Miami Marlins will now have to pay price for relief pitcher frugalness

If you've been following the Miami Marlins this offseason, it's hard to conclude that the situation they now find themselves in is anything but a mess of their own making.

What mess is that? After muddling through 2025 with one of the worst bullpens in the National League, all signs were pointing to the Marlins making bullpen upgrades a priority in free agency. Yet one relief pitcher after another has signed elsewhere, with Miami standing pat. A position that has been frustrating enough for the fanbase, even before the club received some devastating news on the injury front.

Ronny Henriquez will miss all of 2026 due an elbow injury.

Which means the Marlins just lost their best relief pitcher. Henriquez was a revelation in 2025, breaking out big time with a 2.3 WAR, 2.22 ERA, and 1.09 WHIP. He had 7 saves. He had the best K per 9 on the team amongst pitchers with enough innings to qualify (sorry Freddy Tarnok). He was equally effective against righties and lefties. Pick a metric, he was great, far and away the bright spot amongst Miami's weakest unit. And now he's gone until 2027.

In other words, any pretense the Marlins could make about not desperately needing bullpen help just went out the window. Meaning the price Miami will have to pay just went up big time.

The only question then is what exactly that price will mean for the 2026 Miami Marlins.

If Miami is truly committed to being a competitive team that contends for the playoffs this season, then that cost is obvious. More money and or better prospects in a transaction secure one of the dwindling above average arms available this offseason. Indeed, the case could be made Miami now needs to add two relief pitchers before Opening Day. So it's not just about the singular transaction cost for, say, Pete Fairbanks being higher. It's about the Marlins needing to do it twice, and again doing so after the market price has been more than set after waiting this long.

On the other hand, overpaying has never been the Miami Marlins MO, especially not since Peter Bendix took over the franchise. If Bendix sticks to that position, refusing to give in the new market forces, the "cost" Miami pays could be not taking the step forward they want to next season. Either that, or paying an even higher price to obtain relief help once the season starts.

Either way, it's a messy situation for Miami. Obviously, the team wasn't planning on Henriquez being hurt. Then again, given the kid gloves approach the team took with him down the stretch last season, it's hard to believe they didn't have some foreknowledge of what was coming. Losing him would have been a serious blow to the Marlins relief corps no matter what offseason moves they had made.

Yet there's no denying it's a bigger blow and bigger mess than it needed to be for Miami at this point.

Unfortunately, there's also no denying that the Marlins have anyone but themselves to blame for putting themselves in this position.