Marlins Designate Elvis Araujo, Announce Brad Ziegler Signing

The Marlins have designated lefty Elvis Araujo for assignment, per a club announcement. He’ll play in 2017 for Japan’s Chunichi Dragons, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald tweets. Araujo’s roster spot will go to veteran reliever Brad Ziegler, whose two-year contract was also announced.

Araujo was claimed off waivers from the Phillies earlier in the offseason, and had been perhaps second to Hunter Cervenka on the team’s depth chart among southpaw relievers. It seems increasingly plausible to expect that Miami won’t put too great an emphasis on ensuring that its bullpen features at least one lefty; Jason Martinez of MLBTR and Roster Resource currently projects an all-righty relief corps.

The 6’7 Araujo threw 62 total major frames over the past two seasons. He produced largely equivalent K/BB numbers — which average out to 9.1 K/9 and 5.2 BB/9 — but suffered much worse batted-ball fortunes in 2016. All told, he owns a 4.35 ERA in the big leagues, which is just about what ERA estimators expect based upon his peripherals.

Araujo did show improved control when pitching at Triple-A last year, where he carried a 2.18 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and just 2.6 BB/9 over 20 2/3 frames. Notably, he debuted there after he reached the majors — which came after he had made only 25 total appearances at Double-A — so there’s perhaps added reason to believe that Araujo could still undergo some refinement.