- 2023 MLB trade deadline: Marlins acquire Josh Bell, Ryan Weathers in last-minute deals CBS Sports
- Cubs Reportedly Trade Adrian Sampson, Manny Rodriguez, and IFA Money to the Rays for Josh Roberson bleachernation.com
- Marlins Acquire Josh Bell; Guardians Receive Kahlil Watson, Will Release Jean Segura MLB Trade Rumors
- Marlins swing two more trades, getting Josh Bell from Cleveland, Ryan Weathers from Padres Miami Herald
- Rays acquire RHPs Adrian Sampson, Manuel Rodrguez from Cubs, add C Alex Jackson from Brewers The Washington Post
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Tag Archives: Marlins
Marlins Select Eury Perez, Designate Chi Chi Gonzalez For Assignment – MLB Trade Rumors
- Marlins Select Eury Perez, Designate Chi Chi Gonzalez For Assignment MLB Trade Rumors
- Fantasy baseball waiver wire: Eury Pérez has arrived, Lourdes Gurriel has returned and more The Athletic
- Reds vs. Marlins Friday MLB probable pitchers, odds: Top Miami pitching prospect Eury Perez set at 4.5 strikeouts in big-league debut SportsLine
- The Opener: Perez, Scherzer, Franco MLB Trade Rumors
- The 20-year-old phenom is making his major league debut against the Cincinnati Reds and it didn’t take long for him to get his first career strikeout. He pumped 98 mph on the K to end the top of the first inning. – Fastball Sports Illustrated
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Red Sox, Marlins Swap Matt Barnes For Richard Bleier
The Red Sox and Marlins swapped relievers Monday afternoon, with righty Matt Barnes dealt to Miami for southpaw Richard Bleier. Boston is also reportedly sending a little more than $5.5MM in cash in the deal to make the transaction nearly cash-neutral.
Barnes, 32, was designated for assignment by the Red Sox last week following the completion of a one-year, $7MM agreement with outfielder Adam Duvall. He served as Boston’s primary closer in 2021, earning a team-leading 24 saves. The 2021 campaign, however, was something of a tale of two seasons for Barnes. He dominated to the tune of a 2.25 ERA and a 42% strikeout rate through Aug. 4. Barnes was impressive enough that the Sox inked him to a two-year, $18.75MM extension in early July.
Over the final two months of the 2022 season, however, Barnes not only struggled but melted down in catastrophic fashion. He pitched just 10 2/3 innings from Aug. 5 onward, yielding a dozen runs on 17 hits and nine walks with 16 strikeouts along the way. It was a calamitous end to a what had begun as one of the best seasons among all Major League relievers.
Barnes hoped to right the ship in 2022 but promptly lost the closer’s job early in the year when he stumbled to a 7.94 ERA through the end of May. The right-hander was always going to be much lower among the team’s high-leverage considerations in 2023, following the December additions of Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin — a pair of moves that was in large part necessitated by Barnes’ struggles.
Nonetheless, it’s worth pointing out that Barnes finished on a high note that likely intrigued Miami and other clubs. He was on the injured list from early June through early August due to shoulder inflammation, and upon returning, he looked much more like the Barnes of old. Beginning on Aug. 4 — the same point at which he began to struggle a year prior — Barnes pitched 22 2/3 innings of 1.59 ERA ball and picked up four saves. His 21.1% strikeout rate was half that of his dominant 2021 form, but it was still an encouraging note on which to end the season.
Barnes might eventually get a fresh chance to carve out some save opportunities in Miami, though Dylan Floro is the current projected frontrunner for that gig. Floro worked to a 3.02 ERA across 53 2/3 innings with the Marlins in 2022, and he has successfully converted 25 save attempts over the last two years. Barnes tallied only eight saves in 2022 and finished with a 4.31 ERA in 39 2/3 frames. He’ll add quite a bit more bat-missing potential to a team that ranked 13th among MLB clubs with a 24% strikeout rate from its relief corps in 2022, though the downside is obvious.
