- The Marlins figure to welcome young right-hander Eury Perez back to the rotation on Monday, according to Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. Perez made his last big league start on July 6 before being optioned to the minors in an effort to manage his innings and keep him fresh for the stretch run. Perez’s return figures to be a significant boost to the Marlins rotation, as he impressed with a 2.36 ERA and 3.70 FIP in eleven starts during his first stint in the majors earlier this season. The Marlins currently sport a 58-54 record and are just half a game out of the final NL Wild Card spot. That spot is currently occupied by the Reds, against whom Perez is slated to make his return on Monday.
Marlins Rumors
Marlins Announce Four Roster Moves
The Marlins placed right-hander JT Chargois on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to August 4) and designated left-hander Devin Smeltzer for assignment, according to Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. In corresponding moves, the club called up righty Huascar Brazoban and left-hander Ryan Weathers from Triple-A.
This is the third time that Smeltzer has been DFA’ed this season, so it is possible that he’ll once again clear waivers and accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Jacksonville. He does have the ability to reject an outright and become a free agent, though Smeltzer might not mind shuttling back and forth as one of the Marlins’ go-to depth options.
The numbers also aren’t in Smeltzer’s favor this season, as he has a 5.79 ERA over 18 2/3 innings with the Marlins and a 5.95 ERA over 65 frames at the Triple-A level. The home run problems that arose for Smeltzer with the Twins in 2022 have continued this year, as he has allowed 20 homers over his 83 2/3 combined innings at both levels. Smeltzer has started all 14 of his games in Jacksonville but he has only started one of his eight appearances with the Marlins, as Miami has mostly utilized him as a long reliever.
Chargois is dealing with a strain in his right rib cage, marking his second IL stint of the season after he missed about five weeks earlier this year with a right oblique strain. When he has been able to play, Chargois has been a solid member of Miami’s bullpen, posting a 3.68 ERA/4.09 SIERA over 29 1/3 innings. Despite a 96.3mph fastball, Chargois isn’t a big strikeout pitcher, instead relying on soft contact and keeping the ball on the ground. The right-hander has a 59.3% grounder rate this season, and a .259 BABIP has further enhanced his success.
It isn’t great news for the Marlins to lose a pretty reliable reliever during their playoff push, especially after the club made a point of adding to its bullpen at the deadline. The reinforcements from Jacksonville might help, as Brazoban has also been back and forth from Triple-A a couple of times this season, while Weathers is now set to make his Marlins debut. The Fish acquired Weathers from the Padres in exchange for Garrett Cooper and Sean Reynolds in a deadline deal on Tuesday, and Weathers will look to get on track in a new environment after posting a 6.25 ERA over 44 2/3 innings with San Diego this season.
Marlins Had Interest In Turner, Lynn, Cron Prior To Trade Deadline
The Marlins were one of the league’s busier teams in advance of the trade deadline, as Miami made several moves to bolster its lineup and bullpen for the wild card race. Such names as Josh Bell, David Robertson, Jake Burger, Jorge Lopez, and Ryan Weathers joined the organization, but there were plenty of interesting players on Miami’s radar, including a few who weren’t previously mentioned in pre-deadline buzz. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Levi Weaver report that the Marlins had “extensive discussions” with the Red Sox about Justin Turner, while Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald report that the Marlins were also interested in Lance Lynn and C.J. Cron.
Reports surfaced on July 28 that the Sox weren’t moving Turner, which is probably when (as Rosenthal and Weaver write) the Marlins turned their attention to other position players. Miami’s talks with the White Sox about Lynn also developed into the eventual Burger trade, as the Fish landed Burger for left-hander Jake Eder in a one-for-one swap. Burger was also something of a fallback once the Marlins balked at the Nationals’ asking price for Jeimer Candelario, and Miami was more comfortable trading a controllable pitcher like Eder for another younger player with multiple years of control, whereas Candelario is a free agent after the season.
