Marlins Only Offering These Types of Contracts in MLB Free Agency
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The Miami Marlins didn’t have to travel far for this year’s MLB Winter Meetings. The staff could have driven from Miami to Orlando.
For the next few days, the Marlins are trying to bolster the franchise’s chances of getting into the postseason in 2026, which would be two years after losing more than 100 games, which led to managerial change from Skip Schumaker to Clayton McCullough.
Miami won 79 games last year and has one of the most talented young rosters in baseball. The hope is that it can grow together and make the franchise a consistent winner while remaining on a budget.
Yes, the Marlins appear willing to spend some money to supplement the core, but they don’t appear willing to sacrifice the future for the present, according to MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola.
Marlins Have Limit to Free Agency Offers
Per De Nicola, the franchise is looking at many different options. But her industry sources told her on Monday that, at least so far, Miami has only made one-year contract offers to free agents. That could change, she reported, depending on the player. But the implication is clear — the Marlins don’t want to damage the progress of its young core of budding stars.
Miami has one of the smallest payrolls in baseball going into the winter meetings. Per Spotrac the Marlins have $22.3 million committed to veteran players, most of it to pitcher Sandy Alcantara. The rest of the team is either arbitration-eligible, like pitchers Edward Cabrera, Ryan Weathers and Calvin Faucher, or pre-arbitration, like All-Star outfielder Kyle Stowers, rising star Eury Perez and rookie slugger Jakob Marsee. That list also includes the franchise’s exceptional double-play duo of second baseman Xavier Edwards and shortstop Otto Lopez.
Even with those pre-arbitration players, the Marlins’ payroll looks like $52 million come opening day. So, Miami has the money to spend and the willingness to do so. But that only goes so far when it comes to the duration. Committing multiple years on a deal might curb the potential for players that struggled last season, such as third baseman Connor Norby, or players that have immense potential, like Deyvison De Los Santos.
President of baseball operations Peter Bendix and his staff are looking for supplements to their young and talented roster and not sacrifice what they have, even as there are rumors of teams circling around pitchers like Alcantara, Cabrera and Weathers in trade rumors.
“We're really happy with the amount of talent we have in the organization, but we need to add more at the Major League level, at the Minor League level,” Bendix said. “Our path to being really good for a long period of time are those young guys and getting them better.”
