FutureGM

There was a report before this latest stadium announcement that MLB and Manfred want a team in the Tampa Bay area and do not want them to move. They are almost certainly going to push Sternberg out and then work out some kind of new stadium deal with a new owner. But the Trop is still a mess and I think these claims that they will be ready to play there again by opening day next year seem wildly optimistic.

MLB doesn’t care about who owns a team as long as the check clears. Look at the McCourt situation in LA, or the former Mets owners losing a bunch of money to Bernie Madoff

Someone actually needs to play for this team. Nobody's going to claim Bell at his current salary so I don't know why they don't just keep him for now. He actually has the 3rd highest OPS+ among hitters still with the team. Arraez and Jazz were both higher but they are now gone.

My assumption is that they decided to buy in on a guy who was lower rated because the other guys they wanted went before their pick. I could be wrong. It's just concerning because this team has not been able to develop good hitters in ages, especially prep hitters.

The last HS outfielder the Marlins took in the 1st round was Connor Scott, who never hit

This is a bad draft overall so I don't really know why they didn't take someone better early

My guess is that they took a cheaper guy so that they can spend more in later rounds Most of the guys I saw the Marlins linked to got picked before them, like Tibbs, Smith, and King

I can't really explain how he just completely failed to hit as a pro when he was one of the best college hitters of his class. Unfortunately some guys just end up like busts this way, but it's unusual when it happens to a college guy.

It helped in the Pablo/Arraez deal that the prospect we threw in, Jose Salas, has absolutely cratered as a prospect since the trade for whatever reason.

Arraez should absolutely get paid, he has a great bat at a premium defensive position. The Marlins were never going to keep him with this ownership regardless of price so it doesn't matter anyway.

They were going to trade Pablo at some point. I assume that they are going to follow this with trading Burger, Bell, maybe Edward Cabrera at least. I would say maybe Jazz but I don't know if that would bring back much right now.

Wrigley is a very nice stadium, although I haven't been there in 20 years and I know they did a bunch of renovations in that time.

Oh there is a plan, it's that they are going to start gutting the team in a month or so If they are not going to spend money on hitters, this team is doomed...the pitching will be there next year, but we have no hitters of note in the farm system. So I'm anticipating that you will see guys like Bell, Burger, maybe Jazz traded within the next two months Luis Arraez is also a very attractive pickup for a contending team

I agree with some earlier comments that this past winter may have been one of the worst for the franchise in terms of disappointment. They make the playoffs, and the response from ownership is to fire the GM, make the head coach a lame duck, and then sign more assistant GMs than actual MLB free agents. If Bruce Sherman is going to just continue to not care about the on-field product, then I'm not sure why we as fans should care. I have to assume the way that this team is going, we are about to fall into yet another years long rebuild.

Skip will have his choice of job next year, and I don't blame him wanting to leave. This ownership has nothing to offer him except disappointment.

I would prefer that my favorite team not sign a guy with multiple credible rape allegations against him

He's not a bad option but he is probably looking for like $12-13 mil, and it's pretty clear this team can't/won't pay that

Tim Anderson would be a great sign as a buy low candidate. I don't understand why we haven't at least tried on him.

I am not at all surprised Bellinger is still a FA. I get that he had a good year, but since those couple of years with the Dodgers, his power has completely vanished. If he regresses at all you are stuck with a really expensive bust. I'm pretty convinced whatever team signs him will regret it.

Unless someone really breaks out this year, this is going to probably be the worst Marlins lineup in a long, long time. I really hope Jazz stays healthy and can play close to a full season because I like him, but for this team to not be a 4th or 5th place team for most of the year you are counting on him and a lot of other guys to all overperform. That's very unlikely to happen. The signal from the Marlins FO is that despite making the playoffs, ownership is either unable or unwilling to spend to build on that. Kim Ng being shown the door pretty quickly after what was a very successful season said a lot. I'm starting to wonder if they are going to go back into rebuilding soon. The farm is really barren and I just don't see how this team, as constructed, is going to be anywhere close to playoff contention. The rumors about them trading someone like Edward Cabrera or Jesus Luzardo have been pretty consistent most of the offseason. It's really sad that I am at the point where I would like to have someone like Loria back, if for no other reason than sometimes he would actually open his pocketbook.

I think this may be the deadest Marlins offseason in my memory. You trade for Christian Bethancourt and a couple of guys who are probably going to be on the Jacksonville to Miami shuttle most of the year, and that's it. Meanwhile, your 2nd best hitter from last season is a FA and hasn't even been contacted by the team.

I know that teams generally don't draft for need, but I've been surprised with how many pitchers they've drafted this year and so far no catchers at all. We don't really have any catching prospects in the org of note except for Joe Mack.

It sure sounds like he's going to end up getting released. He has to be one of the biggest international signing busts ever.

That Conforto deal is basically a 1 year deal. It's still absurd that we can't even get someone like that down here. I'm assuming at this point that we maybe get a trade where they trade away one of those starters for prospects and that is probably the extent of the offseason moves. There's nobody really left on the FA market besides guys who are pretty much cooked like Hosmer.

I'm not going to blame Ng for this. She works for ownership, and if they are not giving her more money to spend, or players don't want to come here, that's out of her control I am getting concerned about the farm system though. Max Meyer's going to miss all of 2023, Jake Eder is going to miss a chunk of this year, who knows if Sixto is ever going to pitch much again, etc. Say what you will about Loria's regime, they did a very good job developing talent.