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Marlins Claim Anthony Veneziano, Designate Three Players For Assignment

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The Marlins announced a huge batch of transactions today, including the previously reported claim of right-hander Lake Bachar. They also claimed left-hander Anthony Veneziano off waivers from the Royals. They also reinstated left-hander Josh Simpson from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Jacksonville. To open 40-man roster spots for those three, they designated catcher Alí Sánchez, left-hander Kent Emanuel and right-hander Emmanuel Ramírez for assignment. Sánchez and Ramírez were on the active roster, so those two spots will be taken by infielder Xavier Edwards, who has been reinstated from the 10-day IL, and right-hander Anthony Maldonado, who has been recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville.

Veneziano was just designated for assignment on September 1, which happened to be his 27th birthday. He has a minimal big league track record, having tossed 2 1/3 innings with the Royals last year and another two innings this year.

The Marlins are likely interested in his pre-2024 track record, as it hasn’t been the lefty’s best season. He has tossed 90 innings at the Triple-A level this year with a 4.80 earned run average, 19.3% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate. But in 2023, he had a 3.55 ERA in his 132 minor league innings, striking out 23% of batters faced while limiting walks to an 8.7% clip.

Baseball America ranked him the #5 prospect in the Royals’ system coming into 2024. The results haven’t been as impressive this year but it’s understandable that the Marlins would still have hope of getting him back on track. He will still have two option years remaining after the current campaign, so they can get a close-up look at him in the minors and see if there’s a path towards better results in the long term.

Sánchez, 27, was added to the club’s roster in June and got into 31 games for the Fish. Unfortunately, he hit just .167/.211/.190 in his 96 plate appearances. He has generally performed well at the Triple-A level but without bringing it up to the majors. He has hit .276/.348/.409 at Triple-A from 2021 to the present, leading to a 97 wRC+ in a sample of just under 1,000 plate appearances. But he has a career line of .175/.221/.216 in the majors and is out of options.

Emanuel, 32, has been on and off the Marlins’ roster all year. He signed a minor league deal with the club in the winter and this is now the fifth time he’s been designated for assignment. Each time has seen him clear waivers, get outrighted to Triple-A Jacksonville and later have his contract selected again. Given that pattern, it wouldn’t be a shock to see it all play out once more. Around those transactions, he has a 6.62 ERA in 17 2/3 major league innings and a 6.15 ERA in 45 1/3 Triple-A innings.

Ramírez, 30, was first selected to the club’s roster back in April and has appeared in 15 big league games, the first of his career. He has a 6.97 ERA in those, though his peripherals are closer to average. He has a 22.8% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 40% ground ball rate on the year. His 54% strand rate is on the unlucky side, which is why his 4.63 FIP and 3.85 SIERA are far apart from his ERA. He also has a 3.76 ERA in 40 2/3 Triple-A innings this year.

All three of Sánchez, Emanuel and Ramírez will have to be placed on waivers in the coming days since the trade deadline has passed. Since it’s now September, they won’t be postseason eligible with any club that puts in a claim.

Marlins Designate Forrest Wall, Tristan Gray For Assignment

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The Marlins announced today that outfielder Griffin Conine has been selected to the roster, a move that was reported yesterday. The club also added right-hander Mike Baumann, recently claimed off waivers, to the active roster. To open spots for those two, they club optioned right-hander Brett de Geus and placed infielder Xavier Edwards on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 24, with mild back extensor soreness. Outfielder Forrest Wall has been designated for assignment to open up a 40-man spot. The club didn’t announce a corresponding 40-man move when Baumann was claimed but it appears to be Tristan Gray, as his transactions tracker at MLB.com lists him as designated for assignment.

Wall, 28, was claimed off waivers from Atlanta a month ago. He’s mostly been kept on optional assignment in that time, only taking three plate appearances with the Marlins. Combined with his brief time with Atlanta, he has a strong line of .311/.380/.422 but in a small sample of 50 trips to the plate at the major league level.

