One Regend

I'm honestly shocked they were even able to get a return out of Eric Wagaman, given he was our least productive player by a landslide. Honestly, even if Kade Bragg gets clobbered and flames out at AAA before reaching the majors, this is a W trade for us.

Well, first, Ruiz would have to do well at the other notable thing Rickey Henderson was really good at: Getting on base. .296 isn't going to cut it.

I think Gus will be fine at 1B, the problem is will they even try him there? A lot of people say his catcher defensive problems is primarily receiving, but I don't agree with that being the reason not to try him at 1B. Not having the burden of handling pitchers, not having to squat in catcher's gear, and not having to risk taking a foul ball off of a body limb every pitch does wonders to athleticism. I have reason to believe he'll show more improvement at 1B than as a catcher. At least try him there in Spring Training and, if he blows chunks defensively, then just have him be a full-time DH.

He would have been gone regardless, but not within his first year. He probably would've been traded after 2017, just like everyone else was. Which was why i specifically stated the 2013-2017 era Marlins.

I'm sure we probably could have still made that trade happen even without Heaney, but in the hypothetical world where we don't have Dee Gordon, Seager would've been a massive upgrade over Adeiny Hechavarria. Loved Hech's defense but he was definitely not starter material lol.

A former Marlin retired with a fWAR of 11.5. Let's take a trip down memory lane and see who the Marlins selected him over. ...Oh. ...Oh no. -Corey Seager (if he wasn't injury-prone he'd be a guaranteed ticket to Cooperstown) -Michael Wacha (Still pitching quality innings as a starter, even today.) -Marcus Stroman (I'm glad we didn't draft him, he's a literal primadonna, but I'm not going to deny he was actually good.) -Jose Berrios (also still pitching quality innings as a starter, even today.) -Matt Olson (Literally a younger Paul Goldschmidt, and Paul himself is a borderline Cooperstown candidate.) Honorable Mentions: Lucas Giolito (Starting RHP), Lance McCullers Jr (Starting RHP), Mitch Haniger (DH) I'm not even going to mention the later rounds such as Edwin Diaz (3rd Round, Seattle), Max Muncy (5th Round, Oakland), and Josh Hader (19th Round, Baltimore), as those rounds are more or less a crapshoot, so I'm just narrowing it down to the 1st round. But man, those were all players that could've led the 2013-2017 era Marlins to a winning record, if not, the playoffs. Doubly so if it was one of the pitchers listed here, as pitching was a real concern.

Agreed. I think the Marlins improved from addition by subtraction. Imagine coaching an underachieving team, get cut because your team underachieved, and only start complaining about being cut when the team does better without your services.

After having witnessed him implode when given a 6-run lead in the first inning, "Closer" is the last role I think of when I see Max Meyer. He'd be a 7th inning, maybe 8th inning arm at best. .

Oh my, the Marlins finally got veteran relief help. What a christmas miracle. All it took was losing Ronny Henriquez to the cruel Tommy John gods in order to actually get it done. Now they need to address the corner infield spots. They can't be serious about competing if they're relying on Graham Pauley at 3B and Christopher Morel at 1B.

Well, if they weren't in need of veteran relief help (press X to doubt), they sure are now. You can tell an organization is unserious about competing if they still aren't pushing hard for veteran relief help even after this news hits.

I think this is by far the most telling statement.

2024 was a failure of, not just that year's team performance, but years and years of ownership neglect of team structure. You can't tell me that you retain all of the staff that worked in that failure of the 2024 team, and that the team can still come as close to the playoffs as they did this year. 2024 was a culmination of years of systemic failure up and down the organization, and cleaning house needed to be done. And a single Jeff Schwarz being butthurt that he lost his job doesn't change that fact. The only guy the Marlins let go of that I didn't agree with was Mel Stottlemyre Jr, and I will argue to my grave that dismissing him was a mistake, and it shows in how far our pitching regressed this year.

Yikes. The Marlins got robbed 2 years in a row by dropping draft lottery positions in the two years they were eligible. The most painful was dropping from projected #1 to #7 in 2024's draft lottery. Might be a very short contention window, especially if those 2 first-round draft picks don't develop.

I read "swing and miss", and immediately, I get horrible flashbacks to Lewis Brinson, Isan Diaz, and Monte Harrison. At least Morel has a track record, albeit it isn't much of a track record. But a move like this doesn't really instill any confidence that the Marlins will be competitive. (whether competitive for the playoffs, or competitive for the #1 draft pick)

Honestly, I'd rather take my chances with Kemp Alderman in LF. Jasson looks lost defensively, and offensively, it's questionable if he'd be an upgrade over Alderman.

I'm not buying this. I've heard many defense-first prospects being hyped up only to contribute nothing to the majors. Remember how good Lewis Brinson was with the glove in CF? No? That's because nobody remembers how good he was with the glove. They remember just how he could never hit a baseball. Even before Lewis Brinson, remember how much Matt Dominguez was hyped up to be the next Marlins superstar? No? That's because he was traded before he was able to make any impact with the Marlins, and did next to nothing for the Astros with either his glove or his bat. Not even the Astros development superteam could make a mediocre prospect good. If Starlyn Caba is truly that talented, then I'll believe it when I see it. But until then, I have rock bottom expectations.

They really just lowballed the most talented starting pitcher on their team in about a decade, while he's still relatively attainable. Wow this front office is unserious.

Yeah, Edward Cabrera is going to be gone before we reach Spring Training. It's just going to be a matter of what we will be receiving back. I don't doubt that Cabrera's talented, but he can't go an entire season without staying healthy, and he's a walking Tommy John candidate waiting to happen. I'd rather another team roll the dice on him at this rate. They might either get a potential rotation stud, or get a guy they're stuck with who goes under the knife for a season and a half while his arb years roll up.

What that tells me is, he doesn't have a defensive home. Players like these need their bat to step it up, and Norby's bat... has not done that thus far.

Maybe FOF should just... like, don't bother posting articles about Free Agents the Marlins might actually want.

I get moving someone to 1B, that's normal. But moving someone to the OF? Come on... even an inexperienced LF is going to be exploited by the opposing team's baserunners. Not a great look for a team dependent on its pitching. I say this as someone who suggested moving Jorge Alfaro to the OF. I regretted uttering those words back then, and I learned my lesson. Don't make the same mistake twice.

Expanding the playoffs won't mean anything if it's just going to be the Dodger show for the next 5+ years.

Trading Liam Hicks makes zero sense, even considering if Joe Mack makes the Opening Day roster. If Hicks is gone, then who's catching when Joe Mack inevitably gets the day off? Of course it's going to be Gus. Do you REALLY want Gus to be catching? After how awful he was at blocking the plate this past year? I mean, don't get me wrong, Hicks has his own problems behind the plate, namely his very slow poptime and weak arm means, any baserunner, even non-speedsters, can simply turn a single/walk into a double almost guaranteed. But at least he can block the plate. Furthermore, do you really trust anyone else in the minor league system to fill in as backup? I certainly don't.

The Marlins must have a lot of faith in Andrew Nardi not only being healthy in Spring Training 2026, but to also return to form. That is a lot of misguided faith for a guy who hasn't pitched in nearly 2 years and *still* hasn't shown progress on the injury front.