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Marlins Claim Otto López From Giants

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The Marlins have claimed infielder/outfielder Otto López off waivers from the Giants, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The Giants had designated him for assignment earlier this week when they selected Nick Avila. The Marlins announced the claim and that they have transferred righty Eury Pérez to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. It was reported earlier that Pérez will require Tommy John surgery and miss the remainder of the season.

López, 25, provides some speed and a great deal of defensive versatility but it’s unknown how much he will hit. In each of the past five years, he has been able to get his stolen base total in the minors into double digits. He’s also bounced around the field to play the three infield spots to the left of first base and each of the three outfield slots.

On offense, he definitely puts the bat on the ball but the power is very limited. From the start of 2021 to the present, he’s had 1,273 minor league plate appearances and hit just 10 home runs but his 16.4% strikeout rate is quite low. He’s slashed .288/.355/.396 in that time for a wRC+ of 101.

López came up as a Blue Jays prospect but was designated for assignment when that club signed Yariel Rodríguez a couple of months ago. He was traded to the Giants for cash but got bumped off that club’s roster this week.

The Marlins effectively had a roster spot to burn with the news of Pérez requiring surgery and they will now use it to fill in some of the utility depth they sacrificed when they traded Jon Berti to the Yankees last week. López still has an option remaining so the Marlins could send him to Triple-A for regular at-bats or bring him to the big league squad to give them some cover at multiple positions around the diamond.

Eury Perez To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Touted young Marlins righty Eury Perez will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2024 season, president of baseball operations Peter Bendix announced to reporters this morning (X link via Christina De Nicola of MLB.com). He’ll have the surgery on Monday.

Perez made his big league debut last season at just 20 years of age. He didn’t show his youth, bursting onto the MLB scene with 91 1/3 innings of 3.15 ERA ball. The towering 6’8″, 220-pound righty fanned a hearty 28.9% of his opponents against a solid 8.3% walk rate. Opponents batted under .200 on each of Perez’s slider, curveball and changeup. He averaged 97.4 mph on his heater and turned in a gaudy 15.7% swinging-strike rate that checked in third among all big league pitchers (min. 90 innings) — trailing only Spencer Strider and Tyler Glasnow.

Everything looked to be falling into place for Perez to emerge into stardom. That may still be the case, but he’ll now have a 14- to 16-month recovery period — and given his importance to the franchise’s long-term outlook, it stands to reason that the Marlins will err on the side of caution.

Perez was initially diagnosed with elbow inflammation during spring training. Surgery was not recommended following his original MRI in mid-March. But inflammation and swelling can at times be significant enough to mask underlying structural damage. Whether that’s the case here or whether Perez suffered the ligament damage in a subsequent bullpen session isn’t clear and might ultimately never be known.

Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald tweets that Perez threw a scheduled bullpen session on Tuesday and felt tightness in his elbow while also experiencing a drop in velocity. That led to a follow-up wave of imaging which revealed the ligament tear and prompted the surgery recommendation. Perez will now spend the 2024 season on the major league 60-day IL, accruing big league pay and big league service time. He’s under club control through the 2029 season.

The Marlins’ once-vaunted collection of young starting pitching has seen its share of setbacks, and that enviable stock is now running thin. Sandy Alcantara, the 2022 National League Cy Young winner, underwent Tommy John surgery last October and will miss the 2024 season. Pablo Lopez was traded to the Twins in the Jan. 2023 Luis Arraez swap. Lefty Jake Eder was traded to the White Sox last summer in a deal bringing slugger Jake Burger back to Miami. Max Meyer (Tommy John surgery), Sixto Sanchez (shoulder surgery), Dax Fulton (internal brace surgery) have all had major injury setbacks. Left-hander Braxton Garrett and righty Edward Cabrera, both expected to open the 2024 season in the rotation, instead landed on the 15-day IL due to shoulder impingements.

