What Miami Marlins hope to do in remainder of offseason and their plan with Garcia
A Miami Marlins 6-pack on a Wednesday:
▪ The Marlins plan to add another starting outfielder, via either free agency or trade. But they do not believe it absolutely must be a center fielder.
Marlins CEO Derek Jeter said the organization is comfortable having Avisail Garcia play center field, if they choose, even though that’s not his primary defensive position.
Garcia, a natural right fielder, has played 90 career games in center — including 44 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season and one last season. He committed two errors in those 90 games.
If Garcia can play center, that would expand the available options for the Marlins to add another bat to start alongside Garcia and in all likelihood, Jesus Sanchez.
Having Garcia play center would allow Miami to pursue, among others, free agent left fielder Kyle Schwarber, who hit .266 with 32 homers and 71 RBI for Washington and Boston last season; or free agent outfielder Nick Castellanos, a natural right fielder who hit .309, with 34 homers and 100 RBI for the Reds last season.
Regarding Garcia potentially playing center field, Jeter said: “I don’t see any reason why not. We’ll see how it unfolds when we get to spring training. From having a conversation with him, he’s comfortable playing anywhere. That’s a plus. He’s done it before. He’s capable of doing it.”
With the Dodgers’ Chris Taylor reportedly close to re-signing with the Dodgers, the free agent center field market is largely bereft of appealing options. Michael Conforto (146 career games in center) is one of the decent remaining free agents; he hit .232 with 14 homers and 55 RBI for the Mets.
If the Marlins acquire a center fielder, Garcia (.262, 29 homers, 86 RBI for the Brewers last season) would play right field.
General manager Kim Ng suggested the team would continue exploring center field options.
“Something that was quite intriguing to us about Avi is the idea that he has played center field in the past and is definitely willing to do it if we needed,” she said. “So at the very least, if we do get somebody for center, he’ll be able to spell that person from time to time.”
And offensively, “his metrics are definitely in line of what we were looking for,” Ng said.
Bryan De La Cruz is positioned to be the fourth outfielder.
▪ Is there the money available to add another significant salary?
“Yeah,” Jeter said. “We’re not going to make decisions like it’s the Wild, Wild West. [But] we anticipate doing more.”
The Marlins’ annual local revenue has increased by at least $35 million in recent months, because of their new television deal and stadium naming rights deal.
Owner Bruce Sherman declined to say precisely how much of that $35 million would be allocated toward big-league payroll, instead saying; “We will do whatever we can to win. We want to win through trades, extensions, [free agency], [and do] nothing short of winning here.”
▪ Jeter, on new catcher Jacob Stallings, a 2021 Gold Glove winner and excellent game-caller who was acquired from Pittsburgh for pitchers Zach Thompson and Kyle Nicolas and outfield prospect Connor Scott:
“Everyone knows what type of year he had. It’s important because we have young pitchers; you need someone who’s going to help them continue to develop.”
Stallings is coming off his best offensive season (.246, 8 homers, 53 RBI in 112 games).
▪ Ng was noncommittal about whether Joey Wendle would be a starter or a fill-in at multiple positions (second, shortstop, third, outfield).
“I think we’re going to have to wait and see how that goes,” Ng said. “He’s played third base for the Rays for a while now. You can put him at different positions and we can be flexible with it. We dealt with a lot of injuries last year and in terms of multidimensionality and flexibility, that is something that we’ve seen the industry go to, so I think he’s a tremendous add for us.”
▪ Ng said the Marlins have received an “onslaught” of calls from teams inquiring about trading for their high-end young pitching.
“We have been able to keep those upper-echelon prospects throughout this whole process,” she said. “We hope that those guys are here for us as we move forward and as we mature as an organization. We’re looking for one of those players to step in when needed.”
Would it take something monumental to trade anyone from a group including Pablo Lopez, Max Meyer, Sixto Sanchez and Edward Cabrera?
“It has to be elite and impactful either for today or for the future,” Ng said.
▪ The Marlins — who acquired reliever Louis Head (2.31 ERA in 27 games last season for Tampa) in November — plan to address their bullpen further later in the offseason.
Another back-end reliever likely will be added to supplement Dylan Floro, who ended the season as the closer.
“For the next couple of months, we’re definitely going to be looking at how we can improve there,” Ng said. “We’d like to bring another pitcher to participate in those high leverage situations.... What we’ve found in the past is that the reliever market doesn’t necessarily unfold as quickly as the other markets, so we’ve got some time.”
This story was originally published December 1, 2021 at 5:19 PM.
