SHOCKER: Miami Marlins MOVE ON From Troy Johnston, Addressing 1B NEEDS To Happen

SHOCKER: Miami Marlins MOVE ON From Troy Johnston, Addressing 1B NEEDS To Happen

The Miami Marlins said goodbye to Troy Johnson as he was claimed off of waiverss by the Colorado Rockies. I’m going to break down what this means moving forward on today’s Locked On Marlin. You are Locked On Marlins, your daily podcast on the Miami Marlins, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Welcome into Locked On Marlins. I’m your host Jeremiah Guyger. I’m a diehard Marlins fan and I’ve podcasted about the team for the last four seasons. You can find me on Twitter, Jeremiah Guyer 2, and thank you for making Locked on Marlins your first listen of the day. It’s part of the Locked On podcast network, which is your team everyday. Make sure you’re subscribed to the YouTube channel or follow wherever you get your podcast. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the app today. Wow. Troy Johnston is gone. The Marlins made a flurry of moves in order to open up space on the 40man roster. We’re going to talk about the rest of these moves later, but the biggest one was the decision to let go of Troy Johnston. Johnston battled his whole professional career to make it to the major leagues. And in 2025, he finally did so. made his long-awaited debut in the summer, played in 44 games, and had success across 120 112 at bats. He hit 277 with four bombs, slug 420, had an OPS of 750, an OPS plus of 107. It was a successful debut and rookie season for for a player that had been doubted his whole professional career. There were times when people felt like the Marlins would never give him a chance, that he would never make the major leagues in the Marlins organization. Well, he does. So, he’s part of a a really fun team. uh a team that was competitive, fell out of contention, but it took until the last week for them to mathematically get eliminated from the playoffs and and he had some really awesome moments. You think back to that multih homer game against the Tigers at home in which he walks it off. Troy was a fan favorite. I know a lot of you guys root for Troy and we’re super happy to see him make his debut and yet just a few days after the World Series ends, his time as a Marlin is over and he’s now with a different organization. And I’m happy that that the Rockies scooped him up. I’m happy that another team looked at his production and what he’s done and quickly claims him to to give him an opportunity with their organization. And and for the Colorado Rockies, they’re getting a good baseball player. They’re getting a good hitter, a professional hitter that has has proved that he can have success at every single level of professional baseball. He’s hit every single level he’s been at. And I and the major leagues is no different. Now, was it a short sample? Sure. I think he’s going to be a good fit for for the 2026 Rockies in that ballpark. I could see him being a 25 home run guy. So, I want nothing but success for Troy. I think he’s a he’s a great player, really cool person. When I had my old podcast before locked on, I mean, it had a small following, didn’t have many subscribers. I think I hit a hundred subscribers was just about the max um on YouTube and I would put it on YouTube and and I would have it on Spotify. Troy was generous enough to take some time and come on to my show and discuss with me his baseball journey. So, I’ll always remember that. I’m always going to root for the guy. For the Marlins, what’s the plan going to be at first base? Because once you let go of Troy, there are two first baseman from last season that are still on the roster. Eric Wagaman and Liam Hicks. And Liam Hicks is a back is is going to be presumably the backup catcher. So, right now it’s Eric Wagaman and I don’t think you can go into 2026 with Wagaman as your primary first baseman. If that’s the plan they already have, then something is wrong. A and that is not a recipe for success at all. The plan has to be go out and sign a marquee free agent now at first base. Especially with letting go of Troy, there’s really no reason to to not go after a big fish. Go after Josh Naylor. Pete Alonzo’s He’s He’s out of the question. He’s He’s going to cost way too much money. I think everybody knows that. Josh Naylor, Kazuma Okamoto, some guy that’s gonna come in and give you some pop and give you some juice at first base and fill that hole. Now, the other option is if you don’t want to do that, give Augustine Ramirez the first baseman glove. Start the transition from catcher to first base this off season because he’s not a catcher. He’s not even average defensively. And we see a lot of catchers make that transition to first base. It’s a similar position. You know, you don’t see Salvador Perez or or Wilson Contrarus or William Contrus, one of the the Contraras on the Cardinals. I believe that’s Wilson. Um you don’t see them playing shortstop or second base. No, they they they go to play first base. It’s easier on the body. Augustine Ramirez, yes, he’s young. He’s 23, 24, but when he catches, his offensive production tanks. That’s another aspect of that. And for a guy that’s a bat first player, you don’t want to