Aguilar, 33, signed a one-year, $3MM deal with the A’s last offseason but struggled greatly through 36 games. In 115 plate appearances with Oakland, the burly slugger managed a tepid .221/.281/.385 slash with a 27% strikeout rate. It was a second consecutive lackluster campaign at the plate for Aguilar, and although he turned around a bit after signing with the Braves on a minor league deal, he never got a look in the big leagues with Atlanta. In 241 plate appearances with Triple-A Gwinnett, he hit .271/.373/.379 with a hefty 14.1% walk rate.

With the exception of a down season in 2019, Aguilar was a well above-average hitter from 2017-21. Even with a rough showing in ’19, his batting line over that five-year stretch checked in at .262/.338/.478, and he slugged 93 round-trippers along the way. Aguilar’s best year came with the Brewers in 2018, when he swatted a career-best 35 home runs and turned in a stout .274/.352/.539 batting line. The Lions will be hoping for that type of production, or something close to it, in signing the veteran slugger for the upcoming season.

Aguilar, who’ll turn 33 later this month, hit just .221/.281/.385 with five homers in 115 plate appearances for Oakland after signing a one-year, $3MM deal in the offseason. Oakland’s hope had been that Aguilar could recapture his 2017-21 form — .262/.338/.476, 93 homers in 1972 trips to the plate — and emerge as a summer trade candidate. That didn’t happen in the season’s first two months, however, and Oakland has turned first base over to impressive Rule 5 pick Ryan Noda on a full-time basis now.

During that 2017-21 peak, Aguilar was an All-Star (2017) and consistent power threat, topping out with a career-high 35 dingers back in 2018. At his best, Aguilar walked between 10-11% of his plate appearances and kept his strikeouts at or south of the league’s average rate. In 2023, he walked at a sub-par 7% clip and fanned in 27.5% of his plate appearances while delivering career-worst marks in average exit velocity (86.7 mph) and hard-hit rate (29.3%).

For the Braves, there’s little harm in bringing aboard a slugger with some track record on a no-risk deal. Atlanta is set at first base with Matt Olson and has gotten better play from designated hitter Marcell Ozuna of late, so there’s no pressing need on the big league roster. Aguilar can play some first base in Triple-A Gwinnett for the time being, and should the Braves incur an injury or simply want some additional right-handed thump off the bench, he could be an option in the event that he’s playing well.

The fact that no club was willing to grab Aguilar is hardly surprising given his contract and recent performance. The A’s signed him to a one-year, $3MM deal this winter for a bit of veteran presence on a team largely consisting of younger players. However, the 32-year-old hit just .221/.281/.385 through 115 plate appearances for a wRC+ of 83. He has some third base experience but is mostly just an option at first base these days, making that production all the more untenable.

Any club who claimed Aguilar off waivers would have been responsible for the remainder of that contract. But now that none of them have done so and he’s been released, the A’s will remain on the hook for it. That will allow any of the 29 other clubs to sign him and pay him just the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the active roster, with that amount subtracted from what Oakland pays.

Despite the rough season, it’s possible that some club decides to take a chance on him with the low financial commitment. He still hit well with the platoon advantage this year, slashing .280/.362/.520 against lefties but just .167/.196/.259 against righties. He’s also not too far removed from being a solid everyday option, as he hit 22 home runs with the Marlins in 2021 and batted .261/.329/.459 for a wRC+ of 111. Perhaps a club looking for a cheap bench bat that can hit lefties will find a spot on their roster for Aguilar.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

• The National League Wild Card race (1:50)
• Will the lack of sellers change how the trade deadline looks? (3:00)
• The returns of Michael Soroka and Tyler Glasnow (4:55)
• Recently-cut veterans like Aaron Hicks, Eric Hosmer, Hunter Dozier and Jesus Aguilar (11:10) (Note: podcast was recorded prior to Hicks signing with the Orioles)

Plus, we answer your questions, including:

• Will the Giants impact the National League West race? (13:20)
• What do the Padres do with Juan Soto if they fall out of the race? (16:20)
• What will the Twins do before the trade deadline? (18:20)
• What can the Angels do with their rotation? (22:00)

Check out our past episodes!