Bleier, meanwhile, can fill the Sox’s need for left-handed bullpen help, even as he enters his age-36 season. The veteran southpaw has registered a 3.09 ERA in 125 1/3 innings since the beginning of 2020, and he’s held left-handed batters to a .225/.260/.313 slash line since he first reached the major leagues with the Yankees in 2016. Boston traded lefty Josh Taylor to the Royals in exchange for Adalberto Mondesi, sent veteran Jake Diekman (signed through 2023) to the White Sox at last year’s trade deadline and lost Darwinzon Hernandez to the Orioles via waivers earlier this offseason — all of which had thinned out the team’s left-handed depth in the ’pen.
They’ll get some quality left-handed innings out of Bleier, although despite his strong track record there are some red flags of note. The soft-tossing southpaw has never missed many bats, but last year’s 14.4% strikeout rate was his lowest since 2019. Bleier has, in the past, offset his lack of whiffs with enormous ground-ball rates. However, while last year’s 52.5% mark was strong relative to the league-average, it was nowhere close to the 63.5% career mark he carried into the 2022 season. Bleier has also regularly avoided hard contact, but last year’s 89.6 mph exit velocity and 40.8% hard-hit rate were both his worst showings since the aforementioned 2016 debut.
Barnes will make $7.5MM in 2023 and is due at least a $2.25MM buyout on a 2024 club option valued at $8MM. Bleier is due $3.25MM for the upcoming season and has a $3.75MM club option with a $250K buyout for next year. Barnes is guaranteed $9.75MM from here on out while Bleier will make at least $3.75MM. The Sox are covering the bulk of that $6MM gap with the $5.5MM+ cash consideration.
The Sox will save a minuscule amount of money and bring in a middle reliever with a solid overall track record and some particularly encouraging numbers against fellow lefties — even if Bleier comes with some potential areas of concern. That he can be controlled through 2024 via that affordable $3.75MM option is icing on the cake.
As for the Marlins, they’ll add more late-inning upside to their bullpen with this swap at almost no additional cost. Fans may bristle at shipping out the reliever with better surface-level numbers for what amounts to a Barnes reclamation project, but the Fish are willing to gamble on the younger, harder-throwing Barnes in hopes of unlocking a high-leverage reliever who can be controlled affordably through the 2024 season via that $8MM option. And, if Barnes is indeed able to round back into form, he’ll give Miami an interesting arm to put on the market this summer if they’re decisively out of postseason contention.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported the Marlins were acquiring Barnes. Craig Mish of SportsGrid reported that Boston was acquiring Bleier in return. Jordan McPherson of the Herald was first to relay that Miami was receiving cash considerations, which Mish pegged in the $5MM range. Chris Coitllo of MassLive was first to report the cash involved was a little above $5.5MM.
Luis Arraez Marlins trade
MIAMI — The Marlins on Friday acquired reigning American League batting champion and All-Star infielder Luis Arraez from the Twins for right-hander Pablo López and two prospects, infielder Jose Salas (No. 5 in the Marlins’ system) and outfielder Byron Chourio.
The 25-year-old Arraez, who is under team control through 2025, has a .314 average through 389 career games. In ’22, he drew a career-high 50 walks to lead the Twins while striking out just 43 times, making him the only Major League player to strike out fewer than 50 times in at least 500 plate appearances.
TRADE DETAILS
Marlins receive: INF Luis Arraez
Twins receive: RHP Pablo López, INF José Salas (Marlins’ No. 5 prospect), OF Byron Chourio
“It’s a lot of young guys there like me,” Arraez said. “I’ll be excited to play [around] a lot of people from Venezuela, from [the Dominican Republic], from Puerto Rico.
“I’m hoping to give a lot of energy to the Marlins fans, a lot of energy to my teammates, to the coaching staff, to everybody there. I just go there to win a lot of games.”
