Offishial news, 11/30/21: Jacob Stallings trade reaction; Non-tender deadline day

New Fish Stripes Podcast

• It’s official: Jacob Stallings is a Marlin! Following a career year with the Pirates in which he blended elite defense with more-than-adequate offense, Stallings is poised to take over as Miami’s primary catcher, backed up by Nick Fortes or Alex Jackson.
• Zach Thompson’s baseball journey has now come full circle. The outgoing right-hander expressed his thanks to the Marlins organization.
• Tonight is the deadline to tender 2022 contracts to arbitration-eligible players. The Marlins currently have 12 of those: Jesús Aguilar, Sandy Alcantara, Jorge Alfaro, Brian Anderson, Jon Berti, Richard Bleier, Lewis Brinson, Garrett Cooper, Dylan Floro, Elieser Hernandez, Pablo López and Stallings. However, they’re preparing to ink Alcantara to a long-term extension anyway and they have no intention of retaining Alfaro, Craig Mish of SportsGrid unsurprisingly reports.
• MLB Network’s Jon Morosi hears that the Padres are a possible landing spot for Alfaro. I would be stunned if the Marlins extracted any positive value by trading him on his own, but perhaps they can construct a larger package around the 28-year-old.
• Fish Stripes favorite free agent target Chris Taylor could sign with a team soon, Morosi adds in a separate report. Earlier on Monday, Jon Heyman tweeted that Taylor was “on the Marlins’ radar.”
• As impressive as Jesús Sánchez was at times in 2021, I pondered the possibility of trading him.
• Utility player Ray Patrick-Didder became the first of what could be more than a dozen minor league free agents to sign with the Marlins and receive invitations to spring training. The native of Aruba spent most of his professional career (2013-2019) in the Braves organization, most recently playing for the Angels’ Double-A affiliate. He owns a .242/.350/.341 slash line in 736 MiLB games. He was utilized as a shortstop for the majority of his defensive innings this season.
• Monday’s major league signings included Corey Seager (Rangers), Max Scherzer (Mets), Robbie Ray (Mariners), Alex Cobb (Giants), Kirby Yates (Braves) and Brooks Raley (Rays).
• Why can’t this exciting period of seismic transactions be replicated in future MLB offseasons? J.J. Cooper of Baseball America has some ideas.
• From Max Meyer to Jackson Rose, MiLB.com has selected Marlins Organization All-Stars at every position.
• Peter Pratt has begun his reign as host of the Locked On Marlins podcast. Expect new episodes to be posted every weekday at 7:00 a.m. ET.
• Man On 2nd reacts to the Avisaíl García signing, Alcantara extension and more.
• Despite its disastrous outcome from Miami’s perspective, Baseball Trade Values explains why the Christian Yelich trade was a fair deal at the time.

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