Blue Wahoos Leadership Team Reconnects, Gains Insight at MLB Winter Meetings 

The Blue Wahoos had an increased presence at the annual Major League Baseball Winter Meetings, which concluded on Wednesday in Dallas.

The three-day event began Monday at the Hilton Anatole Hotel, located in an upscale suburb of Dallas. This event, which brings together MLB and Minor League Baseball executives, has moved from city to city and has been a staple event of Major League Baseball since the formation of the American League in 1901.

Blue Wahoos majority owner Quint Studer, along with team president Jonathan Griffith and general manager Steve Brice attended the meetings. The Blue Wahoos in 2025 will begin their fifth season as the Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins.

Studer serves on a MiLB operations committee in conjunction with Major League Baseball, which has directly governed the 120 minor league teams since 2021.

That was part of his meetings agenda. But another was even more special.

Since all 30 MLB managers attend the Winter Meetings and hold separate press conferences, it enabled Studer to reunite with Pensacola’s unique managerial connection in Major League Baseball.

New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, naturally a focal point with the team’s signing of outfielder Juan Soto for a record $765 million contract, along with Houston Astros manager Joe Espada, met on Monday with Studer while they attended the meetings.

The duo were once an infield tandem with the Pensacola Pelicans during the former Independent League franchise tenure 20 years ago, playing at UWF’s Jim Spooner Field – renamed back then in the summers as “Pelican Park.” The duo played two seasons in Pensacola and stayed with Pensacola realtor Wanda Lewis, who was the former players’ host family.

They both have stayed in touch with Lewis during the past 20 years. They fondly remember their time in Pensacola, visiting with fans on the field after games, signing autographs and participating in community outreach.

“It is so great to see people achieve their dreams,” said Studer, who shared a photo he had taken with Espada and Mendoza in the hotel lobby. “Over the years since Joe and Carlos played in Pensacola, we have stayed in touch. They always express love for their host mom- Wanda and the people of Pensacola.”

When Mendoza met with a massive media throng Monday, he stayed coy on discussing Soto’s signing. The Mets will soon officially introduce him in New York and wanted to ensure any discussion about Soto was kept to a minimum.

“I was in my room, I slept,” said Mendoza, laughing, when asked during the press conference how he handled Sunday night when news first broke about Soto joining the Mets in a 15-year deal.It will be the 26-year-old right fielder’s fourth team in four years. He was traded by the San Diego Padres in 2023 to the New York Yankees before he became a free agent following the 2024 season. The Padres acquired him in 2022 from the Washington Nationals in a trade.

When asked what kind of player might be worth $765 million – the largest contract ever awarded to an athlete in any of the four major North American sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) – Mendoza again remained playfully coy.

“I mean, that’s a good question. There’s a lot of good players out there… there’s one with the (LA) Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani) and who knows,” he said, before answering a different question by saying, “I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, you know? But we want to win. And we have an owner that is willing to do whatever it takes.”

Ironically, last month the Mets acquired former Pensacola Blue Wahoos player Jose Siri in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays. Siri played in 66 games for the Blue Wahoos in 2018 as a Cincinnati Reds prospect – the final year the Reds were the Double-A affiliate in Pensacola. Siri is projected to be the Mets starting center fielder with Soto in right field.

While this was going on, the Blue Wahoos’ Griffith and Brice attended a variety of seminars and workshop meetings that discussed minor league baseball operations, promotions and partnerships. Also attending the meetings were Beloit (Wisc) Sky Carp president Zach Brockman.

Marlins Learn Draft Order

The Winter Meetings serve as a way to bring together all levels of professional baseball for three days of various informative events.

One of those is the lottery for the next MLB Amateur Draft which will occur in July 13-15 in Atlanta, site of the 2025 MLB All-Star Game. The draft order was decided Tuesday with an announcement event on MLB TV.

The Marlins did not have good luck in the lottery, after being selected to pick seventh. The Marlins finished the 2024 season with the third-worst record in MLB at 62-100.

But under a new draft lottery system implemented two years ago, the team with the worst record (in this case, the Chicago White Sox) is not guaranteed to get the first overall pick. The White Sox, being from a large market, do not receive revenue-sharing and are ineligible to get consecutive top six lottery picks.

The Marlins and Colorado Rockies were tied for best percentage to receive the No. 1 pick. But instead, that went to the Washington Nationals with the Rockies chosen No. 4 in the lottery.

The Marlins find solace with history of No. 7 picks having included Hall of Famer Frank Thomas, and current star pitcher Clayton Kershaw from the Dodgers.

“I have kept these (names) in my mind for the most part for first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh picks,” said Marlins director of amateur scouting Frankie Piliere, speaking to media members after the draft lottery. “I like Draft history in general, but it's just a good reminder. A lot of us have talked about where Mike Trout went (25th overall in 2009) in the Draft. And there are players all over the Draft that are picked in all different places that are talented.

“And that's why we've talked about it from the beginning: Our Drafts are top to bottom. First round is fun. First round is exciting. We've talked about [how] you can get aircraft carrier-type talents, but they're everywhere. There are World Series MVPs who went in the sixth round. They're everywhere, and that's the way we approach the Draft.”

Marlins Rule 5 Draft

The Marlins gained four players and lost two in Wednesday’s annual Rule 5 Draft on the final day of the Winter Meetings. The draft is for players who signed at ages 19-older and 18-younger who have played at least four minor league seasons (19-over) or five seasons (18-under) and they are not part of a team’s 40 man roster.

Players chosen must stay on the club’s 40-man roster in the upcoming season, so in this case, the 2025 season.

The Marlins acquired catcher Liam Hicks from the Detroit Tigers in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft. Hicks, 25, was a ninth round pick by the Texas Rangers in 2021 from Arkansas State. He has appeared in 265 minor league games with two organizations (Rangers-Tigers) reaching Double-A with each club.

He has a career .274 average with 13 homers and 126 RBI.

Meanwhile, in the same phase, they had pitcher Anderson Pilar, who appeared in 23 games last season with the Blue Wahoos, get selected by the Atlanta Braves.

In the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 draft, Marlins acquired pitchers Ricky DeVito (Texas Rangers organization), and Orlando Ortiz-Mayr (Dodgers), along with infielder Jack Winker (Oakland A’s).