• The Mets are turning things around, and how serious are the Mariners, Marlins and Diamondbacks? – listen here
• The Cardinals’ U-Turn on Willson Contreras, Mitch Keller’s breakout, and the state of the Padres – listen here
• Willson Contreras, the Rays’ success, what’s happening with the Astros – listen here

10:04am: The A’s are designating first baseman Jesús Aguilar for assignment, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El ExtraBase (Twitter link). The team has not yet announced the move, though it’ll free an active roster spot for right-hander Paul Blackburn once made official. Blackburn is expected to be reinstated from the 15-day injured list to make his season debut tonight against the Braves.

Aguilar’s time in Oakland will prove relatively brief. The A’s signed the right-handed hitter to a $3MM free agent deal at the end of January. It was a buy-low flier on a former All-Star and 35-homer bat who’d had a down 2022 campaign. Aguilar had slumped to a .235/.281/.379 showing in 129 games last season. Towards the end of the year, he was DFA by the Marlins but caught on with the Orioles as part of the September roster expansion.

The Venezuela native didn’t hit well at either spot. Those offensive struggles continued in green and gold. Aguilar has tallied 115 plate appearances over 36 games with the A’s. He’s slumped to a .221/.281/.385 batting line. He has just five home runs and a personal-low 29.3% hard contact rate. His strikeout percentage has jumped a couple points from last year’s 23.5% clip, as he’s gone down on strikes 27% of the time.

Going back to the start of the 2022 campaign, Aguilar carries a .232/.281/.380 slash over 622 trips to the plate. For a player who doesn’t offer much defensive or baserunning value, that production hasn’t been sufficient to hang onto a roster spot. Aguilar was a slightly above-average hitter two seasons back, when he connected on 22 homers with a .261/.329/.459 showing for Miami. He’s now five seasons removed from his aforementioned All-Star showing, when he put up an excellent .274/.352/.539 line for the 2018 Brewers.

Aguilar is still due around $2MM through season’s end. It’s unlikely another team will pick up that tab given his continued struggles. While the A’s have a week to explore trade possibilities, it’s probable Aguilar will return to free agency in the coming days. That could come via release or rejection of an outright assignment in favor of free agency. Aguilar has well over five years of MLB service and can therefore decline a minor league assignment while collecting his entire salary.

The A’s have used the lefty-swinging Ryan Noda as part of a first base platoon with Aguilar of late. A Rule 5 draftee from the Dodgers’ system, Noda has impressed with a .241/.400/.451 showing through his first 50 MLB games. Oakland could give him a few more reps against southpaws, gauging whether he can be more than a platoon bat moving forward. If skipper Mark Kotsay wants to keep Noda in a more sheltered role, Brent Rooker or Aledmys Díaz could pick up a few first base reps against left-handed pitching.

As Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports, the Reds are looking to utilize Stephenson in 140-150 games in 2023, but the majority of those appearances could come at designated hitter to try and protect his body from the rigors of catching. He did, after all, hit .319/.372/.482 with six home runs across 183 plate appearances so it’s no surprise that the Reds are trying to figure out the best way to get a full season’s worth of that offense.

The Reds have signed Curt Casali and Luke Maile to their roster and plan to carry three catchers throughout 2023, and Nightengale writes that the team could look to use Stephenson as a catcher twice a week, which would equate to 54 games over the course of the season, with Casali and Maile handling the rest.

Here’s some more bits and pieces from around baseball:

