2014-2015 Marlins Offseason Rumors

[thatnewguy]

Or platoon Bour and Mcgehee at 1st and sign Headley or Hanley.

I would be 100% for this, especially if that whole "trade Heaney to Cubs for Starlin Castro" thing happens.

[emkayseven]

Nothing groundbreaking but some stuff from MLBTR:

Earlier today the Marlins officially announced their 13-year, $325MM extension with Giancarlo Stanton. Here’s the latest on the team following that historic agreement…

-The Marlins have made a two-year, $20MM offer to Adam LaRoche, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Recent reports have indicated that the Marlins are strongly interested in LaRoche, and Jackson’s report would back that up, though the $20MM may be a bit light to seal the deal. I recently pegged LaRoche for a two-year, $30MM deal, and he just wrapped up a two-year, $24MM pact. LaRoche is also said to be drawing interest from the Padres and White Sox.
-Also from Jackson, the Marlins have expressed interest in free agents Jason Hammel and Justin Masterson. Miami is said to covet a veteran arm to add to its rotation while ace Jose Fernandez rehabs from Tommy John surgery. James Shields‘ name has also been floated recently, though he’d obviously come at a much higher cost than either of the targets named by Jackson. The Fish are also interested in Wade Miley as a trade target, Jackson writes, but the D’Backs have very little pitching depth as it is, so moving one of their only reliable arms would seem a bit curious.
-The Marlins say their payroll will top $60MM in 2015, according to Jackson. With Stanton set to earn just $6.5MM in the first year of his extension, the Marlins currently have about $22MM committed to next year’s roster. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects an additional $20.3MM in arb raises, but the Fish should be able to add at least $20MM or so worth of salary this winter. A LaRoche signing, I would think, could lead the team to shop Garrett Jones, which would remove another $5MM from the currently projected commitment.
-Jackson’s column is rife with excellent quotes from Stanton’s press conference, including quotes from Stanton himself, from agent Joel Wolfe and from team president David Samson. Jackson hears that the Marlins’ first offer to Stanton came shortly after season’s end and was worth roughly $130MM over six years. However, Wolfe says that Stanton told him, “if it’s not a lifetime contract, there’s no point in talking.”
-The Marlins still won’t be giving out no-trade clauses to other players, according to Samson, but they had no problem giving one to Stanton. The opt-out clause was much trickier, as the Marlins were very resistant. The Marlins wanted the opt-out to be conditional based on team performance, only allowing Stanton to elect free agency if the team lost a certain number of games. Samson explained, however, that Stanton made it very clear he wasn’t interested in opting out to earn more money after that point of the contract, but rather to protect himself from being part of a losing culture. “Once we believed the opt-out clause would be used as a shield and not a sword, we were OK with it,” said Samson. Stanton also comfortable with the idea of earning less money up front in the deal to surround him with better players. A new TV deal could be in the offing for the Marlins soon, which would of course allow them a better payroll.
-Also of note from Jackson is that owner Jeffrey Loria has no intentions of selling the team. Though Samson says many people place calls with interest in buying, Loria is “in it for the long run because he loves it.”
-Shifting away from Jackson’s must-read piece — the highlights here are but a fraction of the interesting points within — former MLBTR scribe Cork Gaines writes in a piece for Business Insider that the Stanton extension can be used as leverage in negotiating a new TV deal. Miami currently has the worst local TV deal in all of baseball, paying them $13-18MM annually (the Dodgers’ deal, in contrast, pays them $334MM per year, Gaines writes). Gaines notes that having a legitimate superstar on the team will increase the value of the new TV deal. Gaines speculates that negotiations could begin in 2016 as there appears to be some kind of opt-out on the current contract, which runs through 2020. Indeed, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that they are aiming for a new TV deal to begin in 2017 — which, perhaps not coincidentally, aligns with the first significant spike in Stanton’s salary.
-In a full column, Rosenthal points out that the Rangers, Tigers and Angels each spent significant money prior to signing their new TV deals so they had a more attractive product in place for negotiations. While history has the skeptics gearing up for a fire sale in the near future, Rosenthal opines that this doesn’t look like a club that’s merely going to tear it all down again in two years.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/1...l-stanton.html

LOL if Jason Fucking Hammel is the guy we go after.

