The Marlins have acquired infielder Jonathan Villar from the Orioles, as Craig Mish of MLB Network first reported (via Twitter). Lefty Easton Lucas is going back in return.
The Marlins have designated JT Riddle and Tayron Guerrero to create roster space. Previously dropped from the Baltimore 40-man, Villar was projected by MLBTR to earn $10.4MM in arbitration.
Villar enters his final season of arbitration control, so he’s not necessarily a long-term asset for the rebuilding Marlins. That said, it’s not hard to understand the thought process here. Villar has been a productive player the past few seasons, especially in 2019. Last year, he slashed .273/.339/.453 (107 wRC+) while playing in all 162 games for Baltimore. He started 158 of them somewhere on the middle infield. Between that durability, defensive profile and offense (bolstered by elite baserunning), Villar was worth exactly 4 wins above replacement, per Fangraphs. Finding that level of player for around $10MM isn’t easy.
Miami has Miguel Rojas and prospect Isan Díaz ticketed for much of the club’s middle infield work, so it’ll be interesting to see how manager Don Mattingly deploys Villar. Rojas, while a gifted defender, has never hit much, so it’s possible he’ll take on more of a utility role with Villar in the fold. It’d be a bit more surprising to see Villar cut into Díaz’s playing time. Speculatively, though, Díaz has faced some questions about his ability to stick at second base coming up through the minors. Perhaps Miami could look to expose him to other positions as they identify who shapes up as a long-term piece.
Riddle and Guerrero, meanwhile, will head out to make way for Villar and Jesus Aguilar, who was acquired from Tampa Bay on waivers. Riddle, a 28-year-old infielder, has never hit in parts of three seasons in Miami, combining for a .229/.269/.368 slash over 718 plate appearances. Guerrero, also 28, flashed power stuff out of the bullpen but never got quite as many swings and misses as one might expect. With an untenable 13.6% career walk rate, he ran out of leash in Miami.
It’s possible Villar and Aguilar could themselves wind up as trade candidates next season. If they produce, Miami could be motivated to flip them off to a team more positioned to contend in the short-term. Given the low acquisition costs of today’s moves, it’s hard to question the logic.
In Lucas, Baltimore brings aboard a recent 14th round pick out of Pepperdine. GM Mike Elias voiced an expectation that Lucas could someday mature into a back-end starter (via Roch Kubatko of MASN), but he was not rated among the Marlins’ top prospects. Instead, the decision to waive, and eventually trade, Villar seems motivated almost entirely by a desire to clear his projected salary off the books.
Wow!! Had a strong feeling Fish would nab him. Solid pickup.
Such a good pickup
I like Villar and believe he deserves to play every day somewhere, this is the first move that has made me respect Miami as a legitimate sports franchise in so long, gotta feel for the fans in Baltimore, their owner hates them
Not true at all. The casual O’s fan (if there is such a thing) might be put off, but the smart fan realizes that (A) he was going to get paid $10M to be on a 100-loss team and (B) was going to leave after 2020 for nothing since he would not be given a QO. This move gives more minor league pitching depth, as it is likely this is someone that Elias and his scouts identified as someone who can benefit from his analytics. It also means that Richie Martin might not be ticketed for AAA after all, given his OPS of over 1.000 in the last month of the season. Ultimately I see Martin starting in the iminors while a Brad Miller tupe is signed to get the bulk of the playing time at SS and Alberto is given a chance to replicate 2019 playing full time at 2B.
As someone unfamiliar with the O’s system, I appreciate your comment, Chef. I was baffled why they “gave” him away. The move makes some sense now in that context. A really great pick up for Miami, though.
I feel sorry for Aguilar and Villar. Going to be a rough year playing for a AAAA team.
$10m will cushion the bumps on the road
Aguilar will not be in Miami for long, because he really cannot hit anything, except a fastball in the middle of the plate
Poor guy. O’s to Marlins. Hopefully he can play his way to a rental deal to a contender.
Poor Villar, from one trash heap to a slightly better trash heap!
Slightly better? Marlins haven’t had a .500 record or better in 10 years. And their management continues to be the worse in baseball making questionable move after question move. They traded away 4 really strong to elite players and got nothing in return, and honestly the isn’t much hope for their future cause their farm is rough. Look, this is a good pick up for the marlins (getting Villar). It is not a good move for him though
Very impressive how dumb and uninformed you are, great job!