Given that gobsmacking slate of injuries, the Marlins have opened the season with a patchwork group of starters. Hometown kid Jesus Luzardo has stepped up as the staff ace, and he’s been followed by Trevor Rogers, Ryan Weathers and reliever-turned-starter A.J. Puk. Meyer is recovered from his 2022 Tommy John procedure and has stepped into the rotation early on. He’ll presumably be on an innings limit, but the former No. 3 overall pick has long been a highly touted prospect himself.

Between the current starting five, Garrett and Cabrera, the Marlins still have enough talent to piece together a strong rotation. The depth has been severely compromised, however, and it’s arguable that Perez was their most talented healthy arm heading into the season — or at least the second-most talented, behind Luzardo. For a Marlins team that has begun the season in a catastrophic 0-7 slump, word of Perez’s injury only furthers the sense of dread surrounding the club at the moment.

Injury Notes: Lodolo, Cabrera, Garrett, Perez, Means, Bradish

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Nick Lodolo looked sharp today in the first of two planned Triple-A rehab starts.  The Reds southpaw allowed one run in five innings and 77 pitches of work, while striking out eight and allowing two hits and three walks.  After missing most of the 2023 season due to a stress reaction in his left tibia, Lodolo was still feeling some leg soreness this spring, so the Reds started him on the 15-day injured list in order to better ease Lodolo’s path back to action.  Assuming he is feeling healthy after today’s outing and his next rehab start, Lodolo is slated to make his season debut for the Reds on April 10.

More on other pitchers working towards getting healthy….

  • Edward Cabrera also began the season on the 15-day IL, as the Marlins righty was sidelined with an impingement in his throwing shoulder.  As noted by MLB.com, Cabrera threw 39 pitches in a intrasquad scrimmage game earlier this week and a 20-pitch bullpen session on Friday, so the next step is a minor league rehab assignment that begins with a Triple-A start today.  It isn’t yet known how many rehab outings Cabrera might need before he is activated, though of the Marlins’ multiple injured starters, he appears closest to a return.  Braxton Garrett is slated to throw a bullpen session today as he works his way back from his own shoulder impingement, and Garrett intends to be back in action before the end of April.  El Extra Base’s Daniel Alvarez-Montes (X link) notes that Eury Perez threw 20 pitches in a bullpen session today, with Perez on the road to recovery after being waylaid by elbow soreness in Spring Training.
  • While rehab starts are about getting comfortable and working out pitches rather than pure results, John Means had a shaky showing in first rehab start today with Triple-A Norfolk.  The Baltimore Sun’s Matt Weyrich was among those to relay the news that Means gave up seven runs on six hits and a walk over the 32-pitch outing.  Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and other reporters yesterday that Means’ is “going to be close to 30 days” in Norfolk, as in the maximum length for rehab assignments.  Means missed almost all of the 2022 and 2023 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery, and the O’s didn’t include him on their playoff roster due to what was reported as elbow soreness at the time.  As Kubatko notes, the Orioles are now referring to the injury as a left forearm strain, which only adds to the extreme caution Means and the O’s are taking in slowly ramping up the southpaw’s workload.
  • A sprain in Kyle Bradish’s right UCL created concerns that Bradish might also miss an extended amount of time, but the Orioles right-hander seems to be making good progress as he is also taking a careful approach to his rehab.  As relayed to Kubatko and other media, Bradish threw all of his pitches over a 35-pitch bullpen session yesterday.  While he “feels really good” in the aftermath of this bullpen, Bradish and Hyde didn’t commit to any kind of timeline about when Bradish will start building towards a return to the active roster.

Eury Perez Diagnosed With Elbow Inflammation, Will Begin Season On Injured List

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Touted young Marlins right-hander Eury Perez has been diagnosed with inflammation in his right elbow and will begin the 2024 season on the 15-day injured list, per Craig Mish and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Surgery has not been recommended, but Perez will be sidelined for several weeks while the inflammation calms down. It’s a tough loss to begin the season though far from a worst-case scenario for the Marlins and their fans, who were bracing for the possibility of a more serious injury when Perez went for an MRI after experiencing elbow soreness.