Lynn and Cron were seen as likely trade candidates since the White Sox and Rockies are both out of contention, and indeed both players were moved in pre-deadline deals. (Chicago sent Lynn and Joe Kelly to the Dodgers as part of a five-player trade, while the Rockies dealt Cron and Randal Grichuk to the Angels for two pitching prospects.) There would certainly have been more eyebrows raised over a Turner deal given that the Red Sox are fighting for a wild card berth in the American League, yet even such a trade wouldn’t have been a total shock considering how Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom both moved and acquired veterans at the 2022 deadline when Boston was also on the periphery of the playoff chase.
This year’s deadline season was comparatively quieter at Fenway Park, as the Sox only acquired Luis Urias from the Brewers and sent Enrique Hernandez to the Dodgers. The Red Sox were known to be looking for controllable pitching, and Rosenthal/Weaver theorize that the Marlins’ deep crop of arms might have gotten Bloom to at least consider the idea of moving Turner.
Speculatively, it is also worth wondering if Edward Cabrera might have been part of the Marlins/Red Sox talks. Jackson and Mish write that several teams called about Cabrera, to the point that the Marlins had Devin Smeltzer on hand in case Cabrera was moved prior to his scheduled start on Monday. Cabrera only lasted three innings in that start, and he was optioned to Triple-A on Wednesday and Smeltzer’s contract was officially selected from Triple-A a day later.
As much as the Red Sox needed pitching, it is safe to guess that trading Turner for almost anyone wouldn’t have gone over well with Boston fans, or even within the clubhouse. Turner has hit .286/.356/.481 with 17 homers over 441 plate appearances, with his offense steadily increasing over the course of the season. Though Turner will be 39 in November, he is still playing well enough that it’s possible he could opt out of the final season of his two-year contract with the Sox and again enter free agency this winter, looking to land a more lucrative multi-year commitment. If that scenario occurs, one would imagine the Marlins would come calling, considering their interest in Turner dates back at last winter.
Marlins Select Devin Smeltzer
The Marlins have selected the contract of lefty Devin Smeltzer from Triple-A Jacksonville, tweets David Wilson of the Miami Herald. Noah Berger of Fish On First had previously pointed out the Smeltzer was in the team’s clubhouse this morning. The Marlins optioned right-hander Edward Cabrera earlier this week, and he’d been slated to start one of their games in Texas this weekend, so Smeltzer could potentially step into that spot (if he’s not used in long relief prior to that point). The Marlins optioned right-hander Huascar Brazoban to open a spot for Smeltzer on the active roster. They already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster. Smeltzer’s addition brings them to capacity in that regard.
Smeltzer, 27, has had a couple of stints with Miami this season already, pitching 15 2/3 innings with a 6.89 ERA and a 10-to-4 K/BB ratio in that small sample. The southpaw spent the four prior season in Minnesota, pitching to a 3.99 ERA in 140 innings between the Twins’ rotation and bullpen, fanning a well below-average 16.6% of his opponents against a strong 6.4% walk rate.
Things haven’t gone much better for Smeltzer in Jacksonville this year. He’s pitched 65 innings for the Jumbo Shrimp but been tagged for a 5.95 ERA, thanks in no small part to an uncharacteristic 12.6% walk rate. He’s had better run-prevention numbers of late, working to a 3.58 ERA in his past six Triple-A starts, but the improvement in ERA comes despite an ugly 15.5% walk rate in that time.
It could be a short stay on the roster for Smeltzer once again. The Marlins have selected him to the big league roster twice this season but designated him for assignment twice as well. Smeltzer has accepted an outright assignment to Jacksonville on both occasions, despite the fact that he has the right to reject an assignment in favor of free agency. Smeltzer is out of minor league options, so if the Fish want to send him back down at any point, he’ll need to be designated for assignment for the third time this season alone.
Marlins Option Edward Cabrera
Amid the flurry of deadline moves yesterday, the Marlins optioned right-hander Edward Cabrera to Triple-A Jacksonville, with Jordan McPherson of The Miami Herald among those who relayed the info.
Cabrera, 25, was generally considered one of the top 100 prospects in the league in his time in the minors but has yet to put together an extended stretch of big league success. He made his debut in the big leagues in 2021 with seven starts, posting an ERA of 5.81 in those. In 2022, he was able to get that down to 3.01, obviously a much better number, but that came in just 14 starts as he made multiple trips to the injured list. He was probably lucky to have that ERA, as his .207 batting average on balls in play and 86.1% strand rate were both on the fortunate side of average, leading to a 4.59 FIP and 4.68 SIERA.
