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Marlins Select Eury Perez, Designate Chi Chi Gonzalez For Assignment

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The Marlins have officially selected top prospect Eury Perez to both the active and 40-man rosters. The 20-year-old right-hander will start tonight’s game against the Reds. To clear room for Perez on the roster, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald notes that the club has designated right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez for assignment.

The move comes as little surprise, as Perez’s pending promotion had been reported earlier this week. A consensus top 10 prospect in the entire sport, Perez will skip the Triple-A level entirely and make his MLB debut less than a month after celebrating his 20th birthday. So far this season, Perez has posted a 2.32 ERA, 35.9% strikeout rate, and 51.6% groundball rate through six starts at the Double-A level.

Making room on the roster for Perez is Gonzalez, a former first round pick by the Rangers in the 2013 draft. Gonzalez made his MLB debut in 2015, but over seven seasons in the major leagues has struggled to match the promise of his former top prospect status, with a career 5.64 ERA in 287 1/3 innings of work. Having been used primarily as a starter throughout most of his career, Gonzalez has found some success with the Marlins as a reliever in 2023, albeit in a microscopic sample. In 2 2/3 innings of work with Miami this season, Gonzalez has allowed one run on four hits while striking out two and walking one.

Should Gonzalez go unclaimed on waivers, he will have the option to reject an outright assignment to the minor leagues, both as a player with more than three years of service time and as a player who has already received an outright assignment in the past.

Marlins To Promote Eury Pérez

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The Marlins announced to reporters, including Craig Mish of the Miami Herald, they are calling up pitching prospect Eury Pérez. He’ll take the ball for Friday’s game. He’s not currently on the 40-man roster and will require a corresponding move to be added.

Both this move and Pérez himself are unique in a few respects. The promotion is an aggressive one given that the right-hander only just turned 20 years old last month and has yet to pitch in Triple-A. That makes him unusually young for a major league debut, with JJ Cooper of Baseball America pointing out Pérez is about to be the youngest starting pitcher in the majors since Julio Urías in 2016. The pitcher himself is also unique in terms of his size, listed at 6’8″ and 220 pounds.

Signed as an international amateur out of the Dominican Republic in July of 2019, he wasn’t able to make his professional debut until over a year later since the minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020. The Marlins sent him to Single-A to begin 2021 and he dominated in his 15 starts there. He posted a 1.61 ERA in 56 innings, striking out 36.9% of opponents while walking 9.5% and getting grounders at a 36.4% clip. He was then given the ball for five High-A starts at the end of the year, posting a 2.86 ERA in those.

Going into 2022, he was already considered by many observers to be one of the better pitching prospects in the league, but he continued to raise his stock. Despite just being 19 years old for most of last year, he made 17 starts at the Double-A level. He posted a 4.08 ERA in those along with a 34.1% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 41.4% ground ball rate.

Coming into 2023, the youngster was unanimously considered to be one of the best prospects in the league. Baseball America ranked him #7 overall and he’s since moved up to #6. MLB Pipeline had him at #13 and he’s now in the top 10. He was #4 at FanGraphs, #6 at ESPN and Keith Law of The Athletic had him at #10. The reports highlight his fastball, which he can not only ramp up to triple digits but also command exceptionally well. Most observers agree that his changeup is his best secondary pitch, though his slider and curveball both get good reviews as well. By all accounts, Pérez has the ingredients to be a future ace and he keeps proving it. Through his six Double-A starts this year, he has a 2.32 ERA, 35.9% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 51.6% ground ball rate.

That being said, not all prospects hit the ground running as soon as they reach the majors and it’s not something that should be expected for even the top names. That’s especially true for Pérez given his youth and relative inexperience. His entire professional track record consists of just 186 innings at this point, including just 77 last year, and none of that was at Triple-A. He’s yet to truly test his stuff against big league caliber hitters and it remains to be seen how many innings the Marlins will let him rack up this year. Nonetheless, it will be very exciting to see how the gamble pays off for them.

The club has had a strong rotation for many years and felt good enough about their options that they traded Pablo López to the Twins this winter in order to obtain Luis Arraez. However, they’ve been dealing with a few challenges this year, as both Trevor Rogers and Johnny Cueto are on the injured list with uncertain return timelines. Jesús Luzardo is having a nice season so far but Sandy Alcantara hasn’t quite been his Cy Young self, while Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera have each posted middling results so far.

