Hans Herrera

And which would have been an "easy" schedule anyway? The only team that, on paper, is not better than Miami is the White Sox—even the Rockies and the A's look much better than the Marlins' lineup. It's just sad the offseason the Marlins have had so far. Plain sad.

It all depends on what would be the approach the FO wants to take. Quintana would be the “expensive” one, I guess closer to $10M the season. Sasaki is a pipe dream but from what I’ve read from MLB Trade Rumors, he “doesn’t care about the size of the market” nor “any geographical preference”. So, why not go after him? Stripling is a similar case as the article about Jakob Junis. He can start, relief, give you 15 decent outings and can be swapped mid season if doing well. Did you notice the difference between his ERA and FIP last season? The latter was very similar to Junis’. And yes, he will also be the “cheap” approach, something Sherman loves.

Just said on X: Quintana, Stripling or Sasaki.

Excellent Isaac! Although I would play it slightly differently I think Conine has the edge over Stowers solely based on how they performed last season. They both have options, so either can be sent down to Jax. I recognise this is one of the main battles of Spring Training along with the 5th starter. Speaking of which, I'd have Bellozo in some capacity. If he loses the rotation spot to Meyer, then I would stash him as the multi-innings reliever, so important early in the season when starters continue to build up. I would demote Bachar instead. Finally, I like Dane Myers, but Derek Hill did a tremendous job last season, particularly with the glove and vs LHP. It might be the 3rd big competition this spring. Pittsburg will start Skenes, so Myers will be in CF. My take is that Myers is not a slam-dunk starter yet.

Head, Snelling, Caba, Ramírez, and (hopefully) Norby can become average-or-better players. None of them are a blue-chip material, though.

It would be extremely difficult to measure the "success rate" of this new fire sale anytime soon whether using BTV or any other tool. It's going to take a couple of years to see how good -or bad- the farm system got. Over the next two years, we can only see how the farm system ranks in MLB, that is probably the best guess. Maybe the '27-'30 window would be more accurate to properly evaluate. As for 2025-2026, we can see glimpses of the new era with De Los Santos, Agustín Ramírez, Snelling, Serna, Acosta, and maybe Mazur. Those are the short-term answers, but none of them were fully developed by the now-overhauled scouting and player development department. The "new administration" is all-in on player development, or at least so far it's been consistent with the ZERO-Free Agents winter while retooling the scouting and coaching corps. I do believe this methodology is good but it had terrible timing for the fanbase. Miami had a "young", mostly controllable team freshly coming from playoffs. Injuries had their share, yes, but it really hurts to see an overall good core vanish in 4-6 months. What I don't justify is the extremely cheap approach by this ownership. At least you can go after a couple of veterans, hoping to get more prospects by the trade deadline with some good performances. Maybe will happen before Spring Training, but by then all the good reclamation projects would be gone. We'll see. I understand Bendix. He was brought here to do what he (supposedly) knows: Develop a strong, consistent, and perennial top farm system with limited resources. He identified that position player development had enormous faults. Another thing I do not agree with is getting rid of the entire pitching department, both development and ML level. Too late now to cry a river. By starting over, Bendix bought himself 4-5 years of his role. If we are lucky, we might get another playoff run before Sandy's contract expires if he isn't traded this coming year. Fast your seatbelts and cross your fingers, this can get uglier.

After the Sandy-Garrett-Eddy-Weathers quartet, to me, Bellozo-Meyer-Curry-Mazur should follow, in that order. I am positive that Meyer is way more talented than Bellozo, but Valente demonstrated effective last season and Meyer was on an innings limit. Maybe it can be smart to ease Max’s workload at the beginning of the season and then go full-load by June, or in case Eury has a setback. I remember Curry in Cleveland having good stuff on his debut. Mazur need to be more solid in Jacksonville before joining the team, but hey, last year everyone got injured so I might get his shot soon than later.

As of today, Norby, Sanchez, Bride and maybe De Los Santos might be the 2-5 in the lineup. I like DLS but has yet to debut, so not high expectations (yet).

The Marlins pick 7th in the amateur draft next year (for college and HS players), but the pick 3rd for this coming Rule 5 draft players. I like Magdaleno

Burger is a HR hitter who doesn’t play defence and doesn’t get on base, but still I don’t understand. Club house leader, cheap, only real HR threat in the lineup… I don’t get it. I guess this is indeed a full rebuild. From now on, any player can be traded, even Sandy. Being a Marlins fan is hard indeed.

Even though Hays was not tendered, that O’Neill contract set more or less a reference for him. He might find a team offering him more than his projected $7M via arbitration. Summary: Hays won’t be a Marlin.

I think there is an additional “separator” between interpreting the data and executing your findings. You will have more chances of success if you correctly get what data is showing, but at the end, you need the right players for delivering those findings. This team is still missing 4-5 competent players from having a quality team.

