Offseason moves were ‘years in the making’
As the Miami Marlins set out to begin this offseason, a list full of needs in hand, general manager Kim Ng looked at the process like a puzzle.
Each piece that they have at their disposal, each move that they make or don’t make, each step forward or backward, will impact what comes next. The interlocking nature of individual moves, moves that will help the club both immediately and in the future, can’t be discarded.
That’s how the Marlins got to where they are now.
All three players the Marlins have acquired so far — Gold Glove catcher Jacob Stallings and onetime All-Star infielder Joey Wendle via trade, onetime All-Star Avisail Garcia as a free agent — are slated to be with the team for multiple years. Wendle has two more years of team control, Stallings three. Garcia signed a four-year deal with a club option for a fifth year.
They also gave Sandy Alcantara a five-year contract extension with a sixth-year option, which has him set to be with Miami potentially through the 2027 season.
“This is years in the making,” Marlins CEO Derek Jeter said Wednesday, hours before MLB’s collective bargaining agreement expired and the league imposed a lockout of its players. “We’re looking ahead in the future.”
That was the thought process since Jeter and Bruce Sherman took over the club a little more than four years ago: Build the organization up to the point where they have a roster they feel can compete and then add those final pieces externally to complete the roster.
It took four seasons to get there — and they still might not fully be there yet — but the current state of the team and the additions brought in show the club’s direction.
Starting pitching has been the Marlins’ emphasis since the start of the rebuild. It’s one reason they prioritized extending Alcantara and have had discussions with him and his representatives since July to get the deal done.
The deal — five years and $56 million with a $21 million club option for the sixth year — is the largest given to an MLB pitcher who had yet to reach arbitration.
“In terms of building our foundation,” Ng said, “Sandy possesses all the things that we look for in players.”
But this goes beyond Alcantara. Consider the rest of the Marlins’ rotation possibilities:
Trevor Rogers, the runner-up for National League Rookie of the
Year, has five more years of control.
Pablo Lopez, arguably the Marlins’ most consistent pitcher beyond Alcantara, is under control for three more years.
Jesus Luzardo, a project whom the Marlins see potential in, is under control for four more years.
Prospects Sixto Sanchez and Edward Cabrera, who have ace potential if they can stay healthy, are both under control for five more years.
And that doesn’t include 2020 first-round pick Max Meyer, Elieser Hernandez,
AAAAJake Eder or the pitching depth they have in their older prospects (Braxton Garrett, Jordan Holloway, Nick Neidert and Cody Poteet among them).
The Marlins know how expensive quality starting pitching can be and the luxury their depth provides them.
That’s why, Ng said, teams will have to offer a player or players who are “elite and impactful either for today or for the future” if the Marlins were to consider trading any of their established starting pitchers or top prospects.
This is where Stallings enters the puzzle. The catcher position was one the Marlins’ biggest liabilities when Jorge Alfaro never panned out to be the starter they hoped he would be after acquiring him from the Philadelphia Phillies as part of the J.T. Realmuto trade.
They tried different — and younger — options over the final two months last season in Alex Jackson, Payton Henry and Nick Fortes. None stepped up enough to cement himself as a starter.
Stallings provides the defensive acumen and the game-calling savvy to be the needed complement to Miami’s potential-filled starting pitching.
He has shown he has the capability to do that.
His 28 defensive runs saved since he became a full-time starting catcher in 2020 leads the position, according to FanGraphs. His framing rate according to the site is the second-best in that span behind only the Milwaukee Brewers’ Omar Narvaez. He was the only catcher last season with at least 500 innings behind the plate to not have a passed ball.
“I don’t know how much help these guys need. They’re all pretty good already,” Stallings said with a laugh, “but anything I can do to help them and help the team, I’m gonna do everything I can.”
Miami’s goal this offseason was to add “multiple bats,” as Ng put it back in October. Considering how their offense fared in 2021 — second-to-last in runs scored, third-to-last in home runs, and tied for third-to-last in batting average, among a slew of daunting statistics — this had to be the priority.
Enter Garcia and Wendle.
Garcia is a middle-ofthe-order hitter, a career .270 hitter who hit a career-high 29 home runs last season. He’s naturally a right fielder but has the potential to start in center field.
Wendle has a career
.274 batting average and .328 on-base percentage and can play second base, shortstop and third base. His positional flexibility — in addition to that of Miguel Rojas (all four infield spots), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (second base and shortstop), Brian Anderson (third base and right field) and Jon Berti (everywhere except catcher and first base) — gives the Marlins a chance to potentially get creative with their lineups and find ways to get the best nine players on the field each night. The potential of a universal designated hitter can help on that front, too.
“You have to be greater than the sum of your parts,” Wendle said.
Wendle and Garcia’s roles extend beyond the field.
Their additions — as well as Stallings and potentially more once a new collective bargaining agreement is in place and the free agency freeze is lifted — supplement the Marlins’ core of budding young players already on the roster.
That group includes the likes of Chisholm, first baseman Lewin Diaz, outfielders Jesus Sanchez and Bryan De La Cruz, and catchers Fortes, Henry and Jackson.
“One of the things about young players,” Ng said, “is that they tend to be a little bit streaky, and I think that those veterans are definitely a calming, soothing presence.”
Jordan McPherson: 305-376-2129, @J_McPherson1126