Here in 2023, Cabrera was able to stay healthy for the first half of the season. He did land on the IL in mid-June due to right shoulder impingement, returning after just over a month. His 17 starts and 77 innings are already personal highs at the major league level, and he’s getting strikeouts at a strong 27.6% rate as well as grounders at a 54.4% clip. But he’s paired those with a 15.4% walk rate, the highest such rate of any pitcher with 70 innings pitched this year, almost a full percentage point beyond Alek Manoah’s 14.6% rate. Despite a solid combination of strikeouts and grounders, those control issues have Cabrera’s ERA at 4.79 for the year.
Despite once having a rotation surplus, the Marlins have seen that thinned out this year. They traded Pablo López to the Twins in the offseason and currently have Trevor Rogers and Max Meyer on the 60-day IL. Their rotation mix is now Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Johnny Cueto and Braxton Garrett. With Cabrera nudged out, it’s possible that his spot goes to Ryan Weathers, who was just acquired from the Padres in the Garrett Cooper trade yesterday. Eury Pérez has been optioned himself to monitor his workload, but he could be back up at some point.
This option will likely put the Marlins and Cabrera in a bit of a bind since he only has one option season remaining. Once he spends 20 days on optional assignment, he will burn that last option, meaning he will enter 2024 out of options unless he’s quickly recalled in the coming weeks. It’s unlikely to affect his path to free agency, as he came into this season with 168 days, just under the 172 required for a full year. He’s already gone well beyond that one-year mark, though his chances of reaching Super Two status after 2024 might slip depending on how long he’s in the minors.
The Marlins have a bit of time to decide what to do. If they still believe Cabrera is capable of reining in his control and taking a step forward as a major league starter, they can keep him in that role. Cueto is likely to return to free agency this winter as his $10.5MM club option for 2024 will probably be spurned in favor of a $2.5MM buyout, since he’s mostly been injured and not at his best this year. That could reopen a spot for Cabrera next year, though Rogers and Meyer might be healthy and back in the mix by then as well.
If they think his true future is in the bullpen, they could consider giving him some time in that role now so that he goes into 2024 with a bit of preparation, but doing so would give them a bit less starting depth for the final months of this season. Once the offseason rolls around, they could perhaps pursue trading Cabrera to a rebuilding club with more willingness to give him a starting job at the big league level, though that will be an avenue to pursue in the future. For now, the Fish seem to be at a turning point with the former prospect, which will be an interesting situation to monitor.
Royals Explored Trades Involving Salvador Perez
Longtime Royals catcher Salvador Perez looks to have been an under-the-radar trade candidate heading into the deadline, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted that the Marlins and White Sox each had interest, and the Padres also “checked on” the backstop, as per the Post’s Jon Heyman. The Marlins might have been relatively closest to making something happen, as The Athletic’s Jayson Stark reports that Perez was “open to” playing in Florida (where he lives), and Miami and K.C. revisited talks this afternoon but a deal didn’t emerge.
On paper, it isn’t surprising that a non-contender like the Royals looking into moving a high-salaried veteran player. However, the fact that Perez was discussed to even some extent counts as a bit of a surprise, given his longstanding status as the face of the Royals franchise. In mid-June, Kansas City general manager J.J. Picollo flatly denied the possibility of such a move, saying the Royals didn’t “have any intention of trading Salvy and it’s not something we are looking to do,” and that “he has told us over and over again he wants to be a Royal his whole career.”
Perez is a 10-and-5 player, meaning that he achieved full no-trade protection by achieving 10 years of MLB service time and five years with the same team. He could’ve therefore vetoed any proposal, but it creates an interesting question of what scenario arose first — Perez telling the Royals he was open to being dealt in the right scenario, or the Royals approaching Perez with any offers received.
Of course, the extent of the talks with any of these three clubs isn’t known, as even the negotiations with the Marlins might’ve been little more than due diligence. Miami and San Diego both known to be looking for catching upgrades, and given the thin market for quality backstops, it makes sense that each team would at least place a call to Kansas City, even if the chances of a Perez trade might have been remote.
