Marlins Morning News: Jason Hammel is an 'intriguing option' for Marlins

Marlins News:

For months now, rumors have swirled regarding the possibility of the Marlins signing multiple free agent pitchers, but Miami's front office hasn't yet splurged on a big name hurler, instead opting to make risk-free moves by signing two mediocre pitchers and two average relievers, all at least 29-years-old, Edison Volquez, Jeff Locke, Junichi Tazawa, and Brad Ziegler respectively to short term deals. While the offseason has so far been pretty disappointing for Marlins fans, that mood could change with the acquisition of former Chicago Cubs starter Jason Hammel, as Jason Burke of Call to the Pen points out. This was also a theory previously floated by Marlin Maniac back in November. Currently, reports are circulating that teams are showing Hammel little interest, and the ones that are won't give the 34-year-old righty more than a one-year deal. Signing Hammel won't be as big of a deal as it would have been to ink Kenley Jansen or Doug Fister, but he would provide some depth to the rotation, even if it's on a one-year or minor league deal.

Joe Frisaro of MLB.com looked back on Don Mattingly's inaugural year, Christian Yelich's power, and the tragic death of José Fernández in this year in review story.

Todd Hollandsworth has been hired by Fox Sports Florida to become the full-time color commentator for Marlins games. Hollandsworth, who played for the Marlins during their World Series-winning season in 2003 was the pre-and-post game host of CSN Chicago's Cubs telecasts from 2009 until the end of this season. The last full-time Fox Sports Florida Marlins analyst was Tommy Hutton in 2015. In 2016, owner Jeffery Loria and Fox Sports decided to experiment with an 'analyst by committee' approach, which saw a rotating cast of Al Leiter, Preston Wilson, Jeff Conine, and Eduardo Pérez join play-by-play man Rich Waltz for games. With last season's idea scrapped, it will be interesting to see how the transition back to a traditional booth will fare, and whether Waltz and Hollandsworth, who have never previously called a game together have any chemistry.

Sean Millerick of Marlins Maniac questions whether Miami has done enough shopping so far in the offseason to compete in the 2017 campaign.

Around the League:

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports that Matt Wieters is being courted heavily by two NL East rivals, the Braves and Nationals.

John Barfield, who pitched three seasons for the Texas Rangers between 1989 and 1991 was fatally shot in Little Rock, Arkansas on Christmas Eve. He was 52.

The Rangers have had 'informal' extension talks with pitcher Yu Darvish and catcher Jonathan Lucroy, two players Texas would obviously like to keep.

Dan Carson of Fox Sports compiled this list of the top 15 best MLB moments of 2016, in which two Marlins players appear.

In contrast, SB Nation's Grant Brisbee arranged the most forgettable MLB stories of 2016. Unfortunately, one Marlins story also made this list.