"They're doing essentially nothing" - MLB calls out Marlins for having a quiet off-season and being the 'only team' yet to sign a Major League FA
The Miami Marlins haven't engaged in any offseason transactions in regards to free agency, leaving fans disappointed. MLB analyst Ken Rosenthal has now called them out for having a quiet off-season.
In a recent appearance on the Foul Territory podcast, Rosenthal mentioned that the Marlins is more interested in building infrastructure and resources than devoting time to the team.
"They seemingly are devoting more time and resources to building their infrastructure than they are to the major league team," Rosenthal said. "What I wrote yesterday is that that's fine if their infrastructure was a mess, as pretty much everyone in the organization acknowledges it was. You've got to fix that. It doesn't preclude you, though, from fixing and upgrading the major league team as well."
"Even the Oakland A's have signed two free agents," Rosenthal added. "Now, granted, they signed Trevor Gott and Osvaldo Béo for a combined 2.25 million. It's not like they're going out on a limb here, but they've done it, and the Marlins are sitting there coming off a year in which you thought they generated some momentum, and they're doing essentially nothing."
The Marlins made the playoffs last year. Their manager, Skip Schumaker, won the NL Manager of the Year award.
Marlins didn't extend the qualifying offer to Jorge Soler
Jorge Soler, who blasted 36 home runs last season, was surprisingly not awarded the qualifying offer of $20.325 million by the club. Even if the Marlins wanted something out of him, offering him a qualifying offer was in their best interest - since if Soler had turned it down, they would have at least received a draft pick.
Rosenthal took a dig at the Marlins for how they handled the Soler situation.
"Here's a team that talks about the future and wants to build something long-term," Rosenthal said on Foul Territory. "They didn't make a qualifying offer to Jorge Soler, so they cost themselves a draft pick. They are just operating furiously, in my opinion."
The Marlins are coming off a good year, even though the team was not on odds to make the playoffs. They finished the regular season with an 84-78 record, reserving them a Wild Card spot, in which they were swept by the Philadelphia Phillies.