Ely Sussman

Published on Wednesday following Peter Bendix's end-of-season press conference, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that the Miami Marlins will not be as complacent during the offseason as they were during Bendix's first two years on the job. "At the very least, Miami will try to add an established bat and bullpen help; they’re willing to make competitive offers for players they decide to target," according to Jackson. The only major league free agent deals that Bendix has done as Marlins president of baseball operations were one-year contracts for potential bounce-back candidates Tim Anderson ($5 million guaranteed) and Cal Quantrill ($3.5 million). He also picked up Eric Wagaman ($770k) on a split contract and Wagaman ended up sticking in the majors for the entire season. None of those acquisitions meaningfully made the team better. The Marlins bullpen had an effective 2025 season overall, ranking fifth in win probability added. However, that unit was only 24th in MLB in strikeout rate. Going after relievers with premium swing-and-miss stuff and a track record of effectiveness against left-handed batters would make a lot of sense. Wagaman's primary position, first base, is the most obvious spot for the Marlins to shop for offensive help, as Kevin Barral explained for Fish On First. Perhaps Agustín Ramírez eventually moves to that position, but Bendix insisted during the presser that Ramírez will continue to focus on improving behind the plate for the time being. The Marlins had MLB's lowest payroll in 2025. Only Sandy Alcantara ($17.3M) and former Fish Giancarlo Stanton ($10M) and Avisaíl García ($5M) are currently on their books for 2026. Arbitration-eligible players include Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett, Anthony Bender, Max Meyer, Ryan Weathers, Calvin Faucher and Andrew Nardi. Of that group, Cabrera is projected to receive the most substantial raise (salary in the $5M-6M range). View full rumor

It feels like the first base position is especially deep across MLB right now. I want to believe Lewin would get a cheap 1-year deal from somebody, but most teams like who they already have and teams like the Marlins have plenty of options to choose from in the regular free agent market.

Practically every high-quality major leaguer in Miami Marlins history eventually parted with the franchise, either via trade or free agency. Major league service time played a huge role in the timing of those transactions, and it will continue to impact decisions made by the Marlins front office moving forward. Players receive MLB service time for each day spent on the 26-man active roster or the major league injured list during the regular season. Accruing at least 172 days in a single season counts as a full year. As the years go by, players get more expensive. They become eligible for arbitration after three years—some qualify even earlier, as will be covered below—and eligible for free agency after six years. Sites like Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs show service time on their player pages, but those figures are only updated once a year in January. Fish On First has done the math manually so that Marlins fans don't need to wait that long. I will be keeping this page updated until 2026 Opening Day arrives, listing all players under contract with the Marlins organization who have at least one day of service time in their careers. All grown up Sandy Alcantara: 7.100 (seven years and 100 days) Alcantara's service time history is pretty straightforward. The Marlins called him up for good on September 1, 2018, and he's been a mainstay ever since. He was credited with full years of service annually from 2019 through 2025. Alcantara would have qualified for free agency last offseason had he not previously signed a contract extension with the Marlins. The extension guarantees him $17.3 million in 2026 and includes a $21 million club option ($2 million buyout) for 2027. Arbitration eligible Anthony Bender: 4.153 Braxton Garrett: 3.168 Edward Cabrera: 3.147 Ryan Weathers: 3.066 Andrew Nardi: 3.053 Max Meyer: 2.166 Tyler Zuber: 2.157 Calvin Faucher: 2.156 Contrary to what MLB Trade Rumors listed earlier this month, there are actually eight current Marlins players who qualify for arbitration entering 2026. Meyer and Faucher qualify as "Super Two" players—they rank in the top 22% of MLB players in terms of service time among those who have between two and three years. So does Zuber, who was overlooked by MLBTR. It's probably going to be a moot point because the combination of Zuber's struggles on the mound and his season-ending right lat strain make him the team's leading non-tender candidate. Pre-arb eligible (at least one year of service) Eury Pérez: 2.113 Jesús Tinoco: 2.112 Otto Lopez: 2.109 Dane Myers: 2.037 Xavier Edwards: 2.034 Kyle Stowers: 2.012 Ronny Henriquez: 1.115 George Soriano: 1.095 Freddy Tarnok: 1.094 Josh Simpson: 1.084 Valente Bellozo: 1.066 Connor Norby: 1.057 Tyler Phillips: 1.048 Janson Junk: 1.045 Griffin Conine: 1.035 Javier Sanoja: 1.023 Lake Bachar: 1.021 Eric Wagaman: 1.020 Graham Pauley: 1.003 Liam Hicks: 1.000 The overwhelming majority of the Marlins' production in 2025 came from players who earned league-minimum salaries (or close to it) and will continue to work for cheap next season. Needless to say, it's an advantageous place to be from a payroll perspective. Pre-arb eligible (less than one year of service) Ryan Gusto: 0.167 Agustín Ramírez: 0.161 Cade Gibson: 0.135 Heriberto Hernández: 0.122 Michael Petersen: 0.086 Troy Johnston: 0.062 Brian Navarreto: 0.061 Adam Mazur: 0.060 Jakob Marsee: 0.059 Lane Ramsey: 0.058 Jack Winkler: 0.054 Maximo Acosta: 0.021 Victor Mesa Jr.: 0.020 Christian Roa: 0.004 Patrick Monteverde: 0.001 As Fish On First covered at the time, Ramírez's debut was delayed just long enough to prevent him getting a full year of service as a rookie. Expect the Marlins to also follow that playbook with their next wave of highly regarded prospects, such as Joe Mack and Robby Snelling, regardless of how much they impress during spring training. View full article

