You know who should spend some money on free agents?
The Marlins.
Sounds counterintuitive, I know, since they have unloaded more than $300 million in a fire sale this offseason and aren’t done yet. But their payroll target for this season is a reported $90 million and Cots Contracts has them at $87 million, and they are likely to remove another $3 million-ish by trading J.T. Realmuto, and perhaps more if there are takers for Starlin Castro, Martin Prado, Junichi Tazawa and/or Brad Ziegler — all of whom will continue to be available during the season.
The new Derek Jeter-fronted ownership owes it to whatever fan base remains to try to bring a greater level of major league-ness to the roster. Plus, the Players Association is weighing whether to file a grievance against the Marlins for not putting revenue-sharing dollars back into baseball operations.
But this also is about good business. The Marlins should think about players who might help youngsters as mentors and/or by not forcing them onto the field before they are ready, plus who can have value come July/August in trades as a way for Miami to accumulate even more prospects.
The Marlins are a generally horrible situation for any veteran to join — a non-contender playing before poor crowds. But with so many free agents still out there, many will be looking for an opportunity to play regularly as a way to build value for next offseason. The depleted Marlins can offer that, particularly in the outfield and rotation.
Can the Marlins, for example, sign Jaime Garcia and either Melky Cabrera or Jarrod Dyson for less than $10 million total? Miami will still finish with one of the majors’ five worst records (so it will still pick high in the 2019 draft), but the product will be a drop more professional and — remember — Cabrera was traded last July (for two prospects, one of whom MLB Pipeline ranks as the White Sox’s 23rd-best) and Garcia was actually traded twice (and netted top-30 prospects for both the Braves and Twins).
And the White Sox, Braves and Twins all were ranked among the 10 best farm systems last week by ESPN’s Keith Law while the Marlins were 28th.