You make your statement with nothing to back it up… that would suggest you are “uninformed“
I’ll take your bait after you said the Marlins don’t have a top 10 farm.
Yelich: a win for the Marlins at the time that has proved to be a major steal for the Brewers since then. A top 25 prospect, a top 100 prospect, a fringe top 100 prospect, and a raw pitcher for a 4 WAR player is a hefty haul. It’s been a major L on the Marlins side since then but it can be partly salvaged.
Ozuna: A solid top 100 pitching prospect, a FanGraphs 50 FV speed/defense slap hitter OF prospect, a lottery ticket pitcher, and a throw in for someone who had the best season in their career is a slight overpay from the Cardinals. Since then Ozuna was good but not great while the Marlins have a questionable ace and cashed in on Gallen for a high potential SS. Trade favors the Marlins.
Realmuto: the best catcher in baseball for a B tier catcher and a future ace, fair trade.
Stanton: Salary dump, Devers can be okay if he gets any sort of power and stops being fragile, Guzman was elite down the stretch this year, but still has a lot to go to prove he’s worthy of being in a rotation. Trade favors the Marlins unless Stanton gets healthy.
So 2 wins, an even trade, and a big loss. I recommend spending some money on BA so you can see a neutral party raving about our elite farm. 🙂
well considering you called their farm system “rough ” when Baseball America had them ranked 10th before adding 2 more top 100 prospects, I’d tend to agree that you are misinformed.
The Marlins have a rotation that is in the upper half of the mlb(or at least on the cusp). The orioles have nothing nearing the upper half. If I inherited one franchise based off talent, I’d definitely take Florida.
@R.D.
I was trying to defend against the unwarranted attack on management but then you go and say that about their rotation? In what world are the Marlin’s rotation anywhere near the top half in the National league? They are across the board among the bottom rung.
The Marlins had one starting pitcher under a 4.50 era last year.In a league without a dh that is pathetic.Stop making up stats to make your point
Such an uniformed opinion. Of the 4 players the Marlins traded I would say they did a great job with 2 of the 4. Trading Ozuna for Alcantara and Gallen was borderline highway robbery. Getting out from under Stanton’s ridiculous contract (given to him by previous management) was an easy win for the franchise. While Realmuto is a great young player the Marlins got Sixto Sanchez and Jorge Alfaro certainly not nothing. The Yelich trade was a loss no question about it. The Marlins didn’t get anywhere near enough in return for a player like him but the jury is still out on Harrison, Diaz, and Yamamoto. Those three players could easily become every day contributors to the big league club. The current ownership inherited the 28th ranked farm system in the majors and as of the last rankings the Marlins are now in the top 10.
@Kd4187 there’s no point in talking about facts with idiots like Bravesfan.
They are not a top ten farm. And statistically speaking, nothing you put on the tables as “good deals” are actually good deals. They are merely you attempting to save face…
I’m tired of praising front offices for ‘rebuilding their farm’ at the expense of their Mlb product. Who cares they have a top 10 system? They better after trading away 2 elite players/contracts and 2 other desirable commodities. They’ve also had a top 10 pick in 7 of the past 10 seasons. According to Bleacher Report, the Red Sox, Brewers, Cubs, angels, and Nationals have the 5 worst farm systems. I’m sure if you told those gms all they had to do was win 57 games and people would applaud them they could have some pretty darn good farm systems, too. Tank teams are bad for baseball and I can’t believe we as fans have been conditioned to believe it’s good for our team to tank.
AndyWarpath- Nice post
I’ve always said the Marlins got a better trade for Ozuna than Yelich… the narrative is that Yelich wasn’t available at the time…that’s why the Cardinals got Ozuna…but…and this is a big but because people know I don’t criticize the cardinals President of Operations, John Mo…I think it was foolish to believe the marlins wouldn’t trade Yelich…then the Brewers got him for a bunch of Questionable prospects…Sandy A was easily the best pick up out of all the trades
Andy and Ty: let me guess. You two morons are either fans of NYY or BOS or CHC or LAD.
