Why the Miami Marlins need to think best player obtainable in MLB free agency

While the Miami Marlins rebuild might be finished sooner than expected, the Marlins remain far from a finished product.

If you wanted to tell the story of the 2025 Miami Marlins in a single sentence, the above would get the job done. If you want to think of them as a homework assignment, "shows promise but needs improvement" is what will get scrawled across the top in red ink.

Which is hardly an insult. After all, by the time this season comes to an end, arguably twenty-nine teams will be guilty of needing to show at least some improvement. And even though the gap between Miami and the serious contenders remains massive, there's no denying the franchise's outlook is much more positive today than it was a year ago. Some of those much maligned moves are bearing fruit. Players are showing signs of development. If not always as competitive as fans would hope, the Marlins have certainly become much more watchable.

However, despite all this improvement, the Marlins are still seriously light when it comes to offensive firepower. The offensive strengths of this team have been things like scrapiness. Competitive at bats. Above all, hitting well with runners in scoring position. The Marlins have been staggeringly good at that in 2025. For just one example, across all of MLB, the only team better than Miami at hitting with runners on second and third is the Dodgers. On the other hand, the Marlins are still a bottom five team in terms of homers, and bottom ten in most other offensive categories. When paired with elite pitching, this kind of profile can lead to a lot of respectable, competitive games. Yet it's often too much of a coin toss as to whether said games will be a win or a loss.

Frankly, with all due respect to the breakouts of 2025 All-Star Kyle Stowers and August NL Rookie of the Month winner Jakob Marsee, there isn't a hitter in Miami's lineup who you could argue is a Top 10 player at their position. Xavier Edwards and Agustin Ramirez are probably the surest things, but would it surprise anyone if they spent most of 2026 playing a different position than they did for the bulk of 2025? Indeed, in the case of Ramirez, fans are clamoring for that to happen. In the case of Edwards and double play partner Otto Lopez, I'm admittedly guility of underselling their defensive success. After all, this isn't the fantasy baseball or MLB The Show version of the Marlins. Defense counts (unless you're Ramirez seemingly).

Even accounting for the relative defensive aptitude of Edwards and Lopez though, the Marlins roster remains both a relatively flexible one, as well as one without a moody superstar that will throw a tantrum over a position change. Consider Baseball Savant's Outs Above Average ranking for qualified shortstops, where Lopez stands out as near elite and Edwards as clearly terrible. Edwards only beats out a handful names, including one Bo Bichette, who will shortly be one of the most coveted names on the free agent market.

Obviously, that's a swap the Marlins would make in a heartbeat, if the only thing stopping it from happening was Bichette's insistence he's a good shortstop, and not Miami's financial realities. Sadly, those financial realities do exist, which is a fact looking especially sad this offseason, and will look only sadder still if the Marlins aren't willing to take an outside the box approach to bolstering their lineup.

Why? As I've said before, it's a pretty top heavy free agent market, particularly so at Miami's glaring need positions. First base got you down? It's Pete Alonso, Josh Naylor, and a bunch of question marks. Third base have you concerned? It's Alex Bregman's world, and a bunch of other people just living in it. Did you want an upgrade at shortstop? That'd be Bichette or bust, unless you feel really strongly about that Miguel Rojas reunion.

Understandably, the top of the market has never been where the Marlins have tended to live in MLB free agency. The problem lies in the clearest upgrades worth big money, or rather big money in Marlins terms, really only being the top of the market names. This leaves Miami in the familiar and unenviable position of either having to overpay quickly for a mid-tier at best option, or to wait until the dust settles and pick from the best of the rest. Personally, after two years of Bendix ball in Little Havana, my belief is that Marlins fans will see the rebuilt front office be willing to wade a little bit deeper into the free agent pool if they identify the right player at the right price.

The only way a team in Miami's financial position can do that successfully though is to not shoehorn themselves into thinking they need any one position. If they can get Luis Arraez or Rhys Hoskins to play first? Cool. But if the only All-Star caliber bat that wants to come to Miami this winter is Ozzie Albies or Cedric Mullins? Then the Marlins need to pivot accordingly.

Bottom-line, the Marlins will need to add at least one solid MLB regular to their lineup in 2026. The only way they'll do so is by casting as wide a net as possible.