The White Sox are a more surprising suitor, and it seems unlikely that Perez might have agreed to join another AL Central team. According to Sherman, Sox manager Pedro Grifol might’ve been a factor in trying to bring his old friend to town, as Grifol spent a decade on the K.C. coaching staff before being hired by Chicago. The White Sox saw Perez as a replacement for Yasmani Grandal, who is a free agent after the season and was surely a trade candidate in his own right as the Sox looked to rebuild, though Grandal was one of the few pending White Sox free agents who wasn’t moved at the deadline.
If Perez and the Royals are perhaps considering parting ways, it adds an interesting wrinkle to the offseason trade market. Given how badly the Royals have stumbled this season, Perez might feel that the team won’t be able to contend again before his contract is up, so he might be more open to joining a contender for the latter stages of his career. From the Royals’ perspective, losing the 33-year-old Perez would represent the end of an era in K.C. baseball, but it might be a decision the team is ready to make if it has to reboot what looks like a stalled rebuild plan.
Perez is still owed at least $44MM through the 2025 season ($42MM in salary and a $2MM buyout of a $13.5MM club option for 2026), so he would be a pricey addition for any team. There is also the fact that Perez is having a down year, hitting .246/.288/.427 with 17 homers (and 89 wRC+) over 396 plate appearances and posting subpar defensive numbers according to both Statcast and Fangraphs’ metrics. It could be that Perez might be recharged with a change of scenery, or he might simply be starting to wear down after 12 MLB seasons.
Marlins Acquire Josh Bell; Guardians Receive Kahlil Watson, Will Release Jean Segura
The Marlins announced the acquisition of first baseman Josh Bell from the Guardians. Cleveland agreed to take on the contract of infielder Jean Segura — whom they intend to release — while acquiring infield prospect Kahlil Watson.
It’s an out-of-the-blue swap that continues a surprisingly active day for the Marlins. Miami shipped out pitching prospect Jake Eder to install Jake Burger at the hot corner. That apparently set the stage for them to move on from Segura, whose two-year free agent contract didn’t work at all as the club had envisioned.
That was a means of adding offense at one corner infield spot. They’ll hope for the same across the diamond, as they swapped in Bell for Garrett Cooper. Miami dealt their incumbent first baseman to the Padres for starting pitcher Ryan Weathers.
The series of moves results in a buy-low flier on Bell. As with Segura, he signed an ill-fated two-year free agent deal last offseason. The Guardians guaranteed the switch-hitter a two-year, $33MM pact. He can opt out of the deal at the end of the first season. It’s all but a given he’ll elect to play out the contract given the way in which his time in Cleveland transpired.
Bell is hitting .233/.318/.383 over 393 trips to the plate. His 10.9% walk percentage and 20.6% strikeout rate are both solid, but his batted ball results are middling. Bell has managed just 11 home runs and a .272 batting average on balls in play. As has been an issue throughout his career, he’s had a tough time elevating the ball. Bell is putting the ball on the ground at a lofty 48.5% clip, an obviously suboptimal number for a player whose game is built around power.
Still, the high grounder tallies are nothing new. He’s had plenty of success in spite of a propensity for low-angle contact. He combined for a .264/.355/.448 line in more than 1200 plate appearances between 2021-22. At his best, he’s a middle-of-the-order caliber bat. Miami will obviously hope for a return to form in a new environment.
Miami general manager Kim Ng and her staff clearly believe there’s more untapped potential remaining for Bell than with Segura. The Fish had signed the longtime second baseman to a two-year, $17MM pact with a plan to bump him to third base. It was a risk defensively that hasn’t paid off, as the veteran received well below-average marks for his 720 1/3 innings at the hot corner.
More concerning, Segura didn’t bring anything approaching his previous offensive form. He’s long been a slightly above-average hitter, combining double-digit homer power with excellent contact skills. This was his worst offensive season, however, as he managed only a .219/.277/.279 showing through 326 plate appearances as a Marlin.
Segura’s underlying offensive marks aren’t that far off those of previous seasons. His 38.8% hard contact rate is a near match for last year’s mark. That’s also true of his 6.7% walk percentage and 14.4% strikeout rate. Segura’s results simply weren’t up to par and the Fish elected to move on.
