Marlins Notes: Payroll, Practice Squad, Cabrera, Gillispie

One of the key storylines of this offseason has been the aggression coming from the nomadic Athletics. They have given out three of the largest contracts in franchise history, signing free agent Luis Severino and giving extensions to Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler.

That has at least partly been motivated by a desire to keep their revenue-sharing status away from risk. As has been reported by The Athletic through the winter, that club needed to get their competitive balance tax number up to 150% of what they receive in revenue-sharing funds. Falling short of that would leave them subject to a potential grievance from the MLB Players Association. Understandably, the MLBPA wants to be assured that the funds are being spend on player salaries.

Since the A’s will reportedly receive about $70MM in revenue-sharing funds this year, they seemingly need to get their CBT number above $105MM, give or take. Thanks in part to those aforementioned deals and others, RosterResource projects them at about $115MM.

Back in December, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the Marlins were in the same situation as the A’s. Rosenthal took a look at the situation in a follow-up piece today, noting that the Marlins have not taken the same aggressive approach. RosterResource has the Marlins’ CBT number just below $87MM, more than $18MM shy of the $105MM target. As noted by Rosenthal, a midseason trade of Sandy Alcántara would drop them even further away from that line.

It seems the Marlins are far more willing to live dangerously with the situation. Rosenthal notes that the MLBPA brought revenue-sharing grievances against several clubs, including the Marlins, in 2018 and 2019. The report adds that many of those grievances were dropped but the ones against the Marlins remain active.

For the A’s, they understandably don’t want to be playing chicken with the union right now. The A’s had their revenue-sharing status revoked gradually over the course of the 2016-2021 collective bargaining agreement, with their payouts dropping by 25% annually. They only got 75% of their funds in the first year, 50% in the second, 25% in the third and none at all in the final two years. They are gradually getting their revenue-sharing status back up in the current CBA, reversing that previous plan, adding 25% per year. As they incur the costs of moving to West Sacramento and then Las Vegas, building a new stadium in the latter city, they surely don’t want to lose their payments again.

The Marlins are seemingly more cavalier. As noted by Rosenthal, the CBA runs through 2026 and these matters are collectively bargained. If the MLBPA wants to fight to strip the Marlins of their revenue-sharing payments, they will have to wait almost two years and will also have to weigh that against other CBA priorities. Rosenthal also adds that owner Bruce Sherman is likely to tout the club’s non-payroll spending, on things such as technology and infrastructure, though that’s unlikely to satisfy a union focused on player compensation. Perhaps the situation will be worth monitoring between now and the fall of 2026.

Elsewhere, the club also attracted some more negative attention from players for a different reason. As noted in a piece from Andy McCullough and Sam Blum of The Athletic, the Fish recently ran an ad on LinkedIn offering players $150 a day to be part of a practice squad, which would play against Low-A players.

The posting garnered the attention of MLB officials and players as it seemed to circumvent some existing rules. In April of 2023, the first ever CBA for minor leaguers was agreed to. That CBA established minimum salaries for minor leaguers but also gave each club a tight limit of how many minor leaguers they could have. The Domestic Reserve List, which is each club’s list of minor leaguers outside of Latin America, was dropped from 180 to 165.

The practice squad plan seemingly had the chance to skirt both the player limit and the minimum salary rules, which is why it raised flags around baseball. The Marlins pulled the ad and scuttled the plan, claiming that the ad was run before it had received proper internal vetting.

Turning to the major league roster, right-hander Edward Cabrera will start the season on the injured list, reports Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. The righty has been battling a blister on the middle finger of his throwing hand. That may seem like a minor issue but it’s a persistent one for Cabrera, since he’s had blister problems on that finger dating back all the way to 2021.

Without Cabrera, the Marlins project to have a front four of Alcántara, Ryan Weathers, Max Meyer and Cal Quantrill in the rotation. Per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, righty Connor Gillispie could have the inside track on taking Cabrera’s spot.

Gillispie, 27, made his major league debut with Cleveland last year. He tossed eight innings over three relief appearances, allowing 2.25 earned runs per nine. He also posted a 4.05 ERA over 113 1/3 Triple-A innings, working in a swing role there. His 10.1% walk rate at that level was a bit high but he also struck out 25% of opponents. After the season, he was non-tendered and signed a major league deal with Atlanta. He was put on waivers when that club signed Jurickson Profar, getting claimed by Miami.

In camp so far, he has thrown eight scoreless. That will seemingly get him a shot to open the season in the rotation. He still has options and can be sent back down when Cabrera gets healthy. The Marlins will also have Eury Pérez coming back around the All-Star break, though a midseason trade of Alcántara could also open up some starts. Other optionable starters on the roster include Adam Mazur and Valente Bellozo.

Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images