He’s had a much larger sample of playing time in the minors, but with less impressive numbers. From 2021 to the present, he’s appeared in 352 minor league contests with a .269/.355/.383 line and a 94 wRC+.

But beyond the bat, he can provide value with his legs. In that aforementioned 352-game stretch of minor league games, he has swiped 155 bags while being caught 29 times. His brief major league career has also involved nine steals in 13 tries.

That’s clearly an enticing quality but the tepid offense hasn’t been enough for him to earn much playing time and he’s now been squeezed off a roster again. With the trade deadline now in the rear-view mirror, the Marlins will have to place him on waivers in the coming days. If any club is looking for some wheels for their bench or in a depth role, Wall still has a full slate of options and less than a year of service time. He doesn’t have a previous career outright nor three years of service time, so he wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency if he passes through waivers unclaimed.

Gray, 28, was signed by the Marlins to a minor league deal in the offseason and was selected to the roster in May. He has only received seven plate appearances in the majors this year, spending most of his time on optional assignment in Triple-A. He’s hit 17 home runs in 100 games at that level but the offensive environment is strong in the International League this year and his .245/.318/.459 line only translates to a wRC+ of 97.

That increases the sample size of Gray being a bit below average at Triple-A. From 2021 to the present, he has 431 games at that level with a .236/.305/.470 batting line and 95 wRC+. He does bring defensive versatility to the table, having played all four infield positions, but the lack of offense has limited him to 12 major league plate appearances to this point in his career.

Like Wall, Gray will be on waivers in the coming days. He also has a full slate of options and less than a year of service time, so he could provide a claiming club with many years of club control. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he could elect free agency by virtue of having a previous career outright.

Marlins Outright Eli Villalobos

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TODAY: The Marlins outrighted Villalobos to Triple-A after he cleared waivers, as per MLB.com’s official transactions page.  It isn’t yet known if Villalobos will accept the assignment to opt into free agency.

MAY 27: The Marlins announced that infielder Xavier Edwards has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville. To open up a spot for him on the 40-man roster, right-hander Eli Villalobos has been designated for assignment.

Edwards, 24, battled a foot infection during Spring Training and began the season on the injured list. He has been playing in rehab games for over a week now and is healthy enough to be activated, though he only played seven games on his rehab so the club will keep him on optional assignment for regular playing time in Jacksonville. Though he won’t be joining the active roster, the Fish needed to make a corresponding 40-man move since Edwards was on the 60-day injured list, which will nudge Villalobos off his spot.

The right-handed Villalobos is about a month away from his 27th birthday. The Marlins claimed him off waivers from the Pirates last June but then passed him through waivers about a week later. He got his 40-man roster spot back earlier this month and was able to make his major league debut. He made three appearances for the Marlins, allowing one earned run in 4 1/3 innings, before being optioned back to Jacksonville about two weeks ago.

In addition to that small sample of big league action, Villalobos has also thrown 18 innings over 13 Triple-A appearances this year with a 4.50 earned run average. He has struck out 26.5% of batters faced at that level and kept 44.7% of batted balls on the ground, but he’s also walked 13.3% of hitters that have stepped to the plate.

That has generally been the recipe for Villalobos. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has tossed 196 innings in the minors with a 3.72 ERA. His 29.4% strikeout rate in that stretch is quite strong but he’s also given free passes at a 12.2% rate.

The Marlins will have a week to trade Villalobos or pass him through waivers. He can still be optioned for the rest of this year and one additional season, which could perhaps give him appeal for a club that is intrigued by the strikeouts and willing to wait to see if the control improves. If Villalobos were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would have the right to elect free agency by virtue of his previous outright.

Marlins Place Xavier Edwards On 60-Day Injured List

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The Marlins reinstated reliever Huascar Brazoban from the restricted list this evening. The Dominican-born righty was out of action for the first six weeks after visa issues delayed his arrival to Spring Training. Miami optioned him to Triple-A but needed to reinstall him onto the 40-man roster. To create space, the Fish moved infielder Xavier Edwards from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list. Miami also optioned Roddery Muñoz and recalled George Soriano before tonight’s game in Los Angeles.

