It's not too late
There's still time to act if Peter Bendix is sincere when he says the Marlins are not looking to take a step back in 2024
With the start of Spring Training only 2 weeks away, D-Backs fans are still flying high from their unexpected World Series run and are excited about the additions their team has made this winter.
Red Sox fans are angry and want answers from their ownership. Cubs fans are optimistic something big’s about to happen. Fans of the Reds, Tigers and Pirates think they may finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. Brewers fans are encouraged their club may make one more run with Corbin Burnes atop their rotation and with recent free agent addition Rhys Hoskins at first base. Padres fans are lamenting what a difference a year makes. Their long wait finally over, Rangers fans can’t wait to try to win another championship. Cardinals fans are in “Show Me” mode. Having seen their team master April through September, Braves fans are trying to solve the October riddle. White Sox fans are coming to grips with the long haul ahead. Dodgers fans? Well, good luck trying to wipe the smiles off their faces.
And Marlins fans? Most are still cursing the countless injuries that derailed a once-promising Dolphins season and beginning to look ahead to the NBA and NHL Playoffs.
Like most of the media tasked with covering the team, their focus is elsewhere these days because they’ve been given no reason to feel a thing.
In South Florida, this winter’s Hot Stove has been as frigid as Arrowhead Stadium on Wild Card Saturday night.
And that’s really sad.
Baseball philosophers have waxed for decades about hope springing eternal every February and March. In recent years, countless executives across the sport have reminded us that “There is no offseason anymore.” While there aren’t games played every night, the winter is when the hard work of building a ballclub is done. That explains the $2 billion that has been committed to free agents by the other 29 clubs already this offseason, even with several big dominos—Cody Bellinger, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery chief among them—still to fall.
Whether it’s excitement or anger or any one of countless other emotions, Baseball fans in most major league markets feel something as the days begin to get longer and the countdown to pitchers and catchers reporting date grows shorter.
But in Miami, the only big league market where not a single dollar has been spent on a major league free agent, it’s been an offseason during which the Marlins have given their fans nothing. Nada. Zilch.
And, no, the 2 new jerseys aren’t worthy of mention. They were cynically unveiled at last week’s Fanfest, which not even Jazz Chisholm bothered to show up for, to take fans’ eyes off the ball and squeeze out a few merchandising dollars.
To summarize the Marlins’ offseason to date:
Bruce Sherman forced out general manager Kim Ng in October and replaced her with former Rays executive Peter Bendix, a clear signal the organization is headed for its 2nd attempt at a rebuild in Sherman’s 7 years of ownership. Sadly, the move made it painfully obvious Sherman did not intend to try to build upon the club’s surprising 2023 success and aim to return to the postseason in 2024.
With 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara set to miss the entire 2024 season following Tommy John surgery, the Marlins have not made a single move to enhance their rotation. Why try to replace the 28 starts and the team-leading 184 2/3 innings Sandy contributed in what, for him, was a down year? No, the Marlins are content to fall back upon the blatantly false narrative that—unlike anyone else in MLB—this organization is flush with rotation depth. So misguided are they that there’s been wide-spread reporting they could even trade away starting pitching (since having only 2 reliable starters when they reached October last season wasn’t seen as a red flag), with Edward Cabrera and Jesus Luzardo’s names having been mentioned in rumors.
The only changes made to the lowest-scoring offense in the National League since the end of the 2023 season have come in the form of letting 36-home run slugger Jorge Soler walk off into free agency with no attempt to this point to bring him back, swapping out light-hitting catcher Jacob Stallings for light-hitting Christian Bethancourt (Bethancourt has lower career marks in average, OBP and OPS but a higher home run rate) and adding light-hitting former prospect Vidal Brujan to essentially replace light-hitting veteran Joey Wendle.
And you wonder why the Marlins have yet to unlock upper deck tickets for Opening Day at loanDepot park.
I wrote at length about the Marlins’ disheartening inactivity last month.
Ken Rosenthal echoed the same sentiments for The Athletic about 10 days later.
All that makes it seem a bit disingenuous when Bendix told MLB.com last month, “We're not trying to take a step back, we're not trying to rebuild. We're trying to come in and say, ‘What can we do to help this year's team while also investing for the future?’ "
Although many of us were burned when we took Sherman at his word on the commitments he made upon purchasing the club, I want to take this new guy at his word. And that’s why I’ve brought you here today.
