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Sixto Sanchez

Marlins Notes: Meyer, Eder, Sanchez

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The Marlins’ rotation has been a common point of discussion this offseason, with Miami considering ways to deal veteran pitching as a means of addressing the offense. The main impetus for the front office is their stockpile of arms, a group that includes a few talented young pitchers working back from serious injuries.

Former third overall pick Max Meyer cemented himself as one of the sport’s top prospects before his call-up last July. The organization’s excitement for that debut turned quickly, as the 23-year-old blew out his elbow during his second big league start. He required Tommy John surgery a couple weeks later.

As he nears the six-month mark in his recovery, Meyer updated Kyle Sielaff of the Hot Stove Show on his progress. The right-hander indicated he’s built up arm strength and hopes to be able to start throwing next month. “I think early February — even February 1 — is when I’m going to start throwing,” Meyer told Sielaff. “Been starting to get the elbow moving a little bit. … When Spring Training rolls around, I’ll be throwing with all those guys — I don’t know with the team or not — but I’ll be throwing. It’s coming up here pretty soon.”

The young starter will surely take things slowly, with Christina De Nicola of MLB.com writing that he’s expected to begin with a long toss program once he’s again able to throw. De Nicola adds that general manager Kim Ng indicated last month Meyer was likely to miss the entire 2023 season rehabbing from the procedure, which often comes with a recovery time pushing or exceeding 14 months. There’s no indication that timeline has changed — he’ll certainly need multiple months to gradually build back into game shape from the first time he can pick up a ball — but it’s encouraging he seems to be progressing well thus far.

Meyer isn’t Miami’s only touted young pitcher working back from Tommy John. Left-hander Jake Eder had broken out as one of the more interesting arms in the minors through 15 excellent Double-A starts early in the 2021 campaign. The Vanderbilt product blew out and underwent TJS at the end of August that year; he missed all of last season recovering. De Nicola writes that Eder, who first began throwing roughly 10 months after the operation, is expected to be at full strength for Spring Training.

Eder is not yet on the 40-man roster and will surely begin the upcoming season at an upper minor league affiliate. Those 15 Double-A starts are the 24-year-old’s only professional experience, and the organization has the MLB pitching depth to not rush Eder to the big leagues. If his stuff returns at pre-surgery levels and he again thrives in the upper minors, it seems possible he could put himself on the radar for a call-up later in the season.

Sixto Sánchez, meanwhile, has now lost two consecutive seasons to shoulder issues. Still just 24, the former top prospect and centerpiece of the J.T. Realmuto trade has fallen down the Miami depth chart in the wake of those injuries. Sánchez underwent arthroscopic surgery on the shoulder last October, with the club announcing at the time he was expected back for Spring Training. Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald provides a reasonably promising update, writing that Sánchez has been throwing bullpen sessions of late. Backstop Nick Fortes, who recently caught one of Sánchez’s workouts, expressed optimism about the young pitcher’s form heading into exhibition play.

Sixto Sanchez To Undergo Shoulder Surgery, Expected To Be Ready For Spring Training

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Marlins righty Sixto Sanchez is set to undergo arthroscopic bursectomy surgery on his throwing shoulder on October 5th, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reports (via Twitter). Sanchez, currently Miami’s eleventh-ranked prospect according to MLB.com, is expected to be ready for Spring Training 2023.

Sanchez’s upcoming surgery represents another setback in what has become a multi-season recovery for a player who was previously ranked as the #6 prospect in the league by Baseball America. Originally signed by the Phillies in 2015 as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic, Sanchez was acquired by Miami in the 2019 deal that sent J.T. Realmuto to Philadelphia. He debuted in August of the COVID-shortened season and initially appeared to be as good as advertised, striking out 29 batters while only walking five in his first 32 innings of work. By the end of the 2020 season, Sanchez had accumulated a 3.46 ERA over seven starts, had averaged 98.8 mph on his power sinker, and had demonstrated above-average control (seven percent walk rate). He finished seventh in NL Rookie of the Year voting.

The upcoming procedure will be Sanchez’s second in as many seasons. He underwent surgery to repair a small tear in the posterior capsule of the same shoulder in July of 2021 after the Marlins shut him down for more than a month due to shoulder discomfort. After missing all of 2021, Sanchez had begun to finally show some signs of progress in July of 2022, but was plagued with more shoulder discomfort after a simulated game in August. He then received a cortisone shot to aid his recovery, and had even resumed playing catch at 60 feet before he was scheduled for his second surgery.

