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13 Marlins minor leaguers elect free agency

The group of players freed from the Jacksonville and New Orleans rosters includes Eric Campbell, Jumbo Diaz and two others with prior major league experience.

By Ely Sussman
RHP Jumbo Diaz had a great season at Triple-A New Orleans (and continues to thrive in the Dominican Winter League), but didn’t receive a call-up from the Marlins in 2018.
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

‘Tis the season for player movement, especially on the minor league side. We’ve pointed out that the Marlins have zero major league free agents leaving their organization during the 2018-19 offseason, but the front office still has plenty of business to take care of.

On Friday, 13 players officially hit the open market: catcher Austin Nola, infielders Cristhian Adames, Eric Campbell, Cito Culver, Chris Díaz, Peter Mooney and Jonathan Rodriguez, and pitchers Jumbo Díaz and Mike Kickham from Triple-A New Orleans; catcher Rodrigo Vigil and pitchers Andy Beltre, Miguel Del Pozo and Ryan Newell from Double-A Jacksonville.

None of them cracked the Marlins active roster in 2018, but four have MLB experience. Adames previously played for the Rockies (.206/.283/.278, 2 HR in 343 PA), Campbell for the Mets (.221/.312/.311, 7 HR in 505 PA), Jumbo Díaz for the Reds and Rays (4.02 ERA, 4.20 FIP, 168.0 IP), and once upon a time, Kickham got a World Series ring with the Giants (10.98 ERA, 6.02 FIP in 30.1 IP).

It’s expected that the Marlins will attempt to re-sign a few of these guys with an invitation to spring training. Otherwise, there ought to be plenty of alternatives who similarly elected free agency from the other 29 MLB teams.

If you had to pick one familiar face to bring back, who would it be?

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