle Stowers and Xavier Edwards are on the ballot. 🔷 Congratulations to Marlins assistant pitching coach Alon Leichman and Anais Cazorla on their engagement. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays have outscored the New York Yankees 23-8 through two American League Division Series games. Rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage set a Blue Jays postseason record for most strikeouts in a single game (11), and it's the most runs allowed by the Yankees during any two-game span in the franchise's postseason history. The Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers are tied at one win apiece. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers hold 1-0 leads over the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs in their respective NLDS matchups. View full article

With more teams than usual shaking up their coaching staffs this offseason, he better get a shot somewhere.

At this time two years ago, it was unclear whether Griffin Conine would ever play in the major leagues. While he had ascended to Triple-A, his first stint there—as a 26-year-old—had gone poorly. During the 2021-2023 seasons combined, Conine struck out more times than any other hitter in Minor League Baseball. He was not on the Miami Marlins' 40-man roster and had been repeatedly passed over by the rest of the MLB teams in the Rule 5 draft. There was immense pressure on Conine to make meaningful adjustments in 2024. He did, and it has changed his career trajectory. The left-handed-hitting outfielder reached the majors on August 26 of that year, cracked Miami's Opening Day roster in 2025 and is well-positioned to do so again next season. There are significant differences between Conine and his legendary father, Jeff Conine. Griffin has more raw power and arm strength than Jeff ever had, while the latter had the superior hit tool. Even if Griffin maximizes his potential as a player, the shape of his production won't resemble Niner's. That is why I wanted to show you this. It's still a small sample—equivalent to one-third of a full MLB season—but Griffin's offensive numbers across the board actually are very comparable to what Jeff did through the same number of games at the start of his Marlins tenure: Age is a massive variable when projecting a baseball player's future. Jeff was an outlier who celebrated his 27th birthday midway through his rookie season and still wound up compiling 22.1 fWAR. For context, there are zero active hitters whose careers meet those criteria—the closest comps would be Jeff McNeil and Mike Yastrzemski. Already 28 years old, Griffin is even more of a late-bloomer. To be fair, the COVID-related cancellation of the 2020 MiLB season deprived him of valuable reps, and he was sidelined for the vast majority of the 2025 season after dislocating his non-throwing shoulder on a slide, which is a rare (some would say "unlucky") injury in this sport. Even without considering genetics, there's reason to believe that he offers more upside than the typical 28-year-old with his résumé would. The younger Conine will not be following directly in his dad's footsteps. He'll swing-and-miss more frequently and receive less consistent playing time (the byproduct of living in this era where teams are obsessed with gaining the platoon advantage). If Conine can be for the Marlins what Brandon Moss was during the 2010s, that'd be a great outcome. Beginning next week, Conine will be playing for Tigres del Licey in the Dominican Winter League. Nearly half of the pitchers in the league have previous MLB experience, so it's the best environment for Conine to continue challenging himself heading into what will hopefully be his first complete MLB season in 2026. View full article

In the first fully healthy season of his professional career, outfielder Kemp Alderman won the Marlins Minor League Hitter of the Year award. Alderman slashed .285/.338/.482 with 22 home runs and 22 stolen bases. View full video

For the first time in Peter Bendix's two-plus years running the Miami Marlins front office, we have a credible report about the team negotiating a contract extension with a player. The negotiations did not go far, according to Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic, but earlier this offseason, the Marlins discussed a potential long-term deal with All-Star outfielder Kyle Stowers. Ghiroli describes the two sides as being "incredibly far apart." Stowers' camp was using Bryan Reynolds as a comp, who received an eight-year, $106.75 million extension from the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2023. The Boston Red Sox and Ceddanne Rafaela agreed to an eight-year, $50 million deal in 2024 shortly after Rafaela's debut, and that's reportedly what the Marlins are comfortable spending. Let's acknowledge right away that Stowers is a tricky player to appraise, even compared to other individuals with short MLB track records. That's because his track record has been particularly inconsistent: First 117 MLB games (2022-24): .208/.268/.332, 6 HR, 33.8 K% and -0.9 fWAR Last 117 MLB games (2025): .288/.368/.544, 25 HR, 27.4 K% and 4.0 fWAR Clearly, the Marlins believe that this past season is more indicative of who he will be moving forward, otherwise they wouldn't even be interested in a contract that may cover the rest of his career. When the Pirates extended Reynolds, he was the same age that Stowers is now. He had a similar blend of power and plate discipline and a similar defensive profile (solid left fielder who could fake it in center). However, his breakout year (2021) was bookended by other full seasons of great hitting (2019 and 2022). That established a much higher "floor" for himself than Stowers has been able to do. Also, Reynolds was a year closer to free agent eligibility. Stowers is under Miami's club control for four more seasons. Any deal he signs as a free agent would start at age 32, at which point he's likely to be past his prime. That's why players who are pre-arbitration eligible while in their late 20s rarely get extended, period. Whether it be Reynolds or Rafaela, we shouldn't be referencing guaranteed eight-year frameworks in regard to Stowers. He is immensely valuable to the Fish moving forward, but not that far into the future. If Stowers were to essentially replicate his 2025 production in 2026, that would dramatically boost his earning power. Even then, that'd be reflected more so in his average annual salary than the length of the contract. If Stowers and the Marlins return to the bargaining table this winter, I have landed on Matt Carpenter's initial extension with the St. Louis Cardinals as the most relevant starting point. Like Stowers, Carpenter was a pre-arb, left-handed hitter coming off an excellent age-27 season. The Cardinals locked him up for six years and $52 million, plus a seventh-year club option worth $18.5 million. MLB salaries have inflated in the 12 years since the Carpenter deal. On the other hand, Carpenter was a significantly safer investment because of his defensive versatility and contact skills. All factors considered, let's bump the Stowers guarantee up to $63 million and the club option value to $20 million: $3M in 2026 $8M in 2027 $12.5M in 2028 $12.5M in 2029 $12.5M in 2030 $12.5M in 2031 $20M club option in 2032 ($2M buyout) Who says no to that? View full article