• Joey Meneses was a revelation for the rebuilding Nationals in 2022, slashing .324/.367/.563 with 13 home runs over 240 plate appearances in his age-30 rookie campaign. As the Talk Nats podcast revealed, the Nats tried to sign Meneses after the 2019 season but he opted to go to Japan instead. At the time, Japan was likely a far more financially appealing option for Meneses given he would’ve been looking at another minor league deal had he stayed in the States.
• The A’s are planning to use Jesus Aguilar at both first base and designated hitter in 2023, general manager David Forst told reporters, including Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. Aguilar appeared in 63 games at first and 60 at DH last year for the Marlins and Orioles, and it seems likely he’ll have a similar split this year. The 32-year-old had a disappointing 2022, slashing just .235/.281/.379 with 16 home runs over 507 plate appearances. He’d been a productive hitter for a few years prior though, and that was enough for Oakland to give him a one-year, $3MM deal for 2023. The rebuilding A’s will surely be hoping for a rebound at the plate so Aguilar can turn himself into a valuable trade chip at the deadline.
• Sticking with the A’s, and Forst says Paul Blackburn and James Kaprielian have both progressed well in their rehab and should be ready for spring training. “I think it’s reasonable to expect both guys to be ready to go,” Forst said (Twitter link). Both players figure to be part of Oakland’s rotation this year. Blackburn, 29, pitched in 21 games last year and worked to a 4.28 ERA over 111 1/3 innings, striking out batters at a 19.1% clip against a 6.4% walk rate. He was a productive pitcher for the first three months of the season and earned his first All Star game callup. He was shelled for 21 runs over 14 1/3 innings while pitching through pain in his pitching hand before he ultimately went on the injured list. That pain ballooned out his ERA a bit and wound up ending his season, so it’ll be interesting to see if Blackburn can rediscover his early season form in 2023. He’ll earn $1.9MM in his first year of arbitration. Kaprielian threw 134 innings of 4.23 ERA ball in 2022, but underwent shoulder surgery in the off-season to repair his AC joint. His rotation spot is probably a little less secure than Blackburn’s, but the trade of Cole Irvin opens up another spot and if healthy he seems likely to at least start the year in the rotation alongside Blackburn, Drew Rucinski and Shintaro Fujinami.

Jan. 24: The A’s and first baseman Jesús Aguilar are in agreement on a deal that will pay him $3MM. The deal for the MVP Sports Group client is pending a physical. The A’s have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move once the deal is made official.

Aguilar, 33 in June, has appeared in the past nine MLB seasons, having a mercurial career so far. He didn’t produce much in his first three campaigns while with Cleveland, only getting into 35 games over that three-year stretch as the club kept him mostly in the minors. He was claimed off waivers by the Brewers going into 2017 and made the most of his new opportunity. Aguilar hit 51 home runs over the next two seasons, producing a batting line of .271/.344/.527 over 2017 and 2018. His 127 wRC+ in that time indicates he was 27% better than the league average hitter.

He then experienced a downturn in 2019, as he was sitting on a line of .225/.320/.374 and an 82 wRC+ when the Brewers traded him to the Rays at that year’s deadline. He righted the ship somewhat in Tampa down the stretch, hitting .261/.336/.424 for a wRC+ of 105. Despite that uptick, the Rays put him on waivers after the season and the Marlins put in a claim.

He had a couple of solid years with the Fish in 2020 and 2021, batting .265/.336/.458 over that period for a 113 wRC+, but another swoon came in 2022. He struggled over the beginning of the season and was released by the Marlins in August. He jumped to the Orioles for the final month of the season and finished the campaign with a .235/.281/.379 line and an 86 wRC+.

Defensively, Aguilar has made very brief appearances at third base but is primarily a first baseman. His work in the field has been considered near average, having produced 4 Defensive Runs Saved, -3 Outs Above Average and a 0.6 score from Ultimate Zone Rating. Since he has just a single stolen base in his career and limited defensive value, he needs to be producing at the plate in order to be a useful player. That’s occasionally been the case but his work with the bat has dipped often enough to bounce him off rosters a few times.

For the A’s, they have stripped down their roster over the past year, sending out most of their established players for prospects. They do still have Seth Brown on the roster who would be the most logical option for everyday reps at first base. However, he hits from the left side and Aguilar the right, so dividing up the playing time in a platoon could be a logical move. Aguilar has fairly even platoon splits for his career but Brown has struggled against southpaws, producing a 52 wRC+ against them for his career while posting a 122 mark against righties. Brown can also play the outfield and the club doesn’t have a strict designated hitter on the roster, making it fairly easy for manager Mark Kotsay to fit both players into the lineup if he so chooses. If Aguilar can get back in a good groove at the plate, he could serve as a trade chip for the A’s since they are unlikely to return to contention this season.

Financially, the deal brings the club’s payroll to $79MM, per the calculations of Roster Resource. It’s unclear how much the A’s plan on spending between now and Opening Day but they’re already way beyond last year’s $48MM figure, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported that the two sides were close to an agreement. Robert Murray of FanSided reported that a deal was in place, pending a physical. Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported the $3MM salary.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

The lingering back problems are a likely cause of Rizzo’s slump in August, as the first baseman has hit only .200/.282/.371 in his last 78 plate appearances.  Rizzo still has a healthy 136 wRC+ for the season even despite these recent struggles, but the Yankees surely need him back at full production for both the playoffs and what has become a surprisingly competitive AL East race with the surging Rays.

