Is the Miami Marlins payroll going up?

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald wrote a powerful expose’ about the Miami Marlins payroll issues. It hit hard and left us a few questions to say the least. I actually recently wrote about how this off-season will tell us if Bruce Sherman is serious about winning. We already know that he’s not spending nearly enough on analytics, which is a key area for successful teams these days. Let’s take a look at the main points that Jackson made in his article l and see what we can take away from them.

Bruce Sherman needs to raise payroll to improve the Miami Marlins.

The article shed a pretty damning light on last off-season, indicating how bad the hitting improvements went… Catcher Jacob Stallings had a terrible season, despite being a 3 WAR player last season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. That one is odd and you can’t really blame Bruce Sherman and Kim Ng for. Stallings seems to be one of those players that just needs specific coaching and a specific environment.

The article mentioned the Jorge Soler and Avisail Garcia signings to boost the outfield as well. Neither deal worked out in 2022. I still think that Soler’s will. He had a stretch where he batted over .300 between a slow start and getting injured. He also needs to play well to avoid a massive pay cut in 2024 (his salary is basically cut in half in a player option, unless he chooses free agency). Jorge Soler will want to play well to earn a better contract in free agency.

Avisail Garcia is another story, as he was always streaky and seemed to be a “contract year player”. His season was a disaster with no redeeming qualities and I doubt he will ever live up to that contract. Barry points out that Bruce Sherman spent a lot of money on improving the team last off-season (over $100 million), but that the results weren’t there. At least the spending was a good sign. I would also add that Ng has to be more motivated too, considering the importance of her situation (first female GM).

The Miami Herald article ultimately states the author’s belief that the Miami Marlins won’t significantly raise payroll on 2023. This is a worrying proposition as Bruce Sherman needs to improve our hitting with at least some form of a financial investment. All eyes will be on Sherman once the World Series ends.