Pérez will now step into that mix and see how he fares, with his performance likely to have some impact on whether this is a brief cup of coffee or if he’s up for good. Since the season is over a month old at this point, Pérez won’t be able to accrue a full year of service time the old fashioned way, though the new collective bargaining agreement affords him a path to get there. A player with less than 60 days of service time who is on two of the top 100 prospect lists at BA, MLB or ESPN will get a full year of service, regardless of the time they spend on the roster, if they finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting. Pérez was on all three of those lists and is therefore eligible, but it will be a challenge to rank that highly given the late start. He’ll be competing with players like Corbin Carroll and James Outman who have already had plenty of time to bank stats this year.

Even if he finished the year shy of the one-year mark, his youth would still put him on a good trajectory. If he’s up for good, he would almost certainly qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player after the 2025 campaign and be on pace for free agency after 2029, which would be his age-26 season. Future optional assignments could push those targets further into the future, though he could also reach free agency after 2028 by succeeding in getting that full year here in 2023.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Sixto Sanchez Experienced Minor Shoulder Soreness, Marlins Targeting Second-Half Return

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The Marlins have been without Sixto Sánchez for nearly three years. The one-time top prospect and headliner of the J.T. Realmuto trade has had his career thrown off track by injuries. Shoulder problems have been the main concern, as Sánchez has twice undergone shoulder surgery since July 2021.

That extended layoff has left Sánchez without a particularly clear recovery timetable. While he’d expressed some optimism at the start of the offseason he’d be ready for Spring Training, it became apparent by February a midseason return was the best-case scenario. That has seemingly been pushed back a little further, as the team informed reporters that Sánchez experienced some shoulder soreness following an extended Spring Training outing last week (via MLB.com injury tracker).

This particular issue doesn’t seem all that worrisome. Sánchez has already returned to playing catch this week, according to MLB.com. It’s nevertheless a subpar development for a pitcher who is hoping to get back into affiliated games this year. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald write the organization views August or September as a viable target date for Sánchez’s return to minor league games. It’s clear he’s not an option in the immediate future and at least raises some question about whether the 24-year-old will be able to pitch in an MLB game this season.

Given Sánchez’s repeated setbacks, it’s not surprising Jackson and Mish report that Miami no longer views him as an integral part of their long-term pitching plans. Sánchez is still young and controllable for six seasons but he’ll go almost three years between regular season appearances. Even once he’s able to return, there’s no guarantee he’ll do so with high-octane stuff.

Sánchez averaged 98.5 MPH on his four-seam and 96.6 MPH on his sinker during his seven-start MLB debut back in 2020. The righty told reporters this spring he’d lost almost 50 pounds over the offseason, though, and the organization has taken its time to allow him to build his conditioning after so many stops and starts in his rehab.

The Fish could also soon face some pressure from a roster management perspective. They’ve kept him on the 40-man roster throughout his rehab. That’s a testament to his ceiling but also limits their flexibility somewhat. While they could place him on the 60-day injured list during the season, doing so would require paying him the MLB minimum salary (at which they’ve thus far balked). There is no IL over the offseason, so he’d have to count against the 40-man tally during the winter.

More pressing is that the Fish have used their option years to keep Sánchez on the minor league IL. Most players can only be optioned in three separate seasons in their careers. Exceptions are sometimes made to grant a fourth option year when a player has missed an extended chunk of action. The Marlins received a fourth option on Sánchez for 2023. There’s no such thing as a fifth option, however, so the Marlins won’t be able to send Sánchez back to the minors next season unless they first pass him through waivers.

Marlins Activate Joey Wendle, Option Xavier Edwards

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The Marlins have activated infielder Joey Wendle from the injured list ahead of this afternoon’s game against the Cubs, as noted by Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. To make room for Wendle on the active roster, the Marlins optioned infielder Xavier Edwards to Triple-A.

Wendle was expected to be the club’s starting shortstop coming into the season, though he ultimately played just four games, striking out twice and walking once without recording a hit in nine plate appearances before going on the injured list with an intercostal strain on April 4. The 33-year-old Wendle has a career wRC+ of 100, but has struggled to a slash line of just .254/.293/.352 (84 wRC+) in 105 games since he was acquired by Miami from the Rays prior to the 2022 campaign.

