00:00Stable part of the Marlins bullpen in 26 was officially signed one year, $13 million deal.
00:06Pete Fairbanks, the former Tampa Bay Rays closer, did not have an $11 million club option picked up by Tampa.
00:12He hit the open market and he made money on a one year, $13 million deal with Miami.
00:18It made a lot of sense that he was going to make money.
00:20I feel like at a certain point, the question became, is it going to be a one year deal or a two year deal?
00:26And you saw Helzley get a two year deal and you saw Tyler Rogers get a three year deal and you saw these other closers get two, three year deals.
00:33And the question was, is the market for Fairbanks a one year deal or is it a two year deal?
00:39The strikeout rate has declined over the last two years, but the ERA is held and reliever ERA depends on how much you value that.
00:47This guy is one of, I think, four relievers with 75 or more saves and a sub three reliever ERA over the last three years combined.
00:56This guy has been a steady closer for Tampa.
01:00Peter Bendix, the Marlins president of baseball operations, clearly has a relationship with Pete Fairbanks from their time in Tampa.
01:06And this is such a fun pickup for Miami, especially after the letdown of their bullpen ace from last year, needing UCL surgery.
01:14Ronnie Enriquez is out and Peyton Genis.
01:16I really appreciate this because he got the superhero laying on the bed longing for Ronnie Enriquez.
01:21He was such a joy to watch during the 2025 season.
01:25He was my favorite reliever to watch on that team.
01:28He was electrifying and he's 5'10", listed at 155 pounds.
01:33That might be soaking wet and he might be 5'10 on his best day, but this guy has as electric a right arm as you can possibly find.
01:40And while they lose Ronnie for 26, you get Fairbanks for 26.
01:44It felt like a necessary move and I'm really glad that it happened.
01:48I don't think it's a coincidence that it happened not long after that announcement came, right?
01:51I think whatever stalemate maybe the Marlins were at, because their interest in Fairbanks was abundantly clear and well reported.
01:57Like, I think they may be up to up the ante just a little bit to get this thing done because, yeah, I think the Marlins bullpen was already a bit of a question mark overperformed in a lot of ways last year.
02:09And sometimes I think the term overperforms harsh because maybe these guys, you know, did take a big step forward.
02:13But collectively, I think odds are they're going to struggle to fully duplicate what they did last year.
02:21The one guy that I had the most confidence in being able to duplicate it is Ronnie Enriquez.
02:26And I think that that was not much of a question.
02:28So to be able to bring in a vet, I think in general to that clubhouse is valuable, but also to that to that bullpen is huge.
02:34And it's it signifies for the Marlins that like, hey, we're not just going to wave the white flag now that our closers banged up.
02:39Like we still want to try to give this team a good shot to win next year in terms of Pete Fairbanks couldn't have worked out better for him.
02:45He gets a one million dollar buyout from the Rays.
02:47Then he ends up making two million dollars more plus incentives than he would have got if the Rays just picked up his option.
02:54So three million more dollars in his pocket plus incentives.
02:58It happens like sometimes you don't fully know what the market's going to be for your player.
03:02But I think this is a, you know, one of those rare instances where the Rays, you know, may have may have got it wrong a little bit here because clearly a lot of teams were interested in getting him at about 11 or 12 anyways.
03:12But I think for the Marlins, it's great.
03:13I still think they have more work to do on that bullpen.
03:15And that's where it's interesting.
03:17I had floated the idea of, you know, maybe re reentering some trade talks with the with the Padres to maybe get some bullpen help.
03:24Marlins fans didn't love that one, but I do think they need to probably bolster a little bit more.
03:27Just my one concern with Fairbanks is availability isn't thrown a ton of innings, but he is coming off of his most available season.
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