Marlins tender offers to all 6 arb eligibles

MIAMI — To the Marlins, keeping the nucleus together applies to all six of their arbitration-eligible players.

Before Friday’s 8 p.m. ET deadline, Miami tendered All-Stars A.J. Ramos and Marcell Ozuna, along with Tom Koehler, David Phelps, Adeiny Hechavarria and infielder Derek Dietrich. The formality came as no surprise.

The deadline is the final big piece of MLB business leading into next week’s Winter Meetings.

MLB.com and MLB Network will have wall-to-wall coverage of the 2016 Winter Meetings from the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center outside Washington, D.C. Fans can watch live streaming of all news conferences and manager availability on MLB.com, including the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday at 9 a.m. ET.

The tender deadline is significant because those not offered would become free agents.

• Hot Stove Tracker

Generally, players with three to six years of MLB service time qualify for arbitration. After six-plus years, a player not under contract can become eligible for free agency.

Some players are now in arbitration with Super Two status. For Miami, this applies to Dietrich, who has 2 years, 151 days of service. The cutoff for Super Twos is 2 years, 131 days. In calculating service time, 172 days constitutes a full year.

Just because Miami has tendered all of its arbitration-eligible players doesn’t mean these players must remain with the club. They can still be traded.

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Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill has made it clear the club has no interest in trading any of its core players. Ozuna, a power-hitting outfielder, would be a …

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