Marlins tender seven arbitration-eligible players, ink deals with both first basemen

The Miami Marlins tendered contracts to seven of the eight players on their 40-man roster who are eligible for arbitration this winter.

The lone player non-tendered by Wednesday’s deadline: Relief pitcher Ryne Stanek, who has had lackluster results joining the Marlins in July 2019. He has made 31 appearances for Miami, posting a 6.03 ERA (21 earned runs allowed in 31 1/3 innings) with 39 strikeouts against 27 walks and averaging 1.76 walks and hits per inning. The team on Monday had designated for assignment Jose Urena, who would have been due north of $4 million.

Of the seven tendered contracts, two have agreed to terms. Jesus Aguilar will make $4.35 million in 2021, a source confirmed to the Miami Herald, with a chance to make an additional $150,000 for hitting certain plate appearance benchmarks. Fellow first baseman Garrett Cooper will make $1.8 million next season, a number that could increase to $2.05 million with performance bonuses.

Aguilar, picked up off waivers at last year’s non-tender deadline, hit .277 with 10 doubles and eight home runs for the Marlins in 2020 and was a steady force early when 19 players were sidelined by COVID-19. He looked like the Aguilar of 2018, the one who was an All-Star and hit 35 home runs with 108 RBI for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Cooper, 29, has proven to be the Marlins’ most consistent power hitter when healthy. He’s a career .281 hitter with 46 of his 141 hits over the last two years — or just shy of one-third — going for extra bases (21 home runs, 24 doubles, one triple). He started at first base in four of the Marlins’ playoff games after splitting time at the position with Aguilar during the regular season.

The other five arbitration-eligible players to be extended contracts: third baseman Brian Anderson, catcher Jorge Alfaro, and relief pitchers Yimi Garcia and Adam Cimber.

Tendering a contract means a club commits to signing a player to a salary usually determined later. Players who are tendered a contract can still be traded. Teams have until Jan. 15 to agree to terms with arbitration-eligible players. If not, each side submits a salary figure it believes the player should make for the upcoming season. In that case, a panel of three arbitrators will hear cases from both sides in early-to-mid-February and make the final decision on which salary the player will earn.

Anderson, the Marlins’ third-round pick in 2014, is the Marlins’ top homegrown player and has put together three solid seasons as he continues to prove he should be their long-term third baseman. Anderson is a career .266 hitter with 42 home runs and 177 RBI and was a gold glove finalist at third base last year.

Alfaro, 27, has hit .256 with 21 home runs and 73 RBI over his two seasons with the Marlins. He needs to cut down on his strikeout rate (33.6 percent over the last two years) and get better behind the plate to stay around long-term, but the Marlins’ current catching situation predicates keeping Alfaro around. Chad Wallach is the only other catcher in the organization with significant big-league experience. Their top catching prospect, Will Banfield, hasn’t played above Class A in the minor leagues.

Bleier was one of the few early-season pickups following Miami’s COVID-19 outbreak who stuck on the roster all season. The 33-year-old South Florida native and left-handed pitcher had a 2.16 ERA over 16 2/3 innings and was primarily used to get out of innings with runners on base.

Cimber, the 30-year-old sidearm thrower acquired Monday from the Cleveland Indians for cash considerations, has made 152 career appearances over three MLB seasons and has a 3.89 ERA with 104 strikeouts against 38 walks in 136 1/3 innings of work.

Garcia, 30, is the Marlins’ top late-inning reliever currently on the roster. The righty posted a 0.60 ERA over 15 innings of work in the regular season with 19 strikeouts against five walks. He could contend for the Marlins’ closer position in 2021.

Where the payroll stands

With these moves, FanGraph’s roster resource has the Marlins’ projected Opening Day payroll hovering around the $54 million range as currently constructed. That’s about $30 million below what their final payroll would have been for 2020 before salaries were pro-rated for the pandemic-shortened season and $23 million below the final payroll in the 2019 season.

Only the Pittsburgh Pirates ($53 million) has a lower estimated payroll at this point, per FanGraph’s projections.

The Marlins’ breakdown as of Wednesday:

▪ Outfielder Starling Marte ($12.5 million), outfielder Corey Dickerson ($9.5 million), shortstop Miguel Rojas ($5 million), Aguilar ($4.35 million) and Cooper ($1.8 million) account for $33.15 million.

▪ The five other arbitration-eligible players the Marlins tendered contracts to are projected to earn a combined $9 million, although that number could easily fluctuate depending on how teams, players and arbitrators extrapolate counting stats from 2020’s 60-game season that generally figure into these salary projections. FanGraphs came to that figure by averaging the highest and lowest projections put out by MLB Trade Rumors to give a more representative baseline.

▪ Barring offseason acquisitions, the remaining 16 spots as the roster currently stands will all go to pre-arbitration players who generally make the league minimum, set to be $570,500 in 2021. That adds up to $9,128,000.

▪ The Marlins also have to pay $3 million annually for the remainder of Giancarlo Stanton’s contract and owe Brandon Kintzler $250,000 for buying out his option.