The Phillies and Giants made a trade today, according to announcements from both clubs. Right-hander Yunior Marté is heading to the Phillies with lefty Erik Miller going the other way.
Marté, 28 next month, he spent most of his career with the Royals but never cracked their roster and reached minor league free agency after 2020. The Giants then signed him to a minor league deal and saw him post a 3.49 ERA over 56 2/3 Triple-A innings in 2021. He struck out 24.6% of batters faced, walked 9.1% of them and got grounders on 49.4% of balls in play. That was enough for the Giants to add him to the 40-man in November.
In 2022, Marté made his MLB debut with a 5.44 ERA in 48 innings for the Giants. That came with a 20.6% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate, with both of those numbers being a bit worse than league average. He did get grounders at a strong 48.6% rate and might have had some bad luck with a 63.2% strand rate. Statcast found a lot to like in his work, placing him in the 97th percentile in terms of barrel rate, 84th in terms of average exit velocity and 94th in terms of fastball velocity, averaging 97.8 mph. He also tossed 25 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.16 ERA and a huge 37.2% strikeout rate, though his 38.8% ground ball rate was lower down there.
Marté still has a couple of option years, so he’ll give the Phils an intriguing arm that they could potentially keep in the minors until needed. The bullpen has been an area of focus for the team this winter, as they’ve signed free agents Craig Kimbrel and Matt Strahm, in addition to swinging a trade for Gregory Soto this weekend and Marté today. For the Giants, it seems like Marté was nudged out of their plans when they signed Luke Jackson today, requiring them to open a roster spot with this trade. Though it was surely tough to part with a talented pitcher like Marté, they are at least getting something in return.
Miller, 25 next month, was a fourth round selection of the Phillies in 2019. He’s been considered one of the better prospects in the Philly system since then, with Baseball America having him in the club’s top 30 in each of the past three years. Between the canceled minor leagues in 2020 and an injury-marred 2021, he hadn’t pitched much coming into 2022. But he seemed to get into a groove at Double-A, tossing 36 1/3 innings with a 2.23 ERA. He struck out 30.1% of batters faced but also walked 11.6% of them. He was promoted to Triple-A but his control problems worsened. In 10 games at that level, he walked 21.5% of opponents, leading to a 7.50 ERA.
Miller got some attention here at MLBTR as the Rule 5 draft was approaching but he ultimately went unselected. That means the Giants have now swapped one intriguing arm for another, with Miller not occupying a roster spot. Baseball America highlights that his fastball can reach 98 mph, with a plus slider and changeup as well. However, they note that a lack of consistency has kept him from truly reaching his potential thus far.
Phillies smart. Marte comes before Miller alphabetically.
SF cearing a roster spot for a catcher? Jorge Alfaro/Gary Sanchez?
Luke Jackson it appears
Uh…I guess Marte can stay healthy at least?
Great Stuff! but inconsistent with Location
Miller is probably better, but isn’t MLB ready, and has a long injury history
That’s it really.
Lazy repeat of inaccurate information.. Miller had shoulder inflammation in 2021.. Every MLB pitcher gets either shoulder or elbow. inflammation in their career. This was a DD F; up..
Good. Marte was a gas can.
At least Marte has been good at AAA. Kinda sad to see Miller go
They were not giving him a 40 man spot for the Rule 5, so I guess that we had to figure that he was probably gone at some point. It appears that DD is working hard to find arms that they think that they can work with as a fit. Soto is a version of Alvardo Redux…can they fix the high impact lefty by cleaning up the command and approach?
Dombrowski has done a nice job building the Phillies bullpen
He really has, but I also think the long-awaited return of Seranthony Dominguez is a huge factor of that as well. So some credit goes to the previous regime, but DD made a lot of additions. Not all of them worked, but the ones that did,really did. On paper, the Phillies bullpen looks like a tremendous strength, which is very strange for the Phillies.
Pivetta and Seabold for Workman and Hembree was bad.
Even this one? What does Marte have that Miller doesn’t, other than maturity?
Health. Miller has thrown 97 innings as a pro and was drafted in 2019. Marte helps the depth chart in 2023. Miller probably doesnt
DD didn’t do the workman trade. That was Klentak. That trade was horrendous. Don’t put that stain on Dave haha.
The workman trade was before DD. That was Klentak’s mess. What a terrible trade.
Don’t tarnish DD with that, haha.
@Huntington that wasn’t DD. That was the previous regime.
The biggest loss in that trade was Seabold and he looks like a bust so far. Pivetta wouldn’t have made it to 2022 and likely even 2021 OD Klentak or not.
Yea. It’s not like we gave u0 anything huge. Pivetta stunk in Philly and was pretty much unusable at the time of his trade. Workman and Hembree were horrendous in Philly, but if either of the two were just mediocre the Phillies would’ve made the playoffs in 2020. Certainly a bad trade for Philly, but not catastrophic in any sense.