More from around the American League…

• The Guardians didn’t have interest in Jesus Aguilar before the first baseman signed with the Orioles, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.  Aguilar spent his first three MLB seasons with Cleveland in 2014-16, playing in only 35 big league games before being claimed by the Brewers in February 2017.  While he has enjoyed some success in his career, Aguilar has struggled in 2022, with only a .232/.282/.382 slash line over 463 plate appearances.  While the Guards are lacking in offense and Aguilar makes some sense as a first base/DH platoon partner with Josh Naylor, there’s no guarantee that Aguilar would’ve suddenly turned things around in Cleveland.
• Emilio Pagan drew some “mild interest” in trade talks before the deadline, The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman reports.  Acquired as part of a notable four-player swap with the Padres before the season, Pagan’s first Twins season has difficult, with the reliever posting a 4.94 ERA over 51 innings.  Though Pagan has a very good 29.8% strikeout rate, he has been homer-prone, his 9.3% walk rate is well below average, and opposing batters are making tons of hard contact.  Pagan is arbitration-eligible this winter and might be a non-tender candidate, except the Twins feel they might still be able to deal the right-hander rather than let him go for nothing in a non-tender.
• Rangers prospect Sam Huff has yet to receive a true extended look in the majors, with 10 games in 2020 and 30 games this season.  While Texas might call Huff up at some point before 2022 is over, the team will continue giving Huff regular work behind the plate at Triple-A while Jonah Heim continues as the regular catcher for the big league team, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes.  Heim still needs some seasoning in his own right, with interim manager Tony Beasley noting that Heim “needs to feel [an incresed workload] a little bit. That’s part of getting through the season, something that all everyday catchers have to feel.”  Heim has enjoyed a quality season on the whole, but his production has dropped off since the All-Star break, quite possibly because of his career-high number of MLB plate appearances and games played.

An All-Star when he hit 35 home runs for the 2018 Brewers, the now-32-year-old Aguilar was with the Marlins from 2020 up until a couple weeks ago, when Miami designated him for assignment and released him. Aguilar was a solid middle-of-the-order bat for the Fish in 2020-21 but has stumbled to a .236/.286/.388 batting line through 456 plate appearances this season — including a dismal .188/.246/.347 output since the All-Star break.

Ugly as those numbers are, Aguilar hit a combined .262/.338/.476 in just shy of 2000 plate appearances from 2017-21, so there’s a track record of solid productivity in his bat. The O’s will hope that he can return to form and provide a boost to a lineup that has struggled to score runs of late. If Aguilar can indeed recapture that form, he’ll help to replace the production of Trey Mancini, whom the Orioles shipped to Houston at the trade deadline despite being within striking distance of a Wild Card berth. Mancini hit .268/.347/.404 in 401 plate appearances this year prior to being traded.

Hall, the No. 21 overall pick back in 2017, made his big league debut earlier in 2022 but was tagged for five runs in 3 2/3 innings that day. He’s had an uneven season in the minors this year, pitching to a combined 4.48 ERA with a huge 36.6% strikeout rate but an ugly 13.4% walk rate in 84 1/3 innings between one start in High-A, one in Double-A and another 22 appearances (18 starts) in Triple-A.

Those shaky numbers notwithstanding, Hall still ranks among the game’s top 100 prospects due to a fastball that reaches triple digits and a collection of offspeed pitches that all have the potential to be plus offerings. This year’s 13.4% walk rate is an exact match with his career mark in the minors, however, which underscores the ongoing location issues he’s battled throughout his time as a professional.

Martin, 27, was the top pick in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft. A former first-rounder of the Athletics, Baltimore pounced on the opportunity to add him to the organization and hoped he could eventually carve out a role on the big league club. That hasn’t happened yet, however, as Martin floundered through a rookie season in which he couldn’t be optioned due to his Rule 5 status, hitting .208/.260/.322 in 2019. He’s only had 138 Major League plate appearances during that time, due in no small part to a fluke pair of broken wrists — both his left and his right — which obviously led to considerable time on the injured list.