Still just 20 years old (21 in April), Perez made his big league debut in 2023 and immediately looked like he belonged. In 91 1/3 innings, he pitched to a 3.15 earned run average while striking out 28.9% of his opponents against a tidy 8.3% walk rate. He’d previously been touted as one of the very best pitching prospects in the sport, and that type of production against big league opposition before even turning 21 years old did little to sway that thinking.

It’s an immense relief that surgery isn’t on the table for now, but the Marlins will still be without Perez for a yet-to-be-determined period of time. The length of his absence will presumably dependent on how his elbow responds to the recent shutdown period. Only time will tell how quickly that inflammation might clear up. Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald tweets that Perez will test his elbow playing some light catch this weekend, which could provide some more information.

Miami already announced left-hander Jesus Luzardo as the team’s Opening Day starter. Beyond that, the group won’t look much like the team envisioned throughout the offseason. That’s due in no small part to Perez’s injury but also because both Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera will start the season on the shelf due to shoulder issues. The Fish resisted trading from their stock of young arms this offseason and are likely glad they did so, given the injuries that have cropped up in camp.

Luzardo figures to be followed by former NL Rookie of the Year runner-up Trevor Rogers, reliever-turned-starter AJ Puk, and former Padres first-round pick Ryan Weathers. Rogers is looking for a bounceback after a pair of injury-plagued seasons. Puk was a starter in college and the minors but was pushed to the ’pen due to a series of injuries. The Marlins acquired him from the A’s in exchange for JJ Bleday last offseason and got a strong season of relief out of him; they’ll now try to stretch the big lefty out. Weathers came to the Fish in last summer’s Garrett Cooper swap with San Diego. He’s been an up-and-down depth arm with shaky results in the big leagues and Triple-A alike but was the No. 7 overall pick back in 2018.

If and when the Marlins need a fifth starter early in the season, that role could fall to righty Bryan Hoeing. He’s still in big league camp, while other 40-man options like Max Meyer, Darren McCaughan and Roddery Munoz have already been optioned out. Miami also reassigned non-roster pitchers Yonny Chirinos and Devin Smeltzer to minor league camp yesterday, ending their potential bid for rotation spots.

The Fish, of course, will be without ace Sandy Alcantara for the entire 2024 season. The 2022 National League Cy Young winner underwent Tommy John surgery in early October and will miss the entire 2024 season as a result. He’s expected back in 2025.

Eury Perez To Undergo Imaging Due To Elbow Soreness

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The Marlins announced this afternoon that right-hander Eury Perez is experiencing elbow soreness and is set to undergo imaging and testing over the course of the coming days. Jon Heyman of the New York Post adds that part of the club’s diagnostic process will be a trip to Texas, where Perez will meet with noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister. Earlier this week, Perez was pulled from a Spring Training start after just 14 pitches due to discomfort caused by a broken fingernail.

It’s a brutal blow for the Marlins, who have been ravaged by rotation injuries this offseason. Sandy Alcantara underwent Tommy John surgery back in the fall and is set to miss the entire 2024 campaign, and since then both Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera have dealt with shoulder issues that could relegate them to the injured list to begin the season. Now Perez appears all but certain to open the regular season on the shelf as well. While the severity of the 20-year-old phenom’s specific issue is uncertain, concerns regarding the elbow are particularly ominous due to the possibility of a lengthy absence.

Elbow surgeries can often wipe out a pitcher’s entire season, as is the case with Alcantara, and even non-surgical rehab can take a pitcher away from game action for months at a time, as was recently demonstrated by Yankees ace Gerrit Cole. Even in the best case scenario, the time spent determining the extent of Perez’s injury figures to set him back as he looks to build up his pitch count for the regular season. Perez’s aforementioned fingernail issue has limited his ability to prepare for the coming season this spring, and with just two weeks until Opening Day and the right-hander likely to be sidelined for at least a few more days, it’s hard to imagine him being able to avoid at least a brief stint on the injured list.

