Miami Marlins need to non-tender a player

The Miami Marlins have a busy off-season ahead and potentially some more blockbuster trades. OK probably not the latter, but one can hope right? One of the features of the off-season is the arbitration process. One player immediately sticks out among the list of arbitration eligible players... catcher Jacob Stallings. The Miami Marlins need to non-tender him.

The Miami Marlins need to non-tender catcher Jacob Stallings.

The arbitration process is relatively simple (or complicated depending on your view). Players receive raises year after year until they reach free agency. Jacob Stallings has been projected for a $3.6 million salary next season. $3.6 million. Is Stallings really worth that? He was paid $3.35 million this season, so the pay raise isn't that significant, but it's still a raise. You also have to wonder if he's even worth his 2022 salary.

Jacob Stallings batted .223/.292/.292, with 4 home runs and 34 RBI in 114 games and 346 AB. He was worth an abysmal -0.7 WAR for that terrible performance. He was absolutely a failure with The Fish, which made it all the more clear that he had to make up for that next season. He did not do that this season.

Stallings was just as terrible in 2023. This time he batted .191/.278/.286, with 3 home runs and 20 RBI in 88 games and 241 AB. He was worth -0.6 WAR for that abysmal performance this season. At this point in his two seasons with The Fish he has a .210/.287/.290 batting line with 7 home runs and 54 RBI. He also has a -1.3 WAR for that time. It's obvious that he's been a liability to the team and his value has to be pretty low.

I don't really see a scenario where the Miami Marlins can trade him for anything decent. I do however hope that Kim Ng will look for trade options before non-tendering him. A trade should definitely be considered, but if it's not possible, then he should be simply non-tendered. There's no reason to pay someone who is actually hurting the team. It's sad that it came down to this, but non-tendering him seems to be the only option left.