Given that Cleveland is immediately releasing Segura, his inclusion in the trade is strictly a financial measure. Bell is making $16.5MM this season and next. Segura is making $6.5MM this year and $8.5MM next season, as well as a $2MM buyout on a 2025 option. Bell is owed roughly $5.41MM through season’s end; Segura will make $2.13MM down the stretch. Miami takes on roughly $3.28MM this year and $6MM beyond this season to upgrade from Segura to Bell.
Segura will go unclaimed on release waivers in the next couple days. The Guardians will pay out almost all of his remaining contract. Once he clears waivers and becomes a free agent, Segura will be free to choose his next employer. That signing team would only pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum for whatever time he spends on a big league roster over the next season and a half.
In addition to the financial relief, the Guardians are buying low on a one-time top prospect. Watson, a 20-year-old infielder, was the 16th overall pick in the 2021 draft. The high school product was widely regarded as a top five to ten player in the class on talent, only dropping to the middle of the first round because of a lofty bonus demand.
His first two full seasons in pro ball haven’t gone as anticipated. Watson struck out in nearly 36% of his plate appearances in Low-A a year ago, hitting .231/.296/.395 over 83 games. He also missed some time last season on a team-imposed disciplinary absence after a confrontation with an umpire, as Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs wrote in his write-up of Miami’s farm system.
Watson still ranked in the upper third of the Marlins’ top 30 prospects at both FanGraphs and Baseball America, though he’s no longer seen as a top 100 talent around the league. He’s hitting .206/.337/.362 over 243 trips to the plate in High-A this year. He’s connected on seven homers, walked at an elite 14.4% clip and stolen 14 bases. Yet he’s still striking out an alarming rate — 28% of the time. There’s clearly plenty of variability in Watson’s profile, but he has huge bat speed and the chance to stick at a middle infield position. It’s an upside play for Cleveland at a much lower cost than would’ve been required to pry him away 12 to 18 months ago.
Craig Mish of SportsGrid first reported the Marlins were acquiring Bell. Jeff Passan of ESPN reported the Guardians were receiving Segura and Watson. Zack Meisel of the Athletic reported the Guardians planned to release Segura.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Padres Acquire Garrett Cooper
The Padres have acquired first baseman Garrett Cooper and minor league lefty Sean Reynolds from the Marlins in exchange for left-hander Ryan Weathers, per an announcement from both teams. San Diego designated outfielder Preston Tucker for assignment in a corresponding roster move.
Cooper, 32, will give the Padres a seasoned bench bat with a productive track record at the big league level. He’s picked up five-plus years of MLB service to this point in his career, making him a free agent at season’s end and a pure rental for San Diego, but one who has more often than not been a quietly strong offensive performer.
Although Cooper’s .256/.296/.426 batting line in 2023 doesn’t stand out, it’s only narrowly been worse than league average, by measure of wRC+ (97). Moreover, Cooper’s bat has picked up as the season has worn on. Dating back to June 1, he’s posted a far more palatable .276/.319/.468 batting line with eight big flies and six doubles. That’s good for a 115 wRC+ (i.e. about 15% better than league-average production, after weighting for home park) — which is right in line with Cooper’s career output.
Since making his MLB debut with the Yankees back in 2017, Cooper owns a .271/.338/.437 batting line in nearly 1700 trips to the plate. He’s been particularly productive with the Marlins in the past few seasons, batting .271/.352/.443 from 2020-22. Cooper has never had massive over-the-fence power but hits plenty of doubles and from 2018-22 drew walks at a healthy 9% clip.
Perhaps “healthy” is a dicey word to use in any regard when describing Cooper, as the primary knock against him as been a penchant to land on the injured list. Since 2018, Cooper has been on the injured list due to a wrist sprain, a calf strain, a lumbar strain, an elbow sprain, a concussion and an inner ear infection, among other maladies. Productive as his bat has been, he’s never logged more than 119 games or 469 plate appearances in a single season.