Arraez becomes the first player since Rod Carew (1978-79) — also traded from the Twins (to the Angels) — to be dealt the offseason after winning a batting title, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
By adding Arraez, Miami gains both impressive offensive strength and much-needed infield depth. Though listed as a second baseman, Arraez played first base for more games (60) in 2022 than he did second base (31) or designated hitter (34). But the Marlins want Arraez back at second. To do so, they have a major move in the works: Jazz Chisholm Jr. sliding to center field.
“Jazz is very open-minded about it,” general manager Kim Ng told reporters via Zoom. “[He] sounded enthusiastic. … Jazz is a very unique athlete. Very dynamic. He’s got great range, great speed. He’s got a lot of the things that you look for when you’re thinking about center field.”
The Marlins had received inquiries on López since the middle of the season, and rightly so. López, who will turn 27 in March and is under team control through 2024, has a 3.94 ERA across five seasons (94 starts) with the Marlins. Last year, López combined with ace Sandy Alcantara to provide a strong one-two punch atop Miami’s rotation, making a career-high 32 starts.
Interest from the Twins ramped up over the past two weeks, and that turned into serious talks around Tuesday. It helped that the Marlins made the signing of veteran starter Johnny Cueto official on Thursday. With Alcantara and Cueto atop the rotation, plus Jesús Luzardo (100 1/3 innings in 2022), Trevor Rogers (133), Edward Cabrera (71 2/3) and Braxton Garrett (88), Miami has a surplus of starting pitching. And that’s not to mention the current and former prospects nearing their returns.
“Pitching is our strength, and that’s our foundation,” Ng said. “I think this was a very good baseball trade for both clubs. … This offseason definitely felt a little bit like, you know, ‘The Little Engine That Could.’ It was a slow build. But we finally got to a better place.”
Also included in the deal is Salas, who is projected to reach the Majors by 2024. He boasts plus speed, solid arm strength and hits well from both sides of the plate. The 17-year-old Chourio, one of the Marlins’ international prospects, signed in January 2022 and played in the Dominican Summer League last season.
Edwards, who is ranked Miami’s No. 16 prospect per MLB Pipeline, is expected to reach the big leagues this season, while Amaya — a shortstop — is ranked No. 12 and is likely to be in the Majors for the Marlins at some point this season after having made his debut in 2022.
With Arraez in the fold, the Marlins are building out an infield — and a lineup — to match their starting pitching depth. Are they done making moves?
“We’re always looking to improve,” Ng said. “You always have to listen. The offseason is the offseason — there’s still several weeks left here before we move forward to Spring Training. So I think we’re always going to look for the next deal.”
Marlins acquire All-Star Luis Arraez in trade with Twins
The Miami Marlins and Minnesota Twins executed a long-rumored trade Friday, with American League batting champion Luis Arraez heading to Miami for right-hander Pablo Lopez and a pair of prospects, it was announced.
The deal, variations of which the teams have discussed for months, brings a much-needed bat to the Marlins, adding to their winter signing of Jean Segura, who’s expected to play third base.
The cost was significant, though. In addition to Lopez, a talented starter who slots in toward the top of Minnesota’s rotation, the Marlins will send shortstop Jose Salas and outfielder Byron Chourio, two well-regarded teenagers, to the Twins.
Arraez, 25, is a career .314 hitter with unparalleled bat-to-ball skills in the modern game. Last season, he made the All-Star team and finished 13th in AL MVP balloting after hitting .316/.375/.420, scoring 88 runs and registering more walks (50) than strikeouts (43). He is not a free agent until after the 2025 season.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Arraez is the first player to win a batting championship and then be traded in the offseason since Rod Carew won the AL batting title in 1978 with the Twins and then was traded to the Angels ahead of the 1979 season.
Arraez joins a Marlins team with a strong rotation headlined by National League Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara. Miami’s lineup, however, struggled mightily last year, with injuries sidelining incumbent second baseman Jazz Chisholm while free agent signees Avisail Garcia and Jorge Soler disappointed.
