The Miami Marlins have one of the youngest teams in baseball and in the 2025 season, those guys proved that there is a lot of potential for the ball club to be playoff contenders soon.
The Marlins had three players nominated for Gold Gloves, one of whom who won in Javier Sanoja, not to mention a finalist for a Silver Slugger in Kyle Stowers.
Stowers had a breakout year as he made his first All-Star team, was nominated for a Gold Glove and was arguably robbed of his first Silver Slugger, but that’s a story for another time. Stowers had a great season and finished the year with an OPS over .900 highlighted by a .544 slugging percentage.
Aug 13, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Miami Marlins left fielder Kyle Stowers (28) celebrates his RBI single in the sixth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. / David Richard-Imagn Images
While there were lots of highlights the Marlins did not finish the year where they overall wanted to be. The team was under .500 and missed the playoffs by four games, but ultimately that was for the best.
When Miami gets to the postseason they want to be contenders not just get there, and the roster is not ready for that yet, so it’s time to make moves this offseason.
Free agency is now in full swing and an important thing for any team to know before pursuing a player outside of their organization is where they stand with their payroll for 2026. The Marlins are in good shape if management wants to improve during this offseason, because right now their current roster costs the least of any team in baseball.
Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
The Marlins only have one player that they pay over $3.5 million, starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara who the team is on the hook for $17.3 million for. This figure is 77.5% of their roster payroll right now, meaning it’s time for management to spend some money.
There are a few key players that were on league minimum contracts last season and are still in pre-arbitration like Stowers and shortstop Xavier Edwards, so by the time that is over Spotrac estimates that their current payroll will be $52.7 million.
For reference, the team that the Marlins finished behind in their division, the New York Mets, have a project payroll of $241.5 million for next season.
Kyle Stowers continues to demolish baseballs 🔥 pic.twitter.com/vIesbWdWIT
— MLB (@MLB) July 25, 2025
Clearly, the team isn’t going to spend anywhere close to what some of these bigger ball clubs do, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t compete at some level.
This Miami team has some star power on it, but free agency could be a difference maker for next season. Management just needs to decide if that difference will be a positive or a negative.