Cooper is healthy right now, however, and the Padres have gotten little to no production out of their bench this year. Veterans Rougned Odor (recently released), Nelson Cruz (released) and Matt Carpenter have provided no help, and the Friars have relied on a combination of journeymen and organizational depth pieces (e.g. Brandon Dixon, Matthew Batten, Taylor Kohlwey) in the other spots. Cooper’s above-average track record at the dish will be a significant boost, and he can slide in at first base if the Padres need to push Jake Cronenworth to second base to accommodate Ha-Seong Kim’s recent injury.
In addition to Cooper, the Padres will pick up the 25-year-old Reynolds — a 2016 fourth-round pick and converted first baseman/outfielder who’s emerged as an interesting bullpen prospect. The 25-year-old Reynolds made the move to the mound full time in 2021 and has found a good bit of success in the upper minors. Through 48 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season, the 6’8″ left-hander has pitched to a 2.77 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate, 11.2% walk rate and just two homers allowed. Reynolds features a four-seamer in the mid-to-upper 90s, a mid-80s slider and a changeup.
In exchange for the final couple months of Cooper’s services and a potential six seasons of control over Reynolds, the Marlins will pick up the 23-year-old Weathers — a former first-round pick and top Padres prospect who’s long looked like a change-of-scenery candidate. He’s seen action in each of the past three seasons, but other than his rookie campaign when injuries forced him to the Majors as a 21-year-old, Weathers has never received a particularly long look.
In 143 big league innings, Weathers has a 5.73 ERA. He’s fanned just 16.8% of his opponents but sports a respectable 8.3% walk rate and 42.9% ground-ball rate in that time. He’s also pitched decently in 40 2/3 Triple-A innings this season — 4.20 ERA, 29.2% strikeout rate, 13.5% walk rate in eight starts — and has a minor league option remaining beyond the current year. The Marlins’ vaunted pitching depth has been thinned out by the trades of Pablo Lopez and (earlier today) Jake Eder, as well as injuries to Trevor Rogers, Max Meyer and Sixto Sanchez. Weathers will add a former No. 7 overall pick to the stockpile, and the Marlins can take this year and next to try to coax some better performance out of the lefty.
As for the 33-year-old Tucker, he’ll lose his 40-man spot before appearing in a big league game with the Padres. The older brother of Astros star Kyle Tucker, Preston was once a well-regarded prospect himself but has never found sustained success in the minor leagues. He had a nice three-year run with the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization from 2019-21 and has a career .274/.353/.471 slash in parts of eight Triple-A seasons — including a .293/.433/.565 showing so far in 2023.
However, the elder Tucker brother carries just a .222/.281/.403 slash in parts of three Major League seasons, and the Padres’ acquisitions of Cooper and Ji-Man Choi have beefed up their reserve options a bit. That left Tucker without a clear role moving forward. Normally, players who are designated for assignment have a week to be traded, placed on outright waivers or released. But, since the trade deadline has now passed and Tucker has been on a 40-man roster this year, he’s ineligible to be moved. He’ll hit waivers within the next week and be available to all 29 other clubs. Even if he clears, he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.
Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald first reported the trade.
Marlins To Acquire Jake Burger
The Marlins and White Sox have agreed to a deal sending infielder Jake Burger from Chicago to Miami in exchange for left-handed pitching prospect Jake Eder, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald (Twitter links).
It’s a surprise deal given that the White Sox’ focus has generally been on trading short-term assets during their summer sell-off. Burger, 27, will be controllable for another five years beyond the current season and is batting .214/.279/.527. He’s already slugged a whopping 25 home runs on the season but also has the fifth-worst on-base percentage and sixth-highest strikeout rate (31.6%) of any player in the Majors (min. 300 plate appearances). The Marlins, with MLB’s third-fewest home runs (96 total), seemingly view those as acceptable trade-offs to add some pop to lineup that’s heavily reliant on stringing hits together.
Where Burger will line up on the diamond remains to be seen. He’s played primarily third base in his young big league career but drawn poor ratings there (-8 Defensive Runs Saved, -8 Outs Above Average, -3.6 Ultimate Zone Rating). Miami has been using the struggling Jean Segura at the hot corner and could certainly supplant him with Burger’s power bat, but Burger also has experience at second base and first base. The Fish currently have Garrett Cooper taking the bulk of the reps at first, but he’s in his final season of club control and has been a trade candidate at each of the past couple deadlines.