With Perez, Cabrera, and Garrett all at least at risk of joining Alcantara on the injured list to open the season, that leaves southpaw Jesus Luzardo as the only member of the club’s on-paper starting rotation who is currently expected to be available on Opening Day. Southpaw A.J. Puk was already widely expected to begin the season in the club’s rotation after the club made the decision to stretch the lefty out despite his success as a high-leverage arm in the club’s bullpen last year, and the injuries also seem likely to open the door for the likes of Trevor Rogers and Ryan Weathers to step into rotation roles as the season begins. That would still leave the fifth spot in the club’s rotation vacant, however, though right-hander Bryan Hoeing represents one option already on the 40-man roster and the club has plenty of potential non-roster options at its disposal including Yonny Chirinos, Vladimir Gutierrez, and Devin Smeltzer.

Of course, none of those potential depth options can be reasonably expected to deliver the sort of impact that Perez offers. The righty, 21 next month, was a consensus top-15 prospect in all of baseball when he made his debut for Miami last year, and he immediately flashed the front-of-the-rotation potential that his prospect pedigree suggested as he dazzled with a microscopic 1.34 ERA and a solid 3.02 FIP in his first nine starts in the majors. He struck out 29.2% of batters faced during that stretch, and while midsummer struggles led the club to limit his workload down the stretch the youngster nonetheless features prominently in the club’s plans for the 2024 season and beyond. So much so, in fact, that Perez was generally regarded as the club’s sole untouchable as they fielded trade offers on the likes of Garrett, Luzardo, and Cabrera during the offseason.

The rotation injuries have been a major blow to a Marlins club that is looking to build upon a surprising postseason appearance in 2023. The club’s starting pitchers ranked top ten in the majors last year in ERA, FIP, and fWAR while striking out the fourth-most batters in all of baseball. That dominant run prevention apparatus was key to the club’s success last year as the lineup lagged behind, ranking just 20th in the majors with a collective wRC+ of 94. With so many injuries impacting the club’s rotation already this year, the team will need strong performance from the likes of Luis Arraez, Josh Bell, Jake Burger, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. if the club hopes to return to postseason contention in 2024.

Orioles Have Shown Interest In Jesús Luzardo

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The starting pitchers of the Marlins have been popular in trade rumors and the Orioles showed the most interest in left-hander Jesús Luzardo, per a report from Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. It’s unclear exactly when the trade talks took place.

The Orioles have been looking for starting pitching all offseason so it’s logical that they would check in with Miami. The O’s were connected to trade candidates like Dylan Cease and free agents like Michael Lorenzen and James Paxton before landing a big fish when they acquired Corbin Burnes from the Brewers.

From the perspective of the Marlins, they don’t quite have the overflowing rotation surplus that they have had in the past, but it makes sense to listen to offers since they have holes elsewhere on the roster that need to be addressed. Catcher and shortstop are those spots that could clearly be upgraded but free agency doesn’t have many enticing options, so perhaps moving a starter would be their best bet even if the depth isn’t quite what it was.

They traded Pablo López to the Twins last winter as part of the return for Luis Arráez and then Sandy Alcantara required Tommy John surgery at the end of the 2023 campaign. Additionally, they traded prospect Jake Eder to the White Sox for Jake Burger, thinning out the depth a bit.

After all that, the club’s rotation mix currently consists of Luzardo, Eury Pérez, Braxton Garrett, Edward Cabrera and Trevor Rogers, with Sixto Sánchez, Ryan Weathers and Meyer are some of the other options on the roster.

That group has its question marks. Cabrera gets tons of strikeouts and ground balls but has also walked 14% of batters faced in his career. He’s now out of options and can no longer be sent to the minors to continue refining his command. Rogers was great in 2021 but his results backed up in 2022 and then he was limited by injuries in 2023. He made four April starts last year before going on the injured list due to a left biceps strain, later being diagnosed with a partial tear in his right lat, never making it back to the club. Sánchez has thrown just one minor league inning over the past three years due to ongoing shoulder problems. Weathers had poor results last year while Meyer missed all of 2023 recovering from Tommy John surgery.

The Marlins are reportedly setting a high asking price in trade talks concerning Luzardo, which is a sensible position to take. With that group of starters, they don’t strictly need to move someone since it’s arguably flimsy as it is. Luzardo is also under club control through the 2026 season, meaning the club needn’t be in any kind of hurry. He’s making $5.5MM this year and will be due two more arbitration raises in the seasons to come. That’s a bargain price for a guy who made 50 starts over the past two years with a 3.48 ERA, 28.7% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate.