My bad. Thought it was DD.
Darkside:
Pivetta is much more valuable than Seabold. He’s an innings eater, every team needs one. He led the league in starts this year. Numbers dont jump out at you but slightly above average per ERA+ and put up 5.2 WAR past 2 seasons.
Are we talking about the same Pivetta?
I believe the Pivetta Seabold deal was Klentak. Marte is a right and we probably wanted more depth from that side figuring we have 5 lefties ahead of Miller.
The worst of it was watching Pivetta throwing temper tantrums on the mound, on the walk to the dugout after being pulled, and then in the dugout. Hopefully he’s grown up a little, because he was hard to watch while wearing a Phillies uniform.
Was only bad in hindsight. Funny how fans loved the trade at the time and even praised Klentak. Workman and Hembree were both pitching well at the time, there was no way of knowing or foreseeing them imploding with the Phillies
melly, great 20/20 hindsight. Guess again. At the time of the trade, fans loved it because Workman and Hembree were both pitching well and were actually complementing Klentak. It was only after they both bombed out that the whining and crying started, and the finger pointing at Klentak like he purposely and knowingly traded for 2 lame armed pitchers.
This is what has been underrated by so many when it comes to the work that DD has been overseeing…the depth work. And as you point out, many moves are going to fail…if our expectations for a POBO are that he win trades, FA deals and especially depth moves the vast majority of the time, then he can never live up to expectations.
The depth stuff and the continued reshuffling of the bullpen into something that, at least right now, appears to be stronger than anything in the past decade plus, could truly turn them into a team that challenges for 95 plus wins.
The other major win…you point out the comeback of Seranthony into a dominant force was huge. Also, Bohm still being a potentially viable 3B with upside after last season, and Stott looking as if he could be a cornerstone. Plus Ranger Suarez continuing the upward trend. This is an entirely different scenario of they are not still a part of that young core.
Exactly, with a AAA bullpen of Marte (R), Ortiz (R), Uelmen (R), Coonrod (R), and Vasquez (L) one would have to think that if called up to the majors, at least one, maybe two, provide some quality innings.
Remember, guys like Cyr, Duron, Rossman, Nittoli, Kelly, Jones and Norwood pitched a combined 34 innings last year and gave then next to nothing. Hopefully this new group of guys will be more productive when they get their opportunity. They certainly have more potential than the aforementioned ground.
It’s strange to think about the Phillies having a good bullpen but I’m glad that is where DD is trying to add good depth. Bullpens are so volatile that it’s never bad to plan for the worst.
BTW VonPurpleHayes, I always look forward to your analysis. Excellent stuff and you don’t go Negadelphian like so many others.
Nothing for nothing is nothing.
Good for Phillies. Miller can’t ever find the strike zone.
Phillies had room for Marte on their 40 and 2023 use for them in their pen, the Giants did not. In exchange Giants got a lottery ticket, an arm with some pedigree who in 2023 is another year removed his 2021 injuries.
SF’s staff has done well with extracting value out of this sort of pitcher, Marte himself was a MiLB free agent signee. Miller has a starter’s 4 pitch mix and in 2023 doesn’t need to be on the 40 man unless his performance pushes him onto the roster. I’m curious if SF coverts him immediately to a RP sorting out what of his pitch mix to keep,
@fffbbb – lol then you’re in for a rude awakening with Marte. That SFG got anything of value for Marte is astonishing, that’s how bad he is.
This is just a typical bottom of the 40 man move for both teams. Both pitchers have good arms with excellent velo and some upside; both are also unlikely at this point. You try to fix them if you can, and if not the wheel turns.
Miller is a RP now. Just too many injuries to try and start him.
The Phillies started Miller with two inning outings and then did some three inning outings. Then he got arm trouble again. He missed a month and they had to start over again. Then he got hit around and struggled finding the plate. Great arm. Great 4 pitch mix but he’ll be 25 next month and it’s tough to know if he’ll ever make it through a season.
He got COVID.. He had no arm trouble.. JHC the B.S,
You can’t have enough arms,especially ones that throw with velocity. See Houston Astros. Another excellent pick up for the defending national league champions.
Let’s have 32 arms
52. An entire 26 man roster of just arms
Went way above your knuckle head
Yunior lol.
No yoke.
I like this trade. I think I’m starting to like our New GM, Pete Putila.
Well, me personally am happy with all the arms..Pretty much what I say every year…Phillies wasted half a year last season..started out with Manager Joe G and DDG at short..66 games worth…Centerfield was a lab experiment..
My expectation for this year are high..Braves and Mets are still very good..should be a very entertaining year
Hopefully this works out. I’m still curious what the Phillies will do for OF depth after the trade with Detroit and since Harper will be out half the season and may not be able to play in the field for longer than that. Guthrie and Cave don’t inspire great confidence.