Jansen just signed with the Rays for 1-year $8M. Far from what I proposed but maybe he could have signed a 2-years $12M and still be “on budget”. Yeah, well…

You are right about Adell and Williams. No need to add them to this roster. At least Williams is controllable until 2030, but is not worth giving away VMJ. While agree on half-rebuilds, I honestly think this team is not as far from contending as it appears on paper. Two 105 OPS+, one 115-120, and a closer, can be a 80-wins team. All that can be done with not a lot of resources… say $30M in free agents? The biggest problem this team has is the absurd frugality of the ownership.

I don’t understand very well the approach of all the trades as a whole. To me, looks like the main goal is to get the farm system stronger, but then also to acquire MLB players like Adell and Williams. So is it a full rebuild to get better prospects or is it to bring a better major league team? If it’s a rebuild, I’m OK with getting Adell because he’s still under control for several years, while getting rid of Berry once and for all. But the Williams trade is unnecessary, and it is too early to give up on VMJ.

I don't agree on Braxton and Luzardo because trading them now is definitely not selling them high. Both had significant injuries last season and Luzardo did not look good when he pitched. They have more questions than answers at the moment. The Marlins will get the most return from either Weathers or Cabrera, as they are cheaper, younger, and with more pure stuff. Garrett and Luzardo have higher a floor, but also more health concerns. If I have to pick one to trade, I'll go with Weathers because if Eddy doesn't pan out as a starter, he'd be a hell of a closer. Depending on how the season goes and the injury factor, I'd wait until a few starts from Eury Pérez to trade Luzardo. He should be on the trading block by June/July next season regardless but would be ideal if the Fish could get Eury going before that.

As good as Otto is with the glove, the Marlins are needing offence, BADLY, like you said. If I am able to acquire Smith from Texas, then I’d rather have X at SS and Norby at 2B instead of Lopez, who will be my first option out of the bench. At the end, it comes to acquire a player with a more rounded bat than Lopez, who has almost no power. He is fast, gets on base, and has a great glove: that is a bench player by current standards.

Lefty, making the minimum salary, with a 3.50ish ERA, 30% inherited runners score and 30%-K rate? That’ll do just fine. Give me two, please. Yes, on the go.

True, true, and true. But still, he also hit 7 HRs in 150 ABs, while drawing a good amount of BBs. He is far from being perfect, yet solid enough to keep in this team. Norby is less bad playing 2B than 3rd. The Fish needs to get a proper 3B, either trading for one or getting a cheap comeback-candidate (heaps of those, BTW), and if I had to pick one of those, I’d take Urshela. At least he is a solid defender with a .700-ish OPS.

Well, one can do as much with that limited budget (and I might end up being too optimistic, LOL!). Like I said, that is not a competitive team but for sure will be an improvement over this season… and maybe we get lucky along the way. Lopez: Yes, he is a great defender and had a plus second half, but at the end of the day, he is a bench player in any other team. I hope he proves me wrong next season. Burger is the only real power threat in the lineup, more or less making up for his low OBP. I don’t think you can get much for Bride. Norby? Why? Again, I try to be as realistic as it gets. With all those SP injured last season, Weathers is probably the starter who can get you the best return. Spend little, hope for health and player development. That’s what cheap Uncle Bruce will hope for.

