Marlins To Sign Jeremy Guthrie

The Marlins are in agreement with right-hander Jeremy Guthrie on a minor league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). He’ll head to Triple-A New Orleans for the time being and hope to emerge as an option for the Miami rotation down the line. Guthrie, a client of Excel Sports, had opted out of a minor league contract with the Padres earlier this month.

Miami has been on the lookout for rotation help as of late, and while Guthrie is no lock to immediately strengthen the Marlins’ starting staff, he’ll give them an experienced arm to add to the depth chart. Guthrie has never been mistaken for a top-of-the-rotation pitcher, but he was a highly dependable mid-rotation piece from 2007-14 when he pitched to a 4.18 ERA with 5.3 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 1579 1/3 innings for the Orioles, Rockies and Royals. While his brief half-season with the Rockies was unsightly, Guthrie was otherwise a durable and useful rotation cog prior to a down season in 2015. While he won a World Series ring with Kansas City last year, he lost his rotation spot partway through the season and ultimately turned in a career-worst 5.95 ERA in 148 1/3 innings.

Guthrie went to Spring Training with the Rangers this season but didn’t make the club and wound up signing the aforementioned minors pact with the Padres. However, he struggled considerably with San Diego’s Triple-A affiliate in the hitter-friendly PCL, recording a 6.60 ERA in 60 innings of work. He’ll hope for better results with the Marlins, who currently deploy Jose Fernandez, Wei-Yin Chen, Adam Conley and Tom Koehler in the rotation. Paul Clemens is currently in the fifth spot, though that’s been somewhat of a revolving door for the Fish, who have also given starts to struggling former top prospects Justin Nicolino and Jarred Cosart — each of whom is currently at Triple-A.