CONFUSION: Miami Marlins Sandy Alcantara TRADE? Ownership Sends Mixed Signals

CONFUSION: Miami Marlins Sandy Alcantara TRADE? Ownership Sends Mixed Signals

One thing is clear, the Marlins are not going to reveal their ultimate plan regarding Sandy Alcantra. [Music] You are Locked On Marlins, your daily podcast on the Miami Marlins, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Welcome into Locked On Marlins, part of the Locked On Network, now the number one sports podcast network. 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 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. And on today’s show, I’m going to react to recent comments that Peter Bendix and Bruce Sherman have made regarding Sandy Alcantra. Everybody wants to know the Marlins plans. Are they going to keep him? Are they going to trade him this off season? And one thing is for certain, the Marlins are not going to suddenly reveal what they’re going to do. Maybe they already know, maybe they don’t, but but we’re not going to know until something happens because they’re being very non-committal about that. I’m going to explain why later on. I’m also going to talk about Joe Mack, how he is going to have an opportunity to be the catcher of the Marlins future and also take a look at the outfield depth. Do the Marlins need to add a right-handed bat that can play the outfield? That’s all coming up later in the show. So, Bruce Sherman, he is a owner that has undergone lots of criticism to say the least, and that’s putting it nicely. The fan base has been frustrated consistently with his lack of spending, especially the last couple of off seasons. He has not opened up his wallet at all. Now, in regards to extensions, he was the owner who ultimately signed Sandy Alcantra to that extension. I I believe it was 5 years 55 million along the lines of that. But it also was a a pitcher who was already in your organization and it was a very pitcher friend or team friendly contract. It was a 5year $56 million extension. Good for Sandy. He got money, but at the same time, if he if he hit the open market, he would not have made that that amount. He would have gotten a lot more. So Bruce putting it put it putting it nicely is very frugal with his money. So Sanielcra is the only guaranteed player that the Marlins have on their roster. Only guaranteed contract. He’s set to set to make a good chunk of change this season and deservedly so. He’s put in his time for this Marlins team and he’s he again the extension he’s going to get $17 million this year and then there’s going to be a club option for 21 million after 2026. That’s it. That’s all Bruce has to spend essentially. Everybody else is in arbitration or pre-arbitration. But this report or this tweet from Bob Nightingale is just confusing. It’s confusing to me. He says Bruce Sherman has told several Marlins employees that he fully expects ace Sandy Alcantra to be on the roster on opening day, but there’s always a butt. There’s always a caveat to something like this with the Marlins, it feels like. But they’re not shutting down trade talks with potential suitors. They’re also not shutting off talks with potential suitors essentially. That tells me nothing. What is that? [Music] So, I’m the owner of this team. I have the ultimate authority when it comes to decisions regarding this organization. I expect he’s going to be on this team, but at the same time, we’re going to listen on him. You don’t know what you’re doing. Translation, the Marlins might trade Sandy Alcantara. Translation, if the Marlins get a good enough offer, I think they’re going to move Sandy Alcantara. That’s what that means for Peter Bendix. He was on MLB Network. Now, they have the MLB GM meetings that are currently happening right now in Las Vegas. And Brian Kenny over from MLB Network interviewed him. And give credit to Brian Kenny. He asked some tough questions. Hey, when are when are the Marlins going to spend, are the Marlins going to build around Kyle Sters? Are the Marlins going to to build with Sandy Alcantra? Will this competitive window does it coincide with Sandy Alcantara’s contract? And Bendix does not answer questions. He just doesn’t. He’s like a politician. He evades them. He changes the topic. He just goes off a completely different route. And you know what? I’m not going to even fault Bendix in that scenario because what did you expect? Do you think we’re going to find out the Marlins plans regarding Sandy? No. No. I I don’t expect that. And I could I could see the Marlins holding on to him and and it’s a waiting game and all off season we just wait and see. And then suddenly pitchers and catchers report in February and Sandy’s right back in South Florida with the Marlins. four. We wake up one day during the winter meetings. You I check my cell phone and Sandy Alcantara has been moved for a huge blockbuster deal. It’s on Sports Center. Although I