The notoriously cheap Miami Marlins, despite making the playoffs for just the second time in 20 years, fired their President of Baseball Operations Kim Ng. They hired an internal option, Peter Bendix, which drew both positive and negative feedback from fans around the league.
So far in 2024, the Marlins have been lousy, to say the least. Through their first forty games, Miami has gone 10-30, ranking in the lowest percentile of the league in nearly every statistical category… offensive and defensively (AVG, OBP, OPS, HR, BB, ERA, WHIP, BB/9, K/9, and so on).
It is safe to say Peter Bendix’s plan has not come to fruition… or has it? Fans are accusing Bendix of tearing apart a team who is not even one year removed from making the playoffs.
Just a few days ago, Bendix made a blockbuster deal trading star infielder Luis Arraez, the two-time, back-to-back league batting champ, to the Padres for four prospects. This early in the year, the Marlins seem to be waving a white flag.
“We are unlikely to make the playoffs this year,” Bendix told reporters in a shocking post-trade interview.
The fan-favorite Arraez, due just over $11 million in 2024, has two years of team control remaining on his contract. He slashed .343/.384/.450 across 180 career games with Miami, amassing a 3.7 fWAR and striking out at a league-best 5.5% rate.
Out of the four prospects Bendix and the Marlins acquired, none have MLB experience. Dillon Head (19) and Jakob Marsee (22), the headliners in the trade package, are hitting just .237 and .171, respectively, in over 200 combined PAs.
Woo-Suk Go, former Korean closer, has a 4.38 ERA and 1.459 WHIP in 12.1 innings in AA. Finally, Nathan Martorella owns a career slash line of .264/.352/.407 in 210 PAs.
“It’s a complete fleece-job,” NHS junior Jonathan Moseman said. “I don’t know how you can make a deal like this for the two-time batting champ, let alone this early in the season. It’s embarrassing, really.”
Miami fans and writers seem to agree with Moseman. CBS Sports handed out grades for the Arraez trade, and Miami was awarded a “D” due to the fact “it’s not the most exciting package on paper.”
Neil Raymond, author of the “Marlin Maniac” and owner of “BaseballAnalyzed” says, “he's on thin ice in my book.”
In addition, known beat writer and infamous MLB reporter Craig Mish indirectly shared his opinion on X, posting “And just like that, the Marlins rebuild is officially underway.”
He later said “there is no spinning the Arraez deal. In a rebuild, it has to be done and that’s the chosen path. Return is ok. Not as much as last Winter probably but there just simply wasn’t a ton of interest. You can get really burned playing for the middle.”
With Mish, a highly respected league wide reporter and Marlins beat writer coming out and sharing his opinions, it is clear something is up in Miami.
Arraez’s first game in a Padres uniform was stellar, as he went 4-6 with 2 runs and an RBI. Bendix made no comment.
During the post-trade presser, Bendix did make it clear that he is trying to keep the Marlins above ground and be a perennial 90-win organization in the future.
“This is an extremely competitive industry and with a lot of very smart people trying to achieve the same thing, which is winning a World Series. In order to get this organization where it needs to be, to winning 90-plus games year-in and year-out, it’s difficult decisions like this.”
Regardless, the decision to trade Arraez is in the past and Miami must move forward quickly if they want to stay competitive in 2024. Bendix’s Marlins will take on Arraez and the Padres for a three game series May 27-29 in San Diego.
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