After a little over a month on the injured list, Wendle has returned to the Marlins, though he won’t start at shortstop today over Jon Berti, who has filled in admirably in the infield for the Marlins while Wendle was on the shelf. In 111 plate appearances this season, Berti has hit a solid .270/.327/.370 (95 wRC+) while playing shortstop, second base, and third base for the Marlins this season. Though Berti has just five steals so far this season, it’s worth noting that he lead the majors last year with 41 steals, providing plenty of value on the basepaths in addition to his versatility and roughly league average bat.

With Luis Arraez and Jean Segura entrenched at second and third base, respectively, Wendle and Berti figure to share time at shortstop going forward while also filling in elsewhere in the lineup as needed. While both Wendle and Berti are primarily infielders, each has outfield experience as well. That could prove valuable for the Marlins, as the club’s outfield has mustered a collective wRC+ of just 85 so far in 2023, the fourth worst figure in the National League.

As for Edwards, the former top prospect will head back to the minor leagues with just six big league plate appearances under his belt. In those appearances, Edwards recorded a hit and a scored a run while striking out once. Edwards figures to join Jacob Amaya and Jordan Groshans as upper level infield depth for the Marlins in the minor leagues going forward this season. In 20 games at the Triple-A level for the Marlins this season, Edwards has slashed a solid .306/.427/.361, good for a 116 wRC+.

Marlins Designate Devin Smeltzer, Select Chi Chi Gonzalez

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The Marlins have designated lefty Devin Smeltzer for assignment, the team announced. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Jacksonville. It’s the second time in the past week that the Marlins have designated Smeltzer for assignment. He cleared waivers the first time around and was immediately selected back to the MLB roster.

Smeltzer returned to the roster to give the Marlins some length out of the bullpen and provided just that, albeit without particularly encouraging results. He tossed 3 2/3 innings of relief in yesterday’s blowout loss to the Braves but was tagged for three runs on three hits — two of them home runs. That rocky outing bumped his season-long ERA to an unsightly 6.89.

The broader track record with Smeltzer is more encouraging. From 2019-22 with the Twins, he logged 140 innings of 3.99 ERA ball, working both out of the rotation and the bullpen at times. Smeltzer has never missed many bats, evidenced by a career 16.3% strikeout rate, but his 6.3% walk rate is solid. As with his last DFA, Smeltzer will be traded or placed on outright waivers again within a week’s time. He’s been previously outrighted, so if he goes unclaimed, he’d have the option of electing free agency and exploring other opportunities.

Like Smeltzer did this week, the 31-year-old Gonzalez will give the Marlins a long relief option to help spare a taxed bullpen. The former first-round pick has settled into a journeyman role, starting five games between three teams (Twins, Yankees, Brewers) in 2022. Miami will be the sixth big league organization for Gonzalez, who’s opened the year with a 4.54 ERA through six starts and 33 2/3 innings at Jacksonville. Gonzalez is out of minor league options, so he could face a similar fate to Smeltzer and righty Johan Quezada, both of whom have been cycled through the final bullpen spot over the past week.

Marlins Designate Johan Quezada, Select Devin Smeltzer

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The Marlins announced a handful of roster moves Wednesday, designating righty Johan Quezada for assignment and selecting the contract of lefty Devin Smeltzer (who’d cleared outright waivers earlier today) in his place. Miami also placed first baseman Garrett Cooper on the injured list due to an inner ear infection and recalled outfielder Peyton Burdick from Triple-A.

The Quezada/Smeltzer swap is a swift reversal of the Marlins’ transaction earlier this week, wherein Smeltzer was designated for assignment and Quezada was selected from Triple-A. Quezada was tagged for three runs and issued five walks in just two-thirds of an inning during his lone appearance before the DFA. Smeltzer, meanwhile, would’ve had the right to reject that outright assignment, but the promise of an immediate call back to the big leagues surely made it easy for him to accept and remain with the organization.

The 27-year-old Smeltzer posted a 6.75 ERA in 12 innings with the Marlins prior to his DFA, though the bulk of that damage came in one mop-up relief outing. He’s tossed seven innings of one-run ball prior to his initial removal from the 40-man roster and carries an overall 4.20 ERA in 152 career innings at the MLB level, most of which came with the Twins. He’s never missed many bats (career 16.4% strikeout rate) but has good command (6.4% walk rate) and has worked as both a starter and reliever in his career.

