The Miami Marlins are interested in free agent CF/RF Michael Conforto. This is big news and means that Kim Ng was serious about her promise to pursue hitting upgrades. We need to spend money to win, so is this the beginning of at least some spending this off-season? Is there a chance that The Fish will bring Conforto in as our new CF? Or is this just more interest that is going to go nowhere? Only time will answer those questions.
The Miami Marlins are pursuing Michael Conforto.
Michael Conforto played his entire career with the New York Mets. He debuted in 2015 with a .270/.335/.506 batting line in 56 games and 174 AB. He also had 9 home runs and 26 RBI. Conforto followed up that promising debut, with a disappointing .220/.310/.414 batting line along with 12 home runs and 42 RBI in 109 games and 304 AB in 2016.
In 2017, Conforto batted .279/.384/.555 with 27 home runs and 68 RBI in just 109 games and 373 AB. This was very impressive. In 2018 he finally had his first full season. He batted .243/.350/.448 with 28 home runs and 82 RBI. In 2019, he batted .257/.363/.494 with 33 home runs and 92 RBI in 151 games and 549 AB. Conforto may not have been a great contact hitter, but the power was clearly there.
In the shortened 2020 season, Michael Conforto batted an impressive .322/.412/.515 with 9 home runs and 31 RBI in 54 games and 202 AB. Finally, in 2021 he batted .232/.344/.384 with 14 home runs and 55 RBI in 125 games and 406 AB. It was a down year for Conforto and injury cost him the entire 2022 season.
It appears that Conforto will be looking for a short-term contract to rebuild his value. This isn’t an ideal situation as it won’t solve any long-term issues for us. That said, he can offer us a rebound season as he tries hard to be worth a good long-term deal in the next off-season.
How much will Michael Conforto cost the Miami Marlins? My guess is 1 year/$13 million should do it. I don’t think that he’ll be more expensive than that, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if he was actually cheaper. Should the Miami Marlins roll the dice on Conforto? That’s a question that only his 2023 performance will answer.