Offishial news, 11/29/21: Avisaíl García arrives; Sandy Alcantara stays; Sixto Sánchez speaks

First off, wishing a very Happy Hanukkah to everybody who observes it!

• The Marlins on Sunday reached agreements to sign free agent Avisaíl García and extend Sandy Alcantara for a combined $109 million. SportsGrid’s Craig Mish broke the news on both fronts. The last time that this franchise made multiple investments of that magnitude to veteran major leaguers during a single week? Mid-January of 2016, when the Fish inked Wei-Yin Chen and Dee Strange-Gordon for a combined $130 million (h/t to the MLB Trade Rumors transaction tracker).

• There were a bunch of other MLB signings over the weekend, particularly in the American League, including but not limited to Marcus Semien (Rangers), Kevin Gausman (Blue Jays), Jon Gray (Rangers), Héctor Neris (Astros), Yimi García (Blue Jays), Michael Lorenzen (Angels), Michael Wacha (Red Sox), Corey Kluber (Rays) and Kole Calhoun (Rangers).
• The Marlins still have a void to fill in center field, and they won’t be getting Byron Buxton to fill it. The hyper-talented, oft-injured Buxton got a seven-year, $100 million extension from the Twins.
• Per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the avalanche of transactions may come to a halt tonight. Teams need the final two pre-lockout days (Tuesday and Wednesday) as a buffer to complete physicals and other miscellaneous contract details and to decide on corresponding roster moves.
• Sixto Sánchez sighting! In a brief interview with the Marlins’ Kyle Sielaff, Sánchez insisted that he will be ready for 2022 Opening Day coming off arthroscopic shoulder surgery. He admits that he needs to be more “focused”—from pitch to pitch, on and off the mound—to realize his full potential. The Fish Stripes Twitter audience is split on how many innings to expect from him.

• In recent years, Alcantara, Pablo López, Trevor Rogers and their pitching coach, Mel Stottlemyre Jr., have all endured the losses of immediately family members. Great piece by Christina De Nicola of MLB.com about how that bonds them.
• Entering 2022, we are hoping to find a South Florida-based business to serve as exclusive sponsor of the Fish Stripes podcast. There have been more than 100,000 downloads of the pod this year alone! If interested, leave a comment for me here or email me at Ely.Sussman@gmail.com.

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