can’t watch Sports Center right now because I don’t have you I have YouTube YouTube TV. So get that fixed YouTube TV. It’s all over MLB.com. And it’s another huge Marlins trade for better or for worse. the Marlins won’t come out and say one way or another whether they’re they’re going to commit to him. And I don’t like that. I like the idea of publicly stating, “Hey, this is our guy. This is our guy.” It’s different than other sports like the NFL or the NBA. But if the Buffalo Bills or the Los Angeles Chargers were asked, their their general manager was asked, you know, hey, is Justin Herbert, is he going to be on the Chargers next season? Yeah, he is. Is Josh Allen going to be a Bill? Yes, he he’s going to be a Bill. You don’t trade, you don’t trade players like that. Now, it’s different, but different sports, but that sign of public commitment is something that I’d like to see the Marlins do or don’t do. And and just be just be open about it. Transparency is the right word. I I don’t like the politician talk. Never have with Peter Bendix. That’s one of the things that it’s a personal gripe with him is his lack of any sense of communication to the fan base, to the media, to just keep us in the dark all the time. Everybody has no idea what the Marlins will do. And I’m hearing conflicted things after another. the Marlins will spend. Well, did they say they were going to spend or do you assume they’re going to spend? Which one is it? Because the Marlins aren’t saying anything. It’s confusing. And I I want to clear this up that look, at the end of the day, I can come on this show and talk about what I think the Marlins should do regarding trading their pitchers and I feel strongly that they should not be trading Sandy Alcantara or Edward Cabrera, but we’ll have no idea unless it happens. They’re going to listen. that I can tell you the Marlins will listen just like I’m sure the Diamondbacks are listening to Catel Marte and that’s the sport of baseball if you’re a small market team. Listen on everyone hold your cards close to your chest and if you see an offer you can’t refuse, pull the trigger. That’s what I think the Marlins are doing with every one of their players. And if you were to tell me that Yuri Perez, that somebody called Yuri Perez or called about Yuri Perez and the Marlins said, “Whatever you offer, no.” The answer is no. I don’t know. Is Yori untouchable? I think he would be. He should be untouchable. But it the way the Marlins are trying to build their team, if someone just gave the whole farm for Yuri Perez, hypothetically, would Peter Bendix, would Bruce Sherman say no? Who knows? Coming up next, Joe Mack is going to have an opportunity to solidify himself as the catcher of the future. I’m going to talk about that 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. If you like NBA, you got games all the time. The NBA season is in full swing. You have the NFL on Thursday, Monday, Sunday. There’s going to be Black Friday football. Football on Christmas. College football is heating up as well. The the playoff selection committee just had their second slate of picks. If you’re a if you’re a diehard college football fan, go over to FanDuel and see what the odds are on your favorite team or just any game that you have a hunch at because right now FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head over to fanuel.com, sign up, play your game with FanDuel, the official sports binning partner of the NBA. Thank you for making Locked on Marlins your first listen of the day. Of course, this is part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Joe Mack is going to have an opportunity to really solidify himself as the Marlins catcher of the fe of of the future. Catching was bad for the Marlins a season ago. It It was bad. Augustine Ramirez, great great story offensively. That’s about it. Other than that, Liam Hicks, uh, Brian Navaredto, Nick Forez, of course, the first half of the season. He has since left the organization. Defensively, where do the Marlins go? Because Augustine Ramirez is not it. He is not the defensive catcher of the Marlins future. Joe Mack can be that guy. In 2025, Joe Mack threw out 32% of base Steelers. Augustine Ramirez just 11 11%. As a collective group, pitching staff and the catchers, the Marlins were awful in in in throwing out runners. Truly one of the worst Marlins teams in franchise history at stopping the running game. That sounds like a football term, but stopping base Steelers. They couldn’t do it. And Mack is going to have an opportunity to defensively be a stalwart behind the plate, be a wall. No more wild pitches or no more pass balls, working with the pitching staff, developing a rapport, and then gunning down runner after runner. You don’t run on Joe Mack. Go back to last season and look at some of his highlights. It’s incredible. Now, here’s the thing. He’s going to be added to the 40man