The Marlins have long been known to be in the market for a starter to round out the back of their rotation, but MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweets that they’re also looking for left-handed bullpen help. Miami, in fact, was in on Mike Montgomery before the Mariners traded him to the Cubs in a four-player deal on Wednesday.
Miami currently has just one left-handed reliever, Mike Dunn, in its bullpen, and he spent the first two months of the season on the disabled list due to a strained left forearm. Dunn has a 3.24 ERA in 16 2/3 innings since returning, but he’s also seen significant declines in his strikeout rate and ground-ball rate this season in that small sample. (Then again, his velocity has been steadily ticking upward since his activation, so perhaps more effective days are on the horizon.)
Whatever the remainder of the season holds for Dunn, a second lefty would be a nice addition to provide first-year Marlins manager Don Mattingly with greater flexibility to play matchups late in the game. Miami has cycled through some options already this season, as it recently released veteran southpaw Craig Breslow and has fellow veterans Chris Narveson, Cory Luebke and Jo-Jo Reyes pitching in Triple-A. Cody Ege and Raudel Lazo represent healthy left-handed options that are currently pitching in the minors but are already on the 40-man roster.
The Marlins’ farm system is weak, but the club has already landed a right-handed setup option for closer A.J. Ramos by picking up Fernando Rodney in a deal with the Padres, and there figure to be plenty of left-handed relievers that could make a difference as well. Setting aside top-tier names like Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman, pitchers such as Fernando Abad, Boone Logan, Will Smith, Zach Duke, Ian Krol and Tony Cingrani stand out as lefty relief options on losing clubs that could potentially make sense to be dealt.
Smith for Kolek
Lol no
They should sign Mike Stanton!
+1
Maybe his real name is Giancarlo too!
They should go for Smith
Montgomery’s numbers are pretty comparable to Smith’s with less of a track record and he got a return of a guy ranked just outside the top 100 in the mid-season prospect rankings (and could have been higher if he wasn’t a DH only type player). With 3 years left of control I don’t think the Marlins will like what Smith would cost them out of an already weak farm system.
They could use a solid lefty reliever like Brad Hand…
yep I agree maybe they could get him back in a Cashner deal
Hahaha I was thinking the same thing. They really gave up on him. They might be to embarrassed to ask for him back in a trade.
Brad Hand Cashner for Tyler kinley Justin nicolino btw I want perdomo also but the problem is that he is a rule,,5 pick and you have leave him on the25 man roster
Padres have Brad Hand and Ryan Buchter, who have both been good this year. Both come with years of team control. There’s also Matt Thornton, but I think he’d be better off hanging them up.
Yeah, I agree a Cashner + Buchter trade would be solid for the Marlins but that is honestly going to cost them Kolek and another 10-15 prospect in Miami’s system.
there not given them kolek nicolino yes Flores yes Cashner is a rental you can’t give them that much
no I’ll ask still Nicolino Tyler kinley
from Brad Hand Cashner
Zach Duke + James Shields or Miguel Gonzalez are for the taking.
I know that left Mark Buehrle is still a free agent! He’d love to come to Miami, right?
Jeff Malm LHP AA dodgers. There’s your left handed relief.
Tommy Layne