Edwards, acquired from the Rays a couple years ago, has yet to make his season debut. He opened the season on the IL after battling a foot infection during Spring Training. According to the MLB.com injury tracker, Edwards has been gradually progressing through baseball activities at the team’s complex in Jupiter. There’s no indication of when he might go on a rehab assignment.

The 60-day minimum reverts to the date of the original IL placement, three days before Opening Day. Edwards won’t be eligible to return until the final week of May, although it doesn’t seem likely he’ll be ready by then anyhow. The 24-year-old appeared in 30 games for Miami as a rookie. He hit .295 but didn’t draw many walks or hit for any kind of power.

Edwards is coming off an excellent season in Triple-A, as he turned in a .351/.429/.457 batting line with nearly twice as many walks as strikeouts over 433 plate appearances. Once he’s healthy, he should have a decent path to regular playing time on a rebuilding team that just subtracted Luis Arraez from the infield.

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 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.

Looking Back At A Rare Trade Miss For The Rays

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Why do teams even bother trading with the Rays? The club has built a reputation as one that wins every deal it makes, a legend that goes back to at least 2014, based on this classic Tweet. Whenever they swing a deal, there are inevitable comments with observers wondering why other clubs even bother getting involved with Tampa when they’re bound to get fleeced.

It’s understandable why that discourse exists as the Rays have shown a knack to turn unheralded players into stars. Looking at the current roster, we find players like Randy Arozarena, Yandy Díaz, Drew Rasmussen and others who seemed to completely alter their trajectory after moving to Tampa. It’s a testament to the organization that they seem to continually get the best out of their players, whether it’s ones they’ve traded for or those they originally drafted or signed.

It’s also what helps them repeatedly field competitive clubs despite rarely spending money. They’ve made the playoffs in eight of the past 15 seasons, including each of the past four, and seem well on their way to get back there again despite playing in the stacked AL East. In the last 20 years, they’ve only once spent enough to get out of the bottom five, per the figures from Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

That being said, no club is perfect. They are run by human beings just like all the others and they make mistakes. Let’s take a look at a deal from December 2019 that looks like a whiff.

This deal has the vague feel of a classic Rays trade, as they often take quality players and flip them for others who are almost as good but cheaper and with more control. If they help the new player become just as good or better than the one they gave up, then it works out as a nice bit of business for a low-spending club.

There’s no doubt Pham was better than Renfroe at that time. In the three years leading up to the deal, he had hit 65 home runs and slashed .284/.381/.475 for a wRC+ of 133. Renfroe’s batting line was .231/.291/.486 for a wRC+ of 102. He actually hit significantly more homers than Pham with 85, but his 7.3% walk rate was well below Pham’s 12.5% clip. He also struck out 28.5% of the time compared to Pham’s 21.7% rate. The defensive edge was debatable, as Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average preferred Renfroe while Ultimate Zone Rating gave the nod to Pham, though a lot of Pham’s work came in the more-demanding position of center field. Pham definitely provided more value on the basepaths, including stealing 65 bases to Renfroe’s 10. His 13.1 wins above replacement tally from FanGraphs in those three years was well ahead of Renfroe’s 4.3.

But turning to the financials, Pham had two years of remaining club control and was projected to make $8.6MM in 2020. Renfroe just qualified for arbitration as a Super Two player, meaning he had four years of control remaining and was projected for a $3.4MM salary. If the Rays could somehow coax some better plate discipline out of Renfroe, they could wind up with a fairly similar player for less money and more control.

Pham went on to struggle in 2020 but bounce back with a serviceable 2021 campaign. Renfroe, however, had a dismal season in 2020. He did make some slight improvements at the plate, walking at a 10.1% clip and striking out at a 26.6% rate, but he hit just .156/.252/.393 for a wRC+ of 78. His .141 batting average on balls in play certainly points to a lot of bad luck, and he’s been better since then, but the Rays decided to move on by designating him for assignment at season’s end.

