New Closer Pete Fairbanks Praises Marlins Leadership and Direction
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The Miami Marlins made a significant move around the holidays as they signed closer Pete Fairbanks to a one-year deal.
The former Tampa Bay Rays star has 90 career saves, but the Rays declined to exercise his $12.5 million option in November. That enabled him to become a free agent. He settled on Miami, close to his current home in Florida and a team that he believes is on the upswing under president of baseball operations Peter Bendix.
Fairbanks spoke to reporters on New Year’s Eve.
Pete Fairbanks on the Marlins’ Direction
Per Isaac Azout at Fish on First, the Marlins’ current direction is a big reason for Fairbanks choosing to stay in the state for at least one more year.
"The Bendix-era Marlin teams are definitely better than when we faced them in 2021 or 2022, so I definitely think that things are heading in the right direction,” Fairbanks said.
Fairbanks signed a reported one-year deal worth $13 million. He’ll augment a bullpen that lost Ronny Henriquez to elbow surgery recently and settled in with Calvin Faucher as closer late in the season. Fairbanks told reporters the intention is for him to handle high-leverage situations.
The right-hander is coming off a 2025 in which he went 4-5 with a 2.83 ERA in 61 appearances, with 59 strikeouts and 18 walks in 60.1 innings. Fairbanks has a career ERA of 3.19 and hasn’t had an ERA higher than 3.59 in any of his last five seasons with the Rays.
In the past three seasons he’s recorded at least 23 saves in each of his last three seasons and had 27 in 2025. He has 90 career saves, with 75 coming from 2023-25.
The Marlins are an intriguing young team that exceeded expectations to win 79 games under first-year manager Clayton McCullough last season. They finished four games out of the final National League wild card berth. Miami has one of the best young rotations in the game, anchored by Sandy Alcantara, along with Edward Cabrera, Eury Perez and Ryan Weathers. Miami also has solid young arms in the farm system.
Last season represented breakthrough campaigns for catcher Agustin Ramirez and outfielder Kyle Stowers. Ramirez finished sixth in National League rookie of the year voting while Stowers reached the All-Star Game for the first time. The Marlins have young, controllable talent throughout the roster and are banking on Christopher Morel to bring them more offense to first base.
Fairbanks gives them a reliable closer on the back end, which should make the Marlins more competitive in 2026.
