Hans Herrera

Well, I don't know what Heriberto's OPS+ was this Spring Training, but I know he had the highest OPS this Spring Training among Marlin players with 15 or more ABs, while leading in HRs with 3. Again, I just don't get it.

As a fellow Colombian, I'd love to bring a paisano to the Marlins. @Ely Sussman would also have liked the move. Hitting Harold continued to rake during the WBC, and I'm sure he could have caught up with MLB pitching ... but that's wishful thinking with the current front office.

Obviously, we don't know all the details, but you only had to play him for a month or so until Stowers is back, and you don't even have to play him there every day, probably days when facing LHPs. How many of those do you have in a month? 10 games? It makes soooo little sense. If the concern is more about being a useful player as a whole, WTF. 116 OPS+ last year in half a season. Crushed it even more this Spring Training. You can use the same argument I described above and EITHER bury him in the bench or the minors, OR give the guy his shot. He has more than earned it.

I don't hate the move, I just kind of don't understand it. The OF, even with injuries piling up, is still crowded: Marsee, Conine, Caissie, Hernández, Sanoja, and now even Norby and Morel. Was this lineup still needing an OF? Wouldn't had been better to sign a 1B? Here is my reasoning: - Morel was not great at 1B during ST, and Conine didn't play a whole lot there to say something about it. - Wasn't enough with what Heriberto Hernández did last season at LF to give him an extended look there? Is Slater that much better than him? - Baseball savant: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/heriberto-hernandez-681715?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb versus https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/austin-slater-596103?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb give me Heri, please. - Clearly, Morel is not a 3B, but he's a whole lot less terrible at LF/RF. That means, more Morel to the corner OF, bring a 1B, so you don't have to improvise with defensive positions. Haven't we learnt anything from the X to SS experiment? - Alright, but there are not many available 1B in the market, are they? Wanna bet?: Wilmer Flores, Rowdy Tellez, Donovan Solano, Emmanuel Rivera (good at 3B as well), LaMonte Wade, Gio Urshela, or even the countless mentioned trade for Ryan Mountcastle with the O's... all extremely doable. Not even mentioning giving a shot to DLS, the simplest way to solve the problem, and only had to play about a month, while Stowers is back. My logic is that the Marlins could have patched the 1B glove problem for starting the season, but instead, they decided to continue the OF overflow while standing pat with the current problem. Am I missing something here?

I feel like Snelling will get the #5 spot in the rotation on OD. Sandy, Eury, Garrett, Paddack, and Snelling with Max going as the swing man. And there is nothing wrong with that. Another thing that is clear to me is that Pauley is winning the 3rd base job, and it's not even close. There is something Norby needs to fix, and a stint in AAA would only benefit him. Has anyone seen how it's been with Morel at 1B lately? I only saw the nice play in the first (or second) game, but nothing after that... Can anyone give an honest, impartial review?

Jeezy was traded to the Blue Jays a couple of days ago.

As I live in Norway, am I out-of-the-market or what’s the deal here?

My crystal ball says VMJ gets traded to the Guardians for cash considerations ($1)

Stowers no va pa ningún lado… a menos que… la temporada de los Marlins sea horrible y en junio hagan cambios. Financieramente, no hay prisa. Este año va a ganar el mínimo. Dependiendo de los resultados este 2026, su salario puede subir bastante, pero no tanto como para tener que deshacerse de él después de la temporada. Ely escribió un artículo diciendo que Los Marlins ya empezaron a prepararse para la vida después de Stowers. Claramente Caissie es el reemplazante natural, pero hay que esperar cómo le va esta primera temporada completa en las mayores. Amanecerá y veremos, dijo el ciego.

Then they will say: Just wait until the Giancarlo Stanton's money comes off the books... then they'll spend!!

So what's the point in prioritising the future if there will never be a competitive present? It just makes no sense!. Are they expecting a forever-pre-arbitration team to ever reach the playoffs? Isn't it cheap enough to pay the minimum salary to the entire lineup and more than half of your pitchers? Take next season. The only offensive player outside pre-arb is Christofer Morel, at the outrageous $2M the year. Everyone else is earning at or barely above the league minimum. No team is remotely close to that cost-benefit ratio. The pitching is not that far. Apart from Sandy and Fairbanks (combined account for almost half of the entire payroll next year), Garrett, Nardi, Meyer, and Faucher are all under $2M each, with Andrew and Max not even reachin' $1M. Bender is the highest arb at $2.8M, and he for sure is on his way out this summer. The level of cheapness is disgusting.

Say hi to a younger José Ureña!

