The Marlins announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Brian Moran and catcher Tyler Heineman from Triple-A New Orleans. In order to open space on the 40-man roster, Miami transferred Brian Anderson from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list and designated catcher Wilkin Castillo for assignment. Additionally, outfielder Magneuris Sierra was recalled from New Orleans and added to the active roster.
Sierra, 23, will rejoin the club for the first time since the 2018 season. Acquired with Sandy Alcantara in the trade that sent Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis, it was hoped that he could serve as a long-term piece in the Miami outfield mix. That didn’t look to be the case by any stretch of the imagination in 2018 when Sierra batted just .190/.222/.211 in 156 big league plate appearances with the Marlins. His 2019 season in the minors has been better but not particularly impressive; in 549 trips to the plate between Double-A and Triple-A, Sierra has batted .275/.316/.387 with seven homers, 19 doubles, nine triples and 33 stolen bases (in 44 attempts).
This will be a big month for Sierra, who’ll be out of minor league options in 2020. That’s not to say he’s at jeopardy of losing his 40-man spot if he doesn’t show well in September, but a strong final impression in 2019 would surely improve his positioning for the 2020 campaign. Conversely, if he flounders in a similar fashion to his 2018 struggles, he’ll make it difficult for the organization to bank on any contributions from him next year.
Neither Heineman nor Moran seems like a long-term piece for the Marlins, but each will get his first look at the MLB level this month. Heineman, 28, was acquired from the D-backs in exchange for cash back in June. He’s batted a combined .336/.400/.590 in the Pacific Coast League’s supercharged offensive environment but has never hit much in four prior seasons at that level (most coming with the Astros, who drafted him in the eighth round back in 2012).
Moran will turn 31 later this month and has grinded through 10 minor league seasons leading up to today’s breakthrough to the Major Leagues. It’s undoubtedly an emotional day for the former Mariners farmhand, who has pitched to a 3.15 ERA with 11.6 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 in 60 innings of relief in New Orleans this season. Moran has spent parts of five seasons in Triple-A, compiling a 3.67 ERA with 11.5 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 176 2/3 innings.
Anderson was already known to be done for the season after incurring a fractured hand last month. Miami’s best all-around player, the 26-year-old Anderson batted .261/.342/.468 with a career-high 20 home runs and 33 doubles in 520 plate appearances this year. He’s controlled all the way through the 2023 season and looks like a building block in South Florida.
Castillo, meanwhile, returned to the Majors in 2019 for the first time in a decade. He appeared in just two games but nonetheless was able to relish the bright lights of the Major Leagues after a long journey through the minors. Castillo has just 24 big league games to his credit, but the 35-year-old has played in 581 career Triple-A games, hitting .245/.283/.358 along the way.
Still waiting for an Eddy Alvarez call-up…
Where are guys like Nick Neidert, Jesus Sanchez, Monte Harrison, and Victor Victor Mesa? Those are the guys that are gonna help the Marlins in the future. 3 of the 4 I listed are ready, so why not call them up.
why are you asking where Mesa is when he has no buissness being promoted?
Because, like everyone on planet Earth, he realizes it’s just fun to say “Victor Victor Mesa.” That name is right up there with Damien Magnifico for most fun in MLB. And if Damien Magnifico ever pitches to Victor Victor Mesa, I so want to be doing the play-by-play for that one…
No name will ever beat a guy who never made it into the majors. WONDERFUL TERRIFIC MONDS..not only wonderful terrific monds ,but wonderful terrific monds III..early 90s.has a cpl of baseball cards to his name too…but the all time matchup mike goldberg wants is j.j. putz pitching to Kevin mensch with peter schmuck in the broadcast booth
Harrison got hurt. Mesa is not ready. Sanchez is probably still adjusting to how the Marlins want to use him. With Neidert, you have to accept what a franchise does because pitching results in MiLB cannot be the end all because the development to transition into MLB may not be there. They will all be in Spring Training trying to make the club. OF will be interesting with Ramirez either closing the spots down to 2 starting jobs or him setting a bar of at least 3 OFs having to perform better than him in order to move him out of the everyday lineup. Now if Lewin Diaz somehow can be ready to make the club to start 2020, then that could add Cooper to the OF mix as another bar to beat out with Ramirez.
The Marlins are on the way to losing 100 games this year, but it feels good to see the hope that may be on the way starting with the Spring Training 2020, when a lot more pieces will be coming to join the pieces that are already up.
OF competition: Ramirez, Brinson, Sanchez, Sierra, Mesa, Harrison, Puello (is he back?), Cooper (if Diaz is ready at 1B).
3B: Anderson’s job
1B: Cooper or Lewin Diaz’s job
2B: Isan Diaz’s job
SS: Rojas (if he’s back) or Chisholm
SPs: Urena, Smith (is he back?), Alcantara, Yamamoto, Lopez, Hernandez, etc. [remember all those that bashed us letting Straily go…lol]
Wilkin Castillo, we hardly knew you. I guess neither did the other 7 organizations you were with over your 15 season minor league career. Shows how much young baseball talent wants to put on the catching gear. I am sure if he wants to keep playing he will find another job somewhere, and that organization will describe it as a “depth move” which it obviously will be. “Mommas, don’t let your babies grow up to be catchers” ( unless they want a really long baseball career, albeit in AAA or AA).
Those old uniforms were so much nicer than the new ones this season
Ridiculous that several hours ago I got a pending on a legit major league name from the past and it was censored out and removed. Pathetic
huh?
Was it better than Rusty Kuntz?