Kelvin Gutierrez (3B/SS) and Jefry Rodriguez (RHP) have been added to the 40-man roster, leaving 3 roster spaces for trades and FA acquisitions.
http://www.masnsports.com/nationals-pastime/2017/11/nationals-add-gutierrez-rodriguez-to-40-man-roster.htmlI'm a big fan of Gutierrez. He batted .350 in the AFL and his 2017 season stats were .278/.340/.408 in 68 games, with 13 doubles, seven triples, two homers, 17 RBIs and five stolen bases. He missed a bunch of time with a sprained ankle. He's really nimble and plays solid defense. Not sure where he will start next year (my guess is Harrisburg rather than Syracuse though).
I think South Florida disproportionately gets a big share of its Spanish-speaking immigrants from the parts of the Spanish-speaking world that play and follow baseball, not just Cuba. I think the issue is more that when people move to Florida from the rest of the United States, they've already got a favorite baseball team and aren't compelled to follow the Marlins.
There's definitely a contingent who will not support the Marlins because they already have a favorite team, but for many in the Latinx community, their favorite team isn't part of MLB and they'd support the home team if you could get them to be interested. There have been an awful lot of missed marketing opportunities.
Marlins averaged a bit over 20,000 per home game (28th in MLB). My bet is a high percentage of those 20,000 were Cuban-Americans, or other Latinos. Nats, btw, were 11th overall, not exactly something to crow about with a Division winner, Cy Young winner, superstar Bryce and surrounding cast.
One of the real negatives of playing in a weak division is that opponent fans don't want to travel to your park. Remember the oceans of Phillies fans that used to come to DC? Or heck, even the big groups of Mets fans (apart from the 7-Line Army; they only make one trip per year). If those teams suck, their fans don't go on road trips. You need the rival fans to help fill the stadium. Few teams fill up on just "home" fans. Heck, not even the obnoxious O's fans are turning up, and half of them don't even have a very long trip. It's just not fun going on the road to watch your team lose.