Marlins general manager Kim Ng said Chisholm, who has played middle infield exclusively during his big league career, will move to center field to make room for Arraez as the full-time second baseman.
Arraez also has experience at first base — where he played more than any position last year — or a corner-outfield slot.
Minnesota, meanwhile, can slot young slugger Jose Miranda at first base or play him at third and use Alex Kirilloff at first. Lopez joins a rotation with Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan and a grab bag of other possibilities, from Chris Paddack — who just signed a three-year extension — to Tyler Mahle, Bailey Ober, Josh Winder, Kenta Maeda and Randy Dobnak.
Lopez, 26, threw a career-high 180 innings last season over 32 starts and registered a 3.75 ERA. He has long been a favorite of statistically inclined teams such as Minnesota for his ability to strike out batters (9.2 per nine innings over the past three seasons), limit walks (2.6 per nine over the same period) and keep the ball in the park.
Salas, 19, is a borderline top-100 prospect, signed out of Venezuela for $2.8 million in 2019 after growing up in the Orlando area. He finished last season in High-A and is likely to start there again this year.
Chourio, 17, is a center fielder who hit .344/.429/.410 for the Marlins’ Dominican Summer League team last season.
Luis Arraez Marlins trade
MIAMI — The Marlins on Friday acquired reigning American League batting champion and All-Star infielder Luis Arraez from the Twins for right-hander Pablo López and two prospects, infielder Jose Salas (No. 5 in the Marlins’ system) and outfielder Byron Chourio.
The 25-year-old Arraez, who is under team control through 2025, has a .314 average through 389 career games. Though listed as a second baseman, Arraez is likely to see most of his playing time split between first base and designated hitter for the Marlins. They currently have just one first baseman on the 40-man roster: Garrett Cooper, who is set to become a free agent after the ‘23 season.
Arraez becomes the first player since Rod Carew (1978-79) — also traded from the Twins — to be dealt the offseason after winning a batting title, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
By adding Arraez, Miami gains both impressive offensive strength and much-needed infield depth. Arraez made 60 starts at first base in 2022, while making 31 starts at second base and 34 at designated hitter. Given how Cooper struggled with injuries in the second half of last season, having Arraez able to take the fielding pressure off the 32-year-old is likely a major draw for Miami.
López, who will turn 27 in March and is under team control through 2024, has a 3.94 ERA across five seasons (94 starts) with the Marlins. Last year, López combined with ace Sandy Alcantara to provide a strong one-two punch atop Miami’s rotation, making a career-high 32 starts in his first fully healthy season.
Also included in the deal is Salas, who is projected to reach the Majors by 2024. He boasts plus speed, solid arm strength and hits well from both sides of the plate. The 17-year-old Chourio, one of the Marlins’ international prospects, was signed in January 2022 and played in the Dominican Summer League last season.
Twins, Marlins Nearing Trade Involving Arraez, Lopez
2:09pm: Outfielder Byron Chourio is the third player headed to Minnesota, tweets Mish.
1:57pm: Infield prospect Jose Salas is also headed to Minnesota, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald. He currently ranks fourth among Miami prospects at Baseball America and fifth over at MLB.com.
1:50pm: The Twins and Marlins are in agreement on a trade sending infielder Luis Arraez to Miami and right-hander Pablo Lopez to Minnesota, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Ken Rosenthal and Dan Hayes of The Athletic, who first said the deal was progressing, report that it is not a one-for-one swap and will involve additional players. Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets that the Twins will acquire two prospects from Miami in addition to Lopez.
The core of the trade, for immediate purposes, will see the Twins swap out three years of Arraez, the reigning American League batting champion, for two seasons of Lopez, who’ll immediately be an upgrade to their rotation. The 26-year-old Lopez has come into his own as a quality big league starter over the past three seasons, pitching to a 3.52 ERA with a 25% strikeout rate, a 7% walk rate and a 47.4% ground-ball rate in 340 innings.
