Fairbanks, who turned 32 last week, is coming off a 2.83 ERA in 60 1/3 innings for the Rays in 2025. Tampa had an $11 million club option on his services for 2026, but they paid him a $1 million buyout instead. We at MLBTR ranked him at No. 44 on our Top 50 Free Agents list and projected a two-year, $18 million contract. He will now head to the Marlins on a shorter deal with a higher annual salary and numbers to be the team’s closer next year.
The right-hander made his debut in 2019 and threw 265 1/3 innings with a 3.19 ERA in his seven seasons with the Rays. In that time, Fairbanks has struck out 30.0% of batters against a 9.3% walk rate thanks to a high-90s fastball and a mid-80s slider, which he uses 44.1% of the time. He also gets groundballs at an above-average rate of 45.1% and generally keeps the ball in the park, allowing just 0.81 HR/9.
He has also struggled with injuries, making the injured list seven times between 2021 and 2024. He had better health luck this year, as he avoided the injured list and posted a career-high with 60 1/3 innings. When healthy, Fairbanks is a dominant back-end reliever. In 151 innings as the Rays’ closer from 2023-25, he had a 2.98 ERA while posting an 18.9% K-BB rate and earning 75 saves, which was 12th-highest in the league during that span.
That largely continued into 2025, albeit with a decline in Fairbanks’ advanced grades. After striking out 37.0% of batters in 2023, that has dropped to 23.8% in 2024 and 24.2% in 2025. That’s still plenty effective, especially since he’s lowered his walk rate from 10.9% in 2023 to 7.4% this year. However, there has also been an increase in the average exit speed. Hitters averaged 85.7 mph against Fairbanks in 2023, but that rose to 90.2 mph in 2025. Meanwhile, his four-seamer now sits at 90.3 mph after averaging 98.9 mph in 2023.
Nevertheless, the fact that the current version of Fairbanks has better-than-average strikeout and walk rates with a 90th percentile fastball velocity means he’s still an effective reliever. The Rays’ move to decline his option was at least financially motivated. Tampa Bay’s payroll is typically at the bottom of the rankings (29th out of 30 in 2025). They previously signed Fairbanks to a three-year, $12 million extension in January 2023. While $4 million was a comfortable price range for the team, $11 million may have simply been too high a price to commit to one reliever, even one as effective as Fairbanks.
The club did indeed try to trade Fairbanks after the season ended, but they couldn’t find any takers. That ultimately proved to be a moot point, as he received a lot of interest from teams around the league. It was publicly known that the Marlins, Diamondbacks, White Sox and Tigers were interested in the right-hander. Miami always seemed like a logical fit, given Fairbanks’ connection to president of baseball operations Peter Bendix from their days with the Rays.
With the addition of Fairbanks, the Marlins have bolstered a bullpen that ranked 23rd in the league in 2025 with a 4.27 ERA and 17th with a 14.1% K-BB percentage. The best performer of the bunch was right-handed Ronny Henriquez. The 25-year-old threw 73 innings over 69 appearances this year with an ERA of 2.22 and a strikeout rate of 32.3%. His 1.3 fWAR was a team high for relievers, while his peripheral stats were slightly higher than his ERA, but still excellent. He also earned seven saves during the season. It was the best possible outcome for the Marlins, who acquired Henriquez as a waiver wire pick last season. Unfortunately, two days ago news broke that the judge had undergone an internal brace procedure on his throwing elbow. As a result, he will miss the entire 2026 season.
Including Henriquez, the team got a lot of volume out of the bullpen in 2025. Seven Marlins relievers threw at least 50 innings, of which Tyler Phillips‘s 77 2/3 innings led the group. He pitched to a 2.78 ERA and faced groundballs at a well-above-average rate of 55.6%, albeit with a strikeout rate of just 16.6% and mediocre peripherals. Calvin Faucher and Luke Bachar had ERAs of 3.28 and 3.78, respectively, but with expected values ​​at mid-afternoon. In the meantime, Anthony Bender, Cade GibsonAnd Valente Bellozo had solid groundball rates, but below-average strikeout numbers. The signing of Fairbanks upgrades the group with more speed, strikeouts and groundballs, while covering Henriquez’s injury and taking the pressure off the younger arms.
According to Grid sourceFairbanks’ signing brings the Marlins’ projected payroll to $73 million, up slightly from $70 million in 2025. That figure includes just over $15 million for eight arbitration-eligible players, with $2 million going to the recently signed players. Christopher Morel (previously not contracted by the Rays). So far, Morel and Fairbanks are the club’s only major league signings as free agents, although the club is reportedly willing to spend more than normal this season.
Photos courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck and Kim Klement, Imagn Images
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