Marlins left-hander Caleb Smith is generating interest as the July 31 trade deadline nears, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com tweets.
It’s no surprise there are teams eyeing the controllable, effective Smith, but whether the Marins are open to dealing him is in question. Frisaro reported a month ago that the Marlins aren’t willing to give up Smith, who has been one of the few hugely successful trade additions they’ve acquired since Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter bought the franchise late in the 2017 season.
Smith, like Jeter, joined the Marlins after a run with the Yankees. The 27-year-old hurler threw 77 1/3 effective innings with the Marlins a season ago and has been even more impressive in 2019. Across 90 frames, Smith has recorded a 3.30 ERA/4.13 FIP with 11.0 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. While Smith’s 28 percent groundball rate ranks last among those who have thrown at least 90 innings this season, the home run ball hasn’t crushed him to this point. Smith has surrendered HRs on 15.2 percent of fly balls, which is below average but not ruinous.
Smith doesn’t throw particularly hard, evidenced by his 92.1 mph average, but hitters have nonetheless had difficulty squaring up against him. According to Statcast, Smith ranks in the 70th percentile or better in expected weighted on-base average against, exit velocity, fastball spin, expected batting average and strikeout rate. If that’s not appealing enough, Smith’s making what amounts to a minimum salary this season and won’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2020 campaign.
All things considered, Miami would be within reason to request a ransom for Smith. However, assuming the Marlins haven’t changed their minds over the past month, they seem inclined to keep him.
Haha completely unnecessary: “who has been one of the few hugely successful trade additions they’ve acquired since Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter bought the franchise late in the 2017 season.”… they’ve done several solid trades including Ozuna for Gallen, Alcantara and 2 more prospects as well as the Realmuto for Sixto and Alfaro trade.
Yeah, the Marlins are really only terrible at trading when it comes to trading with Jeter’s old team, for some odd reason…
Because Jeter kisses butt, lol, Strike Four!
What a strange placement of “lol”
Unless it stood for “lots of lube”
I want to believe this is a next level troll since acquiring Caleb from the Yankees was one of the Jeter regime’s first moves but I doubt it
Yeah the Yelich trade was great and they got Smith from the Yankees
Smith and Cooper are from the Yankees.
Lmao gtfo here S4. The Marlins haven’t made any bad deals with NY. They got Garret Cooper and Caleb Smith for a guy who is currently a mid level prospect. They also managed to get the Yankees to swallow the poison pill contract of Giancarlo Stanton. If anyone thinks Stanton had surplus value on a $295 million dollar contract you’re kidding yourself. That deal is all but assured to be underwater. The man can’t stay healthy in his prime…… Think they’ve done just fine trading w NY.
Only trade Jeter has made that looks bad is Yelich and that trade would look a lot better if the headliner didn’t completely bust.
Not many people will admit it now because everyone is so infatuated with Realmuto but I think the Marlins are the clear winners in that trade. Alfaro is a solid catcher who should be a quality player for them and Sanchez has all the talent to be a front of the rotation starter for years to come
Not to mention the 3rd piece coming back to the Marlins almost pitched a no hitter recently but Marlins still giving players away.
Well, you can’t make that call yet. If Sanchez flops then it can’t be a win. Alfaro isn’t as good as Realmuto. I do agree with you that it’s looking good from Miami’s side at the moment though. But there’s a long time to go before you can declare the winner here. Could end up being a win win also.’
Even if Sixto Sanchez doesn’t break in as a starting pitcher in the long-run, he’ll almost certainly be one of the best bullpen arms in baseball.
I mean that’s just a guess. You could say that about any top pitching prospect. He could certainly bust. It isn’t likely but not impossible.
He beat the Sox last evening.
Must be good!
Hahahahaha, funny, but stop trolling White Sox fans. Don’t you think it’s brutal enough for them?
? Buzz off!
Jeter will probably get a 10th rated prospect and a PTBNL
Like Sixto Sanchez, Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen or Isan Diaz?
