The Marlins have made a handful of moves in advance of tonight’s series opener with the Mets (relayed by Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald). Starter Trevor Rogers has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to July 26, with lower back spasms. Miami also selected reliever Jake Fishman and infielder Charles Leblanc onto the big league roster, designating Willians Astudillo for assignment. To clear a second 40-man roster spot, the Marlins transferred Max Meyer from the 15-day to the 60-day IL. That was a formality, as the top prospect is set to undergo Tommy John surgery that’ll cost him the next year-plus.
Rogers had been slated to start tomorrow, but the Marlins will obviously have to find a replacement. The IL stint is the latest in what has been a frustrating season for the southpaw, who looked to have broken out as one of the game’s top young pitchers a year ago. Rogers pitched to a 2.64 ERA and earned an All-Star nod in 2021, but he’s gone in the opposite direction this season. He owns just a 5.85 ERA through 87 2/3 innings, watching his strikeout rate plummet from 28.5% to 20.8% in the process.
Astudillo has bounced on and off the roster a couple times this season. The former Twins utilityman signed a minor league deal with Miami over the winter, and he’s posted an excellent .321/.364/.557 showing through 33 Triple-A contests. Astudillo, owner of perhaps the sport’s best bat-to-ball skills, has only gone down on strikes in 4.3% of his minor league plate appearances, but he’s not made much of an impact in 21 MLB contests. Despite fanning in just three of his 55 trips to the dish, he owns a meager .241/.255/.296 showing with one homer and a 1.8% walk rate.
The Marlins will presumably again place Astudillo on waivers over the next few days. He’s already passed through the wire unclaimed this year and accepted an outright assignment to their top affiliate in Jacksonville. It’s possible he eventually winds up back with the Jumbo Shrimp, but he’d again have the right to elect minor league free agency if he goes unclaimed.
Leblanc and the aptly-named Fishman are each joining the Marlins for what’ll be their major league debuts. The former is a 26-year-old infielder who was a fourth-round draftee of the Rangers out of the University of Pittsburgh back in 2016. Leblanc spent six years in the Texas system, mostly splitting his time between second and third base, before signing a minor league deal with Miami last offseason. The right-handed hitter has impressed over 360 plate appearances in Jacksonville, hitting .302/.381/.503 with 14 home runs. Leblanc’s 27.2% strikeout rate is higher than ideal, but he’s done enough from a power perspective to get an MLB call.
Fishman, 27, also entered pro ball in that 2016 draft. He fell to the 30th round, where the Blue Jays selected the Union College product. Fishman briefly reached Triple-A in the Toronto system before qualifying for minor league free agency during the 2020-21 offseason. He’s spent the past two years working as a multi-inning reliever in Jacksonville. This season, the southpaw has an excellent 1.87 ERA with a robust 54.3% ground-ball rate across 43 1/3 innings, posting roughly average strikeout and walk rates (24.4% and 9.1%, respectively).
There you go Twins Astudillo is available to be backup catcher.
Willians Astudillo, the world’s best baseball player! He can pitch! (Career 7.71 ERA!) Throw! (Throw a 46 MPH pitch!!) Hit! (Career .267 hitter with 16 homers!!!)
Poormans Ohtani if you will
Marlins need to trade Rogers instead of Lopez
Would make no sense to trade Rogers now at a low point in his value
I’m not sure it would be that low
Hello Juan Soto
Have no fear Marlins fans – we don’t plan to pay our growing battery of injured pitchers to sit on their couch. We at The Marlins Front Office are pleased to announce that we’ve reached agreements with Max Meyer and Sixto Sanchez to join two of loanDepot Park’s premier fine dining concessions!!
Max will takeover as the Lead Chicken Slinger at “The Fowl Pole”, a chicken coop concept of traditional chicken tenders, grilled chicken sandwiches, and spicy Nashville chicken sandwiches! Cluck, cluck!!
Sixto will take his cashier talents to Goya’s “La Cocina”, a Caribbean inspired food concept serving Miami favorites including pan con bistec, Cuban sandwiches, jerk chicken and yucca fries! Sixto will begin his tenure behind the cash register with potential contract escalators allowing him to earn his way onto the grill staff.
Trevor will take over the role of “Billy The Marlin” once Timmy Robertson returns to Palmetto High School for his Junior year at the end of the Summer.
More agreements are in the works. so stay tuned… and please join us in congratulating Max, Sixto and Trevor on their new careers. #WeAreMiami
-The Marlins Front Office
I made an account just to comment (twice apparently) how terribly unfunny this is.
I’ll take your word for it and not read it.
Pirates should grab Willians Astudillo and DFA VanMeter or Yoshi.
I was just going to say he got pirate written all over him. Can be the fat replacement for Vogelbach
A fishman called up the turtle called down
It’s a shame what happened to Rogers this year. Old control issues resurfaced (41 BB in 87 IP). When the control is iffy or poor, it means you’re frequently behind in the count and have to throw a strike. Hitters know that and pounce. Thus, more hits allowed than IP.
However, would not trade him. Rogers isn’t the first pitcher to have initial success and then watch the sequel crater. Dunno. May be best to give him the month of August off to reset, and then bring him back for a few starts in September.
If the Marlins can get a few decent hitting prospects for Lopez, I’d do it. The offense this year, with few exceptions (Too few!), has been dismal this year. Garcia is a bust and I don’t see Solar as part of the future. Also trade Aguilar, Cruz and any veteran reliever like Scott. Gotta build up the farm system. The starting pitching will be fine once healthy.
The turtle will come ashore somewhere!