Miami Marlins finally part ways with a struggling player

The catching situation with the Miami Marlins is a disaster. That's why it wasn't a big surprise when The Fish acquired some help recently in the form of Ali Sanchez. He's obviously not a real solution, unless he surprises us with better production with more playing time. The Fish have now designated another catcher for assignment.

The Miami Marlins designated Christian Bethancourt for assignment.

Christian Bethancourt has been a disaster for the Miami Marlins. It's not like there was reason to believe that he would've been better anyway. Bethancourt played for the Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays. From 2013 to 2023 with those teams, he batted .231/.261/.361 and was worth a combined 1.1 WAR. Yes, he was worth just 1.1 WAR for 10 years of production. That's not his average per year WAR, that's his entire production combined!

I'm not sure what Peter Bendix was expecting when he brought him in. I guess he was expecting great defense, but it's not like he was an elite defender either. Bethancourt's time with The Fish this season was a disaster plain and simple. He batted a horrifying .159/.198/.268, with 2 home runs and 7 RBI in 38 games and 82 AB. He's been worth -0.2 WAR for that production. That includes his better 0.3 dWAR rating.

Now that Christian Bethancourt has been designated for assignment and likely played his last game for the team, we can likely expect Ali Sanchez to get his call-up. I don't expect Sanchez to be a starter, as he'll still be backing up Nick Fortes. I'm hoping that he will show something that we haven't seen before and actually prove to be a hidden gem. The Tampa Bay Rays are known for finding those hidden gems, so maybe Bendix sees something in him that others don't. If so, I'm hoping that he's right.

The Miami Marlins won't miss Christian Bethancourt. I don't expect him back on the team again and hope that if Ali Sanchez is indeed promoted as expected, that he will turn out to be much better than expected.