The Miami Marlins The team had a very clear idea of what they wanted to do with their roster from early in the season. With a team that kept losing in the first weeks of the tournament, the fish management, headed by the new president of operations of baseball, Peter Bendix, began to pull the trigger hard.
The first to leave was Venezuelan Luis Arraéz in May and everything culminated just before the close of the trade market on July 30, when the Marlins waived up to nine players.
After the aggressive sale, the highest-paid player in the organization was Jesus Sanchez, who earns $2.1 million a year; or what is equal, the same as the star outfielder of the New York Yankees, Aaron Judge, would earn in about 10 games.
According to Statista, Miami started the season with the 26th lowest payroll in the Major Leagues ($97.2 million). When the club traded Arraez for four prospects, the club’s management assumed about $10 million of the $10.6 million remaining on the “Regadera” contract. Therefore, the move cannot be seen as a relief to the pocketbook, but rather as the purchase of promises.
Bendix decided to use the trade deadline as a way to lower payroll, but also to bolster a battered farm system. Before the start of the current season, the main specialized portals placed the Marlins’ minor league system in 27th or 28th place in baseball.
In a span of days, Miami released nine players whose salaries combined for a total of approximately $30 million.
Meanwhile, the Fish received 19 players in exchange for those nine. And of the team’s top 12 prospects, four joined the team in recent days.
The Marlins are no strangers to roster rebuilds. In 1998, a year after winning their first World Series, the team gutted their roster. In 2005, they did it again, after winning the Fall Classic two years earlier. In 2012, in anticipation of opening their new ballpark, they let go of José Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson, among others. And in 2017, they did it again, saying goodbye to Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich.
But this time it could be different. The moves were made under the supervision of a Bendix who arrived with a successful resume with the neighboring Rays. The task of exciting a disappointed Miami fan base will not be easy, but the wait could be worth it this time.