Cabrera and Rogers have also received some trade interest, but the asking price on them would naturally be lower on account of the Cabrera’s control problems and Rogers’ injury issues. Jackson and Mish add that the Marlins and Royals had talks about some kind of blockbuster involving Pérez and Bobby Witt Jr. but those talks quickly fizzled out. Those talks were towards the end of last season, while Kim Ng was still running the baseball operations department. Jackson and Mish report that the new regime, led by Peter Bendix, considers Pérez untouchable.

But with the holes elsewhere on the roster, there would be an argument for taking the right deal. The Marlins reportedly asked about catching prospect Samuel Basallo in trade talks with the Orioles, but the O’s had no interest in making him available. Part of Baltimore’s never-ending parade of elite prospects, Basallo is currently ranked 10th in the league by Baseball America and 7th by FanGraphs.

The Marlins currently have a catching tandem of Christian Bethancourt and Nick Fortes. Both are fairly well regarded on defense but don’t provide a lot with the bat. Bethancourt hit .231/.261/.361 last year and Fortes just .204/.263/.299. The 19-year-old Basallo would be more of a long-term solution there, as he only has four games above High-A and is unlikely to crack the majors for much of 2024, if at all.

The Orioles could also theoretically stand to part with Basallo since they already have a cornerstone catcher in Adley Rutschman, but that doesn’t seem like it will motivate them towards a deal. They also have a surplus of young talent on the infield and outfield but have generally held onto the majority of it, apart from including Joey Ortiz in the Burnes deal. They still seem to have too many players for the playing time they have to distribute but appear to be quite patient in letting moves come together.

As mentioned, it’s unclear exactly when the talks regarding Luzardo took place. Presumably, they were before the Burnes deal, but there would have been an argument for the O’s to still be pursuing rotation upgrades even after that. After that trade, the rotation projected to be Burnes, Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer and John Means. That’s a talented group but Rodriguez was inconsistent as a rookie last year while Means just returned from a lengthy Tommy John layoff. Adding Luzardo into that group would have been a viable path for the O’s to take, so it’s possible the talks happened post-Burnes, even if they didn’t make much headway.

It’s possible that their desire to get a deal done may have increased this week, however. It was reported today that Bradish has been diagnosed with a sprain of his ulnar collateral ligament, raising the spectre of Tommy John surgery. It’s still not determined if he will need to go under the knife but he will at least start the season on the injured list. Additionally, Means is about a month behind schedule due to an elbow issue he dealt with last year.

With two-fifths of their projected starting rotation now questionable, perhaps the O’s will circle back to the Marlins and reopen these talks at some point. Though the free agent market also still features notable names like Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Lorenzen, Hyun Jin Ryu and many more. Meanwhile, Cease is still on the White Sox while other trade candidates like Shane Bieber or Paul Blackburn could still be available. Even after the Burnes trade, the O’s are still considered to have an excellent farm system and could pull off just about any trade they decide to make if they really wanted.

Corbin Carroll Wins National League Rookie Of The Year Award

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Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll has won the National League Rookie of the Year award, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. Mets right-hander Kodai Senga came in second while Dodgers outfielder James Outman placed third.

Carroll was selected to Arizona’s roster in late August of last year, allowing him to get a taste of the majors but without exhausting his rookie status. He fared extremely well in that audition, hitting .260/.330/.500 in his first 115 plate appearances for a wRC+ of 131, indicating he was 31% better than the league average hitter in that time. The D’Backs felt confident enough in Carroll based on that showing, and his work as a minor leaguer, to give him an eight-year extension with a guarantee of $111MM.

They were hoping he would be an integral part of the club and help them make the postseason for the first time since 2017. He went on to have an incredible showing in his first full season in the majors, hitting 25 home runs and stealing 54 bases. His .285/.362/.506 line led to a 131 wRC+ and he also got strong grades for his outfield defense. He produced 6.0 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs while Baseball Reference had him at 5.4. The club did indeed break their postseason drought, snagging a Wild Card spot and eventually going all the way to the World Series.