If Bendix is sincere when he says he’s “not trying to take a step back” in 2024, when every single move the organization has made—or has been rumored to be considering this winter—would undeniably lead to taking a step back in 2024, it’s not too late.
While free agents Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman are sure to get paid a handsome sum by some team in the weeks ahead, it has not been a good offseason to be a position player in search of a new home.
As Jon Heyman recently pointed out in the New York Post, no position player outside of 2-way unicorn Shohei Ohtani has signed a deal worth even $50 million to this point in the offseason.
With the start of spring training now only 2 weeks away, palms are beginning to sweat. That means there are likely bargains to be had by someone.
There’s still a chance for Bendix to prove he was telling the truth when he said he doesn’t intend for the Marlins to take a step back this season.
There’s still a chance for Sherman, who preached “sustained success” when he purchased the club in 2017, to show he has the financial wherewithal, let alone the actual desire, to…oh…I don’t know…maybe try to sustain success by at least making a good-faith run at a 2nd consecutive trip to the playoffs.
There are 2 veteran bats still out there that could legitimately impact the Marlins’ lineup without setting back the penny-pinching Sherman Bellinger or Chapman dollars.
While the Cuban-born Soler exercised his right to opt out of the final year of his original 3-year Marlins contract this winter, he’s expressed that he’s open to a return on a new deal, although he said last month he had not been contacted by the Marlins since his departure.
In his 2nd season in Miami, the soon-to-be 32-year-old was an All-Star, slugging .512 with an .853 OPS. His 36 home runs were 14 more than any Marlin has hit in a season since Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna were sent packing at the end of 2017. Only 5 other Marlins, none of whom remain with the club, have even hit 20 home runs in any season over the first 6 years of Sherman’s ownership.
If Bendix says the Marlins don’t intend to take a step back, I guess he could get away with telling you their lineup in 2024 without Soler’s 36-home run muscle looks like a step forward…right off the edge of a cliff.
If you’re serious about putting a competitive lineup out there in 2024, Soler has to be considered as an option.
A second option who remains available, potentially even on a one-year contract, is 36-year-old Miami native J.D. Martinez.
An All-Star each of the last 5 full seasons, Martinez slammed 33 homers, drove in 103 runs, slugged .572 and registered an .893 OPS as the Dodgers’ designated hitter on a one-year, $10 million deal in 2023.
Made expendable for 2024 when Los Angeles signed Shohei Ohtani, who will DH exclusively as he works his way back from elbow surgery this season, Martinez would seem to be an even better fit in Miami than Soler.
Not only does his age make him a candidate for a shorter-term deal, but his production has been more consistent year-to-year than Soler’s, with the Nova Southeastern product having averaged 34 homers and 100 RBI over his last 6 full seasons.
Over the last 10 seasons, beginning in 2014, Martinez has batted .293 with a .359 on-base percentage, a .550 slugging percentage and a .908 OPS.
And while it’s a small sample size (only 44 plate appearances over 9 games), Martinez has a .952 career OPS at loanDepot park.
Production close to those levels on a one-year deal seems like an absolute no-brainer if 1) Martinez would be willing to play for the Marlins and 2) Sherman is willing to spend on an impact bat.
So it’s not too late.
Working on the infrastructure you hope will pay dividends down the road is great, Bruce, although it would have been even better to get this right during your first run at a rebuild, beginning in 2017.
But if Bendix meant what he said when he told us he’s not looking to take a step back in 2024, and if Sherman meant what he said last spring when he told us increased revenue from attendance gains would be pumped directly into improving the team, it’s not too late to make the decision to try to build on the positive steps the club took in 2023.
It’s not too late to send a message to fans that you actually care so that maybe they will too.
While you’re here…
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I think I’m done expecting Sherman to do the right thing Geff. I had a partial season ticket the last few years but didn’t renew it this time.
Just can't get on board here. Signing Martinez (or even Bellinger, lol) - sell out coming for Opening Day? Huge attendance jump? No, on both counts. It would be simply a "good start," "about time," or not enough (everlastingly, the fan lament). I am fine with Bendix's "discipline." Let's forego the piecemealing, expensive randomness and fan demand for moves for the sake of moves for a true strategy. My humble opinion, as ever.