One thing that the Marlins have done differently, and why it matters. And notes

Marlins chatter, with pitchers and catchers due to report to Jupiter this week:

▪ Many of you know the “second” modern day definition of insanity: doing the same thing and expecting different results.

That’s why the Marlins should be commended for doing something different this offseason in adding second baseman Luis Arraez and third baseman Jean Segura.

The most obvious difference between the Arraez and Segura pickups and many of their position player signings in previous offseasons is Arraez and Segura have far better bat-to-ball skills and plate discipline and ability to hit for average and low strikeout totals (very low in Arraez’s case).

But there’s another more subtle difference, too: There aren’t the peaks and valleys in career performance that we’ve seen from other Marlins signings.

From a run production and power standpoint, Segura’s and Arraez’s highs haven’t approached the highs of Avisail Garcia and Jorge Soler.

But their lows as hitters have been nowhere near Garcia’s and Soler’s depths.

Last season, Segura hit .277 with 10 homers and 33 RBI and a .336 on-base percentage in 98 games.

In his past seven years, he has hit between .266 and .319 every season. The last four have been very similar: .280, .266, .290, .277 with on-base averages of .323, .347, .348 and .336.

During his past five non-COVID shortened seasons, the home run totals have been very comparable: 11, 10, 12, 14, 10.

With Arraez, the batting average has settled in between .294 and .334 every season of his four-year career, the on-base percentage ranging from .364 to .399.

Arraez’s 131 career strikeouts are the least of any active player with more than 1000 plate appearances. His strikeout rate was the lowest in the majors among qualifiers last season.

Segura, meanwhile, struck out only 15 percent of his plate appearances, and as baseballtraderumors.com noted, “has posted a lower than average strikeout percentage in every season of his career. He put the bat on the ball on 83.2% of his swings this past season, a rate that’s nearly six percentage points higher than the league average.”

Because of the Marlins’ financial constraints, they’ve had to take too many chances — over the past decade — on players whose careers included wide variations in performance. And they’ve usually ended up with the lesser version of those players.

To wit:

▪ Before signing with the Marlins 15 months ago, Garcia has ridden a roller coaster the previous four seasons, hitting .236 in 2018, .282 in 2019, .238 in 2020 and .262 in 2021. So how could anyone be surprised when he hit .224 last season and his home runs per at-bat fell from one every 18 plate appearances to one every 48 in shifting from a hitter-friendly home ballpark in Milwaukee to a pitcher-friendly stadium in Miami?

▪ Before signing with the Marlins a year ago, Soler had gone from .265, 48 homers, 117 RBI in 2019 to .223, 27, 70 in 2021, after the 2020 COVID season. So how could anyone be surprised when he hit .207 in 72 games as a Marlin last season?

▪ Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia — after signing a three-year, $21 million deal — went from hitting .273 with Boston in 2013 to .220 with the Marlins in 2014.

The Marlins shouldn’t have been surprised; he hit .235 and .222 before his career year in Boston that motivated the Marlins to sign him. That good year in Boston was an anomaly; he was a career .232 hitter.

There are other examples of the Marlins — under the previous and current ownership regimes — ignoring large performance variance (Mike Morse and others) because they could not find or afford many veteran players who had been consistently good throughout their careers. So this sobering reality shouldn’t surprise anyone:

In the past 11 years, the Marlins signed 12 free agent position players from other teams to contracts worth $3 million or more. Of those 12, nine of them became significantly worse players the year after signing here. But in many cases, those players had earlier seasons that should have raised red flags before Miami signed them.

Arraez, of course, came in a trade, while Segura was a free agent signing. For a change, the Marlins didn’t do what they often have in the past decade: convince themselves that they should ignore a bad recent season because a player also had a good recent season.

In the case of Arraez and Segura, there were no bad recent seasons.

The Marlins, this winter, added one key player with a big recent performance disparity: former Red Sox closer Matt Barnes, who was awful to end 2021 and begin 2022 but great to begin 2021 and end 2022. But the Red Sox are covering more than $5 million in his salary, and he’s worth a chance because it’s not the financial commitment that the Marlins previously made to position players with similar peaks and valleys.

Barnes will earn $7.5 million this season and has a $2.25 million team buyout in 2024. If he’s great in 2003, Miami could exercise his $8 million team option in 2024.

THIS AND THAT

▪ Lefties hit just .153 last season against new Marlin reliever A.J. Puk, who was acquired on Saturday for outfielder JJ Bleday. Right-handers hit .252.

Last September, former Marlins manager Don Mattingly candidly pointed out of Bleday’s shortcomings during his 65 game major-league stint last season when he hit .167: He too often fouled off pitches that were very hittable. If the Marlins were convinced that couldn’t be solved, then trading him for a talented, established young arm made sense.

Puk has a 97 mph fastball and an 87 mph slider. He has pitched only in relief in the majors, though Oakland was ready to give him a shot to win a rotation spot.

▪ Here’s what’s most encouraging about former Tampa reliever JT Chargois, the most veteran bullpen addition: During the past three seasons, he has held opposing teams to batting averages of .217, ,183 and .203.

▪ As Herald senior baseball correspondent Craig Mish was told, the Marlins pulled their offer to Astros free agent Yuli Gurriel after he sat on it for a week without responding. Miami offered him more than $2 million for one season.

Gurriel, who remains unsigned, also has spoken with Minnesota and Houston.

The Marlins could still add a veteran first baseman as a non-roster invitee. Otherwise, Arraez could back up Cooper at first base.

▪ Though he’s not expected to make the opening day roster, the Marlins used Jerar Encarnacion at first base in winter ball. The Marlins will monitor how he plays in Triple A.

“He gives us some flexibility there,” general manager Kim Ng said.

But Encarnacion hasn’t shown an ability to make consistent contact at the big-league level.

He had 32 strikeouts in 81 big-league plate appearances, with 14 hits (.182 average, .210 on base), just three walks, three homers and 14 RBI.

At Triple A Jacksonville last season, he hit .265, with 14 homers, 40 RBI and a .333 on base average but 87 strikeouts in 68 games and 297 plate appearances.