next week. That’s obvious there. He’s rule five eligible. The Marlins are going to protect him. It’s a done deal. So, pencil Joe Mack as a member of the Marlins 40man roster right now. He’s going to go to spring training. Does he win a job out of spring training? Does he make the opening day roster or will the Marlins give him some more time in the minor leagues and let that service time manipulation start to kick in? That’s a very realistic possibility as well. And then the other side of this equation is this. If Joe Mack has a good spring training and doesn’t make the opening day roster for whatever reason, they want to give him more time in the minors. They’re they’re not ready to to start him opening day and he goes back to Triple A. Is Augustine Ramirez the catcher or is it Liam Hicks that’s the everyday catcher? And a lot will depend on Augustine’s performance in spring training. I just don’t think you can you can roll into 2026 with Augustine catching a month, a month and a half or two months worth of games. Now, how will that affect first base? Because if Joe Mack is the catcher the majority of the season, maybe Augustine moves to first base and then both play. Liam Hicks serves as the backup catcher, gets one or two starts a week. I just don’t think Augustine Ramirez should be given the lion share of time behind the plate in any capacity next year. I’ve seen enough. I I know he wants to catch. I know he the organization wants him to catch, but you have Mack and if if opening day Mack has played well in the grapefruit league, he should be the starting catcher. There’s no more Nick Forz around. Forz, the value he he brought to this team 100% was because of his glove, his ability to block, frame, and work with the pitching staff. Joe Mack is going to do that and potentially do that very well. And by the way, his bat, it’s not bad either. Not bad at all. last year 18 bombs hit 248 18 doubles. You look at his metrics, 90th percentile EV, 104.4 miles an hour. Had a max EV of 109.6. He hits the ball extremely hard, 73rd percentile. He pulls the ball in the air a ton, which I think is good for his profile. He’s going to hit homers. He’s got a beautiful left-handed left-handed swing. He’s the power is going to be there. So for Mack, just getting to the show is the first step. Mack can and I think will be the best catcher the Marlins have had since JT Romeo. A franchise type of catcher. somebody that could warrant a a a extension when he approaches his arbitration years. And that’s way down the road. Of course, what matters right now is getting the playing time and then showcasing what he’s got. But he checks all the boxes. So, I’m excited to see really how this organization handles Mack and then when M comes up and makes his debut, what he does. MLB debuts are super exciting. I mean, last year you had Augustine Ramirez, you had Jacob Marcy who to who took the league by storm and and what he was doing. I mean, that seven RBI game against the Guardians, insanity. Mack has the offensive talent to be an allstar when you pair that with his defense. And that’s the one thing in Augustine Ramirez and his game that I just don’t ever foresee developing is the combination of his hitting and his defense at an above average level. I think Mack can do both for the catching position very very well. Now let’s move on to the outfield. The Marlins outfield depth is something that needs to be monitored. Will they address it this off this off season? I’m going to talk about that right after this. Guys, this episode is brought to you by our friends over at Game Time. Whether you like going to NFL games, NLB games, whatever game, Game Time’s got you covered. If you want to go to a concert, go to Game Time. It’s the app that gives the advantage back to the fans. 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Shout out to all the everyday listeners who tune on tune in to locked on Marlins and are locked in during this off season. The Marlins outfield depth is something of not a concern but something that needs to be monitored. I feel great about the Marlin starters. I feel great about Kyle Sters and the level of play we saw from him a season ago. finished eighth in WRC Plus among qualified hitters over 450 plate appearances I believe it was Jacob Marcy and his fantastic rookie season. And then you have Griffin Conine potentially starting in right and maybe platooning with Araberto Hernandez and the power that Conine has. extrapolate that over a full season, we could be looking at a 2530 home run player if everything clicks for Mr. Konai, the son of Mr. Marlin. But did you do you notice a similarity among those three players? They’re all left-handed hitters, all of them. Arberto Hernandez, who I project to be the fourth outfielder, the first guy off the bench, is a righty, but the starters, Sters, Marcy, Conine, all lefties. And I think there would be a need