Cooper, 32, got out to a productive start but has slumped of late. He’s still hitting a respectable .272/.306/.413 on the season, but that’s a ways off the quietly strong .274/.350/.444 he’s turned in over the past four seasons. Cooper’s production at the plate would surely garner more attention if he were able to stay in the lineup with a greater degree of regularity, but trips to the injured list are nothing new for him. Just dating back to the 2021 season, he’s missed time due to a broken finger, a concussion, an elbow sprain, a lumbar strain and a wrist injury. Since 2019, he’s played in just 61.6% of the Marlins’ total games.

Burdick made his big league debut last year but struggled, batting .207/.284/.380 in his first 102 big league plate appearances. The 26-year-old is on a blistering hot streak in Triple-A Jacksonville, however, hitting .293/.381/.636 overall and an even gaudier .365/.429/.810 with eight homers over his past 15 games. For a Marlins club that could badly use some more offensive production — particularly in right field, where Avisail Garcia has again struggled — it’s worth finding out if he can carry any of that over to the big league level.

Marlins Place Avisaíl García On IL, Recall Xavier Edwards

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The Marlins have made a couple of roster moves today, per the transactions tracker at MLB.com. Outfielder Avisaíl García has been placed on the 10-day injured list with lower back tightness, retroactive to April 29, while infielder/outfielder Xavier Edwards has been recalled in a corresponding move.

The timing is unfortunate for García, who was showing signs of life at the plate after a dismal start. He was hitting .157/.204/.235 through his first 56 plate appearances but .278/.350/.611 in his last 20. That’s a small sample, of course, but was surely an encouraging sign of life for a guy who also struggled badly last year. The first season of his four-year, $53MM deal, he slashed just .224/.266/.317 in 2022 for a wRC+ of just 66. Any progress he was making will now have to be put on hold thanks to this back issue, which has kept him out of action the past few days. Since the move is backdated, he could return in just a week’s time if the issue subsides between now and then.

Taking his roster spot will be Edwards, 23, who is an intriguing young player. Drafted by the Padres, he was impressive enough in the lower levels of the minors to be considered the #85 prospect in the league by Baseball America going into 2020. That was just after he had been traded to the Rays as part of the deal that sent Tommy Pham and Jake Cronenworth to San Diego. Though there were concerns about his power, he was highly praised for his speed, defense and bat-to-ball skills.

That power still hasn’t developed, as Edwards has just six home runs throughout his entire minor league career thus far. His prospect stock has taken a hit in recent years as his offensive contributions have been muted, but his positive attributes are still there. The Marlins liked him enough that they acquired him from the Rays in the offseason alongside JT Chargois and added him to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He doesn’t have a homer this year through 90 Triple-A plate appearances, but he does have an incredible 16.7% walk rate against just an 8.9% strikeout rate. His .306/.427/.361 batting line this year amounts to a 117 wRC+ and he also has seven stolen bases already.

Defensively, Edwards has been playing second base and center field this year, though he also has past experience at shortstop and third base. He figures to slot into the bench mix, providing depth at multiple spots as utility players Jon Berti and Garrett Hampson share the shortstop duties. Joey Wendle is on a rehab assignment right now, working his way back from an intercostal strain, and could push Edwards back to the minors. But for now, he has a chance to make his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

Marlins Designate Devin Smeltzer For Assignment

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The Marlins have designated lefty Devin Smeltzer for assignment and selected the contract of right-hander Johan Quezada, per the team’s transactions log at MLB.com (hat tip: Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald on Twitter).

Smeltzer, 27, wore the brunt of the damage for the bullpen at the hands of the Phillies in early April after they ambushed reigning Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara for 10 runs in four innings of work. Smeltzer came on in mop-up duty and was tagged for five more runs of his own, but he’s thrown well in his previous three outings, including a four-inning spot start. Since April 21, he’s pitched seven innings of one-run ball with a 5-to-3 K/BB ratio. He’s still at an ugly 6.75 ERA in 12 innings overall, however.

This is Smeltzer’s first season with the Marlins organization. The former Dodgers draft pick went to the Twins as part of a Brian Dozier trade and spent parts of four seasons with Minnesota, pitching to a combined 3.99 ERA in 140 innings of work. That includes 70 1/3 frames of 3.71 ERA ball last year, though that success came with a tepid 13.9% strikeout rate. Smeltzer has never missed many bats at the MLB level, evidenced by a career 16.4% strikeout rate, but he’s also only walked 6.4% of his opponents — a far better-than-average mark.