Overall, Martin is a .212/.261/.311 hitter in 447 Major League plate appearances, and his .234/.333/.349 slash in 390 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level aren’t all that much better. It’s fair to wonder whether his development would’ve turned out differently were it not for that pair of fractures, but as a 27-year-old former prospect on a team that’s looking to turn the corner and emerge from a years-long rebuilding effort, Martin’s place on the 40-man roster has increasingly looked to be on shaky ground. He’ll be placed on outright waivers or released within a week’s time, as he’s ineligible to be traded at this point in the season.

It’s been a poor season for the 32-year-old Aguilar, who batted just .236/.286/.388 through 456 trips to the plate with Miami prior to being designated for assignment. The Fish reportedly explored the trade market to find takers prior to the deadline but did not find much of a market. At the time, Aguilar was in the midst of a weeks-long slump, and he failed to right the ship in his final weeks as a Marlin. Since the All-Star break, he’s turned in a disastrous .188/.246/.347 slash line.

Poor as his 2022 season has been, there’s plenty of track record with Aguilar, a 2018 All-Star who swatted 35 home runs with the Brewers that season. That year represents a clear peak in Aguilar’s career, but he’s been an above-average hitter with Miami in each of the 2020 and 2021 seasons. From 2018-21, Aguilar touted a .262/.339/.471 batting line with 77 home runs and 70 doubles in 1661 plate appearances. The righty-swinging slugger also has a negligible platoon split in his career, so when he’s at his best, he’s a potential everyday option at either first base or designated hitter.

Aguilar could give the O’s some thump off the bench at a time when much of the lineup has been struggling to produce, and if he hits the ground running, there ought to be increased playing time available to him. Rougned Odor, Ryan Mountcastle, Jorge Mateo and Kyle Stowers, in particular, have had rough showings across the past couple weeks, while bench options like Robinson Chirinos, Ryan McKenna and Tyler Nevin have provided next to no offense in that time. Based on Aguilar’s own struggles, he shouldn’t be expected to come in and play the role of savior for an O’s team that’s still improbably jockeying for Wild Card position, but there’s little harm in taking what amounts to a free look at this juncture of the season.

Aguilar had been playing on a $7.5MM guarantee in Miami this year, but now that he’s been released and signed a new contract, the O’s will only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. The rest of Aguilar’s salary, plus the buyout on a now-moot 2023 mutual option, will all come out of the Marlins’ pockets.

AUGUST 26: The Marlins have designated first baseman Jesus Aguilar for assignment, general manager Kim Ng announced to reporters (Twitter link via Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald). All-Star Garrett Cooper is back from the injured list in a corresponding move.

Now that the trade deadline has passed, the only course of action for the Marlins will be to place Aguilar, 32, on waivers and hope that another club claims him. Given the $7.5MM guarantee on the struggling Aguilar’s 2022 contract, however, that appears quite unlikely. While Aguilar’s deal does carry a mutual option for the 2023 campaign, mutual options are rarely exercised, so teams will look at him as a pure rental.

There’s still about $1.6MM left to be paid out on the contract of Aguilar, plus a $200K buyout on that option. It’s hard to imagine a contending club dropping $1.8MM to claim a player who is hitting just .236/.286/.388 on the season as a whole — including a dismal .188/.246/.347 slash since the All-Star break. The overwhelming likelihood is that Aguilar will clear waivers and become a free agent — whether by being released or rejecting an outright assignment.

At that point, Aguilar would be free to sign a new contract with any team, and the new team would only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. The mutual option would no longer be a consideration, as he’ll have been released from the contract containing that clause. Aguilar would be postseason-eligible for a new club as long as he is signed (or, far less likely, claimed) prior to Sept. 1.

While a team isn’t likely to take a chance on Aguilar at the cost of his remaining salary, it stands to reason that several clubs would hold interest in signing him at the prorated league minimum. Aguilar hasn’t been himself in 2022, but as recently as 2020-21 he gave Miami a combined 726 plate appearances of .265/.336/.458 production, smacking 30 home runs and 33 doubles with an 18.3% strikeout rate against a solid 9.5% walk rate.

Aguilar doesn’t carry a significant platoon split, so at his best, he’s an above-average, everyday slugger with 30-homer pop … he just hasn’t been close to his best in 2022. His 23.2% strikeout rate is the highest it’s been since 2018, and Aguilar has seen his average exit velocity (87.7 mph) and hard-hit rate (35.4%) dip to career-worst levels in 2022.