Next time, get a clue before posting complete and total stupidity. And yes, that is EXACTLY what you did.
well i guess we’ll just have to trust the rankings of the professionals at Baseball America and fangraphs who list their farm in the top 10 over… You
Bro, there’s no need to call people morons. This is baseball talk man. We can have different opinions and discuss them civilly. And no, I’m not a fan of any of those 4 teams.
Its obviously better to have a contender than a great farm, but you still need a pipeline. The 2017 Marlins were a competitive dead end that had just gone through a culture shock with the loss of the clubhouse leader. Plus it doesn’t help that they’re a poverty team with a 9 figure debt.
Everyone likes to say that they were 2 pitchers away so okay, they get Arrieta and Darvish, then what? They now have a payroll around 170m, then what happens to players like Gordon and Bour? The bullpen? Stanton’s injury? Ozuna regressing? Realmuto leaving in FA?
Their current state is a tough pill to swallow, especially to the casual fan. But this new management has a plan and they’ve been sticking to it, unlike Loria and co. who would abandon their plan in what feels like a baseball version of a get rich quick scheme.
clepto- I am not a moron and I am a White Sox fan for 64 years.
@OofAndYikes
Someone gets it!
If 2-3 yrs of tanking produces an Astros or Braves system how is that bad for baseball ?
Did you just ask how the Astros are bas for baseball?
*bad
Also the Braves never tanked like the Astros/Cubs/Marlins did.
Speaking of which…turns out the Cubs weren’t that great of a franchise either despite all that tanking.
Thank you for saying that.Only in America could a billionaire owner claim he can’t afford to pay competitive players salaries so you fans will have to watch your team be terrible for the next 5 years so we can be decent in 2025.
Baseball talk should never have people calling each other morons and idiots…..Even so called expert opinions on MLB, are very subjective and we will often not know who is correct for 3, four or more years……….
I’d rather live in Miami than Baltimore
I question the 7 thumbs up for that comment calling a top ten farm system rough. Villar is a great pick up for the Marlins for a couple of reasons. Good player for cheap money and if he performs as well as last year he’ll be a trade piece to acquire another possible top 100 prospect or close to it. It boggles my mind how some fans still don’t understand why the Marlins had to dump everyone when they did. If you think for one minute that Derek Jeter isn’t looking at building a winner then I have to wonder if you watch baseball at all. He could have sat at home and collected millions but he chose get involved in owning a team and he will turn them into a winner mark my words. He’s too competitive to just be in it to steal money from fans. He collects rings.
Interesting pickup
Baltimore to Miami? Who did he piss off?
Astros, Brewers and Orioles…
Haha!
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!
The fish be making some moves! And I may have missed it but they got rid of Castro right?
Castro is a FA.
they didnt pick up his option, to be specific
Making him a free agent
He’s a free agent
Castro is a free agent
Castro is a free agent
Is Castro a free agent?
I think Castro is a free agent, not sure can somebody confirm?
Let me just say Derek Jeter is making the Marlins a really great team not just with this move but all the other ones this year. A new decade is starting and the Fish are going to be one of the better teams no doubt. If you crapped on Jeter and the Marlins before apologize now, unless the Yelich trade.
I would only point out that Jeter is not the GM,
terry – you’re right but Jeter gets criticized as if he were the GM. That being said he should get applauded as one too, although I know many would simply like to criticize him for the “bad” deals and withhold praise on the good ones.
The sad part is you’re right. He will get blamed either way because he’s Jeter. That’s not the least be fair but it is how people think.
Jeter is the GM, Mike Hill is the meat shield, its the only reason he is the only person from the old regime to still be here. Mike Hill will be dumped the second they are good again.
spot on
To be honest about the Yelich trade, no way Yelich projected as an MVP winner at the time. The guy had topped out at 21 HR’s and 5.4 WAR, and that was in 2016; in 2017, his last year in Miami, he had 18 HR and 4.2 WAR.
Yeah, but everyone knows Miami saps its hitters power…Everyone should have expected more home runs, but not so much the overall offensive uptick..
He went from inmediately really good to one of the game’s best…It is kinda hard to predict that..lol
@bravesfan88
Kind of the same thing with Cole. He had one above average seasons in 2015 and then a few goodish seasons, regressed for 2 seasons and then wham!!! One of the top 5 pitchers in baseball.
In Cole’s case, I think it was the analytics provided to him. His willingness to listen and be mentored by Verlander, and then buying into the usefulness of the information.
