What the Marlins are getting with their modest offseason additions

The Marlins — with more than $95 million in 2024 payroll commitments and limited spending money — haven’t spent a dime on an established veteran free agent this offseason.

Per mlbtraderumors.com, the Marlins, Yankees, Rockies and Cubs are the only teams that haven’t allocated any guaranteed money in free agency this winter.

Conversely, the revenue-rich Dodgers have spent $1 billion.

Among other National League East teams besides the Marlins, Philadelphia has spent $172 million in guaranteed free agent money this offseason, Atlanta $30 million, the Mets $18.8 million and the Nationals $4.25 million (half of that on former Marlins reliever Dylan Floro).

To this point, Peter Bendix, the Marlins’ new president of baseball operations, has filled out the 40-man roster with journeymen and marginal prospects. The expectation is that an established big-league player or two will be added at some point before the season, perhaps via trade.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal has reported that the Marlins might consider listening to offers on starting pitchers in an attempt to boost their offense.

But with Sandy Alcantara sidelined for the entire 2024 season after elbow surgery, there could be hesitation (justifiably so) to deplete a starting pitching stable of including Jesus Luzardo, Eury Perez, Braxton Garrett, Edward Cabrera, Trevor Rogers and Max Meyer.

We will examine what the Marlins have added in a two-part series in the days ahead. Here’s part 1 on three incremental pickups at catcher, the infield and the bullpen:

▪ Catcher Christian Bethancourt:

The 32-year-old is considered above average defensively, but the bat has always been a shortcoming.

He has a career .231 average and .261 on base percentage, with some power (30 homers in 365 games over seven seasons).

In 104 games for Tampa last season, he hit .225, with a .254 on-base average, with 11 homers and 33 RBI.

He threw out 23 percent of basestealers last season (13 of 57) but has a career 32 percent success rate throwing out basestealers.

Per MLBtraderumors.com, “it is safe to assume he probably won’t be viewed as a true starting catcher for the Marlins. Bethancourt and Nick Fortes at least provide the Fish with a slight upgrade on paper from last year’s catching tandem of Fortes and the non-tendered Jacob Stallings, as Bethancourt’s strong throwing arm can pair with Fortes’ glove for a defense-first approach.

“Bendix will probably keep an eye out for any more possible upgrades, as Fortes can still be optioned to the minors.”

(A source confirmed the Marlins remain open to adding another established catcher.)

MLBtraderumors.com noted that “Bethancourt was projected to earn $2.3MM in arbitration salary this winter, so the Rays’ outright essentially served as an early non-tender for the team. This is Betancourt’s second of three arb-eligible years, so the Marlins have control on his services through the 2025 season.”

▪ Infielder Vidal Brujan:

Bendix also had Brujan in Tampa, where he could never put it together offensively.

In 272 plate appearances through 99 games and three seasons with Tampa, Brujan, 25, had a .157 batting average and .218 on-base percentage with three homers and 24 RBI.

He improved slightly to a .171 batting average and a .241 on-base average in 37 games last season, but that’s not nearly good enough to compete for the everyday shortstop job.

With the Rays, Brujan played 50 games at second base, 31 in the outfield and 13 at shortstop.

Baseballtraderumors.com assessed him this way:

“While the switch-hitting utilityman has yet to find much major league success, he was once a top prospect. The Dominican Republic native was a top 10 prospect in a strong Rays system at Baseball America each year from 2019-22. He ranked in the back half of BA’s top 100 overall minor league talents throughout that run.

“Praised for his speed, bat-to-ball skills and defensive flexibility, Bruján fit the general profile that Tampa Bay prioritizes. Despite excellent minor-league production, he never got much consistent run at the MLB level with the Rays. Bruján struggled when he did see relatively brief stints at the highest level in the last three seasons.

“Bruján has exhausted his minor-league option years, so he’ll have to stick on the MLB roster next season. A Tampa Bay team deep in infield talent may not have been able to afford that opportunity, so they’ll clear a 40-man roster spot early in the offseason.

“Miami has a bit less bench depth and is without a clear answer at shortstop, where Jon Berti projects as the starter. While Bruján is unlikely to get an everyday job, he can play either middle infield position, any outfield spot, and has experience at third base.”

At this point, Berti would enter spring as the front-runner to start at shortstop, with Brujan, Jacob Amaya and perhaps Xavier Edwards in the mix.

▪ Right-handed pitcher Calvin Faucher:

He was acquired with Brujan in exchange for minor-league infielder Erick Lara, right-hander Andrew Lindsey and a player to be named later.

Faucher has a bloated 6.32 ERA in 47 big-league innings, with 79 baserunners permitted and 46 strikeouts.

He has come out of the bullpen in 39 appearances and started four times, with all of those starts coming last season in an opener type role. He allowed batters to hit .265 off him in his four starts, compared to .301 out of the bullpen.

MLBtradeumors.com sized up Faucher this way:

“His 20.8% strikeout rate and 10% walk percentage are each a little worse than average. The UC Irvine product throws in the mid-90s and has a cutter, sweeper and curveball in his offspeed repertoire. He owns an excellent 2.75 ERA in 72 Triple-A innings over three years, striking out 29.4% of batters faced at that level.

“Faucher still has one option year remaining, so the Marlins can move him between Miami and Triple-A Jacksonville for another season.”

Next up: A look at three more right-handed pitchers added by the Marlins.