The Marlins and reliever Pete Fairbanks are in settlement on a contract, in line with Will Sammon of the Athletic. It’s a one-year, $13MM contract for the Republik Sports activities consumer, in line with Jeff Passan of ESPN. Per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, the deal features a $1MM signing bonus and one other $1MM in incentives based mostly on appearances. Fairbanks may also obtain a bonus of $500,000 if he’s traded. The deal is pending a bodily.
Fairbanks, who turned 32 final week, is coming off a 2.83 ERA in 60 1/3 innings for the Rays in 2025. Tampa held an $11MM membership choice on his providers for 2026, however they as a substitute paid him a $1MM buyout. We at MLBTR ranked him No. 44 on our High 50 Free Brokers checklist and projected a two-year, $18MM contract. He now heads to the Marlins on a shorter cope with a better annual wage and figures to be the crew’s nearer subsequent yr.
The suitable-hander debuted in 2019 and has pitched 265 1/3 innings with a 3.19 ERA in his seven seasons with the Rays. In that point, Fairbanks has struck out 30.0% of hitters towards a 9.3% stroll price because of an upper-90s fastball and a mid-80s slider which he makes use of 44.1% of the time. He additionally will get groundballs at an above-average 45.1% price and usually retains the ball within the park, permitting 0.81 HR/9 in his profession.
He has additionally incessantly handled accidents, making seven journeys to the injured checklist from 2021-24. He had higher well being luck this yr, avoiding the injured checklist and setting a profession excessive with 60 1/3 innings pitched. In any case, Fairbanks is a dominant back-end reliever when he’s wholesome. In 151 innings because the Rays’ nearer from 2023-25, he had a 2.98 ERA whereas posting a 18.9% Ok-BB price and incomes 75 saves, which ranks Twelfth-highest within the league in that span.
That largely continued in 2025, albeit with a drop in Fairbanks’ superior metrics. After placing out 37.0% of hitters as lately as 2023, that has fallen to 23.8% in 2024 and 24.2% in 2025. That’s nonetheless loads efficient, particularly as he has lowered his stroll price from 10.9% in 2023 to 7.4% this yr. Nevertheless, it has additionally include an uptick in common exit velocity. Hitters averaged 85.7 mph off the bat towards Fairbanks in 2023, however that rose to 90.2 mph in 2025. In the meantime, his four-seamer now sits at 97.3 mph after averaging 98.9 mph in 2023.
Nonetheless, the truth that the present model of Fairbanks has better-than-average strikeout and stroll charges with Ninetieth-percentile fastball velocity means that he’s nonetheless an efficient reliever. If something, the transfer by the Rays to say no his choice was financially motivated. Tampa Bay’s payroll normally ranks close to the underside of the league (twenty ninth out of 30 in 2025). They beforehand signed Fairbanks to a three-year, $12MM extension in January 2023. Whereas $4MM was a snug worth vary for the crew, $11MM might have merely been too excessive a worth to commit to at least one reliever, even one as efficient as Fairbanks.
Certainly, the membership tried to commerce Fairbanks after the season ended, however they couldn’t discover any takers. That ended up being a moot level, as he garnered loads of curiosity from groups across the league. The Marlins, Diamondbacks, White Sox, and Tigers had been publicly identified to have an interest within the right-hander. Miami all the time appeared like a logical match, given the crew’s elevated willingness to spend this offseason and the connection between Fairbanks and president of baseball operations Peter Bendix from their time with the Rays.
With the addition of Fairbanks, the Marlins have fortified a bullpen which ranked twenty third within the league with a 4.27 ERA and seventeenth with a 14.1% Ok-BB price in 2025. The perfect performer of the bunch was right-hander Ronny Henriquez. The 25-year-old pitched 73 innings over 69 appearances this yr with a 2.22 ERA and a 32.3% strikeout price. His 1.3 fWAR was a crew excessive for relievers, whereas his peripheral stats had been barely larger than his ERA however nonetheless glorious. He additionally earned seven saves all through the season. It was the absolute best final result for the Marlins, who acquired Henriquez as a waiver pickup final offseason. Sadly, information broke two days in the past that the righty underwent an inside brace process on his throwing elbow. Consequently, he’ll miss your complete 2026 season.
Extra to come back.
