How Marlins Can Make Roster Room for Free Agents After Christopher Morel Deal
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Waiting for an official announcement of the Miami Marlins signing Christopher Morel to a one-year Major League deal? So is the rest of the baseball.
Once the deal is official, the Marlins will place him on the 40-man roster. Miami doesn’t have to make a roster move as they already have a spot on the 40-man. But, with Morel, the roster will be full. That’s meaningful at this time of year.
Why? Because any MLB contract the Marlins agree to sign with a free agent will require a 40-man roster move, which means either optioning a player on the 40-man roster to the minor leagues or designating a player for assignment and exposing him to waivers. The difference is significant for a team like Miami, which is stacked with young talent.
How Marlins Can Acquire More Free Agents
Even at capacity, there are ways to sign talent. For the Marlins, that will likely see them sign a host of fringe Major League players to minor league contracts and invite them to spring training. That’s an easy way to get veterans into camp without it costing MLB roster space. Miami has already signed pitcher Tyler Zuber, pitcher Samuel Vasquez and pitcher Evan McKendry to minor league deals, which will likely come with MLB camp invitations.
If the Marlins land another free agent on an MLB deal, they will need space. The easy way to do it is to option one of their 40-man players to Triple-A Jacksonville to make room. To do that, the player must have at least one minor league option and the Marlins have plenty of those players on the roster. That’s the easiest way to do it. But, in doing so, the Marlins will burn one of that player’s option years. Each MLB player gets three years in which they can be optioned to the minors without exposing them to waivers.
For instance, Miami is in no danger of losing starting pitcher Eury Pérez, who has two options left. But the Marlins don’t want to lose the flexibility they have with him or any other prospect with options years. Catcher Joe Mack, a top prospect who was recently placed on the 40-man roster, could be optioned. But Miami may only want to do that if they’re certain he can help them in 2026.
The other way is to try and run a player with no options through the waiver process. That requires the Marlins to designated that player for assignment and let him go through waivers, where any team can claim him. If he gets through, then the Marlins can assign him to the minors, unless he has the service time to refuse the option.
Pitchers Ronny Henriquez and Tyler Phillips fall into this category, but don’t have the service time to refuse the option. Few Marlins that are out of options also have the service time to refuse the assignment.
The Marlins can sign more free agents. They have the flexibility on the roster to do it. The question is whether they want to spend the money.