for the Marlins to address, hey, maybe we need a righty, another righty, unless you feel comfortable with bringing back Dane Meyers. and and Dane Myers is somebody who is coming off of an awful 2025 and I’m not so sure he’s guaranteed a spot in 2026. I’m not so sure the Marlins look at Dane as as a as a part of the future. I mean, yes, Dane Meyers was a good revelation in the first month or so, but that that died out very very quickly. He was a minus four player, an OPS plus of 71, an OPS just north of 600, and he’s arbitration eligible in 2027, which means this is his last year of pre-ARB. I don’t know. I I I think Dne could be on the verge of getting DF8 even if the Marlins see any other better options. One of the options in Triple A and and this is somebody who whose upside I think is higher than Dane Meyers because he has more raw power and that’s Kemp Alderman. And Kemp Alderman very well could be making his debut in 2026. And I believe Kemp Alderman will be making his debut sooner rather than later. Alderman hit 22 homers across double A and AAA. You go look at his EVs from his time in AAA. It was a short stint, but nonetheless, I I’m almost at a loss for words. An 114.4 max EV from Camp Battleman. 90th percentile EV 110.3 mph. Hard hit percentage 61.8%. Now, that comes with some whiff. That comes with some chase. And you know what? It is what it is. When you’re uh when you have that profile, when you have the ability to hit the ball hard, honestly, I don’t care. Alderman is the X factor for me because I don’t look at Alderman as as just a backup or somebody that, you know, get gets gets the Victor Mesa Jr. treatment, gets called up, gets sent back down, and is just kind of left to rot in Triple A. Alderman I think can be a starter for this Marlins team. And the and and what’s also interesting to note is that while yes, Araberto Hernandez was a real nice find and had some real value for this Marlins team in 2025. Alderman is younger. He’s arguably more talented. He has a higher ceiling. I mean, he’s drafted just a few years ago, just 23 years old. And Alderman could push Arabberto for that final outfield spot out of spring training if the Marlins feel like he’s ready. Now, most likely scenario, look, he starts off in AAA again and then forces a callup. If Alderman has a good spring training, is one of the last few cuts of of great pre-League action, goes back to Jacksonville, and then absolutely just rakes, then the Marlins are going to have to have they’re going to be like, “All right, well, what else is there to prove? He’s ready to go.” That’s what I felt about Robbie Snelling a season ago. That’s what I felt about Joe Mack. That’s what I felt about Josh White. The Marlins do that to me a lot when it comes to players, keeping them in the minor leagues and being very, very patient. Alderman could be that type of player. He’s got speed, too, by the way, if you didn’t know. He stole 22 bases. 22 homers, 22 bases. That’s a 2020 season for a guy that stands 6’2, weighs 235. He’s a big dude, big, strong, powerful hitter out of Miss. So, when it comes to addressing the Marlins outfield outside of the organization for a righty, when you have Araberto, when you have Alderman, I don’t think you need to. because in order to do so, you’re going to have to give up probably a starting pitcher and depending on the player you get back. It would probably be a pretty good starting pitcher. And then you’re gonna have a hole in your rotation because you’re not going to get somebody by trading, with all due respect, Ryan Gusto. You’re not going to get somebody to start in the outfield. But but remember, I don’t think this is a team that’s looking for a starting outfielder. I think they’re looking for a a fourth or fifth outfielder. And that’s my point by this final segment is saying Kemp Alderman can be that guy. Kemp and Araberto can be those two righties at some point in the season. Dererick Hill is no longer with the organization. Alderman might need some more time, but let’s say by July, if Alderman hasn’t made his debut, something probably is wrong. That’s how confident I am in him. He’s one of my favorite prospects in the Marlin system. That’s going to do it for today’s edition of Locked On Marlins. I appreciate you guys for tuning in as always and until next time, stay safe, stay locked on, and let’s go fish.

Bruce Sherman and GM Peter Bendix are ambiguous regarding Sandy Alcantara’s future with the team. Could a trade be in the works, or will the Marlins keep their ace and build around him? Jeremiah Geiger reacts to confusing front office signals and questions the lack of transparency.

Joe Mack’s defensive prowess and offensive potential could lead him to becoming the new franchise catcher. The starting outfield is lefty-heavy, but rising prospect Kemp Alderman provides right-handed power.

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