My MLB postseason prediction that nobody asked for is that the Seattle Mariners will win the 2025 World Series, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers in six games. Miami Marlins news and content below: 🔷 This week, we will be recognizing outstanding performances from this past Marlins season with the FOF Awards, as voted on by FOF staffers and SuperSubs. Vote here between now and Friday night. The categories are Hitter of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Move of the Year, Game of the Year and Prospect of the Year. 🔷 Kyle Stowers and Xavier Edwards are nominees for the All-MLB Team. You can vote once per day leading up to the October 10 deadline. 🔷 Bob Nightengale reports that right-hander Declan Cronin underwent Tommy John surgery on Monday. A key piece of the 2024 Marlins bullpen, Cronin was slowed at the start of this season by a hip injury and the quality of his stuff never fully came back. He posted a 4.87 ERA and 22.2% strikeout rate in 20 ⅓ innings pitched with Triple-A Jacksonville (21 G/2 GS). The Marlins released him on September 6. 🔷 On the strength of 11 dominant starts, Robby Snelling earned International League All-Star honors. The 21-year-old lefty allowed only nine earned runs with the Jumbo Shrimp (1.27 ERA). 🔷 Following the end of the regular season, all of the Marlins players on the 10-day/15-day injured list were automatically activated and everybody who had been optioned to the minor leagues was recalled. The 40-man roster is unaffected by these transactions, but here's a look at it anyway. We are unlikely to see consequential moves until after the World Series when players on the 60-IL must be activated. 🔷 Graham Pauley discussed his strong finish to the 2025 campaign with Kevin Barral and the offensive adjustments he made along the way. 🔷 I looked for former Marlins on each of this year's postseason teams. 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the San Francisco Giants fired manager Bob Melvin, the Minnesota Twins fired Rocco Baldelli and the Texas Rangers mutually parted ways with Bruce Bochy. Per multiple reports, Skip Schumaker is a strong candidate to be Bochy's successor—Schumaker worked for the Rangers this year as a senior advisor. Former Marlins first baseman Lewin Díaz became the first player since 2015 to have a 50-homer season in the Korea Baseball Organization. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