BA has Jose Devers as the Marlins 10th best prospect too, not bad for being a throw in in a salary dump trade
Or Monte
Reds will give them Tyler Mahle. Marlins repeat past mistakes (Straily for Castillo)
;)
Because Loria still owns the team, right?
And by “ransom” you mean MIA just barely wins a trade. Bout time.
Oh, is this the narrative now? Going from getting peanuts to “barely wins a trade”?
Idk. To me, eventually Miami is gonna have to understand that the trades they typically pull off are pretty awful… and that if they would simply keep a lot of talent they would actually have a decent team.
Again, you’re an idiot. You don’t go from bottom 5 to a top 10 farm in a year and a half pulling off “pretty awful” trades.
To the other point, I agree. This last rebuild shouldn’t have happened, but Loria just needed Straily and Cashner.
If only Jeter understood he owns the Marlins and not the Yankees.
I think Brian Fantana said that exact same thing while applying cologne
You stay classy, San Diego.
Injury history, already 27, and vaule is really high right now. 2 pr 3 blue chip prospects
I really wish that fans of teams In a rebuild like the Fish would do the following exercise:
1. Project your dream roster for 2021, all 25 players
2. Realize that you’re going to be wrong on 17-20 of them.
Injuries, poor performance, prospects that don’t pan out, prospects that become MLB average, at best. That’s the penalty you pay for constantly dreaming about the mythical “future”.
Smith isn’t bad; isn’t especially good. But you’ve got him at minimum for another year, and if he repeats 2019 into the next trading deadline, he’s all that more valuable. If you start to progress faster than you thought (it’s pretty much a guessing game anyway), then he’s a keeper; you need 3rd starters too.
Otherwise, you’re just getting good players, trading them away, LIKELY getting less than they’re worth.
The Smith trade was kind of curious no? And Cooper included too?
Conspiracy theories anyone?
Was clearly the guys that Denbo wanted to bring with him from the Yankees and were almost completely useless on the Yanks to begin with
IDK, the Marlins should not trade Smith just yet. They should just keep him for now until his value goes up. If he has solid seasons in 20′ and 21′, Marlins can then deal him for a bigger haul then for what they would get now in return. I could see Marlins and Astros as possible trade partners since Smith is from TX and the Stros have a good farm system. Just a theory of mine but I wouldn’t be surprised if MIA decides to keep him.
I personally think this team is going to start coming together next year and that puts them as being a force in the National league in 3 .
I agree with you
The Marlins could be contenders in a couple of years.
This rebuild is getting quite interesting especially with the starting pitching depth they have.
They already have the pitching staff. They actually have 7 rotation caliber arms at the moment including a handful more in the minors who should be ready in the next year or 2. I would only make Smith available for an elite bat that is ready or will be within a year like Bohm, Tucker, etc.
You’re right
I could see the Marlins asking for Alvarez or Tucker if they traded Smith to Houston but the Astros have said that Tucker is off limits and with Alvarez having a great rookie season, he’ll probably be off limits as well. If MIA trades Smith, acquiring an elite bat would be the main focus.
Smith is nowhere near the kind of pitcher that Tucker goes for. Tucker goes in a deal for Thor and that’s about it for SP’s who may be available.
The problem w the Marlins is they essentially have to build an entire lineup from scratch. The pitching is there though. They’re much better off than I had anticipated in that regard. I don’t see aces on the team today but they have 4-5 guys who are mid rotation caliber arms. And about 3 more who are solid back end guys. I’m guessing they do try to clear some of them out for offensive pieces that they desperately need.
Because who are the long term hitters? Maybe Anderson, Alfaro, and Cooper. That’s it on the ML team. You’d have to hope Harrison and Diaz are Homeruns and maybe Brinson figures it out. But even if you somehow wound up hitting on all 3 of those guys you’re going to need a lot more offensively.
I agree with you
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Marlins just kept Smith as their potential “ace”. The way how I see it is if Smith keeps performing well into next year, with a couple years of control left, Marlins could trade him for offense. They might only get mid level type bats in return but they’ll at least have more offense in the farm system. They can also just keep drafting more college hitters in the first few rounds of the draft.