see that. Why put him in a position where his offensive production just goes off the rails and you don’t get any positive defensive production either? So, I could see a scenario in which the Marlins say, “Look, Wagaman’s Wagaman and Hicks are are the first baseman on the roster. Davis Deo Santos isn’t ready yet, and maybe he won’t ever be ready. Maybe he’ll never figure it out. Let’s just bite the bullet. Make the move. Augustine to first base because we have Joe Mack who’s waiting in the wings to take over and be the franchise catcher. I could see that happen. Would I want that to happen necessarily? I I think I think it’s a two part answer for me. So, if the Marlins plan on being cheap this off season and not going after a big money deal, because that’s what what’s going to have to happen. If the Marlins want a elite first baseman, a Josh Naylor, then they’re going to have to spend money there. There’s no question about that. All right. Now, if they want to just sign a middling free agent, somebody that’s coming off of a bounceback or looking for a bounceback season, not going to say um you know, certain names like Tim like I’m not going to compare some of these first baseman to a Tim Anderson because I think the Tim Anderson scenario was really really bad where there was just no interest in Tim and teams saw that the Marlins said, “Well, were rebuilding anyway. Might as well see what happens. We could probably flip him at the deadline. But I’m talking about a Lamont Wade Jr., Dominic Smith, you know, an aging Josh Bell. That those are the cheap contracts I want to see the Marlins stay away from. either address the position seriously with a multi-year deal or go ahead and move Augustine to first. And I’m I still want them to address the position externally, but Augustine to first base is a possibility. Now, we’ve talked about multiple options at first base. Rhys Hoskins is somebody who who is a free agent who’s going to be available and probably a lot cheaper than say a Josh Naylor or a Pete Alonzo who’s well outside the price range for for the Marlins. But for Ree that signing doesn’t really excite me. I mean he he had a okay season I guess. Didn’t play a ton. hit 12 bombs, 237 in 279 at bats, just played in 90 games. So, I mean, he’s certainly not the Reese Hoskins from 2018 when he was hitting 34 bombs, almost 100 RBI’s, and tearing it up for the Phillies. 850 OPS, 887 OPS in 20 Well, that’s the COVID season 2020, but you get my point. There’s He’s going to come a lot cheaper. Do I want to see the Marlins go after Hoskins? No, I don’t. I want them to commit financially to a big money free agent. That’s Josh Naylor. Go after Ryan O’Harn. I did an episode on her on O’Harn a few weeks back. There are exciting options out there that the Marlins have and they’re going to have to do something. I don’t know what they’re going to do. I can’t wait to see how it unfolds. But let me know your thoughts in the comments. I’ve gotten some comments about Reese Hoskins. I’ll be honest, guys. It doesn’t really excite me. It’s not He’s not a player who I think is going to really elevate this team the way a Naylor would. And I mean, Arias, we talked about Arias, too. I don’t like the idea of of bringing back Arias cuz he doesn’t have the pop, but they need to have a plan at first base. That much is clear. We wish nothing but the best for Troy. Troy Johnston was not the only move the Marlins made today. They parted ways with a few other guys as they’re trying to clear space on the 40man roster. We’re going to break down those moves right after this. This episode is brought to you by Prize Picks. You and I make decisions every single day, but on Prize Picks, being right can get you paid. Don’t miss any of the excitement this sports season. Whether you’re following the NFL, the NBA, or both sports, there’s no better time to jump in on the action. If you haven’t tried it yet, Prize Pix is the simplest way to play. You just pick more or less on at least two player stats and if you get them right, you win. 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Troy Johnson was not the only move the Marlins made. parting ways with Troy. It was tough and it’s something that surprised me, but a few other of these moves were not surprising. The first one was parting ways with George Soraniano. I’ve said before, if George Soraniano is pitching for the Marlins in 2026, I would be shocked. And sure enough, he was placed on waiverss, but surprisingly he was claimed. The Baltimore Orioles claimed George Soraniano. So that era is over. Soraniano finds his way to another organization. Now, Jesus Tanoka was reinstated from the 60-day IIL just as a as a procedure. You have to do it that way. He’s reinstated and then outrighted to AAA. So he’s going back to the jumbo shrimp. Tyler Zuber reinstated outrighted to AAA. Valente Beayoo was outrighted to Triple A. Freddy Tarnick outrided to Triple A. And Brian Brian Navaredto who who was a third string catcher down the back backstretch. He’s been outrighted as well. So, the bullpen, Tanokco, who I thought, you know, was a pretty good find in 2024, dealt with some injuries, had Tommy John surgery, he’s he’s not going to be on the 40man. The all these