The Miami Marlins are off to an awful start and have scored the 29th-most runs in the league en route to a 21-39 record, and after 60 games it is time for the team to start shaking things up.
The team made a decision today to part with one struggling injured veteran outfielder to continue giving all the playing time to Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bryan De La Cruz, and Jesus Sanchez.
Team insider Craig Mish shared on Twitter that the Marlins are DFA’ing Avisail Garcia and will eat his remaining salary for 2024 including another $12 million in 2025 as well as his $5 million buyout in 2026.
Marlins are DFA’ing Avisail Garcia per source. Miami will eat his remaining salary for 2024, another 12 million in 2025 and his 5 million dollar buyout in 2026.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) June 4, 2024
Garcia is in the third year of a 4-year, $53 million deal that he signed after his strong 2021 with the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Marlins are now still on the hook for about another $25 million owed to him.
This is a lot of money to eat for a team that hates spending money, but there was no justification to continue trotting Garcia out there when the three current outfielders are the most promising players in the lineup.
Garcia has been a disappointment for the entirety of his Marlins tenure after posting a .582 and .566 OPS over his first two years with the club, and there was certainly not going to be a trade market for him with that kind of money remaining on his deal and being three years removed from his last season with an OPS over .600.
Garcia had just a .635 OPS over 50 at-bats so far this season before going down with a hamstring injury at the end of April.
