Our Noticias, 7/24/20: Paying BA; Opening Day roster minutaie; real Fish Picks

#PayBA movement gains momentum

The Marlins have taken a baby step towards awarding their first long-term contract extension of this rebuild, according to insider Craig Mish. I say baby step because a deal in the five-year, $30 million range for Brian Anderson’s 2021-2025 seasons is laughable.

Drafted and developed by the Fish, Anderson is a career .267/.349/.425 hitter (112 wRC+) through his first 307 games who provides plus defense at both third base and right field. FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference value his production so far at 6.5 WAR and 6.7 WAR, respectively. He celebrated his 27th birthday in May.

The contract length sounds appropriate, as it would buy out Andy’s arbitration years and two free agent years. But barring some terrible individual results during this shortened season, he’d be wiser to bet on himself through the arb process than settle for something so far below market value.

Our own Ernesto Herrero will have more analysis on this shortly.

Marlins 30-man roster notes

• The average age of the Marlins Opening Day roster is 28.05 years old; the median age is 28.55.
• Twelve members of the roster did not play in any Marlins regular season games last season.
• Four of them—Jordan Holloway, Nick Neidert, Sterling Sharp and Alex Vesia—were ranked on the Fish Stripes Top 30 prospects list this spring.
• Only seven were “inherited” from the Jeffrey Loria regime (Brian Anderson, Jeff Brigham, Adam Conley, Holloway, Pablo López, Miguel Rojas and José Ureña).
• In placing Drew Steckenrider (triceps tendinitis) on the 45-day injured list, there is an open spot on the Marlins 40-man roster.

Real Fish Picks on deck

Congrats to Twitter users @onlyNYClionsfan and @JJFearnley—they were the co-points leaders from our exhibition games prop bets, as shown on the Fish Picks leaderboard. Beginning on Friday, the contest gets serious.

Win or lose, Fish Stripes is committed to making every Marlins game during the 2020 season feel like appointment viewing. That’s why we will once again be customizing daily, pregame prop bets, tracking all of your responses and awarding prizes. Participate here on the site or on Twitter, where we’ll post the Fish Picks as soon as lineups for the upcoming game are announced.

Fish Stripes has partnered with Fantom Drip, who will be sending out protective, Marlins-themed face covers to the weekly points leaders. Rep your favorite team while helping your community combat the spread of COVID-19!

Fantom Drip also designed a Fish Stripes version. Get 10% off your entire order with promo code FD10 (and let them know Ely sent you).

Exclusive Fish Stripes Face Cover

• $12

• $12 at Fantom Drip

Walk-off links

• Familiar faces Starlin Castro and Tyler Heineman officially debuted with their new teams on Thursday night. Castro was 0-for-2 in a Nationals loss, while Heineman went 2-for-3 as the Giants starting catcher (also in a losing effort).
• Swings and Mishes interviewed Marlins CEO Derek Jeter earlier this week. Be on the lookout for another podcast episode from them on Friday.
• On a related note, the new Fish Stripes show “Marlins Barbecue” has been busy this week! Get caught up on your preferred pod provider.
• The “weirdness” of FOX Sports Florida’s remote game broadcasts, by David Furones of the Sun Sentinel.
• It looks like Holloway (No. 78) and Vesia (No. 96) are about to make Marlins uniform number history.
• If you weren’t hyped for the Marlins opener already, how about now?