AUGUST 1: In a corresponding roster move, the Orioles selected the contract of catcher Bryan Holaday, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Holaday becomes the third catcher on the O’s active roster, joining Pedro Severino and Chance Sisco.
JULY 31: The Orioles announced that they have traded left-hander Richard Bleier to the Marlins for a player to be named later.
For the Marlins, this is clearly an attempt to fill in a roster that has been decimated by the coronavirus. Miami has seen a whopping 18 players test positive for the illness, which has prevented the club from taking the field this week.
In Bleier, the Marlins are getting a 33-year-old Davie, Fla., native who has experienced his share of success in the majors. Despite a measly lifetime strikeout rate of 4.47 per nine and a sub-90 mph fastball, Bleier has managed a 2.99 ERA/3.74 FIP across 177 1/3 innings with the Yankees and Orioles since he debuted in 2016. Excellent walk and groundball rates of 1.47 and 62.4 percent, respectively, have enabled Bleier to prevent runs at such an impressive clip.
While Bleier logged a woeful 5.37 ERA over 55 1/3 frames a year ago, he gave the O’s three scoreless frames this season before the rebuilding club parted with him. Bleier’s on a prorated $915K salary this year and still has two more seasons of arbitration eligibility left.
Marlins, assemble!
Wait… do the Marlins think they’re still a real team?
That’s cute.
First place team.
AAAA Florida State League champions
Not even…
The Marlins are going to be such a weird team when their entire roster is back, plus the additions they are making now. Their roster will look like your yard when you spot mow the tall parts of your grass, and now the un-mowed grass and the mowed grass mostly blend together, but if you look closer it is just a little off. Maybe a few too many average relievers, but the offense and starting core stay the same.
People DO that?
Must be a Texas thing
Who “spot mows” their yard?
Who has a name that didn’t age well?
Bwahahahahaha
Marlins sign Rafael Palmeiro. Please let that happen.
Yes!!! Lol. Wasn’t Bonds their hitting coach for part of a season? Sign him too. Actually, while their at it they should sign Bobby Bonilla so they can thumb their noses at the Mets and say “hey, at least he plays for our checks”
The year after he was the hitting coach marcel ozunas numbers tripled. He’s been barely above average since then
Omg yes. And the big sexy bring him back too
Yelich credited Bonds with helping him breakout as well
Hope they had fun in Buckhead before season started….. smh
Leaving the Orioles looks like a punishment. Wow.
This is the biggest July 31 trade of the year.
The O’s won’t take a player until after the season is over (or nearly over), and it will allow them to add another prospect to the 60 man pool to get more work in over the next two months. Bleier is a luxury for a n organization that isn’t making winning in 2020 a priority.
Yeah, this may not have any huge impact or ramifications but this is a shrewd move by the Orioles, IMO. Bleier shouldn’t be taking a spot and time on the mound away from younger guys that still have upside like Cody Carroll, Evan Phillips, Dillion Tate, and Tanner Scott.
I agree with the exception that if he’s healthy he could have been a valuable piece to a contender near the deadline. With extended playoff teams, a team may coughed up a better prospect than what can be expected from a ptbnl.
I think it’s a PTBNL because players not on the 60-man can’t be traded until after the season. Thought I read something like that earlier when the O’s moved Velasquez to Houston. The guy we get from Miami could be just as good if not better than what we might get from a different team..
I still think the Marlins went with the chicken pox technique. Get as many players as they can infected early, so at the end of the season when other teams are having their issues they have their roster recovered and possibly immune. I’ll admit it may not be the most impressive roster, but still have their core for the finishing stretch. Have to think out of the box during the Covid Age
USMC – you attribute to the Marlins organization a lot more planning and intelligence than I do.
If you think Miami intentionally infected their players, you have the IQ of a farm animal.
I’m picturing a Marlins management meeting…
“This guy here is dead!”
“well, cross him off the list then.”
Are they trying to get the team moved… to Cleveland?
Haha maybe that’s the plan
To Omaha
Just stick him in LF
OK…..I have to admit, this made me chuckle a bit. I feel guilty as heck for doing it, but I did. Hat tip to you, sir.
Poor kid I’d opt out for sure. Not worth getting sick for. Losing is losing. Getting sick is another story. Player to be named later is probably sick. smh
So he should pass on $915,000, not get credit for a year of service, miss out on an opportunity to re-establish himself after a poor last season and not move to…..wait for it….Miami. All bc he might get sick??
As of yesterday there are currently 9,007 active covid cases in dade county that has a population of 2,717,000. Lib logic at its finest !
Not to mention he’d be sitting at home on the outskirts of Miami exposed to almost everything he would be playing anyway, probably more so.
It’s August 1st, the Marlins are winning the division and were the only team to acquire anyone on July 31st. Wild year, just wild.
The Marlins are not winning their division
its still ironic
August 31st is Trade Deadline,
I’m really rooting for Bleier. He’s a super nice dude and pretty good
Wow he’s 33 already. He may be super nice but not sure he’s pretty good. Maybe pretty decent to hang around long enough because he’s a lefty
I’d say a 2.99 ERA and 3.74 FIP ain’t that bad
Philly could use him
Is it a little irresponsible of the Marlins to bring in someone outside of their current roster? Possibly exposing someone that was not within their infested orginization already. I understand the fact that they need healthy players that can actually take the field, but bringing in someone from the outside seems a bit of a business-over-player safety issue. You guys will probably not agree with me, just a thought
An overnight success years in the making. Good luck Rich!
I wonder if this was motivated at all by Bleier’s desire to be near his home. Davie FL is about 20 miles north of Miami. The orioles may have simply granted his wish.
He said he had no idea it was coming, and that he never asked for a trade.
Time for the Marlins to start scouting the Hebrew Oilers. Maybe come up with a nobody from nowhere and then just take it from there..
Word here in Blow Hard Land is that Bleier, a Cy Young candidate this year with 0.333 WHIP, pissed off the wrong people in the Orioles organization and was shipped off to the Marlins as punishment…
I’m going to have to give you a 5 month posting ban for not giving your wife enough “attention” in the bedroom. We will really, really miss you here!
Oh JohhnyB, imitation is the greatest form of flattery…
The O’s are 5-3 and clearly in position for the playoffs, nothing can ruin this CV-19, riotous day!
Only thing that would make it better is if the O’s fired Mike “If My Lips Are Moving, I’m Lying” Elias today…
At this point if the Marlins acquired me I’d sue
I’d like to thank the marlins for taking that burden off our shoulders. However, stay safe buddy ol pal