Aguilar has generally graded out as a solid defender at first base, but he’s seen his typically solid grades take a step back in 2022, clocking in at -4 Defensive Runs Saved, a -1.4 Ultimate Zone Rating and zero Outs Above Average. He’s limited to first or designated hitter for the most part, with the lone exception being a few emergency appearances across the diamond at the hot corner over the years (27 career innings, including five in 2022).

Assuming Aguilar indeed clears waivers, teams in need of some offensive help at first base or designated hitter — or just a right-handed bat off the bench — could take a low-cost look in hopes of turning his season around. For the Marlins, they’ll use the remainder of the year to give a larger look to Lewin Diaz, who once ranked among the organization’s top prospects but has seen his stock tumble in recent seasons. The aforementioned Cooper also figures to see additional time in the lineup.

That leaves three teams in a somewhat nebulous middle ground. The Orioles and White Sox each sit 3 1/2 back in the AL Wild Card standings, while Chicago is three out in the division race. MLBTR examined the Orioles’ deadline dilemma last week, while the White Sox seem likely to stay the course and hope for better second halves from some key players. The final team between two and six games out is the Marlins, whose deadline approach figures to be tied quite heavily to how they perform in the first week out of the break.

Miami was within 2 1/2 games of a playoff spot as recently as last Friday. A weekend sweep at the hands of the Phillies, who moved into a tie for the NL’s third Wild Card spot in the process, dropped the Fish to 43-48 and 5 1/2 out. It was a brutal three games that dealt a real hit in the standings — the club’s playoff probability fell from 7.6% to 2.7% over the weekend, according to FanGraphs’ estimates — but the Marlins will have an opportunity to salvage their postseason hopes before the August 2 trade deadline. Miami kicks off the unofficial second half with a standalone game against Texas before hosting Pittsburgh (three games) and going to Cincinnati (four games). If the Marlins can take six of those eight contests, they’d be back around .500 heading into their pre-deadline series against the NL East-leading Mets. Going 4-4 or even 5-3 over those relatively soft first two series probably wouldn’t be enough to deter general manager Kim Ng and her group from dealing some near-term talent.

Another full teardown seems unlikely. Earlier this month, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic wrote that Miami owner Bruce Sherman didn’t want to orchestrate a deadline sell-off “barring a collapse” from the team. Exactly what constitutes a “collapse” in Sherman’s and Ng’s eyes obviously isn’t clear, but it seems unlikely one sweep would cause Miami to totally reevaluate whether they want to move a controllable star like Pablo López. Yet even if Miami isn’t willing to part with their most valuable trade pieces this summer, they could make a few decent role playing types available.

Who might be attainable if the Marlins do decide to sell?

Garrett Cooper, 1B/DH

Cooper has been frequently mentioned as a trade candidate on MLBTR’s pages over the past couple years. The 31-year-old is a consistently good hitter when healthy, but he’d missed notable time each season from 2018-21. Cooper has avoided the injured list this season (aside from a very brief stint for virus symptoms) and played his way to an All-Star Game for the first time. He owns a .283/.349/.434 line with seven home runs and 21 doubles through 327 plate appearances. Throughout his career, he’s shown a knack for running strong batting averages on balls in play. He makes a lot of hard contact, hits plenty of line drives and generally uses the whole field to hit for gap power, even as he’s never hit more than 15 homers in a season.

Miami has resisted trading Cooper to this point, but he’s down to his final season and a half of club control. He’s only making $2.5MM this year, but that’s likely to jump to the $5MM range for his final season of arbitration eligibility. That’s certainly not onerous but the Marlins annually run a bottom ten payroll and this could be the best chance to recoup decent prospect value while Cooper’s healthy. Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote this month that the Dodgers could have interest.

Jon Berti, INF/OF

Berti’s a versatile speedster who’s having a career-best season. He’s hitting .271/.365/.375 with a pair of home runs and an excellent 12.2% walk rate across 222 plate appearances. That plate discipline has allowed Berti to reach base quite frequently, and he’s wrecked havoc once there. He has swiped 28 bases on the year, six more than anyone else in MLB despite only playing in around 64% of the team’s games. Berti’s slash-and-dash approach is rare, but he’s making it work and had earned a role at the top of the Miami lineup before going on the 10-day injured list late last week with a mild left groin strain.