I hate this, I do. But I also understand it, Caissie is too appealing to miss out. Either him or Conine will have to see time at 1B. In any case, that takes the Marlins’ chances to make the playoffs… at least with the current roster. There is still time to acquire a bullpen arm or two, and maybe a veteran starter. Goodbye, Eddy. Miami will miss you.

If the Marlins really want to contend over the next three years, Eddy has to stay. He's reaching his peak in that window, and the three-headed monster (Sandy-Eddy-Eury) is just scary. As Ely mentions, teams usually get more desperate in late July, so the return should be better than now. Besides, the Marlins have rotation depth, but you cannot say there is a lot of it. Some quick projections around the projected rotation: P10 (Best-case scenario): Sandy again in the conversation for the Cy Young award; Eddy, Eury, and Weathers throw at least 150 IP each of 3.50ish ball. Buyers at the deadline. Make it through the Wild Card Series and lose either in the NLDS or the NLCS. Good-case scenario: Sandy gets closer to his old self; Eddy and Eury keep improving, the back of the rotation holds its own, and the offence improves but stays close to average. Solid bullpen. The Marlins should be in the thick of the WC race most of the year. Chances to make the WCS are above 50%. P50 (status quo): One of them three underperforms, some injuries on the back side of the rotation, and sophomore regressions. The Marlins remain with an outside shot of making the playoffs (just like in 2025). Worst-case scenario (P90): Eddy gets hurt and misses the season, Sandy and Eury are a bit better than last season, but still far from their potential. Sandy, Fairbanks, and some other are traded in July. Back of the rotation so-so. Stowers regresses; Gus cannot take another step forward. 70 wins, max.

If the FO is not going to sign any free agents, at least they should try Gus Ramírez at 1B, where he played 20ish games last year. That move alone will improve the team in several front: better defense behind the plate, less workload for him, more fireworks for the corner infield. I don’t think they should improvise with Stowers at 1B.

It depends. To me, the best fit for a trade with Baltimore is Coby Mayo. There is no clear path for him next year unless Westburg gets injured, which happens often. Both Mayo and Basallo have nothing left to prove in AAA, hence, the Orioles have somehow an urgency to move one of the FOUR (!) 1Bmen currently on their roster. They would love to squeeze something out of Mountcastle’s current trade value, but no team is interested in paying him $7.5M for subpar production. With all that said, the Fish can work out a trade to get Mounty without having to sacrifice much prospect capital, if any. To put it simply, if the O’s are shopping him and comes cheap, why not? Say, if the Orioles eat $5M of the salary AND/OR is packaged with a lefty reliever in exchange for international bonus pool money or a PTBNL, I’m bringing him in. Maybe a change of scenery is exactly what he needs.

I'm not sure about that, since the 40-man roster remains full. I think we might see some action after the first week of January, as both Imai and Okamoto should be signed by that time. Miami's approach is to be active in a ripple effect. For example, the Imai signing will make some bidding losers turn into the trade market, where Eddy Cabrera, MacKensie Gore, and Joe Ryan are available. Some contender might get desperate and offer an acceptable package for either Eddy, Weathers, Meyer or even Sandy, and Bendix won't hesitate if he likes what he sees... hoping it includes an MLB-ready bat who can play 1B, 3B or corner OF. As for Free Agency, I don't see much more than a group of non-roster invitees from now until the start of Spring Training. In summary, I expect a couple of quiet weeks to begin the new year. (I hope I'm wrong).

I hope the roster can actually get better before spring training. So far is Fairbanks for Henríquez, Ruiz for Myers, and Morel for Wagaman. In theory, not substantial change for the active roster, for the better or worse. The 26-man still needs a high leverage lefty out of the bullpen and an impact corner infield bat, ideally two of those.

