Offishial news, 11/9/22: Marlins roster cuts complete; Pablo López rumors

Marlins Stat of the Day (via FanGraphs)

Antonio Alfonseca allowed the highest career groundball rate in Marlins history among pitchers with at least 100 total innings.

Marlins Podcast Episodes

• Tuesday’s fall/winter ball updates: Holt Jones struggled (2.2 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 1 K) but Joe Mack homered for the fourth time in the AFL as the Mesa Solar Sox held on to defeat the Salt River Rafters; Jerar Encarnación (Águilas Cibaeñas) went 1-for-4 with a double; Bryan De La Cruz (Toros del Este) went 0-for-4 with a walk and Jesús Sánchez (Toros del Este) went 1-for-5.
• The first phase of Miami’s 40-man roster clean-up is complete and the most surprising departure is Cole Sulser, who was claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks. Acquired from the Orioles coming off a great 2021 campaign (2.70 ERA, 2.98 FIP in 63.1 IP), he helped the Marlins bullpen in April, but faded after that, in part due to injury. Luke Williams was claimed by the Dodgers. Bryan Hoeing, Jordan Holloway and Cody Poteet all cleared waivers (Holloway and Poteet are expected to enter minor league free agency this week).
• Jorge Soler will collect his $15 million salary for 2023 rather than use the opt-out in his contract, Craig Mish of SportsGrid confirms. A nagging back injury made the decision easy for Soler.
• The Marlins declined their side of Joey Wendle’s $6.3 million mutual option, believing they can get him at a lower price through the arbitration process.
• Per Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the Marlins have once again expressed a willingness to trade Pablo López. The veteran right-hander has two years of club control remaining and just enjoyed his first fully healthy major league season.
• I have gradually come around to the idea of trading López, as explained in my breakdown of what a successful Marlins offseason would look like.
• The NL Cy Young “finalists” are Sandy Alcantara, Julio Urías and Max Fried. It’s a frivolous part of the award announcement process—voting was completed more than a month ago!
• We have a fun edition of Fish Stripes LIVE in store for you tonight from 7:00-8:00 p.m. on YouTube/Twitch/Twitter. Aram Leighton of Just Baseball will come on the show as we analyze all of the aforementioned news nuggets.

• Kevin Barral pens Braxton Garrett’s season review article.
• Troy Johnston was selected as the first baseman for the Southern League end-of-season All-Star team.
• LoanDepot Park is now selling group tickets and suites for the 2023 World Baseball Classic.