What should the Miami Marlins do with Jorge Soler?

This was an up and down season for Jorge Soler, as I already covered earlier this year in multiple different articles. It’s easy for us Miami Marlins fans to be frustrated and give up on him already, especially after the slugger produced just 0.4 WAR this season with an atrocious .207/.295/.400 batting line with 13 home runs and 34 RBI in 72 games and 270 AB’s. It’s also not pleasing to see that he is receiving $12 million this season, and has player options for $15 million next season and $9 million for 2024. What should the Miami Marlins do?

Jorge Soler may still be very useful for the Miami Marlins.

Its easy to be disappointed in Jorge Soler as a Miami Marlins fan. In fact it would be weird not to, Soler has a history of inconsistency and isn’t exactly an elite player. He took a long time to break out as a top prospect, spending 2014-2016 with the Chicago Cubs and 2017-2018 with the Kansas City Royals trying to stay healthy and getting himself going, before finally breaking out with the latter in 2019.

2019 is Jorge Soler’s signature season. He batted .265/.354/.569 with 48 home runs and 117 RBI in 162 games and 589 AB It was a great season that put Soler on the map, as well as made him worth 3.5 WAR (he was a poor defender earning -1.8 dWAR), to the Kansas City Royals.

There were high expectations for Jorge Soler going into the shortened 2020 season, but whether due to the COVID-19 protocol related issues that affected many players, or something else, he batted only .228/.326/.443 with 8 home runs and 24 RBI in 43 games and 149 AB’s.

Jorge Soler was looking to bounce back in 2021, but started the season batting .192/.288/.370 in 55 games and 208 AB. It wasn’t until a midseason trade from the Kansas City Royals to the Atlanta Braves, that he turned his season around, batting .269/.358/.524 with 14 home runs and 33 RBI in 55 games and 208 AB. He was phenomenal for Atlanta in the World Series, batting .300/.391/.800 in 6 games and 20 AB. That performance even earned him the World Series MVP award.

So what should the Miami Marlins do with Jorge Soler going forward? I think that the contract really isn’t that bad. The player options are a problem as he’s certainly picking up his $15 million for next season. However after that, he has a strong incentive to perform well. If he does well next year, he’ll easily pass up on his $9 million player option to test free agency. I think that since trading him now is selling low, there’s optimism for the future.