If he is able to recover in time to rejoin the Marlins rotation by the start of 2023, he will fit nicely into one of the most talented young rotations in baseball. At age 24, Sanchez still has the potential to be a highly-effective big league starter for years to come. From a front office perspective, Sanchez has the potential to be another key cost-controlled rotation piece for the Miami, as he has not yet accumulated a year’s worth of big league service time. He’s spent the past couple seasons on the minor league injured list, so he hasn’t accrued any MLB service during his rehab time.

Of course, Sanchez must first make a complete recovery from the nagging shoulder injury that has derailed his previous two seasons. Both Sanchez and the Marlins surely hope that the upcoming procedure will help put his injury woes firmly in the rearview mirror. He’ll go into 2023 looking to throw his first major league pitch in three years.

NL East Notes: Alvarez, Hernandez, Sanchez

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Star Mets prospect Francisco Alvarez is undergoing evaluation on a sore right ankle, SNY’s Andy Martino reports (Twitter link).  As per other Peter Botte and Mike Puma of the New York Post, the injury isn’t thought to be too severe, though simply given the calendar, there is a possibility that the Mets could shut Alvarez down for what remains of the 2022 season.  More will be known in a few days’ time, after Alvarez has been more fully tested.

One of the top minor leaguers in all of baseball, there has been speculation that the 20-year-old Alvarez might receive a call-up to the majors this season, as the Mets haven’t gotten much from the catching position.  However, even before his ankle injury surfaced, Alvarez wasn’t off to a great start in his first taste of Triple-A action, batting only .180/.340/.378 in 141 plate appearances.  It certainly isn’t the ideal platform to launch a young player into making his MLB debut in the thick of a pennant race, and naturally the Mets want to be as careful as possible with the development of a possible cornerstone player of the future.

Other updates from around the NL East…

  • The Nationals shifted Yadiel Hernandez to the 60-day injured list on Saturday, officially ending the outfielder’s season.  (In a corresponding move, Washington reinstated left-hander Seth Romero from the 60-day IL and assigned him to Double-A.)  Hernandez was retroactively placed on the 10-day IL on August 19 due to a left calf strain, and his third MLB season saw the 34-year-old hit .269/.312/.410 with nine homers over 327 plate appearances.  Hernandez has spent much of his Nats tenure as the left-handed hitting side of an outfield platoon, posting roughly league-average offense since the start of the 2021 campaign.  He is under team control through 2026, but given his age and the Nationals’ rebuild, it is possible the team might consider moving onto a younger option for next season.
  • Sixto Sanchez’s continued shoulder inflammation will result in a cortisone shot on Monday, per Craig Mish of the Miami Herald (via Twitter).  Sanchez made his MLB debut with 39 innings in 2020, but hasn’t since pitched at any level due to shoulder problems, which included surgery in July 2021.  It is becoming increasingly unlikely that Sanchez will get any game action in the majors or minors before 2022 is out, making it another lost year for the Marlins right-hander.

NL Notes: Dodgers, Kershaw, Marlins, Sanchez, Reds, Santillan

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Clayton Kershaw could return to the Dodgers in the second week of September if all goes according to plan, per J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter). His back now asymptomatic, Kershaw has started throwing bullpens. With the division all but locked up, the Dodgers will prioritize getting Kershaw healthy for the postseason. The legendary southpaw has continued to defy the odds when healthy, pitching to a 2.64 ERA/2.72 FIP in 15 starts covering 85 1/3 innings. Elsewhere in the National League…

  • Sixto Sanchez pushed back his bullpen session from Saturday to Monday after experiencing some shoulder discomfort, per Christina de Nicola of MLB.com (via Twitter). An emergent star during the shortened 2020 season, Sanchez made seven starts and continued to pitch well into the postseason. But the now-24-year-old hasn’t pitched since because of injuries. Miami would love to see Sanchez get back to the Majors for a taste of action this season – even just to build some momentum heading into 2023.
  • The Reds are unlikely to see reliever Tony Santillan return to the mound this season, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (via Twitter). Santillan looked like someone who could potentially take on a bigger role this season after posting a 2.91 ERA/4.62 FIP over 43 1/3 innings in 2021. The Reds gave Santillan some high leverage opportunities, but he only stayed healthy long enough to collect four saves and a 5.49 ERA/4.09 FIP in 19 2/3 innings across 21 outings.