While the award is surely thrilling for Carroll and the Snakes on its own, there are other implications of Carroll taking the trophy. The new collective bargaining agreement contains measures designed to combat service time manipulation through the prospect promotion incentive, or PPI. Top-two Rookie of the Year finishers who were Top 100 prospects on at least two preseason lists at Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline are automatically credited with a full service year. That won’t apply to Carroll, who was up all year and earned a full service year regardless, though he was the #2 prospect on all three of those lists. Gunnar Henderson, who got the AL trophy today, was #1.

But players with PPI status can also earn extra draft picks for their clubs if they have less than 60 days of service time to start the season and earn a full service year the traditional way, as Carroll did, while also appearing on those preseason prospect lists. Players in that camp who finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting or top three in Cy Young or Most Valuable Player voting during their pre-arbitration seasons earn a bonus pick after the first round for their club. That means the Diamondbacks, who are already loaded with young talent, will get a valuable extra pick in next year’s draft.

Senga also had a strong season, his first after coming over from Japan. He made 29 starts for the Mets with a 2.98 earned run average, 29.1% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate and 44.7% ground ball rate. Players considered by MLB to be foreign professionals, as Senga is, aren’t eligible to earn PPI picks for their clubs. Outman also had a solid campaign, hitting 23 home runs and stealing 16 bases. He struck out in 31.9% of his plate appearances but offset that somewhat by walking at a 12% clip. His .248/.353/.437 batting line led to a wRC+ of 118 and he also graded out well in the field. He wasn’t considered a top 100 prospect coming into the year and wouldn’t have qualified for a PPI pick even if he surpassed Senga for second place.

The voting was unanimous, per the vote tally at BBWAA, with Carroll getting all 30 first-place votes. Senga got 22 second-place votes and Outman got five. Other players getting votes were Nolan Jones of the Rockies, Eury Pérez of the Marlins, Patrick Bailey of the Giants and three Reds: Matt McLain, Spencer Steer and Elly De La Cruz.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Marlins Place Eury Perez On 15-Day Injured List, Select Jeff Lindgren

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The Marlins have selected the contract of right-hander Jeff Lindgren, per a club announcement. In a corresponding move, right-hander Eury Perez has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to September 21) with left SI joint inflammation. The move to the IL brings an end to Perez’s regular season, at the very least. He’ll also be unavailable for the Wild Card series of a potential playoff run, though it’s not currently clear if he could return later in the postseason, should Miami make it that far.

Perez, 20, made his MLB debut for the Marlins earlier this year. He was considered one of the sport’s top pitching prospects at the time and made an immediate impression upon reaching the majors with a 1.34 ERA and 3.03 FIP in addition to a 29.2% strikeout rate across his first nine starts. Miami made the decision to option Perez to the minors in early July with the hope of managing his innings total in 2023 while also keeping him available for the stretch run and a potential postseason push.

Things didn’t go according to plan, however. In addition to Perez landing on the injured list for the final week of the season, the rookie’s results have been far less impressive since returning to the majors in early August. In his last 38 innings (eight starts), he’s posted just a 4.26 ERA and 4.71 FIP. That late-season downturn in performance culminated in a three-inning outing against the Mets this past Wednesday where Perez allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits and three walks while stirking out just two. Overall, Perez will finish his first regular season as a big leaguer with a 3.15 ERA and 4.12 FIP in 91 1/3 innings of work.

The news comes on the heels of today’s announcement that ace right-hander Sandy Alcantara won’t pitch again this year. The news combines for a devastating pair of blows to the Marlins rotation as they’re in the midst of a late-season playoff. The club sat just one game back of the Cubs for the final NL Wild Card spot entering play today, but will now have to lean on a rotation group headlined by left-handers Jesus Luzardo and Braxton Garrett. With veteran Johnny Cueto long since demoted to relief work, righty Edward Cabrera and potential depth options like David Smeltzer and Ryan Weathers will have to help carry the load in the absence of Perez and Alcantara going forward.