I’m not sure 2018-2019 Cole would’ve performed the same had he been traded for by the Yanks in 2017.. They should’ve done it anyway but he would’ve been more Noah Syndegard and less Verlanderish.
Yelich didn’t flip the switch until the second half of his first season with Milwaukee.
Agreed. Yelich was good when they traded but nobody could of seen the insanity he has done last two years.
How, this team perpetually rebuilds and had three very good outfielders and got nothing for them? I need them to show me a reason why they won’t be perennially last place.
What are you talking about?!! Are you absolutely mad? They have literally gotten worse each and every year! They traded away Staton, Yelich, JT, and Ozuna and got next to nothing in return! That’s TWO MVP’s!! And they couldn’t even flip their farm into one of the worse into one of the best! It’s an absolute joke. The prospect they keep bringing up look worse than ever, and they don’t have any to get super excited about. At the moment, there is not one single signal that suggest they are turning the dumpster into a good team. In fact, they might be actually getting worse
They dumped Stanton’s salary. That was an achievement, not a negative. No way Yelich projected as an MVP. He had a 4.2 WAR in his final year out of Miami. A good ballplayer, that, not a great one. Selective memory. Ozuna turned out to be less than he appeared to be in Miami. Perhaps they knew? I don’t know, regardless of what you say, we hear some decent things about their farm pieces here on MLBTR.
Mo4ever …. dumping salary is great when the player didn’t just win an mvp the year before. Granted, I’d argue it has been a good deal. But at the time, they should have gotten way more in return because you can’t assume he will tank and be injured. Regardless, 1 player isn’t an example of a what was done correct on a string of many bad choices by the marlins
Got to remember that Stanton had some control where he was traded to as well which added a big wrench. He did not give the Marlins a lot of options. Getting rid of Stanton contract as key and just 3 years later the contract is now one of the most unmovable contracts in baseball
I agree with you on this, bravesfan. Marlins have only demonstrated what not to do.
I too hate going from one of the worst farms to a consensus top 5 farm after an amazing draft and investing in IFA. They should have given more mediocre pitchers 80m
Consensus top 10? So we can just make up false statement? lol. Ok boomer
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mlb.com/amp/news/mlb-farm-system-rankings-2019.html
https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2019-in-season-prospect-list/farm-ranking?sort=-1,1&type=100
Google is hard!
google is hard whe. you’re so stupid that you think crap like “ok boomer” is cool. id feel embarrassed to keep spouting the same stupid argument over and over without taking 10 seconds to verify, this guy wears it with an inflated sense of pride.
A lot of angst for a relatively inconsequential move between 2 bottom feeders. Chill out everyone. Its almost Xmas. Might be time to find a hobby, girlfriend, dog
@bravesfan
Marlins have 6 prospects in the top 100 mlb and a few interesting guys like Guzman, Devers. Horrison, etc. I wouldn’t say Jeter’s crew have done nothing with the farm.
Only 1 of those “top 6” actually performed decent this year. And only 1 is near mlb ready.
Then you can write a novel of the marlins “top prospects” that haven’t panned out in the pros already in such a short time. I wouldn’t get excited if I were you. They are all looking like borderline failures
And how has all those top prospects worked for the Padres the last couple years.
They had the greatest farm in the history of baseball and what’s that got them ?
Great they have a top 5 pick every year and traded away four key players (Realmuti Yelich Ozuna and Stanton) and they have 6 top 100 minor leaguers. Wonderful.The Yankees have never dumped and the majority of there team first base shortstop third base (2 players) right field Severino and maybe German Clint Frazier Mke Tauchman are young players with some promising minor leaguers and they have never had top draft picks. The same could be said of the Dodgers too.Having minor league hopefuls is nothing. Having a team that could win baseball games is much more difficult.Even if 3 of those Marlins minor leaguers which would be a real good percentage have an impact they will still be a terrible team
Miami is by no means going to be a good team this upcoming season, but between Villar and Aguilar at least they’re trying and making themselves competitive.
By no means?
I think that, the Marlins will flirt with at least 70-75 wins this season if a couple of their young arms in MiLB (Edward Cabrera, Sixto Sanchez, Nick Neidhart), come up and pitch well along side Alcantara and Caleb Smith ( with Pablo Sanchez/Jordan Yamamoto)… by 2021, Fish will be sniffing at a wild card berth at the very least.