Marlins Notes: Poteet, Meyer, Sanchez

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The Marlins’ rotation took a hit over the weekend when left-hander Jesús Luzardo landed on the injured list due to a forearm strain. That leaves a vacancy alongside the top four of Pablo López, Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Rogers and Elieser Hernández, and the long-term plans still appear to be up in the air.

The team announced yesterday that long reliever Cody Poteet would step into Luzardo’s spot for tomorrow’s game against the Nationals. General manager Kim Ng didn’t commit to the righty making more than one start, however, noting only that the team “will be flexible after that” (via Daniel Álvarez Montes of El Extrabase). Poteet started seven games for the Fish last season, so he could probably handle a rotation spot with Luzardo out, but that’d thin the bullpen mix.

Of course, Miami’s organizational strength is their controllable pitching, and the Fish have some young arms whom they hope will be rotation stalwarts over the long-term. 2020 #3 overall pick Max Meyer reached Triple-A Jacksonville at the end of his first full professional season, and he opened this year there as well. The right-hander has overpowered opponents, pitching to a 2.97 ERA with excellent peripherals in seven starts. Meyer has a lofty 29.5% strikeout rate, has only walked 6.8% of batters faced and has induced grounders on over half the batted balls against him.

That’s a continuation of very strong high minors work for Meyer, who was equally dominant in 101 Double-A innings last year. As he’s continued to tear up the minors, there’s been speculation the University of Minnesota product could be on the radar for a big league call. The Luzardo injury won’t be the immediate catalyst for his first MLB promotion; Craig Mish of SportsGrid tweeted this afternoon that Meyer will start for Jacksonville on Tuesday.

Still, Ng’s nebulous statement about being “flexible” with the vacant rotation spot long-term doesn’t figure to quell any speculation among the fanbase about the possibility of Meyer heading to Miami at some point in the relatively near future. Mish and Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald wrote earlier this month there’d been some “internal discussion” about whether to promote Meyer for relief work before Luzardo’s injury. Meanwhile, Hernández’s continued struggles with home runs may eventually put him in jeopardy of losing his hold on a rotation spot.

Another of Miami’s exciting young arms, Sixto Sánchez, reached the big leagues for the first time in 2020. The fireballing righty made seven strong starts as a 22-year-old, but he missed all of last season battling shoulder concerns. Sánchez landed back on the injured list to start this year, but the team informed reporters he’s progressed to throwing from 90 feet (via Jordan McPherson of the Herald). There’s obviously still a long way to go in his rehab process, but that he’s throwing is a promising development. Sánchez spent the first few weeks of the season in a shutdown period after he battled continued soreness during the spring.

Marlins Notes: Reynolds, Hernandez, Bullpen, Neidert, Sixto

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The Marlins were on the hunt for outfield upgrades all winter, eventually culminating in multi-year free agent deals with Avisaíl García and Jorge Soler. Neither player required parting with young talent, but the Fish looked into potential higher-impact acquisitions on the trade market.

Miami has long had interest in prying star center fielder Bryan Reynolds from Pittsburgh, and Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald shed some light on the teams’ discussions. The Bucs and Marlins discussed permutations that would’ve involved top shortstop prospect Kahlil Watson — Miami’s first-round pick last summer — headed back as part of a deal. However, Jackson and Mish write that the Marlins balked at including both Watson and 2020 #3 overall pick Max Meyer in a Reynolds trade.

Baseball America placed both Watson and Meyer among the back half of their Top 100 prospects this winter. Watson, a lefty-hitting shortstop with big bat speed and athleticism, fell to the Marlins at 16th in last year’s draft but signed for the 10th-highest bonus. That better reflected how evaluators viewed him as an amateur prospect, and he’s generally regarded as one of the highest-upside players in the minors. Meyer, meanwhile, has one of the minors’ best fastball-slider combinations and struck out 27.2% of Double-A hitters in his first full pro season. Prospect evaluators have raised some concerns about his size and command consistency, but he boasts a high-octane arsenal and isn’t that far from MLB readiness.

