In a rather surprising move, the Marlins announced that they have designated catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia for assignment.
Saltalamacchia, 29, is less than a month into the second year of a three-year, $21MM pact with the Marlins. He’s owed $6.16MM through season’s end and still has an $8MM salary remaining in 2016, the final year of his contract. With $14.16MM left on his deal, Saltalamacchia is all but certain to clear waivers if that’s where he’s headed, but it remains possible that the Marlins could move him to another club if they absorb a significant portion of his remaining salary.
Though the remaining salary on his contract and the early juncture of the season make this move unexpected, Saltalamacchia’s bat hasn’t justified the investment which the Marlins made in the 2013-14 offseason. In a combined 468 plate appearances over the past two years, Saltalamacchia has batted just .209/.310/.351 with a dozen homers. Top catching prospect J.T. Realmuto was promoted earlier this month and will be relied upon as the everyday catcher going forward, it would seem.
It’s possible that the Marlins are far enough along in trade discussions that they were comfortable designating Saltalamacchia in order to clear a 40-man spot now. (The Orioles recently did this with Ryan Webb, for example.) It seems odd that they wouldn’t be able to find a taker for Saltalamacchia at $1-2MM per season to spare them some of the cost, but as Jon Heyman of CBS Sports notes, the team did try to trade Saltalamacchia all winter without any success (Twitter link).
Bet he goes back to one of his earlier teams…Boston or Rangers.
With Vasquez down, Boston makes plenty of sense.
Not really. Hanigan is a decent backup, and they are just treading water there waiting for Swihart to mature.
Swihart needs the full year in AAA. It makes a ton of sense for Boston to bring him back for the rest of this season, unless they feel comfortable with Leon and Hanigan, though I’d take Salty over Leon I think.
Beat reporters say the team is not interested… they’ll just stick with what they have until they’re ready to call up Swihart (who’s on fire in AAA)
I don’t see him making sense for any of those teams
Rangers are set with Chirinos and Corporan behind the plate. No need for Salty in Arlington. Braves could make sense if they want to give Bethancourt more time in the minors. Boston also makes some sense as he’d be an upgrade over Hanigan and Leon while they wait on Vasquez and Swihart.
I would rather him go to his 1st team. The Braves. Let Bethancourt have another year in the minors
I doubt the Red Sox would take him for two seasons as they have Swihart and Vasquez for next year.
He must be either super injured or already basically part of a trade… right?
Doesn’t help that he’s hitting .069
Over 33 PAs…
I know. It’s a surprising move but I can fully understand why Miami would do it.
They must really like Realmuto.
Seems that way.
I really like Realmuto, he’s going to be a good one.
Also doesn’t help that Mathis should be on his way back and it would make less baseball sense to demote Realmuto.
Exactly. No room on the roster.
Super injured. That must honestly really actually be it.
Billy Beane just pitched a tent over this one.
I don’t know. Vogt is off to a strong start, and Phegley has the defensive skills to stick on a major league roster. Though they did have three catchers at one point last year. But I could see another club offering him more playing time than what the A’s have to offer.
With a DH option anything is possible. Plus Billy will trade Vogt soon. He’s too sell high not too. I mean think about it, there’s a few player left from last years offense.
But Beane still wants to win this year. So it would make no sense to trade Vogt (if he continues to produce) until at least the off-season (barring a massive overpay from another team.)
He wanted to win last year and he traded Cespedes….
Yeah, for another win-now type player. That trade was basically an exception to teams trading win-now players in the midst of a season, and even that trade was an oddity for Beane. Unless the A’s happen to get a player back of Lester’s caliber again before the trade deadline, Vogt won’t be traded.
LoL What? So Vogt isn’t a win now player? Do you think he’s a work in progress or something? And that was totally a Beane move. Trading while someone is at their best is the whole point of selling high, which is kind of what Billy is known. Hence why they’ve traded all their all stars, who may not be at that level again. Norris was their all star catcher last year and he didn’t last long now did he. What about Brandon Moss? What about Samardzija? These situations are all hypotheticals, but I’m fairly certain Vogt won’t be an A this time next year. Plus the A’s are all about depth, so having one or two good catchers is not exactly secure in their eyes.
I never said Vogt wasn’t a win now player. I think you missed my point.
What I’m saying is that even if Vogt were to be traded, he wouldn’t be until the off-season (if at all.) It would make no sense to trade a win-now type player like Vogt unless they were getting back another win-now type player. What we saw last trading deadline where Cespedes and Lester were swapped was a pretty abnormal trade for an in-season trade.
I’m guessing what you’re getting at is that if the A’s sign Salty, then he can replace Vogt in the lineup for 2016. But for that to happen, the A’s would need Salty and/or Phegley to produce in order to replace Vogt (or sign/trade for another catcher.) But that’s a lot of ifs, and I think it’s too early to ponder whether or not Vogt gets traded.
I’m just saying its Billy Beane… No one saw Cespedes coming, or Butler or literally 90% of what he does. If it doesn’t make sense to you than it only proves to me that its a possibility.
Rather surprising move given he’s only played 9 games this season. You would think the Marlins would have waited a little longer to recoup on what is basically now lost value. But I guess with Loria behind the helms, not too much is surprising.
I admire Loria on this one, and that is something you won’t hear me say very often.