All told, Smeltzer has 152 innings of 4.20 ERA ball under his belt in the Majors. He’s made 20 big league starts and 39 more relief appearances, demonstrating the ability to pitch in just about any role asked of him. He’s out of minor league options, so any team that trades for him or claims him on waivers would need to carry him on the big league roster. The Marlins will have a week to try to trade Smeltzer or pass him through waivers.

As for the 28-year-old Quezada, he’ll be making his first MLB appearance since 2020 (also with the Marlins) if he gets into a game with the Fish. He’s yielded a pair of runs on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts through his first 6 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this season and carries a career 2.60 ERA in 34 2/3 innings there. He’s spent time with the Twins and Cardinals organizations in addition to the Marlins.

Marlins Outright Sean Nolin

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Left-hander Sean Nolin has been outrighted by the Marlins to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. Since he has been previously outrighted in his career, he has the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency, though it’s not yet clear if he’s decided to do so.

Nolin, 33, has racked up a lot of miles in his career. Originally a draft pick of the Blue Jays, he briefly made it to the big leagues with them in 2013 and 2014, getting one appearance in each of those seasons. He then went to the Athletics in the Josh Donaldson trade but posted a 5.28 ERA in six starts in 2015 before getting designated for assignment prior to the following season.

He then missed the next five major league campaigns, bouncing around the minors and non-affiliated leagues, going to the Brewers, Rockies, White Sox, the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League, the Mariners and the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball. He returned to the bigs in 2021, tossing 26 2/3 innings for the Nats in that season with a 4.39 ERA. He went to the Kia Tigers of the KBO League last year before returning to North America this offseason.

The southpaw signed a minor league deal with the Twins in February but was flipped to the Marlins a week ago, just before he was selected to the big league club. The Fish put him into Monday’s game when they were down 5-0, leaving him out for three innings of mop-up duty wherein he allowed six runs, designating him for assignment the day after he was selected. Nolin could decide to accept the assignment and join the Jumbo Shrimp but he could also opt for the open market to see if there are any opportunities out there for him.

Marlins Notes: Arraez, Bumgarner, Wendle

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Luis Arraez is off to a strong start to his Marlins tenure. Acquired from the Twins in the deal that sent Pablo López to the Twin Cities, the lefty-hitting infielder carries an incredible .421/.482/.553 line with nine walks and only four strikeouts over 85 plate appearances. While Arraez surely won’t hit over .400 for an entire season, he looks more than capable of backing up last year’s American League batting title in his new environment.

The Miami front office has to be pleased with the production of their new infielder, though Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald report the sides haven’t had any discussions about a potential contract extension. That’s hardly surprising for a player who’s so new to a team. However, it is in contrast to López, who inked a $73.5MM deal with Minnesota last week.

López was a year closer to free agency than Arraez is now. Both players entered 2023 in their second seasons of arbitration eligibility but Arraez qualified for early arbitration as a Super Two player. Miami’s second baseman won a hearing in February to secure a $6.1MM salary. He’s in line for two more raises through that process before hitting the open market after the 2025 campaign, when he’ll be headed into his age-29 season.

On the other side of the ball, Jackson and Mish also report that Miami is not interested in free agent starter Madison Bumgarner. The four-time All-Star was officially released by the Diamondbacks this afternoon, the obvious outcome after he was designated for assignment last week. Arizona will remain on the hook for virtually all of the $37MM owed to Bumgarner over the next two seasons. Any club that carries him on its MLB roster would only need to pay him the prorated portion of the $720K league minimum, which would be subtracted from Arizona’s obligations.

The Marlins are currently without Johnny Cueto and Trevor Rogers due to injury, leaving them with an uncertain #5 option behind Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera. Bumgarner had been tagged for 20 runs with more walks than strikeouts through 16 2/3 innings with the D-Backs before being released, however, so it’s understandable the Miami front office believes they’re better served with their in-house depth options.

Along with the absences of Cueto and Rogers, Miami has been without its presumptive starting shortstop for the bulk of the season. Joey Wendle has been on the injured list since April 4 due to a right intercostal strain. The club could soon welcome him back. Jordan McPherson of the Herald tweets that the veteran infielder will begin a rehab stint with Triple-A Jacksonville tomorrow. Wendle was limited to nine plate appearances before the injury. Jon Berti has picked up the bulk of the shortstop work in his absence and hit .233/.278/.356 across 75 trips to the dish.

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