Parting with both Watson and Meyer would’ve been quite a blow to the Miami farm system, but it reflects the huge asking price the Pirates can justifiably set with four years of arbitration control over Reynolds. Reports going back to last summer’s trade deadline have suggested the Bucs preferred to build around him rather than move him. Reynolds told reporters (including Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) this afternoon the Pirates haven’t approached him about an extension this offseason, and they’re set to go to an arbitration hearing to determine his 2022 salary after not agreeing to terms yesterday. Still, the 27-year-old downplayed the notion that a hearing could affect his relationship with the organization. “I’m an adult,” he said. “I can handle it. I don’t care. I have a pretty good idea of what’ll be said and all that. We’ll prepare, and we’ll be fine.”

Jackson and Mish write the Marlins and Pirates may eventually revisit trade talks, although it’ll again be difficult to pry him out of Pittsburgh. The Herald reports the Marlins also had some pre-lockout discussions with the Blue Jays regarding corner outfielder Teoscar Hernández, but those conversations are no longer active. Soler’s signing to play right field would seem to close the door on the possibility of Miami making a run at another corner outfielder/DH option like Hernández.

Speaking with reporters (including Christina De Nicola of MLB.com) this afternoon, general manager Kim Ng expressed her confidence in the Miami outfield. She pointed to García and Bryan De La Cruz as options to see some time in center field, while Jackson and Mish write that Jesús Sánchez could get a look there as well. Ng didn’t expressly rule out the possibility of further moves on the position player side, but she suggested it was more likely they’d look to add another arm to the bullpen.

“As I mentioned, the bat was first and foremost, and making sure that we secured that and what the parameters of that looked like,” Ng said (via De Nicola). “And now we’re definitely focused on relievers. I will say that I’ve gotten some nice reports on some of the guys here, so we might be able to pull from within as well.”

Among those internal possibilities is right-hander Nick Neidert. A well-regarded starting pitching prospect early in his career, Neidert has yet to find success in 44 MLB innings. The Marlins are deep in rotation options, and manager Don Mattingly told reporters today that Neidert will transition to a bullpen role (De Nicola link). Despite his profile as a changeup specialist — which theoretically should aid him against opposite-handed batters — Neidert has been hit at a .314/.444/.500 clip by lefties in the majors. He was similarly ineffective against southpaws in Triple-A last season (.306/.393/.471), and the bullpen role may afford Mattingly the opportunity to deploy him more often with the platoon advantage.

At present, the Marlins look likely to open the year with a starting five of Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Rogers, Pablo López, Elieser Hernández and Jesús Luzardo. That’s a particularly strong top end, and Miami has high-upside young arms like Meyer, Edward Cabrera and Sixto Sánchez who could factor into the mix at some point.

Sánchez has already had some MLB success, but he missed the entire 2021 season due to injury and will also begin this year on the injured list as he recovers from last July’s shoulder surgery. De Nicola tweets that the fireballing 23-year-old is currently a third of the way through a six-week shutdown period. Given that he won’t even pick up a ball until at least a few weeks into the season, it seems likely he’ll spend a fairly significant amount of time on the IL to open the year.

Marlins Notes: Payroll, Castellanos, Center Field, Sixto

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When the Marlins parted ways with Derek Jeter on March 1, reports in the immediate aftermath suggested that a rift had grown between Jeter and owner Bruce Sherman — in part due to a change in payroll expectation. Sherman, the team’s principal owner, pushed back on that notion in meeting with reporters today, plainly stating that the Marlins have money left to spend and plan to do just that (Twitter link via SportsGrid’s Craig Mish). That’s a subjective statement, of course, but it’ll be telling to see to what extent the Marlins are willing to further bolster the payroll.

Specifically, Jeter’s push to sign Nick Castellanos was reported to be a source of consternation. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported last week that he’d been willing to offer at least five years to bring the Miami native into the fold, but it’s less clear that Castellanos remains a priority post-lockout. Longtime Marlins beat writer Joe Frisaro reports that the Fish remain interested in Castellanos but characterizes them as a “long shot” to win the bidding for his services (Twitter link).

Castellanos would add a much-needed bat to the mix, and Sherman indeed told reporters in his media session: “We need bats” (link via Mish). However, even with the advent of the universal designated hitter, Castellanos is a little bit of an imperfect fit from a roster construction standpoint. Miami already has several corner options, including Avisail Garcia, Jesus Sanchez, Garrett Cooper and Bryan De La Cruz. However, the Marlins don’t have a true everyday center fielder, and general manager Kim Ng said this morning that finding such an option is a priority (Twitter link, with video, via MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola).

