Did the Miami Marlins have better options in free agency?

The Miami Marlins have a historically bad offense and Bruce Sherman and Kim Ng‘s moves have been questioned. Were there better hitters that we could’ve signed last off-season? Bruce Sherman claims that he’s been trying to win. Is he telling the truth or just saying what we want to hear? Let’s look at the top available hitting options in free agency last off-season and see if they were better options. Should Sherman have authorized signing these players?

The Miami Marlins had a decent amount of choices in free agency last off-season.

LF Kyle Schwarber: 1.3 WAR .215/.312/.483

Was he worth $80 million? Nope. The Philadelphia Phillies overpaid and his bad defense makes him a liability in the field.

RF Nick Castellanos: -0.2 WAR .265/.305/.397

Should Bruce Sherman and Kim Ng have paid $100 million for him? I don’t think so. Philly overpaid again.

SS Corey Seager: 3.6 WAR .246/.322/.456

The WAR is high, but the batting line isn’t impressive. He’s been great defensively this season, but his offense isn’t good enough, and he had injury issues and power issues for years. We were right to pass on him. The Texas Rangers overpaid.

SS Marcus Semien: 4.7 WAR .245/.302/.421

Another bad Texas signing based on age. Seinen is already in his 30‘s and while his defense is great at 2B, the offense isn’t useful for the Miami Marlins.

SS Carlos Correa: 4.3 WAR .278/.355/.453

Considering it’s just a three year deal with opt-outs, we should’ve been able to sign him. The MINNESOTA TWINS of all teams did. Why didn’t we? Ask Bruce Sherman.

RF Starling Marte: 3.7 WAR .292/.347/.468

The batting line is deceptive, the New York Mets overpaid for a player in his mid-30‘s who will be a bad contract in a year or two.

SS Javier Baez: 1.7 WAR .231/.273/.370

The Detroit Tigers got burned, but based on his track record of low walks and too many strikeouts they deserved it. The Miami Marlins were right not to sign him.

1B Freddie Freeman: 5.3 WAR .330/.402/.524

He’s obviously the best of the bunch, but he was going to his home state to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers, or staying with the Atlanta Braves. We would’ve had to way overbid for him and he’s already 32. As a team just coming out of a rebuild, we need younger players.

Bruce Sherman and Kim Ng should’ve made better moves last off-season, but not signing any of these players was fine. Spending $100 million on a DH isn’t smart, and having Castellanos or Schwarber in the field isn’t either. Seager and Semien aren’t producing enough offensively, Marte is too old, Baez too bad and Freeman was never going to sign anyway. We should’ve signed Correa however.