Whether Burger immediately begins to step into a more prominent role at first base or splits his time between the infield corners and designated hitter, he’ll give the Marlins an immediate jolt of power. Looking beyond the 2023 season, both the first base and designated hitter slots in the lineup figure to be vacant; Cooper is a free agent, and while Jorge Soler is technically signed through 2024, he can also opt out of the final one year and $9MM of his contract at the end of the current season.
Subtracting Burger from the White Sox’ long-term outlook obviously takes away a good bit of power potential, but if the club isn’t sold on his defensive acumen at third base then he becomes a tough fit. Chicago has Andrew Vaughn and Eloy Jimenez locked in as long-term options at first base and designated hitter, respectively, so it could prove difficult to find Burger regular at-bats if his glove is indeed a prominent concern.
It’s also possible that the Sox simply felt Eder too talented a prospect to pass up on when presented the opportunity to acquire him. The 2020 fourth-round pick had pitched his way into top-100 prospect status prior to undergoing Tommy John surgery and has already made his way to the Double-A level this year upon returning. Eder, a Vanderbilt product, posted a 1.17 ERA in 71 1/3 innings in his first pro season before going under the knife, and he’s returned with 39 1/3 innings of 4.12 ERA ball. FanGraphs has already plugged him right back into their top-100 list, ranking him as the Marlins’ No. 1 prospect and the No. 54 prospect in baseball.
Scouting reports on Eder tout his mid-90s heater and a slider that FanGraphs touts as “one of the nastiest pitches on the planet.” Eder also has a changeup that’s well behind his header and breaking ball, but both BA and FanGraphs agree it can be an average pitch with further refinement. There are certainly some concerns for any young pitcher coming off major arm surgery, and Eder’s 12.5% walk rate will need to be refined. However, he’s already pitching in Double-A, and it’s feasible that he could be an option for the ChiSox as soon as next season. He might be on something of a limited workload next year, depending on how high his innings total climbs this year, but he’ll immediately become the system’s top pitching prospect.
Rays, Rangers, Diamondbacks Interested In Catchers
With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, there are still many moving pieces. Joel Sherman of The New York Post (Twitter links) reports that the Rays, Marlins, Rangers and Diamondbacks are in the catching market, with Austin Hedges of the Pirates a speculative fit. It was reported in June that the Marlins were keeping an eye on the catching market.
Hedges, 30, has never provided much offensively, with a career batting line of .189/.247/.323 dating back to 2015. This year’s line of .180/.237/.230 is even lower than his career output. But he’s always garnered attention as a glove-first backstop. He has career tallies of 83 Defensive Runs Saved and a grade of 77.3 from the FanGraphs framing metric. The former figure is tops in the majors for that stretch while the latter places him third.
Despite that strong defensive work, there would be logic in the Pirates moving on. They are currently nine games out of a playoff spot with a record of 47-58. Hedges is on a one-year, $5MM deal and is an impending free agent. They have already traded another impending free agent in Carlos Santana and reportedly have a deal in place to send Rich Hill and Ji Man Choi to the Padres as they approach the open market as well. With catching prospects Henry Davis and Endy Rodríguez already at the big league level, it makes sense to send Hedges elsewhere and let those two take the reins.
The listed suitors all make sense due to recent injuries. The Rays lost Francisco Mejía to a left knee MCL sprain about two weeks ago, leaving them with Christian Bethancourt and René Pinto as the only healthy backstops on their 40-man roster. The Diamondbacks are in a similar position after placing Gabriel Moreno on the IL about a week ago due to shoulder inflammation, leaving them with Carson Kelly and José Herrera. The Rangers recently lost Jonah Heim to the injured list due to a wrist issue and surgery is still possible, leaving them with Mitch Garver and Sam Huff as their health options on the roster.
Any of those clubs would be a sensible addition for extra catching help, as they are each currently in possession of a playoff spot. Apart from Hedges, some catchers that could be available include Yasmani Grandal, Elias Díaz, Joey Bart, Víctor Caratini, Iván Herrera, Tom Murphy and Omar Narváez.
