The Latest on Marlins’ Outfield – MLB Commercial Rumors

The Marlins head into the season looking for at least one peripheral upgrade and test an extra out of the box before locking in when warranted. Avisail Garcia on a four-year, $53 million contract. They still hope to have “at least one more” as the current transaction freeze increases, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald writes, which blends well with recent reports binding Fish to a multitude of off-court options.

They are associated with different scopes, free agent options such as Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos and Eddie Rosario even after adding Garcia. On the commercial front, they are reported to have care in the star D-back Ketel Marte. An important note in their quest to add to the off-court mix, through second column from McPherson, that’s general manager Kim Ng suggesting the team believes the newly signed Garcia can play regularly in the central position, if needed.

Miami doesn’t currently have a true daily striker, and at least on the surface, the Marlins look like they’re carrying quite a few quarterbacks just around the corner (eg Garcia, Jesus Sánchez, Garrett Cooper). Redemption period Bryan De La Cruz had some experience in the center position (629 plays between MLB and the minors), but a good portion of that (199 plays) was unnecessary with the Marlins at the end of last season. Meanwhile, he has just made 3000 career plays on the right-court and 723 on the left-court, showing that the Astros – who handed him over to Miami in Yimi Garcia deal this past July – saw him as a corner pick at least.

The willingness to play Garcia in the midfield will give Fish another corner option. To that end, it should be noted that Jon Heyman of MLB Network suggested last week on his Big Time Baseball Podcast that Miami “could end up with Rosario” as their preferred pick as an off-court second pickup spot. Both Rosario and Garcia have played pretty well at the center of their careers, so if the former actually joins the latter in Miami, perhaps both could have some time there from time to time.

After the Marlins signed a contract with Garcia and the transaction before locking their door to get the catcher Jacob Stallings and midfielder Joey Wendle, Miami has $23.8 million in guaranteed payroll and projected payroll for Opening Day is around $69 million, Per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez (includes both referee-qualified players and pre-match players). That would be a jump of around $12 million from last year’s scrapped list, but even for an often low-paying club like the Marlins, there’s room to add to that mark. Previously, the Bruce Sherman/Derek Jeter ownership group was said to be planning a gradual increase in staffing as the team emerges from the rebuilding effort. The signing of Garcia, Sandy Alcantara renewals and the acquisition of several arb-qualified players with relative salaries (Stallings, Wendle) both support that line of thought.