Marlins Might Lose Veteran Contributor This Weekend
The Miami Marlins have a pretty good idea of who will make the Opening Day roster.
We've previously predicted the final 26 that will open the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and with some potential changes to the rotation - we still have Eury Pérez in there and all signs point to him not being available on Opening Day - but the choices have largely been made.
And that means Miami might be perilously thin at catcher in the regular season because veteran Curt Casali can choose free agency if he doesn't make the roster ahead of Christian Bethancourt and Nick Fortes.
Casali, 35, signed a minor league deal with the Marlins this offseason and chose to compete for the backup job with the defensive specialist Fortes. But if Casali does not win the backup job, he can choose to opt out of the deal as soon as this weekend and re-enter the free agent pool.
The CBA classifies Casali as an Article XX(B) free agent, meaning he has more than six years of service time and ended last season either on an MLB roster or on the injured list. All XX(B) free agents that are signed to minor league deals have three potential dates where they can opt out of their deal if they're not on the active roster: five days before Opening Day, May 1st, and June 1st.
Five days before Opening Day is tomorrow, Friday the 22nd.
Casali has until 2 PM ET to let the team know that he's choosing to opt out. Once that is done, the team has until noon on Sunday to either add him to the 40-man roster or release him.
Now, Miami can configure the roster to keep Casali - Fortes has two minor league options and can be sent to AAA Jacksonville.
Because if Casali does get released, the established catcher depth for Miami is perilously thin.
Bethancourt and Fortes would be the major league catchers, and AAA Jacksonville would probably be manned by the combination of 26-year-old Paul McIntosh, 27-year-old Jhonny Pereda, and 24-year-old Will Banfield.
None of the trio have appeared in an MLB game, with McIntosh being an UDFA in 2021, Pereda signing as a minor league free agent this January, and Banfield being a 2nd-rounder in 2018.
Banfield does appear on some prospect lists, with MLB Pipeline listing him at #26 in the system, and has gotten positive reviews from manager Skip Schumaker in camp.
But were Bethancourt or Fortes to go down and Casali to elect free agency, the situation has the potential to quickly become a weakness in the lineup.