The team hasn’t provided a timetable on his return, and perhaps the injury will rule him out as a trade candidate. If it’s minor enough he returns before the deadline and looks no worse for wear as a runner, though, it stands to reason he’ll draw interest from contenders. In addition to his baserunning acumen, he’s started multiple games at each of third base, second base, shortstop, and in left field this year. Miami can control him through 2025, so they don’t have to make a deal even if they move some other players, but he’s already 32 years old and having perhaps a career season. This’ll probably be the apex of his trade value, particularly since this year’s infield market is very thin.

Brian Anderson, 3B/COF

It’s unlikely the Marlins deal both Berti and Anderson, but they may have enough infield depth to feel comfortable parting with one of the two. Miami acquired Joey Wendle from the Rays over the winter, intending to supplant Anderson at third base after he underperformed in 2021. Wendle has been solid when healthy but missed a notable stretch between May and June with hamstring troubles. That afforded Anderson more playing time at the hot corner than anticipated, and he’s bounced back with a solid .262/.358/.393 showing across 193 plate appearances.

Anderson, 29, is controllable through the end of next season via arbitration. He’s already making $4.475MM this year and will earn a bit of a bump during his final season of arb-eligibility. As with Cooper, it’s possible Miami sees this as an opportunity to bring in some young talent while reallocating the projected 2023 salary elsewhere. Anderson is a good player, a well-rounded everyday third baseman. Yet Miami already has Wendle and Berti as options at the position, and they signed Avisaíl García and Jorge Soler to multi-year deals over the winter to plug the corner outfield. It’s a deep collection of corner players that might squeeze Anderson out of the mix.

Elieser Hernández, RHP

Hernández would be more of a change-of-scenery candidate than a solution for a contender. Throughout his big league tenure, he’s shown a strong combination of strikeouts and walks but given up far too many home runs. He’s taken that to a particular extreme in 2022, serving up a staggering 18 longballs in 53 innings (3.06 HR/9). That’s far and away a career-worst mark for a pitcher who was already one of the league’s most homer-prone arms. Unsurprisingly, Hernández has an ERA above 6.00 and lost his spot in the rotation in May.

Perhaps the home run troubles are so pronounced there won’t be much interest. Hernández hasn’t been able to keep the ball in the yard even in one of the game’s more spacious home parks. Still, we’ve seen teams place bets on pitchers like Andrew Heaney and Yusei Kikuchi over the years, valuing strikeout stuff and betting that tweaks to a pitcher’s repertoire and/or simple home run rate regression will even things out. Perhaps some team feels the same way about Hernández and will look to buy-low on a pitcher making just $1.325MM and arb-eligible through 2024.

Anthony Bass/Steven Okert/Dylan Floro, RP

Miami has a handful of capable if unexciting middle relief arms who should draw some attention from contenders. Bass, 34, is a prototypical journeyman but has posted an ERA below 4.00 in each of the past five seasons. He throws in the mid-90s, pounds the strike zone and misses bats at a slightly above-average rate. He’s making $3MM this year and has a matching club option for 2023.

Okert isn’t yet arbitration-eligible, while Floro is making $3MM and arb-eligible for one more season. A former minor league signee, Okert is a 31-year-old southpaw who has posted swinging strike rates north of 13% in each of the last two years. He’s fanned nearly 30% of batters faced as a result, and he’s handled hitters from both sides of the plate. Okert struggles with walks and home runs, but a southpaw who misses bats is always likely to attract some amount of interest. Floro is essentially the polar opposite. The 31-year-old righty doesn’t throw hard or generate many whiffs, but he’s a volume strike-thrower who consistently induces grounders at a strong clip.

Longer shot possibilities

Ng and her staff could also try to find a taker for first baseman Jesús Aguilar, who is set to hit free agency at the end of the year (assuming the team declines its end of a 2023 mutual option). Interest figures to be modest for a defensively-limited player who’s hitting just .252/.299/.401 while making $7.5MM, however. It’s possible they could flip Wendle or catcher Jacob Stallings, but Miami acquired both over the winter to upgrade the lineup. With each controllable for at least another season (and Stallings having a down year), that seems unlikely.

