Busy offseason about to unfold for Marlins GM Ng

As Marlins general manager Kim Ng fielded questions down the left-field line of the Milwaukee Brewers’ American Family Field last week, she was asked about how she would balance her time with the multitude of tasks she would be dealing with this offseason.

She has a managerial search to conduct, a baseball operations department that is being restructured and a roster that needs fixing after a season that began with expectations of competing for a playoff spot ended with a disappointing 69-93 record and fourth-place finish in the National League East.

“What’s sleep?” she quipped.

And so begins the latest critical offseason of this much-maligned rebuild that has completed five years and seen just one winning season — the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign in which Miami reached the playoffs before enduring back-toback 90-plus loss seasons.

The direction in which the Marlins go heading into Year 6 is Ng’s to decide.

This is Ng’s first full offseason as the top baseball operations decisionmaker. While Ng was named general manager in November 2020, Derek Jeter played a heavy role in Marlins roster construction in her first two offseasons in the job up until he departed as the team’s CEO in February.

How much exactly the Marlins do is to be determined.

Ng said before that she doesn’t believe Miami’s 2022 record reflects the talent the Marlins have in the organization, citing “particularly devastating” injuries and “underwhelming” performances by key additions last offseason.

But Ng also knows the Marlins can’t simply run back their current roster and expect improved results.

“We are going to do what we can to improve this club,” Ng said Friday in her end-of-season news conference. “I don’t think that we can just sit here on our hands and think that everything’s going to be better.”

Ng said it’s “hard to say at this point” whether the Marlins’ upgrades this offseason will be major or minor.

The organization last offseason made two primary free agent signings in Avisail Garcia (four years, $53 million with an option for a fifth year) and Jorge Soler ($12 million in 2022 with a $15 million option in 2023 and $9 million option in 2024) along with acquiring infielder Joey Wendle, catcher Jacob Stallings and relievers Tanner Scott and Cole Sulser via trade.

While the Marlins’ initial roster looked like it could compete, troubles brewed when injuries and underperformance kicked in.

Garcia hit just .224 with a .583 on-base-plus-slugging mark, eight home runs and 35 RBI in 98 games. Soler hit just .207 but had 13 home runs in 72 games before being sidelined by a back injury.

Wendle missed 50 games with hamstring issues. Star second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. didn’t play in the second half of the season after sustaining a stress fracture in his lower back. Third baseman/outfielder Brian Anderson’s season was once again chopped up.

“During the offseason last year, we did try and address the depth, and I think we did come in with more depth than we had in the previous season,” Ng said. “But as we saw, it still wasn’t enough.”

The Marlins finished the season 28th in runs scored (586), 27th in OPS (.657) and 24th in home runs (144).

“It points us in the direction of what we need to focus on in the offseason,” Ng said.

As for the route to get there, Ng said the Marlins will need to explore all avenues — free agency, trades and waiver claims. “The gamut,” she said. Regardless of the plan for external acquisitions, the Marlins first will have to make their share of internal decisions. The Marlins ended the season with 48 players on their 40-man roster, eight of whom technically didn’t count toward the roster because they were on the 60-day injured list. Of those eight, pitchers Max Meyer, Anthony Bender, Paul Campbell, Sean Guenther and Cody Poteet underwent Tommy John surgery, with Meyer, Bender and Poteet all not expected to pitch in 2023

Miami will have to get that down to 40 shortly after the World Series ends.

“Our roster is definitely very full,” Ng said. “We’re going to have to make some hard decisions about who’s going to come off [the roster]. We’re going to take the next month and take a deep, hard look at that.”

Ng said the Marlins are in the process of scheduling interviews for their manager to replace Don Mattingly, who had been in the spot for the past seven seasons.

Ng did confirm that some candidates are involved in the postseason, which could delay the process.

“Obviously, it’s an exciting time for them and we have to work around that schedule and we’re trying to be very mindful and very respectful of those candidates and their teams,” Ng said, “but at the same time, we’re trying to proceed as quickly as we can, as well.”

It’s also worth remembering the Marlins aren’t alone in the managerial search. The Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals also have openings after Tony LaRussa retired from his post with the White Sox and the Royals fired Mike Matheny on Thursday. The Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers all finished the seasons with interim managers.

And Dusty Baker’s contract with the Houston Astros expires at the end of the season.

What makes the Marlins an attractive job opportunity compared to some of the other openings?

Ng pointed to three aspects: The young starting rotation, led by ace and National League Cy Young Award front-runner Sandy Alcantara; the farm system, which Ng said she believes is still “one of the more competitive farm systems” despite calling up a slew of top prospects this season; and the fact that 64 of the team’s 162 games — just shy of 40 percent — were one-run games, which Ng cites as the team being competitive even if the results didn’t go in their favor more often than not.

“Those are all key ingredients when people are looking at us,” Ng said.

Once the Marlins land their next manager, Ng said they will move on to making decisions regarding the rest of the coaching staff.