It is that time of the year when we all want to play being Peter Bendix (or whatever he can do with cheap Uncle Bruce behind him). Last year, my offseason blueprint would have had some good results: At catcher, Grandal was injured for a while but still had a very decent season; Perdomo at SS also visited the IL but still had a solid bat and a very good glove; Jake Fraley was a below-average corner OF, more adequate as a 4th OF but still would have preferred him over DLC; Sam Moll had an excellent season in Cincy. Bad calls: Jake Odorizzi, Kyle Farmer, and some 40-man roster pieces like retaining Jacob Amaya. All in all, I think I would have assembled a competent team, even knowing that 2024 went terribly after only 9 games. Let me try again this year. First, I am going to start with what matters the most for constructing a roster: Payroll. Last year, the Marlins had a $97,5M payroll and as today's roster, are projecting $68M for 2025, data taken from Spotrac. Given the always-frugal approach of this team, and the latest FA experiences (García, Anderson, Cueto), I think Sherman will open around $10-12M for FAs this offseason. Let's be "optimistic" and say we have 12. Before starting, I think the current status of both the 40-man roster AND the farm system are not particularly strong, that said, there aren't many pieces to trade from nor is the team realistically interested in further weakening their minor leagues, in opposition to last offseason, when the team was focused on reaching the playoffs for consecutive seasons rather than the current rebuilding process. However, I believe this team might be closer to contention fundamentally due to the projected rotation and bullpen, if fully healthy. Making Space After the Rule 5 protection deadline, the current 40-man roster is full. If the Fish wants to improve last season's results they will need to add some key pieces, particularly on position players. Some placeholders had fair chances to succeed and didn't size their opportunities, so allow me to start the roster crunch. Transaction: Mike Baumann, Vidal Brujan, and Johnny Pereda are Designated for Assignment. MLB roster has now 37 players. Why? Baumann wasn't good for any of the 5 teams he pitched last season. Pereda had a 33 OPS+, and the only thing Bruján provided was defense versatility and this team needs a lot more than that. None of them will bring any return in a trade, although Bruján can net a low prospect from a non-contender. What is Needed Capable bats, especially if any of them can play 3B, SS, or OF, especially CF. Burger should move permanently to 1B/DH, Norby didn't look good at the hot corner, and we still don't know if we can trust Bride a full season at 3B, which he wasn't a magician in any case. Also, Edwards can fake it at SS but needs to improve a whole lot if he wants to stick in that position. The OF is more or less in the air for any player not named Jesús Sánchez. Despite terrific seasons from Faucher, Cronin, and some other bullpen arms, there is no shutdown stuff in the relieving corps. What is Available After the non-tender deadline, the Free Agent list for this offseason was finally complete. As mentioned above, I will assume $12M as a spending budget this offseason, to sit down in the $80M payroll zone. For reference, only the A's had a payroll below that figure during 2024. The top free agent at 3B is Alex Bregman, who is safe to say won't play for Miami next season. After him, there is no slam-dunk regular player on the list: Patrick Wisdom, Luis Urias, Gio Urshela, Yoan Moncada, Brandon Drury, and old friends Kiké Hernández and Donovan Solano follow Bregman, but none of them offer an attractive solution for handling the position. Since this team is planning to play Edwards at SS, the backup catcher is a bit more pressing right now. Luckily, there are a bunch of interesting names that can complement Fortes very well: Higashioka, Díaz, Grandal once again, Kelly, Knizner, Gary Sánchez, and Danny Jansen among others. If by any chance the Marlins look into the SS position - meaning, moving Edwards back to 2B and López down to a bench role -, Willy Adames highlights the free agent list, with Ha-Seong Kim behind him. None of that duo will come to South Florida. Moves Transaction: Sign C Danny Jansen for a two-year $7M contract ($3M in 2025 and $4M in 2026) with a $6M third-year club option or $500k buyout. Plan B: Sign C Carson Kelly to a one-year contract with a 2nd-year player option. Jansen had a subpar 2024, but he was well above-average offensive catcher for the three years prior. Transaction: Sign RHP José Leclerc to a 2-year $6M contract with a club option for a 3rd year. Also coming from a down year in 2024, Leclerc has closing experience and would almost immediately reclaim the role for the Fish. Transaction: Miami Marlins trade LHP Ryan Weathers to the Texas Rangers for 3B/SS Josh Smith and prospects RHP Skylar Hales and LHP Mitch Bratt. It is difficult to find a team with any kind of excess in either 3B or SS. Luckily, the Rangers have more or less settled the diamond with Lowe, Semien, Seager. and a fully recovered Josh Jung. That leaves the bench to Duran, Ornellas, and Smith, the latter having a terrific season replacing Jung. Mostly played 3B with mixed reviews defensively, but also played 49 games at SS. Feels a bit like an overpay, but I do like Smith's OBP, durability, and flexibility. The other two prospects won't have to be added to the 40-man roster, further strengthening the farm system. Transaction: Sign OF Austin Hays to a one-year $6M contract with a mutual option for a second year, $8M option. Plan B: Sign OF Dylan Carlson on a one-year $1.5M contract with incentives based on performance. Hays mashes lefties and offers a good corner OF glove. With so much uncertainty in the OF beyond Sánchez, Hays will provide some stability in LF and platoon with Jesús vs. LHP. These transactions will move the roster back to 40 players. There is still plenty of depth when it comes to Starters, even after parting ways with Weathers. All said and done, the active roster for next season would look like: Starters (5): Alcántara, Luzardo, Garrett, Cabrera, and Bellozo/Meyer (Spring Training - to be replaced by Eury Pérez when ready from TJS) Relievers (8): Leclerc (CL), Faucher, Cronin, Nardi, Tinoco, Bender, Meyer/Bellozo, and Veneziano/Bachar (ST) Catchers (2): Jansen and Fortes Infielders (6): Burger, Norby, Smith, Edwards, López, and Bride Outfielders (5): Hays, Hill, and Sánchez, for sure plus two from the Conine/Stowers/Myers/Sanoja group (ST). Today, Conine, Sanoja, and Myers have the edge. A regular lineup would look like (vs. RHP): Edwards SS Smith 3B Norby 2B Sánchez RF Burger 1B Hays LF Bride DH Jansen C Hill CF This is probably not a .500-team but it is competitive enough to make a positive impact. I am aware that the toughest part is to get those FAs at the suggested price, but all of them can be lured by a non-contender team which might trade them off to a contender mid-season if they perform well. Also, and more importantly, the farm system wasn't touched. Let me know what you think!

Not a big fan of Severino either, almost never knew when the ball was a home run or just another flyball. I'm down for some names floated here: back to Waltz, Sielaff is amazing, Sacco deserves a shot, and I would also consider Scott Kornberg from Jacksonville, he's great.

I realistically see getting Straw, but has to come with a really good prospect. Maybe a bullpen arm (Cleveland bullpen is really stacked)? Also, I’m due to my “offseason blueprint” but coming soon!

I hope I'm wrong, though.

Why do I have this feeling that the new manager will be none of the names that have been mentioned this offseason? Someone like, for example, Fredi Gonzalez?