There’s always risk in taking this path, assuming that the lesser player can simply be changed in a way that they replace the better player, but the Rays also had some insurance. They were getting a young prospect on the rise in Edwards. He was just the Padres’ #21 prospect coming into 2019, per Baseball America, but he hit .322/.375/.396 for a 121 wRC+ between Single-A and High-A that year. He only hit one home run, but he struck out at a tiny 9.6% rate and stole 34 bases. After the deal, BA ranked him the #85 prospect in the entire league.

Unfortunately, he never really developed any more power and the speed proved less game-changing as he moved up the minor league ladder. After the minor leagues were canceled in 2020, he went up to Double-A in 2021. He didn’t hit a single home run in 337 plate appearances over 79 games. His .302/.377/.368 batting line was still above average, translating to a wRC+ 113, but it was a bit of a drop from his breakout.

Last year, he got bumped to Triple-A and managed to hit five home runs in 400 trips to the plate, but the rest of the picture wasn’t as pretty. His 18.8% strikeout rate was still a bit below average, but it was much higher than any season before. His .246/.328/.350 line amounted to a wRC+ of 84 and he only stole seven bases in 11 tries over 93 games. This past offseason, with the Rays facing a roster crunch, they dealt Edwards and JT Chargois to the Marlins for prospects Marcus Johnson and Santiago Suarez. Johnson and Suarez were respectively ranked the club’s #25 and #17 prospects by BA coming into this year. Those youngsters mean the Rays could still salvage something from Edwards indirectly, but it’s surely not the outcome they envisioned when they initially brought him aboard. Neither Johnson nor Suarez has reached even High-A yet, so any forthcoming payday will have to wait.

The best saving grace of the deal from Tampa’s perspective right now is that the player to be named later, Quiroz, had a nice season in 2021 and was flipped to the Cubs for Harold Ramírez. This is more the classic Rays trade that we all know, where a somewhat flawed player seems to find their ceiling in Tampa. Ramírez had cracked BA’s top 100 list back in 2016 while with the Pirates, but later bounced around to Toronto, Miami and Cleveland. By the end of 2021, he had received 818 major league plate appearances but had hit .271/.308/.405 for a wRC+ of 91. For a guy with little speed and subpar defense, that wasn’t terribly exciting.

Cleveland designated Ramírez for assignment after 2021 and then flipped him to the Cubs for cash. At the end of March, the Cubs sent him to the Rays for Quiroz, seeming to indicate he wouldn’t make the team out of spring. Since he was out of options, they couldn’t send him down and at least got Quiroz out of it. The Rays would have to keep Ramírez on the active roster as well, though that hasn’t been a problem as he has mashed since the deal. In 139 games as a Ray, he’s hit .308/.353/.442 for a wRC+ of 132. He still doesn’t walk much and his defense is still subpar, but he’s hard to strike out and hits the ball hard. The Rays can control him through 2025.

From the Padres’ point of view, Pham was just okay in his two seasons there but the real coup was getting Cronenworth. A seventh round draft pick, he was never at the top of any prospect lists while in the minors. He was ranked #18 in the Rays’ system by BA in 2018 and then #15 in the Padres’ system in 2020 after the deal. He then cracked the Opening Day roster in the shortened season, striking out in just 15.6% of his plate appearances that year while hitting .285/.354/.477 for a wRC+ of 126. He hasn’t quite maintained that pace but has continued to be above average, with his career batting line now at .254/.336/.433, translating to a 114 wRC+.

He’s also provided tremendous defensive versatility, bouncing around the infield as needed. He’s mostly played second base but has also spent time at third and shortstop. When the Friars signed Xander Bogaerts to take over at short, they seemed to have little hesitation about moving Ha-Seong Kim to second and Cronenworth over to first. His DRS numbers at short are subpar, but he’s considered average or better at the other spots, while UZR and OAA think he’s average or better everywhere. The club is so enamored with him that they signed him to a seven-year, $80MM extension in the offseason.

