Marlins Interested In Adrian Morejon, Alex Vesia, Sean Newcomb

A recent report from the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson indicated that the Marlins were looking for upgrades to the rotation, bullpen, and at least one of the corner infield or outfield situations. Adding some further context, Kevin Barral of Fish On First writes that the team would prefer to bring in a right-handed bat and left-handed pitchers. This makes sense given that the Marlins already have a good number of lefty hitters, and an overload of right-handed pitching. Cade Gibson and prospect Dax Fulton are the only healthy southpaws on the 40-man roster, as Robby Snelling and Andrew Nardi (a non-tender candidate) are recovering from internal brace surgeries. To this end, Barral lists Adrian Morejon, Alex Vesia, and Sean Newcomb as left-handed bullpen targets on Miami’s wishlist. The trio in general covers a broad range of possibilities for the Marlins’ winter shopping, and while Morejon is in a tier by himself, Barral notes that Vesia is favored over Newcomb. Morejon landing with the Marlins would count as a big surprise, as it would surely require owner Bruce Sherman to make his biggest free agent expenditure since buying the team over nine years ago. Avisail Garcia’s four-year, $53MM contract represents the biggest free agent deal of the Sherman era. Over the three seasons Peter Bendix has been Miami’s president of baseball operations, Pete Fairbanks’ one-year, $13MM deal from last winter represents the club’s high-water mark in free agent spending. By contrast, MLB Trade Rumors predicted Morejon to land a five-year, $80MM deal, with the southpaw landing eighth on our ranking of the offseason’s top 50 free agents. Morejon and David Bednar are universally seen as the best relievers in this year’s free agent class, and while Morejon lacks Bednar’s track record as a closer, Morejon is more than four years younger and has been an elite setup man out of the Padres’ bullpen over the last three years. Even if Morejon is more of a due-diligence exploration for the Marlins, the fact that he is on the radar at all is an interesting sign that the Fish could be ready to stretch their payroll. “Stretch” is a relative term here, as Miami’s approximate $83.2MM payroll (as can be seen in MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker) in 2026 was the second-lowest in baseball, and only around $79.25MM is on the books for 2027. Not a single player is under contract beyond 2027, so the Marlins have tons of room for a big contract if Sherman is ready to open the checkbook. Ongoing collective bargaining talks play a role here. If the owners get their wish of a salary cap and a related salary floor, the Marlins would have to more than double their payroll to reach the floor projection in the league’s most recent proposal. Sherman and Bendix could be considering a Morejon pursuit in advance of a possible floor, though that would hinge on the MLBPA backing down from their decades-long hard stance against any sort of salary ceiling. In a more direct baseball sense, the Marlins might also want to spend for the simpler reason that their roster might be ready to break out as a legitimate contender for a playoff spot. Despite the reduced budget in Miami’s latest rebuild, the team has been respectable over the last two seasons, winning 79 games in 2025 and 80 games in 2026. As opposed to Morejon’s price tag, Barral notes that Vesia and Newcomb “more comfortably fit within Miami’s price range.” Vesia ranked 27th on the top 50 list and was predicted to sign a two-year, $26MM contract on the heels of six seasons as a reliable set-up man for the Dodgers. As noted earlier, even this projected deal would count as a major splurge by the Marlins’ standards. Though Bendix has greatly overhauled the Marlins’ front office during his tenure, there might still be some institutional familiarity with Vesia, who was a 17th-round pick for Miami in 2018. Vesia made his MLB debut in the form of 4 1/3 innings over five games for the 2020 Marlins, and was then traded along with Kyle Hurt to Los Angeles in February 2021 for reliever Dylan Floro, who posted decent results over parts of the next three seasons for Miami. Manager Clayton McCullough should be plenty familiar with Vesia after his time on the Dodgers’ coaching staff. Newcomb’s production has been up and down over his 10 MLB seasons, but his solid work with the Red Sox and Athletics in 2025 paid off with a one-year, $4.5MM contract with the White Sox last winter. The left-hander performed well again in 2026, posting a 3.09 ERA, 22.6% strikeout rate, 44.4% grounder rate, and 9.1% walk rate over 90 1/3 innings for Chicago. He chipped in a 2.57 ERA over seven postseason innings. Newcomb frequently worked as a multi-inning reliever, with six pseudo-starts as an opener or the front end of a piggyback situation. The Marlins’ closer position is wide open. Any of Michael Petersen, Calvin Faucher, Ronny Henriquez, Anthony Bender, or others could battle for the job in spring training. Bringing another pitcher with closing experience is certainly another possibility, and presumably Miami would install Morejon in that role if he signed, even though Morejon has only eight career saves. Vesia likewise could get a look at closer but seems like more of a setup type, while Newcomb would likely be used again as a swingman or in a multi-inning capacity. In terms of the rotation, Barral writes that the Marlins have “cast a wide net” in their explorations to date. He mentions Dustin May and Patrick Sandoval as names for Marlins fans to monitor. It’s unclear if there have been firm talks with either pitcher to date, but their mention suggests an interest in starters who can be had on short-term commitments.