For the past several years, I have been doing some version of this exercise identifying all of the former Fish who are participating in the MLB postseason. It feels like the Miami Marlins are less represented than usual in the 2025 field, with three of the qualifiers having no direct links to the franchise. The names below previously played major league games for the Marlins. I have excluded players who were traded away when they were still minor leaguers—Luis Castillo (now with the Seattle Mariners), Josh Naylor (Cleveland Guardians), etc.— as well as those currently assigned to MiLB affiliates such as Bryan De La Cruz (New York Yankees) and Bryan Hoeing (San Diego Padres). Boston Red Sox: none Chicago Cubs: Colin Rea and Craig Counsell (manager) Cincinnati Reds: none Cleveland Guardians: none Detroit Tigers: Sean Guenther (injured) Los Angeles Dodgers: Kiké Hernández, Miguel Rojas, Tanner Scott and Alex Vesia Milwaukee Brewers: Christian Yelich New York Yankees: Jazz Chisholm Jr., Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Boone (manager) Philadelphia Phillies: Jesús Luzardo, J.T. Realmuto and David Robertson San Diego Padres: Luis Arraez Seattle Mariners: Donovan Solano Toronto Blue Jays: Tyler Heineman and Yimi García (injured) View full rumor

Appreciate the kind words and support! And thanks for playing along all season.

The Miami Marlins took a seismic leap from 2024 to 2025, and it wasn't because they were particularly lucky. The injury bug caused havoc beginning in spring training and continuing through the final week of the season. The organization's depth was tested and held up surprisingly well. Five of the players who were present on the 26-man Marlins Opening Day roster remained active through Sunday's season finale. That understates their continuity a little bit—Sandy Alcantara and Tyler Phillips were both injury-free and only fell short of qualifying for this article due to three-day stints on the paternity list. Regardless, they were away from the team for a period of time, even if it was for the best possible reason. Ironically, three of the five full-season Marlins this year had less than a month of MLB experience prior to 2025. I included the number of minor league option years that each of the qualified players has remaining. It will be a factor into how the Marlins front office handles them in 2026 and beyond. Calvin Faucher Minor league options left: one The Marlins did not anoint a traditional closer at any point this season, but Calvin Faucher saved games most frequently for them. Faucher went through the entire 2024 season without allowing a home run. That awesome streak was snapped during his third outing of 2025. The right-hander's ability to induce whiffs also slipped from the previous year. Even so, his hold on an active roster spot always felt secure. Ronny Henriquez Minor league options left: zero Across all of Major League Baseball, these are the only pitchers listed at 5'10" and under who stuck on their team's active roster for the full 2025 season: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Sonny Gray, Yuki Matsui and Ronny Henriquez. The general belief that short pitchers are more susceptible to injuries makes it difficult for them to even make it to The Show, and it hindered the Minnesota Twins' efforts to get anything of value in return for Henriquez when they designated him for assignment before the start of spring training. The Marlins acquired him as a waiver claim. Henriquez wasn't put in the position to collect as many saves as Faucher, but he emerged as unquestionably Miami's most valuable reliever. Instead of wearing down as the season progressed, he only got better, yielding one earned run in August and September combined. Liam Hicks Minor league options left: three beginning in 2026 (couldn't be optioned in 2025) Why would the Marlins use a Rule 5 draft pick on Double-A catcher Liam Hicks when they already had a pair of standout catching prospects in the upper minors? Although extremely talented in the batter's box, Agustín Ramírez isn't much of a catcher as it turns out, and they were in no hurry to burn some of Joe Mack's MLB service time during what was ostensibly a rebuilding year. Hicks took full advantage of his placeholder role, putting together the best season by a Marlins Rule 5 rookie since Dan Uggla two decades ago. From the get-go, he showed remarkable discipline to lay off pitches outside the strike zone. When given something to hit, he consistently made contact at the right angles. That combination culminated in the team's third-highest on-base percentage, trailing only Jakob Marsee and Kyle Stowers. The Marlins began utilizing him at first base midway through the season to maximize his reps and he held up fine there defensively. Hicks' lack of strength allows baserunners to easily steal against him and limits his home run output. He is highly likely to open 2026 on Miami's 26-man roster, but he'll need to continue making elite swing decisions to stick around for another full season. Javier Sanoja Minor league options left: three Among these players who ultimately ran the full marathon, I was most surprised about Javier Sanoja's inclusion on the Opening Day roster. It's very unconventional to roster a 22-year-old unless there's an opportunity for them to start regularly. Such a player typically gets stationed at Triple-A until a clearly defined role opens up. Sanoja was put in a challenging situation and fully embraced it. He never had the comfort of starting more than seven games in a row, but he still made himself a major asset to the Fish with his ability to provide solid defense at practically every position. The low point came early—Sanoja reached base safely only twice in his first 14 plate appearances and had a three-strikeout game on April 2. But from then on, he posted the lowest K% on the entire team. Sanoja would truly be indispensable if he improved as a baserunner. He posted the worst stolen base success rate on the team in 2025 (min. five attempts). Eric Wagaman Minor league options left: three The Marlins boasted about Eric Wagaman's defensive versatility entering his first season with the organization, but he ultimately accrued more than 90% of his playing time at first base and designated hitter. It's unusual for a 1B/DH with offensive output significantly below the MLB average and no meaningful track record from previous seasons to get such a long leash. That made Wagaman an easy punching bag for frustrated fans throughout the first half of the season. To be fair, the alternatives on the Marlins 40-man roster were even less desirable. It quickly became apparent that Jonah Bride wouldn't be able to replicate his 2024 magic. Matt Mervis' occasional home runs weren't nearly enough to offset his constant strikeouts. Deyvison De Los Santos never produced a lengthy hot streak in Triple-A to demonstrate his major league readiness. Six-plus years into his Marlins organizational tenure, Troy Johnston finally received a call-up. Johnston and Wagaman were basically platoon partners for the last two months, and reducing Wagaman's role may have ironically saved his roster spot. From July 29 (Johnston's debut) through season's end, Wagaman's rate stats closely resembled what he did in the upper minors, elevating his production comfortably above replacement level during that span. He is useful against left-handers. I would not be utterly shocked if Wagaman was a wire-to-wire major league Marlin in 2026, but you can bet that his plate appearance total will go way down. View full article

