The Marlins have placed outfielders Matt Joyce and Lewis Brinson on the 10-day injured list, Craig Mish of Sports Grid relays. Neither player has appeared in Summer Camp yet.
The left-handed-hitting Joyce, a proven threat against righty pitchers, joined the Marlins on a one-year, $1.5MM deal over the winter. Joyce enjoyed a strong 2019 in a limited role as a member of the Braves, with whom the 35-year-old slashed .295/.408/.450 (128 wRC+) with seven home runs and 38 walks against 45 strikeouts in 238 plate appearances.
Brinson, 26, was a former top prospect who has struggled mightily in the majors. Since the Marlins acquired him from the Brewers in January 2018 in the Fish’s regrettable Christian Yelich trade, Brinson has hit an unsightly .189/.238/.294 (44 wRC+) with 11 HRs and minus-2.7 fWAR in 654 PA as a major leaguer. Brinson was much better than that last year at the Triple-A level, though, as he batted .270/.361/.510 and totaled 16 homers over 338 attempts.
The absences of Joyce and Brinson weaken Miami’s depth, but it still has several more outfield-capable players on hand, including Corey Dickerson, Jonathan Villar, Harold Ramirez, Monte Harrison, Magneuris Sierra, Sean Rodriguez, Jon Berti, Brian Anderson and Garrett Cooper. Dickerson, Villar and Ramirez may make up the Marlins’ season-opening outfield.
Yes more playing time for Garrett Cooper
I know the Yelich trade is the stuff of legend for the Brewer’s and infamy for the Marlins but I never bothered to look at Bronson’s production until now. Talk about ouch.
He had really good prospect rankings which I was already aware of and his numbers in the minors are pretty flashy. His numbers in the minors for 2019 are even pretty damn good with with an .871 OPS.
I’ve been pretty easy on the Marlins for this trade and this just makes me feel even more pitty. When I look at Bronson’s production in the minors as well as his prospect rankings, I can see how the Marlins chose him as the package to build around for Yelich. Talk about a bust.
Yeah, can’t blame them for making that trade at the time. Yelich’s production had plateaued and they got a very enticing prospect package. How were they supposed to know he would explode in MIL and all the prospects they got would disappoint?
That’s how I see BRINSON (because my auto-correct prefers Bronson) also. Any blow back from fans feels like a hindsight complaint. Brinson looks as good a bet as most any top prospect from the perspective of 2017.
It’s still somewhat possible that Brinson will improve somewhat and could still salvage a career in baseball. I mean to be honest his numbers in the majors have been so atrocious I almost can’t even make this comment with a straight face BUT his numbers in the minors were SOO impressive that I have to think he has some raw talent that he could possibly tap into. As he is still young enough that if he can get things on track in this shortened season, who knows maybe he can really become a productive major League player… maybe.
I sense your head scratch on this one Jeff and I agree. I know it’s happened before where a prospect rakes in double and Triple A but just get destroyed so badly it’s ridiculously disproportionate.
“and all the prospects they got would disappoint?”
That’s not the case at all. Brinson sucks, obviously, but Yamamoto had a promising first year and looks to be a solid MLB starter. Monte Harrison will be reaching the bigs soon and had a huge spring. Diaz had an awful first year, I think hitting a bomb off of deGrom in his first game was the worst thing that could’ve happened. But he had a great year at Triple A and the book is still out on him, Yamamoto and Harrison. Way too early to say they’ve all disappointed.
“Miami depth…”
Now that’s funny.
Not a complete bust yet as Jordan Yamamoto, Monte Harrison, and is an Diaz were all included in that deal that are tbd
Monte Harrison needs a starting job
Honestly I think Monte Harrison becomes the best player in the deal once we see what he can do.
i think the Marlins fell for the trap of trading for four guys with a lot of upside that were all flawed but didnt worry enough about each prospect’s floor. we do this a lot, thinking that all four proepcts in a mega deal could be good, then attributing fall off to the natural failure rate of proepcts. really it was Milwaukee cashing in on some good prospects with major flaws to get a young, cheap, and projectable budding star. (and as much as no one would have figured Yelich would become this good, it was reasonable to assume he could at least be a frequent all-star level talent