Lindgren is another such option. He’s spent the season riding the waiver wire with Miami, as this is the fourth time the Marlins have selected his contract this season. The right-hander’s stints with the big league club have been brief, but he’s posted a 5.14 ERA that’s only slightly below league average by measure of ERA+ (91) with a 4.69 FIP in his seven innings of work with the club. With a 4.88 ERA in a swing role at the Triple-A level this season, Lindgren could be a valuable source of innings for a rapidly thinning Marlins pitching staff over the season’s final stretch.

East Notes: Red Sox, Verdugo, Severino, Narvaez, Perez

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The Red Sox issued a positive update regarding the status of right-hander Garrett Whitlock today, with manager Alex Cora (as relayed by MassLive’s Christopher Smith) indicating that he’s poised to begin a minor league rehab assignment next week. Whitlock has been on the 15-day injured list due to a bone bruise in his elbow for just over a month. Meanwhile, both right-hander Tanner Houck and left-hander Chris Sale could also be nearing returns, with Houck expected to make three rehab starts before rejoining the club while Sale will be evaluated tomorrow as he nears a return to the majors.

Whitlock’s return to the Red Sox, according to Cora, could come with a change of role, as the manager indicated there was “a good chance” that Whitlock would be used in a multi-inning relief role rather than as a member of the rotation. That’s a role that has suited Whitlock quite well throughout his career, as he owns a sterling 2.24 ERA in 112 2/3 innings of work out of the bullpen, a far more impressive figure than his rather pedestrian 4.76 ERA in 19 starts as a member of the rotation.

Even with Whitlock seeming ticketed for the bullpen, the impending returns of Houck and Sale could create a logjam in Boston’s rotation. With the aforementioned trio on the shelf, the club was recently forced to move right-hander Nick Pivetta back into the rotation alongside regular starters James Paxton, Brayan Bello, and Kutter Crawford despite the fact that Pivetta sported a dominant 1.98 ERA in 41 innings coming out of the bullpen since he was removed from the rotation back in May.

With Paxton, Bello, and Sale all likely locked into rotation spots when healthy, the Red Sox will have to pick one of Pivetta, Houck, or Crawford to join Whitlock in the rotation unless the club plans on moving to a six-man rotation upon the return of Sale and Houck to starting action. While Pivetta’s 5.98 ERA coming out of the rotation is the weakest figure of that trio, his 7 1/3 inning, three-run outing in his return to the starting rotation may to have given Red Sox brass renewed confidence in him as a starting option going forward.

More from around MLB’s East divisions…

  • Sticking with the Red Sox, outfielder Alex Verdugo was scratched from today’s lineup shortly before the game started. Following the game, Cora briefly discussed Verdugo’s situation with reporters, including Smith. In his comments, Cora indicated that Verdugo’s absence from the lineup was not injury-related. While neither Cora nor Verdugo commented on the specifics of the situation, Cora stressed that it was “the manager’s decision”, saying: “We need everybody available. I decided the reason that he didn’t play. But he wasn’t available today. He was ready to play but he wasn’t available. … The manager decided not to play him today. And he has his reason. I’m not going to go into details or whatever.” After a hot start to the 2023 campaign, Verdugo has slashed just .157/.245/.277 in 94 trips to the plate since the start of July.
  • Yankees manager Aaron Boone indicated to reporters, including The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, that “everything is on the table going forward” regarding right-hander Luis Severino, including a move to the bullpen. Once a rising star in the game as a reliable, front of the rotation arm, Severino has struggled massively in 13 starts this season with a 7.74 ERA and 6.56 FIP. Severino has made fifteen appearances out of the bullpen during his career to excellent results. He’s posted a microscopic 0.31 ERA with a 30.6% strikeout rate in 29 1/3 innings of work as a reliever. If Severino were to exit the rotation, that could open up starts for a younger arm like Jhony Brito or Randy Vasquez.
  • Sticking to New York, Mets catcher Omar Narvaez indicated to Will Sammon of The Athletic that he would “probably be back next season” when discussing his upcoming $7MM player option for 2024. Narvaez opened the season as the club’s starting catcher but suffered a calf strain early in the season. While Narvaez was on the shelf, youngster Francisco Alvarez emerged as the club’s everyday player behind the plate, leaving Narvaez in a part-time role upon his return. In addition to his diminished role, Narvaez has struggled badly at the plate this season, slashing just .189/.281/.245 with a wRC+ of 54 in 24 games this year.
  • 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 Looking To Add Starting Pitcher