Needless to say, there is a ton of Miami Marlins news and content on the heels of their 162nd and final game of the 2025 season: 🔷 My main focus entering Sunday was the health of Edward Cabrera, making his second start since being diagnosed with an elbow sprain. Though far from flawless, Cabrera threw up zeroes against a desperate New York Mets team (5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 7 K, 83 pitches/44 strikes). He used even fewer fastballs than usual, but his fastball velocity was actually higher than his season average. I was most encouraged by the consistency and shape of his breaking balls. I still vividly remember watching Sandy Alcantara attempt to pitch through an elbow sprain in 2023. During his lone minor league rehab start, his slider was breaking in an unfamiliar and ineffective way—that was a bright red flag. It was announced the following day that Alcantara was halting his rehab. He underwent Tommy John surgery two weeks later. In Cabrera's case, it's looking like he and the Marlins dodged a bullet. 🔷 The Marlins improved from a 62-100 record in 2024 to 79-83 in 2025, setting a franchise record for biggest year-to-year increase in wins (only accounting for full-length seasons). The final victory also clinched their first season series win over the Mets since 2017. 🔷 Total announced attendance for the Mets series was 104,465, exceeding the Aug. 1-3 New York Yankees series for largest single-series crowd in loanDepot park history. As usual, the Marlins still finished last in the National League with a full-season home attendance of 1,156,777 (average of 14,281 per game). That is down ever so slightly from 2023 (1,162,819 total/14,356 average). 🔷 The Mets and Marlins have the same number of postseason appearances (two) since the almighty Steve Cohen began his ownership tenure. That's wild to me. 🔷 The Marlins relayed all pitch calls from their coaches in the dugout during the final nine games of the season. The early returns were encouraging on the surface, though we will have more analysis on that shortly. 🔷 Here is the final postgame press conference of Clayton McCullough's rookie season. 🔷 Kevin Barral did quick hits on each of the Marlins minor league award winners, with insight from director of minor league operations Hector Crespo. 🔷 Alex Krutchik spoke with Liam Hicks and catching coach Joe Singley about the keys to Hicks' productive rookie season relative to the typical Rule 5 draft pick. 🔷 Hicks is one of only five Marlins who spent all 162 games on the club's active roster. 🔷 Happy 21st birthday to Thomas White. Fish on First's No. 1 prospect, White posted a 2.31 ERA and 38.6% strikeout rate this season while ascending from High-A to Triple-A. With some subtle mechanical adjustments and further refinement of his cutter, the southpaw can be a future ace. 🔷 The Marlins will be making a change to their Arizona Fall League plans prior to next week's AFL season opener. Fish On First has learned that right-hander Xavier Meachem underwent elbow surgery, so he'll be replaced on the Mesa Solar Sox roster. 🔷 Old friend Garrett Cooper announced his retirement. Cooper spent the vast majority of his MLB career with the Marlins, slashing .269/.338/.436 slash line with 52 home runs and a 110 wRC+ over parts of six seasons (2018-2023). He was a key cog in the 2020 club that snapped a 17-year postseason drought and he earned an NL All-Star selection in 2022. Injuries unfortunately played a big role in shaping Coop's career—he never received enough playing time during any individual season to qualify for the batting title. 🔷 The Prediction Time leaderboard has been finalized for the 2025 season. Congratulations to SuperSub Alec Chao on edging out FOF staffer Hector Rodriguez! Reigning Prediction Time champ Daniel Rodriguez finished in 10th place (and I finished in 11th). 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Cincinnati Reds clinched Major League Baseball's final postseason berth, joining the Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers. The Colorado Rockies finished with a minus-424 run differential, setting a new MLB record in that department (though they had two fewer losses than last season's Chicago White Sox). Outfielder Michael A. Taylor also announced his retirement, concluding a 12-year MLB career. Sunday's start was the end of the road for 18-year veteran Charlie Morton, and it may have been the end of Clayton Kershaw's remarkable run as well—the Dodgers have decided to navigate this week's best-of-three NL Wild Card Series without him on their roster. Marlins podcast episodes View full article

Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal readers. These notes apply to the third and final game of Miami's home series against the New York Mets. It's also the final game of the 2025 regular season! Starting Lineup 2B Xavier Edwards (S) DH Agustín Ramírez CF Jakob Marsee (L) SS Otto Lopez 3B Connor Norby 1B Eric Wagaman RF Heriberto Hernández C Brian Navarreto LF Javier Sanoja P Edward Cabrera Click HERE to download the full game notes (preview below)

From Jacksonville's manager:

This was unequivocally one of the best baseball games played in 2025. Marlins prospect Jacob Berry crushed a walk-off home run to cap off Triple-A Jacksonville's epic season. View full video

Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal readers. These notes apply to the second game of Miami's home series against the New York Mets. Starting Lineup 2B Xavier Edwards (S) CF Jakob Marsee (L) 3B Connor Norby C Liam Hicks (L) DH Troy Johnston (L) RF Griffin Conine (L) SS Otto Lopez 1B Graham Pauley (L) LF Heriberto Hernández P Eury Pérez Click HERE to download the full game notes (preview below)

Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal readers. These notes apply to the first game of Miami's home series against the New York Mets. Starting Lineup CF Jakob Marsee (L) C Agustín Ramírez 2B Xavier Edwards (S) DH Liam Hicks (L) SS Otto Lopez RF Griffin Conine (L) 1B Troy Johnston (L) LF Heriberto Hernández 3B Graham Pauley (L) P Sandy Alcantara Click HERE to download the full game notes (preview below)