Ng acknowledged that Garcia is an option in center field and that they discussed the possibility of him playing center while in the process of negotiating his four-year contract. However, there’s little doubt that Garcia is best suited for corner-outfield work, which is generally the case with all of the Marlins’ in-house options. The free-agent market is rather light on options at the moment, which helps to explain why Miami has repeatedly pursued a trade for Pittsburgh’s Bryan Reynolds. (Reynolds himself is best in a corner but also better defensively in center than Miami’s current options.) Presumably, they’re exploring additional options to roam center field.

Miami’s deep stock of pitching talent positions them nicely to pull of a trade for an outfielder, but their depth has taken at least something of a hit in recent months. Righty Zach Thompson went to the Pirates as part of the package to acquire catcher Jacob Stallings, and lefty Jake Eder underwent Tommy John surgery late in the 2021 season. It was also reported recently that righty Sixto Sanchez was behind schedule in his recovery from shoulder surgery, and Ng confirmed as much today (via Mish). Sanchez is currently shut down entirely and does not have a timetable to resume throwing. A recent MRI came back clean, Ng noted, but Sanchez had experienced discomfort when ramping up for the season.

Even still, the Marlins have Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Rogers, Pablo Lopez and Elieser Hernandez penciled into rotation spots, and there ought to be a spirited competition for the fifth starter’s job. Jesus Luzardo, Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett, Cody Poteet, Nick Neidert, Paul Campbell and Daniel Castano all started games in Miami last year. Ng said today that Cabrera will be late reporting to camp due to visa issues, which could put him a bit behind some of the others in terms of competing for that spot. Luzardo is the on-paper favorite for it, but a lot can change over the course of Spring Training. Injuries and performance can alter the picture, and it’s still possible that the Marlins include Hernandez in a deal to land an outfielder.

Latest On Sixto Sanchez

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Marlins right-hander Sixto Sanchez is “taking a bit longer” to recover from July’s season-ending shoulder surgery, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, which has pushed back his readiness to appear in a game setting. Obviously, with the entire season in limbo right now, Sanchez won’t be missing any immediate games, but Heyman suggests it’d be midseason before the touted 23-year-old would be ready to return. It’s a change in tone from when Sanchez himself went on record earlier this year to say he felt “100 percent” and expected to be ready to go when the 2022 season rolled around.

Sanchez was a bright spot for the 2020 Marlins, graduating from top prospect status to a successful big league pitcher at just 22 years of age. The centerpiece prospect in the trade that sent J.T. Realmuto to the division-rival Phillies, Sanchez logged 39 innings of 3.46 ERA ball with a 20.9% strikeout rate, a 7.0% walk rate and a massive 58.0% grounder rate. The strikeout rate was perhaps surprisingly low for a pitcher with Sanchez’s combination of pedigree and raw stuff (98.8 mph average on his heater, plus changeup) — but Sanchez was making the jump straight from Double-A to the big leagues. He also turned in a huge 12.8% swinging-strike rate and 38.7% opponents’ chase rate, both of which point to the possibility for more whiffs down the road.

Sanchez missed time early in the 2021 season, first due to a lengthy stay in Covid-19 protocols during Spring Training and later due to shoulder discomfort. The Marlins eventually shut him down until early summer due to that first bout of shoulder pain, and he was shut down again when the discomfort returned between bullpen sessions. Eventually, a small tear in Sanchez’s posterior capsule was discovered, which resulted in an early-July procedure that ended his season.

While there’s no concrete timeline for his return, the broader cause for concern is that a decelerated rehab program only causes further concern regarding Sanchez’s surgically repaired shoulder. It’s already been nearly 18 months since Sanchez pitched in a big league game, and while he couldn’t work out at Marlins facilities anyhow because he’s on the 40-man roster, it doesn’t sound as though he’d be ready to take the mound had Spring Training been underway as originally scheduled. At the time of the surgery, general manager Kim Ng announced that Sanchez would resume throwing in three months’ time but wasn’t likely to pitch in winter ball. That timeline now rather clearly appears to have been pushed back.

