Being placed in charge of the Miami Marlins is enough to make a Mets fan appreciate the deep pockets of Fred Wilpon. With an Opening Day payroll of $69 million in 2015, my budget for 2016 was approximately $76 million. To make significant improvements to a Marlins team that finished 71-91 was going to take some creativity and sacrifice.
One of the first – and arguably the hardest – decisions I made was to offer up Giancarlo Stanton via trade. Being the best outfielder in the game and only making $9 million in 2016 was nice for a team with a larger budget, and it afforded me the opportunity to bring in several players for the same money.
After speaking with a handful of other GMs, Stanton ended up a member of the Boston Red Sox along with relievers Carter Capps and A.J. Ramos, while Red Sox top pitching prospect Henry Owens, shortstop Xander Bogaerts, outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and reliever/knuckleball extraordinaire Steven Wright made their way to Miami.
I had a few GMs approach me about a trade for Marcell Ozuna, but I was confindent heading into the season with an outfield of Ozuna, Bradley and Christian Yelich. An infield featuring Dee Gordon, Adieny Hecchavarria and Bogaerts was a nice start, but I wasn’t completely sold on Martin Prado at first base. After failing to swing a trade for Prado and coming up short in the free agent market, he would have to do.
While my free agent/trade quest for a first baseman came up short, I was able to bring in Alex Avila to form a catching duo with J.T. Realmuto, and Joakim Soria to anchor the back of the bullpen. Avila has been largely a good defensive catcher throughout his career and in theory would help to groom Realmuto in his receiving skills. Soria was brought on because he is still an effective reliever and again has experience that is lacking.
I considered trying to add an additional frontline starting pitcher to the staff – namely Zack Grienke – but when my bid fell woefully short, I opted to stand pat. Henderson Alvarez, Jose Fernandez, David Phelps, Owens and Adam Conley would make for a decent rotation, and Jarred Cosart would be the first one called in the case of an injury or ineffectiveness.
With all the moves, the payroll for 2016 dropped some as I tried to shed salary to accommodate a free agent which never came. This would, in theory, give me some flexibility to make moves during the season if the simulation went that far. Being realistic, this is not a Marlins team that is going to compete in 2016 the way that I have them set up. In the absolute best-case scenario they are a .500 team with a young core.
| Player | Position | 2016 Salary Paid by MIA |
|---|---|---|
| Henderson Alvarez | P | $4,000,000 |
| Jose Fernandez | P | $2,200,000 |
| David Phelps | P | $2,500,000 |
| Henry Owens | P | $510,000 |
| Adam Conley | P | $510,000 |
| Jarred Cosart | P | $600,000 |
| Aaron Crow | P | $1,975,000 |
| Mike Dunn | P | $3,450,000 |
| Kendry Flores | P | $510,000 |
| Bryan Morris | P | $1,100,000 |
| Justin Nicolino | P | $510,000 |
| Joakim Soria | P | $8,000,000 |
| J.T. Realmuto | C | $510,000 |
| Alex Avila | C | $7,000,000 |
| Justin Bour | INF | $510,000 |
| Derek Dietrich | INF | $510,000 |
| Dee Gordon | INF | $5,900,000 |
| Adeiny Hechavarria | INF | $2,300,000 |
| Xander Bogaerts | INF | $600,000 |
| Martin Prado | INF | $8,000,000 |
| Miguel Rojas | INF | $510,000 |
| Cole Gillespie | OF | $510,000 |
| Marcell Ozuna | OF | $600,000 |
| Jackie Bradley Jr. | OF | $600,000 |
| Christian Yelich | OF | $1,000,000 |