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Miami Marlins to sign Avisail Garcia in first free agent acquisition of the offseason

Jeff Roberson

The Miami Marlins are set to make their first big free-agent acquisition just days before MLB’s collective bargaining agreement is set to expire and turn the offseason into a player lockout.

The Marlins have agreed to a four-year deal with outfielder Avisail Garcia, two sources confirmed to the Miami Herald on Sunday. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported the deal will be worth $53 million. The Marlins will have to make a corresponding move to add Garcia to their 40-man roster, which is currently full.

His signing fits the club’s priority for the offseason, which Marlins general manager Kim Ng simply described last month as being “multiple bats, very plural.”

Garcia, 30, is a career .270 hitter with a .756 on-base-plus-slugging mark, 127 home runs, 475 RBI and 453 runs scored over 951 career games spanning 10 MLB seasons.

He had single-season career-highs in home runs (29) and RBI (86) in 2021, while his .820 OPS and .490 slugging were the second-best marks of his career, behind only the .885 and .506 marks he had in his 2017 All-Star season with the Chicago White Sox.

Defensively, Garcia has primarily played in right field with 690 of his starts coming in that spot. He has 75 career starts in center field and 12 in left field.

Garcia’s signing locks up one of the Marlins’ outfield spots for the 2022 season. The Marlins’ other outfielders on the 40-man roster include Jesus Sanchez, Bryan De La Cruz, Lewis Brinson, Garrett Cooper, Monte Harrison and Jerar Encarnacion.

JJ Bleday, Peyton Budick and Kameron Misner, all among the Marlins’ top-30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline, are Miami’s top internal up-and-comers outside of that group although all three are expected to start the season in the minor leagues.

The Marlins also anticipate to be busy in the next few days with MLB’s collective bargaining agreement set to expire at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. The league’s contract tender deadline is also set for 8 p.m. Tuesday and the Marlins have decisions to make on 11 players who are eligible for arbitration.