Well Castro is gone right? Replaced by Villar.. I’d argue that’s a downgrade.
And Aguilar is brutal bad. They haven’t improved at all. If anything, they got worse
Biased response. No doubt you’ve been a huge Castro slammer. No one suggested Aguilar was Kong, just that he’s a decent bounceback candidate for the price. Check your bias at the door.
I’ve never been a Castro slammer. I was a tiny bit when he was a cub but otherwise, decent enough ball player
How can a guy who had 1-2 good years as opposed to 3-4 bad ones be a bounce back. To me those good years were exceptions to the rule.
Castro to Villar is a downgrade? Really? He of the 0.8 WAR last year?
You can argue that he is. Ur .08 WAR is meaningless.
Didn’t see that one coming. A solid under the radar pickup without losing MLB ready arms.
Maybe the Tigers take a look at Riddle? I can’t see him being worse than Harold Castro.
ladies amd gentlemen, your 2020 Marlins Team MVP!
Did Anderson go somewhere?
Great move, he becomes the best hitter in their line-up. Smart move!
Honestly one of the most underrated players in the mlb. Marlins making moves love it.
Nice move by the Fish. They should take a chance on Santana, Aguilar, & maybe even Maikel Franco
They got Aguilar. I would like to see them get Maikel Franco.
Where would they play him though?
Well, so much for the Braves replacing Charlie Clutch with Villar…Looks like Brock Holt is now my next best hope!!
Since you appear to be a fan of Castro over Villar, you can pray for him to join you.
Mo4ever trolling any Braves fan he can
Castro needs to come home to Wrigley
Hechavaria will replace Charlie
It’s a good move by the Marlins who may have to pay 10 plus million but could perhaps later trade Villar mid-season if he does well. So basically this is a low risk high reward move.
Damn and they sent back a “prospect” of some sort. That’s great news. I
I’ll give it to them, this is a good move for them. But marlins fans acting like this move and Aguilar is franchise changing are absolutely insane. Their GM and Jeter single handedly were able to trade 5 of the best players in baseball (2 MVP’s) and basically got nothing in return. It’s a dumpster fire down there
Spam. See comment to your first post for response.
Your bias is really showing. The Marlins are in the middle of a rebuild.
If in the middle of a rebuild you mean a rebuild that has been lasting 10 years? Cause that’s the last time they had a winning record I believe! I’ve never seen a rebuild that has lasted so long
see: Browns, Cleveland.
Padres San Diego
See: Mets, Jets, and Knicks…New York
Even though I hate the Yankees I’ve always liked Mattingly I’m really rooting for him to succeed
He’s had no success ever in his career as player or coach
1982-1995 Yankees: 0 rings
2004-2007 Yankees: 0 rings
2008-2015 Dodgers: 0 rings
2016-present Marlins: 0 rings
But a great ballplayer and a great guy, unlike you. As for not winning the WS as a manager, that would go for many if not most current managers. So….
Let me guess you’re a stupid kid who never watched him play
No success as a player? He’d have been a HOF if his back held up.
But it didn’t so he isn’t
He wasn’t a successful player because he didn’t make the Hall?
He is Mush Mattingly
Matingly had a lot of success as a baseball player. and was one of the best players in the game during his career, Just his team wasn’t good The idea that winning is the only measure of success for a baseball player is ridiculous .In your mind unsuccessful Carl Yastrzemski Ted Williams Ernie Banks Billy Williams Ferguson Jenkins Fred Lynn Jim Rice.Hall of Fame means nothing winning only measure of success That is a sick way to evaluate a players career.
Ha-ha! Jonathan Villar goes from one rebuilding bottom feeder to another. At least the Marlins can now recoup something for Villar in a trade later this offseason or just flip him at the July 31st deadline. They might also elect to keep Villar since he is still just 28 and they are a heck of a lot closer to being relevant in MLB than the Orioles.
The Cubs had an opportunity to acquire Villar and didn’t, at least for now. How ironic would it be if they instead signed former SS/2B Starlin Castro who is now a FA after the Marlins bought out his $16MM team option last month?
Either Villar or Castro would be more useful options for the Cubs than just non-tendered Addison Russell and his excess ‘baggage’.
