There's a new beef in baseball, apparently, and it's Eric Hosmer against the Miami Marlins' leadership.
First: Let's set the stage.
Over the weekend, the Marlins traded away two-time batting champion Luis Arraez to the San Diego Padres. It's a complete concession by the Marlins, who are out to a 10-27 start this year - and it may not be the last big move they make. In return, the Marlins received a prospect package as they go through what appears to be another rebuild.
Then, Hosmer, who is a former Kansas City Royals World Series champion and current podcast host, put out a post on "X" taking a shot at new Marlins' Baseball Ops leader Peter Bendix:
You inherit a young team who made the playoffs, have a 2nd year manager (MOY last year) we come in and immediately blow it all up. Bold strategy!
For such a quick comment from Hosmer, there's a lot there. Let's take a look what he got right and what he got wrong.
1) Hosmer is kind of missing the point as to what the Marlins are going through and why they are in this position. Bendix undoubtedly didn't come in with a plan to blow up the Marlins; the team has been beseiged by pitching injuries. The Marlins did make the playoffs last year, but the starting five of Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Braxton Garrett, Edward Cabrera and Jesus Luzardo has been torn up. Alcantara is out for the year, as is Perez. Cabrera started the year on the injured list while Garrett and Luzardo are there now. Had the Marlins been healthy, they likely would have been much better and wouldn't have had to make moves like this.
It's certainly fair to question if Bendix should have just let the team play out the string this year and try again next year with the same roster it envisioned this year, but to suggest that this was something Bendix wanted to do is not right. Arraez is a free agent after 2025 and the team could have let him stick around for one more year, but Bendix had to make a tough call about what the best way to proceed was.
2) Bendix shouldn't be given all the blame for the Marlins' failures. The injuries, as mentioned, play a role, and so does letting Kim Ng go this offseason. The previous GM was responsible for getting the Marlins to the playoffs in both 2020 and 2023, and her not being back is a Marlins' ownership decision, nothing that Bendix did.
3) Bendix can be blamed for letting slugger Jorge Soler walk in free agency. A guy who lead the team in homers last year not being there is a big loss, but he is only hitting .202 this season in San Francisco....
All in all, it feels like an unfair gripe from Hosmer. While it's understandable that a former player would be upset about a team giving up on a season, it's also understandable that Bendix had to make a tough call in the midst of a season that no one expected.
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