Lopez has dealt with some injury issues in his career, thrice landing on the injured list due to shoulder strains. The most recent of those three injuries came in the summer of 2021 and wiped out more than two months of Lopez’s season, but he was injury-free in 2022 when pitching to a career-high 180 innings over the life of 32 starts. Last year’s performance netted Lopez a still eminently affordable $5.45MM salary. He’ll be due one more raise in arbitration in the 2023-24 offseason before reaching free agency following the 2024 campaign — barring an extension, of course.
The newly acquired Lopez will step into a Twins rotation that also includes Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan and Tyler Mahle. It’s possible Lopez’s acquisition could push Kenta Maeda into a bullpen role after he missed the entire 2022 season on the heels of internal brace surgery on his right elbow in Sept. 2021. If the team wishes to return Maeda to the starting role in which he thrived for them in 2020, when he was the runner-up in American League Cy Young voting, then it’ll likely be 27-year-old Bailey Ober being pushed out of the starting five for the time being.
More to come.
Miguel Rojas traded to Dodgers from Marlins
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers have found a way to address their infield depth, and it involves a familiar face.
Los Angeles acquired shortstop Miguel Rojas from the Marlins in exchange for Minor League infielder Jacob Amaya, the club announced on Wednesday.
Rojas, who turns 34 on Feb. 24, is entering the final season of a two-year, $10 million extension, with $5 million owed to him in 2023. In Rojas, the Dodgers get an elite defensive shortstop who is a two-time Gold Glove finalist — including last season, when he ranked in the 98th percentile of outs above average, per Statcast — as well as a respected clubhouse leader.
Beyond that, they’re reuniting with someone who secured his place in Dodgers history as a rookie in 2014. During the seventh inning of Clayton Kershaw’s no-hit bid on June 18, 2014, Rojas made an excellent pick and throw at third base to keep the effort intact and allow the ace to finish the job.
It’s that glovework for which Rojas was best known during the eight years he spent with the Marlins, after being traded there with Dee Strange-Gordon and Dan Haren for Austin Barnes, Chris Hatcher, Andrew Heaney and Kiké Hernández in December of 2014. Although he’s served as Miami’s primary shortstop for much of that span, he’s also seen time at all three other infield positions.
On the offensive side, Rojas slashed .265/.318/.366 during his time with the Marlins, with 2022 seeing him post career lows in nearly all offensive categories. He spent most of the second half of the season playing with a right wrist injury, though, ultimately undergoing debridement of his right wrist to remove cartilage in October.
After the Dodgers missed out on the big-name free-agent shortstops on the market this offseason, it seemed that Gavin Lux would get the majority of reps there in 2023. That may still be the case, but at the very least Rojas gives them some flexibility. Additionally, Rojas also bats right-handed, whereas Lux hits lefty.
Amaya, who is regarded as a plus defender at shortstop with impressive plate discipline, is expected to make his Major League debut during the 2023 season. He was selected by the Dodgers in the 11th round of the 2017 Draft. Amaya was on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster, so no additional move is needed for Rojas.
Mets trade for Elieser Hernandez, Jeff Brigham from Marlins
Hernandez, 27, started 10 games and came out of the bullpen for 10 more for Miami this past season, his fifth in the Majors. While his overall numbers — 3-6 with a 6.35 ERA, along with 60 strikeouts in 62 1/3 innings — do not pop off the page, Hernandez fills an obvious need for the Mets now that swingman Trevor Williams has gone to free agency in search of a more consistent starting role. New York needs someone to replace Williams as a pitcher capable of starting, throwing on short rest, pitching in long relief or even providing short relief if necessary. Hernandez fits that bill.
Brigham becomes a bullpen candidate for the Mets after producing a 3.38 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 24 innings over 16 relief appearances in 2022. The 30-year-old has pitched four seasons in the big leagues, topping out in the mid-to-upper 90s but struggling through various arm injuries along the way.