I say sign Ozuna or Castellanos and call it an off-season for the offense. If not those guys, bring in a vet like Kole Calhoun or Corey Dickerson.
3B Villar
SS Rojas
RF Anderson
LF Ozuna/Castellanos/Calhoun/Dickerson
1B Aguilar
2B Diaz
C Alfaro
CF Brinson
Bench
1B/OF Cooper
UT Berti
OF Sierra/Dean
OF Harold Ramirez
C Backup Catcher (I suggest Jason Castro. If not, bring back Bryan Holaday).
That is some on point photoshop!
Marlins have the space and money to pick up Villar now and if he has a decent season flip him at the deadline for prospects.
Not a bad gamble ,but one the Orioles didn’t want to take.
Diaz was a trainwreck at the majors level….they may need to season him up a little more and have Berti handle 2nd for the time being. Rojas also shouldn’t have a firm grip on things and is only a placeholder for Jazz for a year or so at this point. Aguilar is a low risk throw of the dice.
I simply can’t believe the O’s dumped a 4 WAR player for a fringy bullpen arm. He was 5th among all 2B in WAR…..wow.
And the only team that was interested was the Miami Marlins!!!
A side from WAR nothing else stands out
40 plus steals? 20 plus homers? Can play 2B/SS/3B. Solid defensively… what’s there not to like?
I wonder where Villar will be playing in August?
Miami
dang dude! got eeeem, I haven’t heard that joke before. I’m going to use it over and over and over again.
Lineup looking solid. If they weren’t in the NL East, they’d be in a good position to leave the basement. considering the chance of one of the other 4 NL East teams imploding, they may have that chance.
Lineup as of right now:
2B – Villar
SS – Miguel Rojas
3B – Brian Anderson
1B – Jesus Aguilar
LF – Garrett Cooper
C – Jorge Alfaro
RF – Harold Ramirez
CF – Lewis Brinson/Magneuris Sierra/Monte Harrison
P – [pitcher]
Will they be adding another SP to combine/compete with Caleb Smith, Sandy Alcantara, Jordan Yamamoto. Pablo Sanchez, Robert Duggar, Jose Urena, Elieser Hernandez, etc.? I wouldn’t mind taking flyers on Danny Salazar and Felix Hernandez.
We need some bullpen additions. Maybe bring Sergio Romo back? How about our Yankees front office bringing in Dellin Betances?
I see the Uninformed Community that are not Marlins fans are squawking their gibberish again.
Once again, the Marlins hopes for a playoff team died with Jose Fernandez. The Marlins didn’t have enough pitching with Fernandez to support the lineup. They were done when he died because they weren’t going to be able to replace him for the price they had him for. Then instead of adding one frontline SP which they needed before his death, his death changed that to the Marlins needing 2 frontline SPs. For them to have done that, they would have either traded at least one of those bats and then signed someone to a huge contract, or kept the bats and signed two SPs to big contracts. With all of the pitching needs after Fernandez’s death, signing players would have placed the Marlins over $200 million in payroll. They can’t support that. And even if so, the options available were Darvish and Arrieta as the big names. The year before, Cueto rejected the Marlins offer after the death of Fernandez, so they settled with Volquez.
You all that keep regurgitating what E!SPN and FOX Sports told you continue to show how uninformed you are about the Marlins.
The Marlins are moving in the right direction. They had a horrible owner who left them with a mess that he had no intention of paying for as he knew he was selling the team. Jeter and Co. had to clean it up while starting the rebuild. It’s finally at the end of 2020 that the final contract will be gone (Chen’s). The farm is better. We’ve added some under-30 nice pieces to go with some nice prospects as we move forward. I’m loving what we’re seeing the Marlins do.
I agree. These are exactly the kind of moves the Marlins should be making.
Really wanted the Padres to get him. But I guess we’ll have to see how Preller’s love affair with Profar works out. And from a fantasy perspective, Camden to Marlins Park is not good.
A move from Camden to Marlins Park is not good for guys whose sole game is power. For someone that has speed and gap power, it’s about even or even better if you adjust your game. Villar will be interesting to see if he makes the adjustment.
You’ll live longer in Miami.
Marlins should go get Puig to roam center field. Or the outfield in general . That will get some people excited to go the games.