In the end, the deal wasn’t a total loss for the Rays, since they were able to flip one of the pieces to get a solid player in Ramírez. But it shows that MLB decision makers don’t necessarily need to block phone calls coming from Tampa. You could get someone like Cronenworth or perhaps Nathaniel Lowe or maybe Willy Adames or even Blake Snell or how about José Alvarado or someone like Joe Ryan?

Marlins To Acquire JT Chargois, Xavier Edwards From Rays

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The Rays are dealing reliever JT Chargois and infielder Xavier Edwards to the Marlins for prospects Marcus Johnson and Santiago Suarez, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).

Chargois will step directly into the Miami bullpen. The hard-throwing righty owns a 2.49 ERA through 76 innings split between the Mariners and Rays over the past two seasons. He’s fanned a solid 23.2% of opponents against a manageable 8.3% walk rate, missing bats at a roughly league average clip. Chargois missed a couple months this past season due to tightness in his left oblique, but he managed a 2.42 ERA with a huge 59.7% ground-ball percentage when healthy.

It’s unlikely Chargois will continue to strand upwards of 80% of baserunners, as he has the last two years. ERA estimators have pegged his performance more in the mid-3.00s range, but he should still be an affordable power arm in the middle innings for first-year manager Skip Schumaker. Chargois held right-handed batters to a woeful .200/.235/.385 line this year. He’s in the first of three seasons of arbitration eligibility and projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $1MM salary.

Edwards, a former Padres draftee, was a key piece of the deal that sent Blake Snell to San Diego. A switch-hitting infielder, he draws praise for his top-of-the-line speed and has played almost exclusively in the middle infield as a professional. Edwards appeared among Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects during the 2019-20 offseason and ranked among the top ten in the strong Tampa Bay system as recently as this year.

The 23-year-old seemed to stall out at Triple-A Durham this season, however. Over 400 trips to the dish, he hit just .246/.328/.350 with five home runs. A 10.8% walk rate and 18.8% strikeout percentage are each solid, but the Florida native didn’t find much extra-base impact. He also swiped a career-low seven bases in 11 attempts.

Edwards would have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft if not added to the 40-man roster this evening. Tampa Bay apparently wasn’t planning to do that, so they’ll deal him to a club that ostensibly is willing to put him on the roster. Moving Chargois clears a roster spot, and while it subtracts a productive big league reliever, it’s the kind of churn at the back of the 40-man roster to which the Rays have been accustomed.

In return, they’ll add a pair of further-away players to the farm system. Johnson was Miami’s fourth-round pick this year out of Duke. A 6’6″ right-handed pitcher, he signed for just north of $507K. Baseball America’s draft report noted the high spin rate on his slider and added that the 21-year-old sits in the 92-95 MPH range with his fastball. Suarez, 17, just signed with Miami as an amateur prospect from Venezuela. He made 11 starts in the Dominican Summer League this year.

Rays Add Xavier Edwards To Player Pool

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The Rays added infielder Xavier Edwards to their 60-man player pool Friday, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. He reported to their alternate training site.

Edwards was a first-round pick of the Padres in 2018, when the club selected him 38th overall. He’s now a top 100-caliber prospect, but the Padres traded him to the Rays last winter in a prominent deal that also saw outfielder Hunter Renfroe go to Tampa Bay. San Diego landed outfielder Tommy Pham and infielder Jake Cronenworth in return.

Edwards, who just turned 21 last week, has topped out at the High-A level as a professional. While Edwards didn’t hit any home runs during his 217-plate appearance debut there last season, he did slash .301/.349/.367 with a measly 8.8 percent strikeout rate and 14 stolen bases on 16 tries. MLB.com ranks Edwards as the Rays’ fourth-best prospect.

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