Brigham joins a group of high-octane arms that the Mets have acquired in recent weeks, including waiver claims Tayler Saucedo, Stephen Ridings and William Woods. He’ll compete with those three and others for a job in Spring Training.
The Marlins had designated Hernandez and Brigham for assignment on Tuesday, which led them to explore trades for both.
To acquire the duo from a division rival, the Mets gave up Sánchez, 22, who did not rank among their Top 30 Prospects by MLB Pipeline. The 6-foot-6 right-hander had a 3.79 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 35 2/3 innings over 17 games (seven starts) at Single-A and High-A in 2022.
Marlins Hire Skip Schumaker As Manager
4:00 pm: The Marlins have now officially announced the hiring. “After an extensive process, it is with great pride and excitement that we announced Skip Schumaker as manager of the Miami Marlins,” chairman and principal owner Bruce Sherman says in the statement.
“I’m very excited and grateful that Bruce, Kim, and the Marlins organization have given me an opportunity to manage a very talented team,” Schumaker himself says. “Delivering a winning, sustainable culture with the expectation of getting into the postseason is the next step for this organization and South Florida – and I can’t wait to get started.”
2:55 pm: The Marlins are going to be filling their vacant managerial position by hiring Cardinals bench coach Skip Schumaker, according to Craig Mish of the Miami Herald.
As another disappointing season was winding down in Miami, it was reported that manager Don Mattingly and the club would be mutually parting ways. Over the past few weeks, recent reporting indicated that the final four candidates were Schumaker, Rays’ bench coach Matt Quatraro, Astros’ bench coach Joe Espada and Yankees’ third base coach Luis Rojas. It now appears that Schumaker has nudged out his competition and will take over as the new bench boss for the Fish.
Schumaker, 43 in February, played in the big leagues from 2005 to 2015, spending time with the Cardinals, Dodgers and Reds. He signed a minor league deal with the Padres for 2016 but announced his retirement in March. It didn’t take long for him to get involved in post-playing roles, as he was hired by the Padres to be their first base coach for 2018. Prior to the 2020 season, the Friars gave him the title of “associate manager.”
One year ago, the Cardinals surprisingly parted ways with manager Mike Shildt despite a solid run in the dugout. Once they promoted Oli Marmol to take over, they suddenly had a vacancy at the bench coach position and hired Schumaker to take that over. The Marmol-Schumaker pairing seemed to work well, as the Cards went 93-69 in 2022 and recaptured the Central division. However, the club will now be looking for a new bench coach for a second year in a row.
For the Marlins, they are looking to take a turn after years of frustration. Outside of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, they haven’t made the playoffs since way back in 2003. There have been many frustrating stops and starts for the fans in that time, with 2022 once seeming like it could have been the year that the Marlins made a serious jump into contention. They had a strong pitching staff and supplemented their position player mix by bringing in outside additions like Jorge Soler, Avisaíl García, Jacob Stallings and Joey Wendle. Unfortunately, all four of those players dealt with injury or underperformance or both. When combined with injuries and disappointing results elsewhere on the roster, Miami fell well out of contention again and ended up with a 69-93 record.
General manager Kim Ng and the rest of the front office will surely be hoping that Schumaker will be instrumental in turning things around. The impacts of coaches can be difficult to quantify, but there’s no doubting Schumaker has made a quick rise through the ranks. It was just a few years ago that he was still playing, and he quickly joined the big leagues as a coach without first requiring a stint in the minors. From there, he got a promotion in San Diego and then has been quickly poached by two different organizations, highlighting the respect he has around the game. If that’s not enough, Marlins players are quickly showcasing their approval, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Sandy Alcantara both taking to social to share their enthusiasm (Twitter links).
Of course, a manager alone can not turn a poor team into a champion. There is still a lot of work for the Marlins to do this winter in upgrading their roster. But for now, they can cross one item off their to-do list, adding a young up-and-coming manager who seems to have tremendous respect throughout the game.