The only reason to cut Saltalamacchia at this point in his deal is because he’s not thinking of the money and is trying to put his best options on the field. Whether he is right or wrong, I admire the attitude.
It’s not lost value yet. Salty could still be traded or outrighted and used again later. He will unlikely refuse a minor league assignment because he would forfeit the rest of his contract if his did so.
True, but given the experience of numerous players who have been in the situation Saltalamacchia is in right now, I don’t think the Marlins are going to get anything back. If a club wants him, they’re most likely gonna wait until he becomes a free agent.
Depends on the number of suitors. Yes he will be cheaper to get after he is released, but if there are multiple teams interested the Marlins might get a decent deal out of it after all.
I doubt they will try to outright him.
I knew he was struggling, but I never figured the Marlins would go so far as to DFA him, especially since he’s owed ~$14 million over the next 2 years.
If he refuses an outright assignment, then he would forfeit that money, if he is still eligible for an outright assignment.
He is not eligible for an outright assignment.
Right after he returns from paternity leave.
Cost saving move. Miami could no longer afford all the letters needed for his jersey nameplates. More than offsets the money remaining on the deal.
Haha. Nice!
Hah I read something where the Majestic tailor said they have to use a special template to fit his name. That must cost big money!
Salty to the Diamondbacks?
I sure hope so. Tuffy is a fine backup, even a 1/2 time catcher, but with Tuffy, Ahmed and the pitcher, the team loses a lot of offense. I would be happier with Owings at short, Salty catching and Hill at second.
Can’t see how the Red Sox don’t make a strong push for him. He was excellent for them in the 3 seasons they used him, culminating in a 3.5 fWAR season when they won the WS as recently as 2 years ago. He’s only 29 and will be paid the league minimum. And they are right now platooning Ryan Hanigan and Sandy Leon. Go get Salty and cut Leon, that is a significant upgrade.
They also benched him in the World Series for the same reason they let him walk. He’s a defensively weak catcher and Boston has moved more towards run prevention/receiving with their catcher’s abilities given the shaky rotation and revamped lineup. Of course until Swihart is ready
Sums it up perfectly.
Multiple beat reporters cite team sources saying they’re just not interested.
I’d be surprised if he’s not picked up after long. Boston and Arizona make too much sense to not at least consider it.
Makes absolutely no sense at all. No team is going to try and trade for him now, they’ll just wait until he clears and then sign him. Same thing that happened with that guy from the DBacks right?, Brandon Moss.
It’s at least possible that the Marlins are far enough down the road on a trade that they felt comfortable designating him to get the 40-man spot now. They run the risk of the other team backing out, of course, but that would be a pretty questionable move on the theoretical other team’s behalf. The Orioles and Dodgers did this on Webb.
Again, not saying that’s the case at all, but it’s possible. They also tried to trade him this winter without much success, so they might’ve just shrugged and said that there’s no way they could move him now after this brutal start to the season, so better to just move on.
Well, if you trade for him you know you’ll get him. If you wait, any team can sign him. I mean, we’re not talking Mike Trout here, but I could see several teams in line to sign him for nothing.
Salty to Rangers they pick up league minimum amount of the money owed, starting their new trend of getting other owners to pay for their team.
If you take his last year in Boston, where he posted a career high in batting average and hit a very uncharacteristic 40 doubles, and put it together with what he’s done in Miami, you get a .734 OPS. His OPS from 2007 to 2012 was .720. I’m not sure what Miami thought they were buying.
Why would you include his last year in Boston with the Miami years? He has been terrible with the Marlins. Sub-700 OPS and has 2 hits in 29 at-bats this year. He’s got to go
He posted a sub .700 OPS when he was 24 with Texas.
It’s part of who he is. When you look at a larger sample than just his last year in Boston, you get much closer to his career numbers.
If you at his most recent stats with Boston he posted an OPS of no less than .737 his last 3 years in Boston. Now, that last year he might have over performed but even then the 2 previous years would be considered to be above-average seasons.
The Marlins thought they were getting an above-average offensive catcher which are hard to find. Instead they got a subpar player.
His first two years in the league he posted a .727 OPS in 559 PA. Baseball players have their top end, and they have their low end. It’s pretty rare to see guys who are right in line with their career averages every year.
To think a pull-heavy switch-hitter moving from Fenway to Miami wasn’t going to ebb away from his peak power potential seems unrealistic.
Nonetheless, the Marlins thought they were getting an above-average offensive catcher. Obviously they were wrong and decided it’s best to move on.
Probably not the most realistic assumption considering he’d only had one season in his career with an OPS+ north of 100.
I don’t know what the average OPS+ for National League catchers was in 2014, but I’d imagine it wasn’t too far out in front of Saltalamacchia’s 90.
EDIT: Just looked it up and Salty was next to last in catcher OPS+ in the NL among catchers who had at least 275 PA.
MiLB deal with the Cubs. Theo gets his boys back.
The Red Sox have 2 decent defensive catchers. No need for Salty.
Not to mention they’re just waiting a month or two for Swihart and it’s all a moot point.
id say mariners..zunino is struggling, our minors depth for C is horrible, and we could use a platoon at first with Lomo struggling too
Salty is no Jesus Sucre for sure.
Seattle Mariners could use a back-up to Zunino.
Great move by the Marlins!
Showed common sense and took guts.
Diamondbacks could really use him.
I’m not surprised. I thought it was a bad deal in the first place
Always thought he be the guy somewhere