Miami Marlins 2025-2026 Offseason Wish List

Coming off a 79-win season, the core for this team looks to be intact.

They have a young stable of arms ready to continue to carry them into the future. A rotation led by a former unanimous Cy Young winner, Sandy Alcantara, who rebounded nicely in 2025 after a bumpy start; a young phenom in Eury Pérez, who also looked to bounce right back from his own elbow surgery; and Edward Cabrera, who is coming off a career year, means the pitching staff is in good hands.

On the offensive side, the emergence of their young guys was just as important.

Kyle Stowers looks to have finally caught up to the expectations set for him as a prospect. Jakob Marsee and Agustín Ramírez both made their debuts this year, and both ended up on multiple National League Rookie of the Year ballots. Griffin Conine was showcasing his revamped swing incredibly well, prior to going down with an injury. The Fish also had so many other contributions throughout the year from Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards.

The Marlins kicked off the 2026 offseason by appointing former Phillies and Giants manager Gabe Kapler as their new general manager under president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. Speaking of Bendix, he was recently quoted as saying that the Marlins are going to look to invest in their big league roster to look to build off of their 2025 success.

Second-year manager Clayton McCullough looks to be the right man for the job. Despite the slow start last year, he kept the ship steady and now looks to lead the Fighting Fish back into the postseason.

In this article, I want to highlight a couple of realistic moves that the Marlins could make, whether via free agency or trade, that could solidify their place in the contenders’ pool.

As it currently stands, the Marlins have a projected $57.1 million allocated to their roster heading into 2026 (29th in MLB). With the team’s seeming willingness to spend and a couple of spots on their roster in need of an upgrade, it is time to cook up what an offseason could realistically look like for the team down in South Florida.

Pending Free Agents

• None

I hope you did not get lost in that extensive list.

The Marlins do not have one player from their 2025 major league roster hitting free agency this offseason. That is largely because the two major league signings that they made last offseason were Eric Wagaman, who signed a two-year deal, and Cal Quantrill, who was DFA’d before the end of the year.

Top Offseason Priorities

An Impact Middle-of-the-Order Bat

If there is something the Marlins have been lacking for some time, probably since the Giancarlo Stanton trade back in 2017, it is a pure power bat in the middle of the order.

As things currently stand, Stowers, Ramírez, and Conine are projected to man the three through five spots in Miami’s lineup. While all three had promising 2025 seasons, the projected middle of the order still leaves much to be desired. We have already started to see rumors swirl regarding the Marlins’ search.

One name that has come up in rumors is Mike Yastrzemski:

The familiarity between Yaz and Kapler is well-known from their time together in San Francisco. He is coming off his age-34 season, where he put up a 2.4 fWAR to go along with a .233/.333/.403 line and 17 home runs.

The fit is a bit of a head-scratcher considering the Marlins are currently projected to have three left-handed hitting outfielders manning the outfield on Opening Day, but any interest they might have is only further proof of them acknowledging that there is a need for another impact bat in the middle of their order.

The Marlins ranked 27th in all of baseball in team home runs this past season, with 154 in total.

A Real First Baseman

To be honest, these two needs could be combined.

The Marlins had three players primarily rotating at first base this past year: Wagaman (.674 OPS), Liam Hicks (.692 OPS), and Graham Pauley (.677 OPS). While they performed admirably compared to expectations coming into the year, an improvement must be made.

As you can see from the image above, the Marlins ranked 28th in all of baseball in slugging percentage at the first base position last year. Luckily for them, if they are serious about investing in the position, there are options on the market that will likely fit their price range.

With that being said, any hesitancy to add a first baseman may come from their current internal options that are projected to spend time at first in 2026.

Aside from the trio mentioned above, Ramírez has been mentioned as an option, as his defensive ability behind the plate has always been in question. The fact that the Marlins have another young catcher on the verge of debuting in Joe Mack, who is well-known for his above-average defense, makes this move seem a little more realistic.

What this means is that potential external options for first base may be more short-term. Still, the need is there, and players are available to fill the void.

Potential Free Agent Fits: Rhys Hoskins, Ryan O’Hearn

Hoskins recently became a free agent after the Brewers decided to decline their side of the mutual option on his contract. Coming off a season where he was limited to 90 games due to injury, Hoskins should be an affordable option for the Marlins.

In his first full season back after the torn ACL he suffered, Hoskins posted an OPS of .722 with 26 home runs in 131 games in 2024. He has essentially been a hole defensively at the position, but he would provide the thump that the Marlins are desperately searching for.

With O’Hearn, the Marlins would be getting so much more. Since joining Baltimore in 2023, he seemingly figured something out. He is coming off a career year at age 31, where he slashed .281/.366/.437 with 17 home runs, a 127 wRC+, and 3.0 fWAR.

Spotrac currently projects O’Hearn’s market to be around a $11.5 million AAV. With rumors that the Marlins are looking to add to their payroll, O’Hearn would be a good option for them to explore this offseason.

Trade Candidate: Willson Contreras or Jordan Walker (STL)

Contreras would also fall into the “adding to the payroll” category as he is still under contract through 2027, with a club option for 2028.

