The Marlins were one of the teams known to have interest in free agent first baseman Yuli Gurriel earlier this offseason. Some reports painted Miami as the favorite to land the longtime Astros infielder, though the Fish subsequently backed off their pursuit.
According to Craig Mish and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, Miami had made Gurriel a one-year offer worth a bit more than $2M this winter.
After a week without getting a definitive response from the former batting champion’s camp, the Fish took that proposal off the table.
Gurriel was reportedly seeking a deal in the $3M range at one point. Whether that’s still the case isn’t known, but he continues to linger alongside Luke Voit, Miguel Sanó and Mike Moustakas as the most accomplished remaining free agent first base options.
Gurriel reportedly drew some interest, the extent of which is unclear, from the Twins. Houston brass has also praised his presence in the clubhouse over the last seven years, though Astros general manager Dana Brown indicated last week there might not be room on the roster after Houston brought in José Abreu to play first base.
Meanwhile, Jackson writes that Miami could look to bring in a different first baseman on a minor league contract with a spring training invitation.
Garrett Cooper is in line for the starting job. He’s a quality hitter but has only twice reached 400 plate appearances in a season thanks to a lengthy injury history.
Cooper has had injured list stints in all five years since the Marlins acquired him from the Yankees over the 2017-18 offseason. Miami has Luis Arraez as an alternative first base option but plans to give him more consistent run at second base.
The Fish made a more significant acquisition on the other side of the ball over the weekend, bringing in reliever A.J. Puk in a trade that sent outfielder JJ Bleday to Oakland.
Puk jumps into the late-inning mix, while Miami’s ample rotation depth could lead to a camp battle for starts. Sandy Alcantara headlines the staff, with Jesús Luzardo, Trevor Rogers, Braxton Garrett, Edward Cabrera and offseason signee Johnny Cueto all options for the rotation.
While it’s possible one member of that group starts the year in the bullpen, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. indicated today the team could carry them all in the rotation (link via Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald).
While the pitching coach didn’t commit to any roles at this stage of the winter, he noted that general manager Kim Ng and manager Skip Schumaker have discussed the potential for a six-man starting staff.
Doing so early in the season could help manage workloads to ease into the year. Of course, it’s unlikely all six hurlers will stay healthy and perform well from Opening Day through year’s end, so injuries either in spring training or during the season are likely to sort things out.
On the other side of the equation, the Marlins could eventually welcome another talented young starter back from a laundry list of recent injuries.
Sixto Sánchez hasn’t thrown a big league pitch in two years thanks to shoulder issues that required multiple surgeries. The most recent of those procedures came last fall. Sánchez told reporters last week he feels about 85% and has thrown a handful of bullpen sessions.
Stottlemyre declined to specify a timetable for Sánchez’s return to a big league mound but indicated the team continues to view him as a starting pitcher.
The veteran coach expressed a desire to get the 24-year-old to rebuild a workload against live hitters. Once one of the sport’s top pitching prospects and the centerpiece of the J.T. Realmuto trade, Sánchez has seven MLB starts to date.
He worked to a 3.46 ERA with an excellent 58% grounder rate over 39 innings during the shortened 2020 schedule.
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