Even without Sanchez, the Marlins boast an enviable crop of arms, headlined by newly extended ace Sandy Alcantara, who signed a five-year, $56MM deal prior to the current lockout. He’ll be followed in the rotation by Trevor Rogers, Pablo Lopez, Elieser Hernandez and Jesus Luzardo, though Miami has plenty of arms beyond that top quintet. Righty Edward Cabrera is regarded as one of the game’s most promising pitching prospects and already made his MLB debut in 2021. Flamethrowing righty Max Meyer, the No. 3 overall pick in 2020, is also considered among the game’s best arms and could open the year in Triple-A.

Other depth options on the roster include Braxton Garrett, Nick Neidert, Daniel Castano, Cody Poteet and Paul Campbell — all of whom have pitched in the big leagues. Further down the pipeline are righty Eury Perez and lefty Jake Eder, the latter of whom will miss the ’22 season due to Tommy John surgery but is as highly regarded as any arm in the Miami system.

That deep reserve of pitching talent notwithstanding, Sanchez is a key piece to the Marlins’ future and, had he been healthy, would’ve been viewed as a vital rotation candidate for the upcoming campaign. The team isn’t likely to issue any kind of formal statement on his outlook while the lockout is going on, but his status will be a key storyline to follow for Marlins fans whenever the lockout lifts.

Sixto Sanchez “100 Percent,” Ready To Pitch In 2022

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In an interview posted to the team’s Youtube channel, promising Marlins righty Sixto Sanchez told Marlins broadcaster Kyle Sielaff that he feels “100 percent” roughly four months after undergoing surgery to repair a capsular tear in his right shoulder, which ended his 2021 season before he’d thrown a pitch. This will come as welcome news to Marlins fans, who saw in 2020 the electric stuff that made Sanchez a consensus top prospect ahead of his debut (and, despite the surgery, the current No. 41 per MLB Pipeline).

The centerpiece of the deal that sent J.T. Realmuto to Philadelphia ahead of the 2019 season, Sanchez turned in an excellent (if abbreviated) debut in 2020, posting a 3.46 ERA (3.50 FIP) in 39 innings across seven starts. He also started twice in the playoffs, holding the Cubs scoreless over 5 innings in the Wild Card round before getting knocked around by the Braves in the NLDS. He had been expected to slot in behind two other young (if more established) starters — Sandy Alcantara (whom the Marlins signed to a 5-year, $56MM extension yesterday) and Pablo Lopez — in 2021 before late-spring shoulder discomfort inaugurated a process of failed rehabilitation that ended in surgery. It’s unclear whether or not Sanchez has actually resumed throwing, but the Marlins have made it clear that they expect Sanchez to be ready for spring training.

Though his absence was clearly a disappointment to player and team alike, a return to form in 2022 could portend great things for the Marlins, who would suddenly have something of an embarrassment of riches in rotation. Beyond Alcantara (3.19 ERA in 205 2/3 innings), Lopez (3.07 ERA in 102 2/3 innings), and Sanchez, the Marlins feature 2021 All-Star and NL Rookie of the Year runner-up Trevor Rogers (2.64 ERA in 133 innings), former Rule 5 selection Elieser Hernandez (4.18 ERA in 51 2/3 innings), and flamethrower Jesus Luzardo, who struggled to a 6.61 ERA across 95 1/3 innings between Oakland and Miami (the A’s traded him for Starling Marte at the deadline) but displayed flashes of brilliance.

The Marlins disappointed in 2021, following a surprise playoff run in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season by finishing 21.5 games out of first, but their abundance of high-end young pitching makes them a threat to turn things around quickly. The 2021 club never really settled on a lineup — only five players had 300 or more plate appearances — and the team ranked 27th in the majors with a wRC+ of 84. GM Kim Ng began to address this shortcoming yesterday, agreeing to terms with outfielder Avisail Garcia on a four-year, $53MM deal — the largest free agent contract handed out by the club in the Bruce Sherman/Derek Jeter ownership era.

Still, while the Marlins feature a solid infield quartet (Jesus Aguilar, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Miguel Rojas, and Brian Anderson), the outfield mix remains unsettled. None of Lewis Brinson, Jesus Sanchez, Bryan De La Cruz, or Monte Harrison has established himself as a productive big-league bat, and it isn’t clear who would start in two outfield spots were the season to start today. Whether or not Ng has more money to spend remains to be seen, but a further upgrade either in the outfield or at catcher could go quite a long way toward making the Marlins a surprise contender in 2022.