While he does currently have a full no-trade clause through the 2026 season, it would be hard to believe that he wouldn’t approve a trade down to Miami. The 34-year-old is coming off a 136-game full-season at first base for the first time in his career after moving off from the catching position entirely. He hit .257 with a .791 OPS and 20 home runs for the Cardinals this past season.

Not only would he provide the Marlins with a middle-of-the-order bat, but having him around would give a young Marlins roster a veteran presence with postseason experience to help them reach the next level. He could be especially helpful as a mentor for Agustín Ramírez.

Is there a more obvious change-of-scenery/buy-low option out there than Walker? The former top prospect has gone through his fair share of struggles the past couple of seasons.

The 23-year-old is entering his final year of pre-arb, so he still has plenty of team control, and the Marlins could help the Cardinals out in their search for a starting pitcher by trading one of their excess arms.

Walker has never spent time at first base in his professional career, but he was drafted as a third baseman. As another one of the writers here at Just Baseball, Clay Snowden, mentioned in an article from last year that a move to first base almost seems as if it were what should have been considered from the beginning.

The experiment in the outfield was only a temporary solution due to the fact that the Cardinals had just traded for a pair of potential future Hall of Famers, Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt, to man the corners in the infield.

A Back-End Bullpen Arm

The Marlins were 22nd in baseball last year in bullpen ERA with a 4.28. Their 631.1 innings pitched from that crew were the fifth highest in all of baseball.

If you look at the names in the bullpen, a casual baseball fan might not recognize a single player in there. The combination of Calvin Faucher, Ronny Henriquez, Tyler Phillips, and Anthony Bender pitched their hearts out for the Fish in 2025. That rotation combined for 30 of the team’s 40 total saves last year.

While they were able to lock down the back-end of the bullpen, a consistent option back there could provide McCullough more flexibility to deploy his high-leverage arms in earlier situations when the team needs to get out of a jam. There are rumblings about Max Meyer being that closer option for the Marlins long-term, but he performed well as a starter in 2025 before being shut down with a hip injury.

Dating back to previous ownership, the Marlins have been linked, and reportedly in deep conversations, to sign closers to lucrative deals. Some notable names linked to Miami were Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman when they were free agents after the 2016 season.

Now is the perfect time to revisit those days. Luckily for the Marlins, they’ve got options they can sign.

Potential Free Agent Fits: Pete Fairbanks, Devin Williams, Ryan Helsley

This first option may not seem like an option, considering the teams that were immediately linked to Fairbanks when the Rays decided to move on, but let’s remember where Bendix came from prior to being hired by the Marlins.

Given that he and Fairbanks likely crossed paths while they were both in Tampa, a possible reunion could be in the cards.

Fairbanks is coming off back-to-back seasons where he saw his strikeout number plummet. After posting a 13.5 K/9 in 2023, he put up consecutive sub-9.0s the following two years. He could be looking for a one-year deal this offseason to try to rebuild some of his value, and that’s where Miami could pounce.

Williams’s year in New York was nothing short of a disappointment. After being acquired by the Yankees before the start of the season, he put up career-worsts in ERA, K/9, HR/9, and LOB%.

Unfortunately for him, the season also got progressively worse. After posting a 3.69 ERA in the first half, it was a 5.93 ERA in the second. He wasn’t always trusted in high-leverage situations, and his struggles forced the Yankees to make multiple trades at the deadline for back-end arms.

Williams might still be searching for a multi-year deal, but it should be in a range where the Marlins could be players.

After being traded to the Mets, Helsley’s season really took a turn for the worse. However, even though the last image we have of him on the mound is a negative one, he is only one year removed from a year where he was arguably the best relief pitcher in all of baseball, ending the year with 49 saves.

Helsley is another arm who will likely be looking for a multi-year deal, but the stability he would provide for a team back in his closer’s role is exactly what a team looking to contend should try to add.

Sign Eury Pérez to a Pre-Arb Extension

When Pérez made his debut in 2022 as a 19-year-old, he immediately won over the fan base. That 6-foot-8 frame on the mound loomed large for the future of the franchise.

Unfortunately, having to undergo Tommy John and the uncertainty of that caused a dark cloud to loom larger for his future.

Fortunately for him, the organization, and the fan base, Eury was able to rehab with his mentor, Sandy Alcantara, as they were both working their way back from the same injury.

In his first season back, Pérez showed the same flash that had him atop prospect lists across the industry. The final numbers did not look great, but given the fact that he did not experience any setbacks, and most of his struggles came at the back end of the season, the Marlins should capitalize now on signing Eury to a pre-arb extension.

Seeing that the Marlins already have an established relationship with his agency, the same agent who represents Alcantara, the start of the conversation should be easy. The Marlins would be smart to get ahead of this and lock down the future ace of their organization.

Final Thoughts

The Miami Marlins are seemingly entering their next phase a little earlier than they had anticipated.

To have had the success they did in 2025 — one calendar year after trading away players like Luis Arraez, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jake Burger, and Jesús Luzardo — is an indication that Peter Bendix has positioned this organization well. The Marlins’ success this past year is a big testament to the development team they’ve built from top to bottom.

We have seen nothing but smoke coming from all the rumors swirling since the offseason started for Miami. The core is established, the development team is pristine, the pocketbooks are said to now be open, and we have seen the magic that Bendix has been able to flash when identifying the players to best suit this roster.

In Bendix, we trust.