[Erick]

I don't know what he'd be worth, but Jason Hammel wouldn't be bad depending on the price, imo.

[thatnewguy]

Hammel > Masterson but I'd take both of them over Wade Miley. Are you kidding me? I mean, he's not a bad pitcher by any stretch of the imagination but if we're going to be using any of our minor league depth for trades, you'd think we'd be in the market for position players. They like Miley why? Cause he's still cost controlled? I don't know but making a trade for a pitcher who isn't a front-line starter seems foolish to me.

[thatnewguy]

...who do you suppose would want to take on that contract? I'm hoping for a bounceback average year and we improve C in house or free agency in 2016 and beyond

I mean, that's why these things are easier said than done. Hopefully someone who's so desperate to get a catcher that they'd be willing to eat the salary. Off the top of my head, I can't really think of any team that has NO catching whatsoever. Maybe Texas? They gave Geovany Soto a lot of playing time the last couple years so... I don't know man. At least they've got a history together.

I don't think any team in there right mind would do it but if someone were for some reason, I'd dump him as fast as possible. Some meh prospect for something like $4 million off books this year and the full $7-8 million next year would be great.

[Big Z]

@Ken_Rosenthal: Yet another sign that #Marlins intend to compete (as if we didn’t have 325M of them already). Teams asking on Cishek told not available.

Twitter

[Namaste]

Yuch. He needs to go.

[Big Z]

So Cishek and Salty not available. Peace out Jones. I'd love to see Bour/Baker at 1st and invest those funds at 2B/SP.

The production that we get out of Bour/Baker at 1B will most likely vastly exceed the production from Solano/Kike/DD at 2B.

[tjfla]

They asked on Miley,Masterson,and Hammel at the deadline before taking the Houston deal so nothing new there.

As for Cishek,he is available but they wanna move him with a contract and wanna wait till the Winter Meetings after the closers/RP sign.

The guys "available" are

Cishek,Dunn,Jones,Salty,Koehler/Hand(they are looking to move 1 for a better SP)
--------------------

So Cishek and Salty not available. Peace out Jones. I'd love to see Bour/Baker at 1st and invest those funds at 2B/SP.

The production that we get out of Bour/Baker at 1B will most likely vastly exceed the production from Solano/Kike/DD at 2B.

No they are just not looking to give them away like they are Jones. If a team made an offer for Salty that was reasonable they would deal him

If a team said what u want for Jones,he is gone

[lou]

Can we stop the Bour thing. The guy is a AAAA player. If he wins the last bench spot, awesome for him. But any debate if he should be the strong side of a platoon at 1B is ridiculous.

[nny]

Yeah, we're talking about a 1b with a career OPS of .811 while always being old for his league.

I'd rather give Dietrich the job if we have to do an in house option

[Namaste]

Are you guys aware that Hugg can ban you?

I'd tread lightly, boys.

[tjfla]

Guys added to 40 Man

•Five players have ascended to the Marlins 40-man, per a club announcement: catcher Austin Barnes, lefties Adam Conley and Justin Nicolino, and righties Domingo German and Matt Ramsey.

Austin Brice and Jarlin Garcia eligible for Rule 5

[lou]

I have no idea who Ramsey is, didn't realize German was eligible but an obvious.

I think Brice is surprising but I guess they feel he wouldn't make it all season in another club's bullpen.

They had to release someone else besides Jensen right? I thought they only had 4 spots?

[Miamarlin21]

Lou, you're right. The roster was at 36 after the Jensen trade. As for Ramsey, he was acquired by Tampa back in June. He had amazing numbers in Double-A. He also started a 14-minute bench-clearing braw in Jacksonville.