Coming out of the All-Star Break, the team will try to play its way out of any sort of sell-off. They’ll have a stretch of below .500 teams to start off, giving them an opportunity to get back into the playoff periphery. Getting swept heading into the break digs them a significant hole, though, and the Miami front office figures to field a number of calls on their veteran complementary players with dwindling windows of control.

In the event of a positive test, Aguilar/Sanchez will have to miss at least 10 days, unless they test negative twice, go 24 hours without a fever, and get clearance from three physicians (one each appointed by the league and MLBPA, plus a Marlins team doctor).  If Aguilar and/or Sanchez haven’t yet tested negative, they could be back on the roster in short order, should they just be feeling light symptoms or if they are being held out due to a close-contact situation.  Just last week, Miami’s Garrett Cooper was on the COVID-IL for such a brief stint.

Diaz and Encarnacion figure to slide right into Aguilar and Sanchez’s regular roles, and in Encarnacion’s case, he’ll be getting his first taste of Major League Baseball.  Ranked by MLB Pipeline as the 20th-best prospect in Miami’s farm system, Encarnacion is in his sixth pro season, with a .263/.322/.424 slash line over 1544 career plate appearances.  Injuries have slowed his progress, but Pipeline’s scouting report cites his power potential and 60-grade throwing arm as pluses, even if there is still a lot of swing-and-miss in Encarnacion’s game.  Over his 252 at the Double-A and Triple-A levels this season, Encarnacion has struck out in 70 of those turns at bat.

Aguilar had filed at $7.75MM, while team had countered at $7MM. They’ll eventually come in a bit north of the midpoint of those figures to avoid an in-season hearing. It concludes the final trip through the arb process for Aguilar, as the 31-year-old is set to hit free agency at the end of the season.

The mutual option theoretically raises the possibility of him not hitting the open market, although it’s likely little more than an accounting measure. Mutual options are very rarely exercised by both sides, and the primary purpose is to push the team’s responsibility for the buyout to the end of the season as opposed to dispersing that money over the coming months in 2022 salary.

Aguilar has spent the past two seasons in South Florida. He’s served as Miami’s primary first baseman since being claimed off waivers from the Rays in December 2019. The right-handed hitter has been a solid but not elite hitter over that run, hitting .265/.336/.458 in a pitcher-friendly home ballpark. He’ll be part of what looks to be a solid crop of free agent first basemen next winter; Brandon Belt, José Abreu, Josh Bell, Yuli Gurriel and Trey Mancini are all set to hit the open market, while Anthony Rizzo will have the opportunity to opt-out of his deal with the Yankees.

• The Cubs placed Willson Contreras on the 10-day injured list due to right hip inflammation, officially ending the veteran catcher’s season.  In corresponding moves, Alfonso Rivas was moved from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL, and catcher Tyler Payne made his MLB debut today after his contract selected from Triple-A.  One of the few veterans remaining in the wake of the Cubs’ deadline fire sale, Contreras might be either a trade candidate or an extension candidate this winter, depending on the club’s next direction.  Contreras finishes the year hitting .237/.340/.438 with 21 home runs over 483 PA.
• The Marlins activated Pablo Lopez from the 60-day injured list, as Lopez tossed 1 2/3 innings in an abbreviated start during Miami’s 5-4 win over the Phillies today.  It marked Lopez’s first game since July 11, as a right rotator cuff strain interrupted a very impressive season for the 25-year-old.  Lopez posted a 3.03 ERA and above-average strikeout and walk rates over his first 101 innings, setting himself up for 2022 as yet another quality young arm in the Marlins rotation. To make room for Lopez’s return to the roster, Miami placed left-hander Sean Guenther on the 10-day IL and moved first baseman Jesus Aguilar to the 60-day IL.
• The Angels called up left-hander Reid Detmers to start today’s contest with the Mariners, and also activated righty Junior Guerra from the 10-day IL.  Outfielder Taylor Ward heads to the 10-day IL with a right adductor strain while southpaw Jhonathan Diaz was optioned to Triple-A.
• Jose Quintana cleared waivers and outrighted to the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate.  San Francisco designated Quintana for assignment earlier this week, after the veteran left-hander posted a 4.66 ERA over 9 2/3 innings with the Giants.  Quintana was claimed off waivers from the Angels at the end of August, as the Giants looked to add some lefty depth down the stretch.