Fairbanks! 🤩🤩🤩

This entry was not in the plans, as the Marlins entered the offseason firmly convinced they needed an established closer (i.e., no “hidden gem”) for next year. Turns out as of today that they not only still need that closer, but now they’ve lost their best bullpen arm in Ronny Henríquez. Although never truly a closer, Ronny was more a “setup” man and the best performer in high leverage situations. Himself a waiver claim, Henríquez came out of nowhere last winter and sized his opportunity. A wild guess is that the Front Office would like to replicate that transaction, so the focus here is to find a group of pitchers that are not drawing much attention, if any, but with a few tweaks could potentially turn into Henriquez-que performances next year. My favourite: Rafael Montero With a long career stating as a swingman and after 2019 a full-time average reliever, Montero peaked in 2022 as a fundamental piece of the World Series’ Astros. His stock has crashed right after that, playing for three different clubs this past season. He will probably require a major league contract given his experience, but should be in the $1,5M range. So why sign him? Well, as in the previous “hidden gem” post, there is a lot to like under the hood. Just have a look as his Baseball Savant page. The red flag are the walks, but everything else is in the red zone. If the Marlins can build a strategy around his pitch mix usage (particularly his splitter), Montero can be a buy low, high output addition. The Injury-prone: Jonathan Loáisiga Yankees prospects always come with that extra fanfare when making it to the big leagues. Loáisiga was not the exception. Flashing a high 90s sinker that could blow out batters, fans in The Bronx were really excited about this guy. Unfortunately, major injuries have derailed the career of Nicaraguan-born, and has only managed to pitch in more than 50 games only twice in eight seasons. What is to like? He can still throw gas, and his sinker can induce a decent amount of ground balls - I insist with the GB because the infield looks amazing if they play Pauley at third -. I’m not sure how team would evaluate his contract for next season, but given his injury record, shouldn’t come expensive even for Marlins’ standards. Who?: Miguel Castro Last time Castro had a good season was in 2023 as a member of the Dbacks. He appeared in a league-high 75 games of 4.31-ball. Over the last two seasons, however, he’s been terrible. If the coaching staff can manage to bring his changeup back in the mix, he should be a solid arm for a minor league contract. He’s been around since 2015 and somehow today is only his 31st birthday. Old flame: Ryne Stanek Despite David Robertson is also a strong candidate in this category, Stanek’s recent woes might bring him back to Miami at a discount. He continues to have two above-average offerings (4FB and SL) and has lots of experience, always useful in a young team. Not a free agent, but Edgardo Henríquez … not a joke: the Marlins could replace one Henríquez with another. In a stacked LA bullpen that just got stronger signing Edwin Díaz, there won’t be a lot of innings for him next season, barring injuries. In Miami, Henríquez might have a clearer path, and his stuff is solid with a blowout fastball which averages over 100 mph. Bruce can also save some money not having to buy new jerseys for him. The problem is, he won’t come cheap in terms of trade prospects.

I’m finishing five “hidden gems” for my blog today! Although mine is almost exclusively about free agents. I guess we are all really concerned about the Henríquez situation.

I’m not an MLB-economy expert, but I’ll take a wild guess stating that playoff teams make more money than non-contenders, so any investment that can potentially take you to the Wild Card series would be worthy. It is simple: Normally, payroll investments increase a team’s chances to make the playoffs, keeping the fanbase happy (the priority!) as well as increasing the owners’ profit (i.e., more money for the “debt”).

That's true, but I think the Marlins are more in need of a true closer than they need an "innings eater". I'm sure that if they don't trade any SP and move Meyer to the bullpen as a long reliever, acquiring Fairbanks should do the trick next season. The Free Agent reliever list with closing experience or material is running dry. Plan Bs can be Kirby Yates (if healthy), David Robertson, and maybe Seranthony Domínguez. Fallback or Come-back candidates are Evan Phillips (projected to return from TJ around the ASG), José Leclerc, Ryan Pressly, or even Liam Hendricks or Craig Kimbrel. Not too inspiring, but I'd offer a contract to Phillips.

Hey LMF, You’re right about the franchise solidifying the core: scouts, managers, even the FO seems to know what they are doing, unlike previous administrations. However, I’m on that half of fans who believe the ownership is a cheap one, and that’s because the team should be the envy of the league - year two of a rebuild and got already close of being a contender- but nobody is worried about the Marlins as they know Sherman won’t spend. No matter what all those rookies did last year, there will be one or two that will regress next season. There will be one or two injuries. There are currently whole on the roster that you cannot fill internally - and they admitted it - , for example, the closer role, or 1B, which only got worse when the DFA’d Johnston. Even if you want to build a team for contention in 2028, you will have to bring a free agent, for whatever reason. Take for example the two pennants: in ‘97 they brought Alou and Bonilla, or Pudge joining in ‘03. And with BY FAR the lowest payroll in the game, what is preventing you from having a better chance? I hope they swing a trade, but I don’t think they should trade away any of the staters… maybe Janson Junk, but you won’t get a lot from him. The main message is this: there are many reasons to be optimistic (and generally speaking, I am!), but it is infuriating the lack of ambition when the team has never been in a better position to compete not only next season but a few more ahead as well, and that lack of ambition is evident when the owners deny to bring what the team is missing, just to save some money they will get back one way or another.

I mean, the Morel signing at least makes sense. The raw power is there, the arm is there, the versatility (OF, 3B) is there, but K% and chase rate are concerning, for saying the least. Worth the shot for $2M in any case. The Maikel García extension can serve as another benchmark for Marsee, right?