Sixto Sanchez To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

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TODAY: Marlins general manager Kim Ng provided some more detail on Sanchez’s timeline, telling MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola and other reporters that the team is hopeful Sanchez will be able to resume throwing in three months.  Pitching in winter ball, however, is “probably not in his cards,” Ng said.

JULY 5: The Marlins announced Monday that right-hander Sixto Sanchez will undergo season-ending surgery after an MRI revealed a small tear in the posterior capsule of his right shoulder. The hope is that he’ll be ready for Spring Training 2022.

It’s an awful development for the Marlins and for Sanchez himself, who has long been touted as one of the game’s most promising young arms. That potential was on full display in 2020, when the Fish called Sanchez up for his MLB debut and he turned in a 3.46 ERA through his first seven big league starts — despite having just turned 22 years of age.

Sanchez averaged 98.8 mph on his power sinker, and while he didn’t rack up strikeouts at the level some might’ve hoped (20.9 percent), he showed above-average control (seven percent walk rate) and ranked seventh among 158 MLB starting pitchers (min. 30 innings) with a 58 percent ground-ball rate. There was certainly some hope for more missed bats down the line, too. Sanchez’s 12.8 percent swinging-strike rate was quite sound for a starting pitcher, and his 38.7 percent chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone ranked fourth in that same set of 158 starters.

Unfortunately, Sanchez won’t end up throwing a single pitch for the Marlins in 2021. His start this spring was delayed due to Covid protocols, and the Marlins optioned him late in camp after he threw just 8 1/3 innings in Spring Training. While many immediately jumped to the service time argument, it was clear that wasn’t the case. Sanchez would’ve needed to be held down until the end of this month in order to push back his free agency, and there’s no chance that’d have happened had he been healthy. (They also had no qualms about top prospect Jazz Chisholm breaking camp as the everyday second baseman, even though it’d have been far easier to delay his free agency than that of Sanchez.)

The target for Sanchez was a mid-April 2021 debut, but he cut a workout at the team’s alternate site short in early April after complaining of shoulder discomfort. His throwing program was paused for more than a month. Upon restarting, Sanchez again quickly pushed pause, although this time general manager Kim Ng (in retrospect, somewhat ominously) indicated that the new discomfort Sanchez had felt was unrelated to the initial inflammation with which he was diagnosed back in April.

The end result of the entire sequence, unfortunately for Sanchez, is that he won’t accrue big league service time in 2021. If he indeed sustained his injury while throwing on the minor league side, that would seem to boil down to little more than awful timing. The Miami Herald’s Craig Mish tweets, however, now suggests that a tear was discovered in Sanchez back in March, but rehab was recommended. Sanchez was optioned to the team’s alternate site on March 29. If there’s some form of documentation indicating that a tear was discovered prior to being optioned, that sort of situation is the type that will often result in a service-time grievance.

It should be noted that it’s still possible for Sanchez to reach a full year of MLB service in 2021, however. He entered the season with 103 days of service time, meaning he’d only need 69 days on the MLB roster in order to pass one full year of service and remain on track for free agency after the 2026 campaign. If the Marlins were to call Sanchez to the MLB roster and place him on the 60-day IL in order to open a 40-man roster spot, he’d receive service time for any days spent on the Major League injured list. Were such a move to happen on or before July 26, he’d still end up with a year-plus of service time (though his camp could conceivably still push for retroactive service to secure MLB pay for the season’s first few months).

To be clear, none of this is to imply any nefarious plot on the Marlins’ part. The team, after all, called Sanchez up in the first place last year when it could’ve at least defensibly kept him at the alternate site. The aforementioned Chisholm promotion is another example of forgoing service time manipulation when an opportunity otherwise presented itself.

The timing of the tear’s discovery, relative to the timing of Sanchez being optioned out of big league camp, will prove crucial. So, too, will the timing of a theoretical placement on the MLB 60-day IL — if the Marlins go that route at all. Opting not to do so would be tantamount to finishing out the season with a 39-man roster, however, so it’s in their interest to make such a move at some point. The question is just whether it’s made in time for Sanchez to reach one-plus years of service in 2021.

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