moves were essentially to clear up room for the 40man roster, and it had to be done. I’m not surprised with any of these moves. And honestly, if I’m looking at the Marlins 40man and and where they stood this morning, I probably would have made the same moves apart from the Troy the Troy move. I don’t understand that one. And and that one’s going to be talked about for a while. But I mean, Tyler Zuber, it was a depth piece. You had, you know, Freddy Tarnick. Freddy Tarnick is is a funny story because it felt like that guy was getting called up and then sent back down, called up, sent back down like three times in four days for a couple different stretches. At least it felt like that. Felt bad for the guy. At least he’s getting those miles on his flights. Um, but didn’t really have a have a opportunity at the major league level. Let’s see here. Soraniano. I mean, man, Soraniano, it just the wheels fell off the track this season for George, somebody who for whatever reason continued to get chance after chance with the Marlins big league team in lie of a younger arm such as a or or a guy in the miners such as a a Christian or a Josh White. Those guys didn’t really get opportunities. Soraniano did. And I I think whenever Soraniano came in to pitch, it was either one of two things. Number one, you were getting blown out and that was just Clayton saying, “You know what? The game’s over.” Or number two, if he was pitching in a close game, you knew it was about to turn into a blowout. So hopefully Baltimore can can figure out what went wrong with Soraniano. He does have a good arm. You know, he throws 97. He’s got a got a pretty electric fastball, but just not very good the last couple of seasons. He was pretty decent though in that 2023 playoff run, which I which I found surprising. I was going back and looking at some stats and Soraniano in that 23 year, he was not bad at all. Uh he had an erra in 23. That was it was 52 innings. So a decent amount of 3.81. Soraniano in 26 games across 52 innings which was his careerh high. He he only pitched 29 and a third and 24 and last season 36 and 2/3. But in 2023 a 3.81 erra and he averaged a strike out an inning. So good stuff from Soraniano that first season, that rookie year, but after that just nothing but a disaster. So best of luck to him in Baltimore. For Zuber, you know, Zuber, I I I expected this. I expected Zuber to be gone. It just there’s too many intriguing names that the Marlins need to consider protecting from the from the rule five draft to justify keeping Zuber. So he’s gone off the 40man. Valente Beayoo, I’m a big Beaoo fan. Beoozo is a guy that he he works with smoke and mirrors. doesn’t throw very hard but pitches with his emotions on his sleeve. He pitched in that 2024 season. Um had that gem up in Philadelphia where he comes off I think it was seven innings. He completed seven innings of just just a very well pitched baseball game and he comes off he’s hyped up. That hyped me up. got to interview him down for the Marlins A series when I was down at Lone Depot Park. Really, really cool guy to talk to. So disappointed on a on a personal level to see to see Beo go, but from a business standpoint, and business baseball is a business, this move makes sense. Now, are the Marlins necessarily done making moves? I don’t think so. If I’m looking at the 40man roster, um the the guy that I’m looking at in particular being somebody who c who could be moved on from this off season is Michael Peterson. Another guy who I don’t I just don’t see a future with him being a part of a of a competitive Marlins team and being a mainstay in their bullpit. He pitched a little bit for the Braves. the Marlins this se this past season pitched 11 games mixed results but just not somebody I’m super high on Simpson oh Josh Simpson is still on the roster um can’t can’t really get much worse with Simpson if you want to look at it that way but it was a disaster of a rookie year for him we’ll see what the Marlins do you also have to consider They’re going to make moves to protect prospects and that deadline is coming up. That’s coming up on November 18th. That’s the deadline to add those minor leaguers to your 40man roster. So, the Marlins still have about two weeks to to figure that out and who they’re going to protect, who they’re going to leave unprotected. Will Simpson make it to spring training? I’m not sure. but he is one of the only lefties currently on the roster. A lot also depends on free agency. How are you going to attack addressing the bullpen? You want to go out and add a bullpen arm or two. If you add in left if you add a lefty, maybe that pushes Simpson out of the picture. So, we’ll see what happens. Either way, no real surprising moves from from just a business standpoint. You know, guys, you got to clear room. Got to make room for the prospects. The Marlins are going to make those decisions again within the next couple of weeks. Javier Senoha won his first gold glove. We’re going to talk about Javier Senoha, one of my favorite players on this Marlins team right after this. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you missed the start of the game or you want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. And you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. And right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. And they they got plenty of betting options. So, you can have futures bets with the NBA or you go on fanduel.com right now, take a look at what they’re offering. If you’re a Heat fan, Miami Heat, they’re plus 9 and a half at Denver. So, that could be interesting. Maybe a little little upset brewing in the Rockies. Troy Johnston’s on his way to the Rockies. So again, $300 in bonus bets. First $5 bet wins. Head to FanDuel.com to sign up. Play your game with FanDuel. It’s the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Hit that subscribe button if you’re watching on the YouTube channel. If you’re listening to the podcast, make sure you follow. Make sure you share the podcast as well with your friends. Anybody that likes Marlins baseball, tell them about Locked on Marlins. Free and available wherever you listen to the show. Javier Senoha won his first gold glove. He really is the jack of all trades for the Marlins and and for this team. He’s a gritty baseball player. Somebody that just does it all. He does a little bit of everything. and he’s someone that’s going to be around, I hope, for a while. What I really like about Senoha is is honestly his ability to play each position and do so at a level where he’s not a clear liability. You know, if you want to plug him in at shortstop, plug him in at shortstop. If you want to play him at second, go ahead and play him at second. In over 208 innings at se at second base this past season, he had five defensive runs saved and plus one in outs above average. Third base, four defensive runs saved, and that was in 255 innings. So, he’s got a good glove. Now, he can play the outfield, too. He played left, he played center, and of course, he pitched. He pitched this season. If you play fantasy baseball, and I play it on the ESPN app, if you went to, this is probably late August, early September, if you went to the relief pitcher section, Javier Senoha was listed as a as a relief pitcher because he continued to pitch when the Marlins were getting blown out. He would be the mop-up guy. And he he really is the epitome of a jack of all trades. And he’s no slouch as a hitter either. Javier Senoha. Javi, man, he had some really big hits this season for the Fish. Um, he may be a short guy that that you don’t expect to be some some sort of power hitter, and I’m not saying he is a power hitter, but he hit six bombs in 313 at bats, was a positive war player, um, almost a 700 OPS, 683. So there’s there there’s room for Javier Senoha to continue improving as a hitter. And I think he’s I think he’s he’s carved himself a good role. He’s not going to start he’s not going to be starting five, six days a week at any given position, but when Graham Paulie needs a day off or Conor Norby day needs a day off, there’s Senoha. If someone gets hurt in the outfield, there’s Senoha. second base. Otto Lopez, Xavier Edwards, middle infielders. There he is. And I I really think he could play every single position probably apart from catcher. And who knows? Um maybe maybe he he caught back someday and his youth times growing up playing baseball and and he can’t. Maybe they’ll try him out in an in an emergency. But big fan of Senoha and the energy he brings. He brings a ton of energy. He brings a passion and a flare to this game that you really don’t see with a with the the highlevel players that are making a ton of money. Now, not all of them, but some of them. I mean, they got their their millions. They got it in the bag. Baseball’s a job. for Senoha. He plays the game with an energy like a kid. He’s out there having fun and he’s out there balling out. So to see him get recognized and get that gold glove award, which by the way was the first gold glove won by a Marlin since 2017. That was Marcelo Zuna. Little trivia trivia fact for you. Marcelo Zuna was the last Marlin to win a gold glove. And I always thought that was funny because Ozuna now is like a terrible outfielder and is essentially limited to designated hitter. But yeah, Ozuna was the last Marlin to win that award. And so yeah, happy for the guy. Excited for what he brings in 2026. If he can bump up his offensive production just a little bit, he’s going to be even more valuable. Already a positive four player, so that’s always a positive. That’s going to do it for today’s edition of Locked On Marlins. For your second listen of the day, go check out Locked On MLB. Solely does a great job over there. And until next time, guys, stay safe, stay locked on, and let’s go fish.

The Miami Marlins made a shocking move by waiving fan favorite Troy Johnston. He now heads to the Colorado Rockies after a promising debut season. Jeremiah Geiger examines the ripple effects of Johnston’s departure, questioning Miami’s first base plans and potential offseason targets such as Josh Naylor, Kazuma Okamoto, and Rhys Hoskins. Could Agustin Ramirez make the jump from catcher?

Breaking down the rest of the Marlins’ 40-man roster moves. Plus, celebrating Javier Sanoja’s Gold Glove win and discussing his versatile impact across the diamond.

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