Offishial news, 11/2/20: MLB free agency begins

Full-blown free agency begins

As of Sunday afternoon, there are a whopping 181 major league free agents, all of whom are now eligible to sign with any MLB team. Eight of those individuals played for the Marlins in 2020, including Jonathan Villar (traded to the Blue Jays midseason) and the newly retired Francisco Cervelli.

J.T. Realmuto, George Springer, Trevor Bauer, Marcus Stroman, DJ LeMahieu and Kevin Gausman each received qualifying offers from their respective teams. They have until Nov. 11 to decide whether to accept the $18.9 million offer for 2021 or enter free agency with draft-pick compensation attached to them. As a revenue-sharing recipient, the Marlins would have to sacrifice their third-highest MLB Draft pick (projected to be in the low- to mid-50s overall) and its corresponding bonus pool amount in order to sign one of those difference-makers. Based on how the front office covets all opportunities to acquire amateur talent, that’s very unlikely.

More notably, Didi Gregorius, Marcus Semien and Michael Brantley are among the good veteran players who did not receive offers. Those developments signal that their teams expect their market value to be significantly less than $18.9 million per year. The Marlins ought to take a close look at them if they’re truly motivated to upgrade the club’s mediocre offense and challenge for a playoff berth next season.

Additional free agency analysis coming to the Fish Stripes podcast on Tuesday.

Walk-off links

• Marlins manager Don Mattingly celebrated Halloween properly on Saturday by dressing up, as he always does.

• New to the 2020 Marlins Season Review: an article on top prospect Sixto Sánchez. Expect pieces on José Ureña and Chad Wallach in the coming days.

• The 2020 SB Nation off-season simulation is underway. Fish Stripes’ own Alex Krutchik is serving as the Marlins general manager.
• Marlins bench coach/offensive coordinator James Rowson is reportedly among five finalists for the Red Sox managerial opening. However, Alex Cora is considered the frontrunner to reclaim his old job.
• The Marlins’ Promote The Vote Auction continues through Nov. 6.
• Danny Martinez shares his top Marlins free agent targets.
• Locked On MLB Prospects ranks the Marlins farm system third-best in the league and breaks it down.
• Longtime scout Stan Meek has retired after nearly two decades in the Marlins organization.
• In September, the South Florida chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America selected Pablo López for the annual Charlie Hough “Good Guy” Award. He finally received the plaque for it.