What has changed if you play for the Marlins? Some insight
It wouldn’t be correct to call the Marlins a miserable place for veteran players, considering the nifty air-conditioned ballpark, the chance to enjoy the perks of living in South Florida and the lack of state income tax. There’s also the underrated advantage of living here in relative anonymity, without being swarmed for autographs in public and enduring far less scrutiny and fan criticism than many other markets.
But the Marlins have hardly been a top draw for veterans, either, because of the historically low crowds and the team’s reluctance to spend a lot of money, with only isolated exceptions.
But in some ways, the Marlins have become more appealing to veterans, two of the team’s well-traveled offseason additions explained this season. And the reasons go beyond the ongoing 23-8 stretch that has catapulted Miami to the third wild card spot (at 49-42) entering this week’s six-game homestand before the All-Star break.
Just before the Marlins designated him for assignment in May, and before the Reds and Rangers did the same in recent weeks, Chris Paddack mentioned what stuck with him when he returned to the franchise where he started his career.
“Guys were talking about how much it’s changed the last couple of years, from analytics to the facilities to the coaching staff to the players in the clubhouse,” Paddack said.
The biggest deterrents about the Marlins remain problematic: They have the second-lowest payroll and second-lowest attendance in baseball. Those are long-standing issues and a turn-off to some players, even though Miami has one of the five best records in baseball over the past calendar year.
But Paddack and fellow winter addition John King said they like what they have seen in areas that can potentially make Miami more attractive to players for reasons beyond the weather and tax laws.
“You see some of the upgrades in the facilities, [here at loanDepot Park and] at spring training,” Paddack said, noting that matters to players. “They just finished the kitchen for players to hang out and escape from being in the clubhouse; that gives players another area to decompress, and we can get together and talk ball, talk shop.
“The weight room was upgraded last year. The new facilities [in Jupiter] are great. Is it going to help the team win more games? I can’t say that it will. But it is going to make the environment in this clubhouse better.”
Spending more on payroll is the next necessity, something that will happen for the Marlins if MLB owners have the stomach for enduring a long potential lockout and succeed in pushing the players to accept a salary floor and salary cap.
Payroll notwithstanding, Paddack and King reeled off the positives about how this organization now operates:
▪ Their pre-signing Zoom sessions with president/baseball operations Peter Bendix, manager Clayton McCullough and others. It was unlike anything they ever experienced.
General manager “Gabe Kapler was asking a lot of deeper questions about me as a teammate,” King said. “It was a little below the surface. Sometimes those meetings stay on the surface; this one [did not]. I enjoyed that. They were really trying to get to know me.”
But the fact the Marlins clearly articulated a plan for him also sold him.
“They said, ‘we think that you have a lot of untapped potential with more swing and miss, throwing your off-speed stuff more, being more unpredictable.’ I was bought in. We talked about them calling pitches from the dugout, which I’m all for, because we have the ability to shake to [different pitches]. They have a plan, and it puts us in the best spot to succeed.”
▪ The level of detail in coaching.
Here’s a story from King:
“I have six pitches,” he said. “Early in camp, I was working with catchers I never worked with. We weren’t on the same page. So I went to [the staff] and was like, ‘I have six pitches so it’s harder to be on the same page. How do you want me to go about this?’”
Members of the front office, pitching coach Daniel Moskos and assistant pitching coach Rob Marcello quickly assembled a meeting and when King walked in, two things struck him:
1). The Marlins had Vinesh Kanthan, one of their baseball executives, attend, because “I had him in Texas, and they thought it would be good to bring him” to the meeting to make him more “comfortable.”
2). The Marlins had filled a whiteboard with essentially a “John King Master Plan,” laying out precisely “how we want you to attack righties, how we want you to attack lefties. And they were like, ‘how would you attack Freddie Freeman right now?’ I said, ‘sinker first pitch, then, slider.’ They say, ‘wait, we think a sweeper is good..’ I’ve never had that before. Just a back and forth of me understanding how they want me to use my arsenal.”
The upshot is that King has been one of baseball’s best left-handed relievers this season, with a 2.31 ERA through July 6.
He said the Marlins’ suggestions have allowed him to mix his pitches more and at least early on, achieve his goal of being “more unpredictable.”
The Marlins couldn’t revive Paddack’s career, but there have been far more examples of players getting better under this new regime (Otto Lopez, Liam Hicks, Xavier Edwards, etc.) than players regressing.
Paddack said Marcello, who calls the pitches from the dugout, “doesn’t get enough credit” and he and Moskos are a “dream team” that everyone on the staff respects.
▪ Calling pitches from the dugout. It’s not for everyone, but King say it has been a big positive of playing here. “It takes weight off your shoulders,” Paddack said.
▪ The Marlins’ unique approach of having their pitchers face hitters during their bullpen sessions two days before starts. (This happens between all starts at home and between road starts when the opposing ground crew can accommodate it.)
As one Marlin said, “getting feedback from guys on our team who are not trying to take our lunch money” helps.
The Marlins likely won’t become a top destination for players until they spend more and show they can sustain the big winning of the past five weeks. But on any pro/con list, the list of pros for playing for the Marlins has seemingly grown.
This story was originally published July 7, 2026 at 2:06 PM.
