Michael Hill explains one of his final moves with Marlins. And feedback on young players
A six-pack of Miami Marlins notes on a Friday:
▪ After being sworn to secrecy for five weeks, the Marlins can now openly discuss the son of Mr. Marlin.
And they are unabashedly excited about the potential of new Marlins outfielder Griffin Conine, the “player to be named” later in the Jonathan Villar trade with Toronto.
Conine, son of popular former Marlins outfielder Jeff Conine, was selected in the second round of the 2018 draft by the Blue Jays and has 29 homers, 97 RBI and seven steals (in seven attempts) with a .266 average in 518 at-bats and 137 games over two minor-league seasons in the low-level minors.
“Just a tremendous talent,” former Marlins president/baseball operations Michael Hill said before Hill and the team parted ways recently.
Hill explained how the trade with Toronto went down:
“We felt we had a chance to get Starling Marte [from Arizona] and Villar was an expiring contract for us,” Hill said. “With Villar, if we had an opportunity to get real value, we would explore it. We had already started working Jazz Chisholm out at second base, and if we could add and get value for Villar, we wouldn’t miss a beat with Isan Diaz or Jazz at second base. So you gently take Villar to market. He was having a solid season, not the same as 2019, though.
“His best value is in the infield. I started exploring the market with teams that had [interest in infielders]. Toronto’s second base production had been inconsistent.
“We tried to find fair value. There were a number of players we explored. We held firm [asking for Conine] because we knew we could keep Villar. We felt they needed some infield protection. I held the line and ultimately it was something they felt they needed to do. We were ecstatic to think we got a top-10 prospect in return for an expiring contract.”
Conine has 190 strikeouts during those 518 career at-bats. But he worked last winter to shorten his swing to try to cut down on the K’s.
Griffin Conine, appearing on the Marlins’ Beyondthebases.com podcast on Friday, said when he heard he was traded to the Marlins, “it was mixed emotions. The very first reaction was shock and not really grasping the fact of how cool it is going to be to represent the home town and the [community that] dad got to represent for a good portion of his career.”
Among Conine’s observations from spending time in the Marlins’ instructional league in the past month: He was impressed that the “analytics side is specific and advanced in the Marlins organization, which is really cool. I’ve always been cerebral in my approach hitting and [in the field]. They do a very good job with video.”
Conine, who is living with his parents in South Florida, said his dad “had a big smile on his face” when he first saw him after the trade.
▪ Even beyond their top tier of outfield prospects (Monte Harrison, JJ Bleday, Jesus Sanchez), the Marlins like a bunch of others in the system.
“Griffin is a very good athlete,” Hill said before departing. “And you mix Griffin into the fold with Connor Scott and Peyton Burdick, we’ve got athletic high-end prospects.”
The Marlins also see considerable upside in outfield prospects Jerar Encarnacion and Kameron Misner.
▪ Here are baseballtraderumor.com’s projections for what the arbitration-eligible Marlins could command if they end up going to arbitration:
Jesus Aguilar — $3.6 million
Jorge Alfaro — $1.7 million
Brian Anderson — $2.2 million
Garrett Cooper — $1.5 million
Yimi Garcia — $1.4 million
Ryne Stanek — $800,000
Jose Urena — $3.8 million
Richard Bleier — $1.1 million
The only one that should be a tough decision is Urena; the others seem like no-brainers to retain.
Over the past two offseasons, the Marlins tendered arbitration-eligible Dan Straily (only to release him a couple of months later) and Adam Conley (only to designate him for assignment this past August).
But Urena has never managed to sustain success for any extended period. He missed time with COVID-19, went 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA in five starts, then sustained a fracture to his right arm after being hit by a line drive in the Marlins’ regular-season finale.
Alfaro is automatic to be tendered, but whether he’s the team’s primary starter next season — or ends up sharing the job with Chad Wallach — remains very much in question.
▪ Some internal feedback we have received on Trevor Rogers: The Marlins love his stuff, but there was some concern that he was reluctant to throw his fastball — and threw too many breaking balls — when he started getting hit. The hope is that he can be a long-term back-end starter, but there will be competition.
▪ Some internal feedback on Edward Cabrera and Sixto Sanchez:
One player conveyed that Cabrera’s stuff is electric and he has no doubt he’s going to be in the rotation to start next season.
With Sanchez, there was admiration expressed for his stuff and his personality/character, but emphasis on the need for him to develop a routine and learn the nuances of pitching, which should come with experience. If he gives up a couple of hard-hit balls, the Marlins don’t want him to become afraid of contact and start throwing his second- or third-best pitches on 3-2 counts.
▪ One Marlins on-field person said he would like to see some of the young pitchers develop more of a plan and the same with some of the young hitters. The Marlins have a good coaching staff, but this is something the young players will need to take the initiative on.
“JJ Bleday knows what he’s doing,” that source said, speaking of preparation and an approach at the plate. “He has a plan. Some of the other guys have talent but not a plan. That won’t work in the big leagues.”
Despite the fact he has played only at High A Jupiter so far (in 2019), some Marlins people won’t be surprised if Bleday is in the big leagues at some point in 2021.
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 11:43 AM.