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The Marlins pulled off one of the bigger moves of deadline season last night, acquiring back-end reliever David Robertson for a pair of promising low minors prospects. It’s the first of what is likely to be multiple additions for a Miami club that currently sits just outside the NL Wild Card picture.

Before the Robertson deal, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported that adding both a starter and a reliever were Miami’s top priorities. They moved quickly on the latter front but figure to explore the rotation market over the coming days.

It’s surprising to see the Fish looking for rotation help at first glance. For a few seasons, Miami has skewed rotation-heavy and been light on offense. As a result, the Marlins dealt Pablo López to Minnesota for Luis Arraez in an effort to balance the roster.

That said, the Marlins’ rotation has been more good than exceptional in 2023. They rank 11th in starting pitching ERA, allowing 4.11 earned runs per nine innings. They’re third in strikeout rate (25.4%), 11th in walks (7.5%) and third in grounder percentage (45.9%). Starting pitching certainly hasn’t been a weakness, but it hasn’t been quite as effective as last year’s group — which ranked eighth in ERA behind a Cy Young performance from Sandy Alcantara.

Some amount of regression was probably inevitable. The López trade subtracted arguably Miami’s second-best starter. The Marlins rearranged their infield, installing Arraez at second base to push Jazz Chisholm to the outfield. They signed Jean Segura to move to third and dealt away Miguel Rojas while moving Joey Wendle to shortstop. All those transactions were designed to add offense — and the Arraez trade in particular has achieved that — but come with the expected effect of reducing the defensive efficiency behind a ground-ball heavy pitching staff.

That’s among the reasons for Alcantara’s step back, although there are myriad factors whenever a pitcher’s ERA jumps more than two runs (from 2.28 to 4.46). They’re obviously not going to displace Alcantara from the rotation, but his relative down season magnifies some of the other challenges Miami has faced.

Trevor Rogers has been on the injured list since the middle of April; a partial tear in his non-throwing shoulder leaves him with an uncertain return timetable. Free agent pickup Johnny Cueto lost a couple months to injury and was knocked around on his minor league rehab stint. Miami broke him in as a reliever before moving him back into the rotation last weekend.

Top prospect Eury Pérez has had a brilliant start to his MLB career, but he’s back in the minors temporarily as the club keeps an eye on his workload. The 20-year-old has already set a personal high with 86 2/3 innings between Double-A and the majors this season. Bryan Hoeing has gotten six starts but allowed a 6.66 ERA in 24 1/3 frames over that stretch. He’s been much better in a multi-inning relief role.

There have also been signs of promise, of course. Jesús Luzardo has taken another step forward and looks like a #2 caliber starter. Braxton Garrett, who opened the season in the minors, has stepped up with a 4.32 ERA and above-average peripherals through 100 innings. Edward Cabrera is missing plenty of bats and racking up grounders, though he’s walking over 14% of opponents and has an ERA approaching 5.00.

Miami has plenty of high-upside arms who are capable of starting a playoff game if they play into October. They don’t need to shop at the top of the rotation market. There’s some sense in adding a stable back-end starter to ease the workload on some of Miami’s younger arms — in effect playing the role the Marlins envisioned from Cueto when they signed him in January.

While rotation help now seems to be the front office’s priority, Ng and her group will also certainly remain on the lookout for ways to add to the lineup. They’ve been loosely linked to Jeimer Candelario and Tim Anderson within the past week. Rosenthal writes that Miami made a run at first baseman Carlos Santana before the Pirates dealt him to Milwaukee. The Marlins should have a few irons in the fire over the next few days as a somewhat surprising entrant into the rotation market.

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