On Friday night, the Texas Rangers announced Skip Schumaker as their next manager. Schumaker, who managed the Miami Marlins for two years (2023-24), has agreed to a four-year contract with the Rangers, replacing Bruce Bochy. Schumaker spent this past season as a senior advisor for the team. Sources tell Fish On First that Schumaker is expected to retain some members of Bochy's coaching staff who were already signed through 2026, including Luis "Pipe" Urueta. Urueta was Schumaker's bench coach in Miami and held the same position with the Rangers in 2025. The Marlins conducted a thorough managerial search following the 2022 season, and their decision-makers could not reach a consensus on which finalist to pick. Buoyed by the support of then-general manager Kim Ng, Schumaker got the job. A major league player from 2005-2015, Schumaker had never managed at the professional level before. He had served as bench coach of the St. Louis Cardinals in '22. In Schumaker's first year on the job, he became one of only four skippers in Marlins history to lead the team to a postseason berth (joining Jim Leyland, Jack McKeon and Don Mattingly) and one of only four to be voted National League Manager of the Year (joining McKeon, Mattingly and Joe Girardi). The 2023 Marlins went 84-78 despite a minus-57 run differential to earn the NL's second Wild Card spot. That team was fantastic in one-run games (33-14 record), which was influenced by some good luck, but Schumaker undoubtedly deserved credit for deftly utilizing his personnel in high-leverage situations. It was the first time since 2003 that the Marlins had reached the playoffs in a full-length season. Less than two weeks after the Marlins were swept in the NL Wild Card Series, Ng left. Schumaker and new president of baseball operations Peter Bendix were not as well-aligned on the franchise's future. The 2024 season began with a nine-game losing streak, and it was clear that a lack of starting pitching depth and plate discipline would hold the Fish back from being competitive. By that point, there were already rumors swirling about Schumaker's inevitable departure. Bendix traded away most of the veteran players he inherited and Miami finished at 62-100. Schumaker's father passed away during the final road trip of the season and he returned to California to console his family while the Marlins played out the string. “We have mutually agreed to part ways," Marlins chairman and principal owner Bruce Sherman announced immediately after the regular season ended. During the Skip era, the Marlins posted a 146-178 record overall (.451 W-L%). Clayton McCullough was hired as Schumaker's successor. Saddled with a very inexperienced roster and coaching staff, McCullough went 79-83 in 2025. Bendix has confirmed that he'll continue as manager in 2026. The Marlins and Rangers will meet at loanDepot park next season for a three-games series from June 22-24. View full article

There have been a few changes since the preliminary Mesa Solar Sox roster was announced last month. The Miami Marlins will actually send eight players to the desert instead of seven, with right-handed reliever Holt Jones and left-hander Jack Sellinger recently being added to the group. Another reliever, righty Xavier Meachem, will not participate as originally hoped after undergoing elbow surgery. Selected by the Marlins in the 14th round of the 2021 MLB Draft, Jones spent his entire age-26 season with High-A Beloit. He posted a 4.75 ERA and 26.3% strikeout rate in 47 ⅓ innings pitched (34 G/0 GS). Jones' lack of control continues to be a major concern—he walked 17.8% of opponents and also hit 10 batters while locating only 57% of his pitches for strikes. Sellinger was Jones' Sky Carp teammate for most of 2025 before earning a late-season promotion to Double-A Pensacola. The 25-year-old quietly had an excellent campaign out of the 'pen. The UNLV product finished with a 2.30 ERA and 32.0% strikeout rate in 66 ⅔ innings pitched (40 G/0 GS). He has a sinker/slider/sweeper/changeup pitch mix, with the slider being his best weapon. Whereas everybody else that the Marlins are sending to the AFL had an injury absence of some kind this season, Sellinger did not. Ij9VN52qGZUY3wgT.mp4 The rest of the originally announced Marlins delegation is still playing: Starlyn Caba (Fish On First's #9 prospect), PJ Morlando (FOF #16), Fenwick Trimble (FOF #20), Aiden May and Darwin Rodríguez. The Solar Sox's season opener is on Tuesday at Sloan Park (9:30 p.m ET first pitch). You can livestream it for free here. View full rumor