The Marlins are in agreement on a minor league deal with shortstop José Iglesias, report Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link). The MVP Sports Group client gets a non-roster invitation to big league camp. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported this afternoon the sides were in discussions.
Iglesias has played parts of 11 seasons at the big league level. He’s spent the bulk of the past decade as a regular shortstop on the strength of his glove, earning an All-Star nod during the 2015 campaign while with the Tigers. Iglesias rated highly as a defender from public metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average earlier in his career, but his numbers have turned down in recent years.
DRS has pegged him as a below-average shortstop in each of the past three seasons, with particularly ghastly marks during a 2021 campaign split between the Angels and Red Sox. Statcast hasn’t been quite so bearish but pegged him as an average to slightly below par shortstop of late. At age 33, Iglesias’ best days as a defender appear to be behind him, but he’s continued to play his way into regular work at the infield’s most demanding position.
That included 975 2/3 frames with the Rockies last season. Signed to a $5MM guarantee last offseason, Iglesias spent one year in Denver. He hit .292/.328/.380 over 467 plate appearances. Iglesias only managed three home runs despite playing his home games at the sport’s most hitter-friendly venue. He paired that with a modest 3.6% walk rate that tamped down his on-base percentage, but he continued his career-long track record of putting the ball in play and running a high batting average.
Iglesias kept his strikeouts to a very modest 12% clip and put the bat on the ball with 87.5% of his swings. Both marks were around ten percentage points better than the respective league averages. Iglesias hasn’t struck out in even 15% of his trips to the dish in any season since 2013. The high-singles approach has been a hallmark throughout his career, as he carries a .279/.319/.392 line in a little more than 4000 plate appearances.
Miami has prioritized finding hitters with plus bat-to-ball skills all offseason. The Fish signed Jean Segura to a two-year free agent deal and acquired defending AL batting champion Luis Arraez from Minnesota in the Pablo López trade. Miami agreed to a minor league deal with Yuli Gurriel just minutes before their agreement with Iglesias was reported. Miami made clear before the winter got underway they were seeking batters who could take advantage of the large gaps in their home ballpark with high-contact profiles, and that’s played out in their offseason acquisitions.
Whether it’ll be enough to invigorate an offense that has been the club’s Achilles heel remains to be seen. Gurriel and Iglesias have each come at virtually no acquisition cost, as neither will even secure an immediate roster spot. Both seem to have strong chances of cracking the big league club out of camp as veterans who were among the highest-profile players still unsigned.
If Iglesias got to the MLB level, he’d add an experienced shortstop to a roster that currently is without one. Miami traded de facto team captain Miguel Rojas to the Dodgers in January. The deal brought back shortstop prospect Jacob Amaya but he’s likely ticketed for Triple-A Jacksonville to start the season. The immediate plan is to move utility infielder Joey Wendle — who has just 647 2/3 MLB innings at shortstop over parts of seven years — to the position. Segura is expected to slide to third base, with Arraez moving back to second base in deference to first baseman Garrett Cooper.
Finally a backup 1B to spell Cooper.
Amazing how it took this long for him to get signed. Given the lack of shifting, I’m thinking he’ll be better in the field even if his overall range is less than others.
No that was the DH who was a catcher
Loading…
Finally fixed for me. I had so much value to add but couldn’t. I know I was greatly missed.
Wow! Thought I had been blocked. Whew!
WOW!!!
Yuli and Iggy as help improve the bench for the fish. No more calling up and down someone 20 times or whatever they did a few years ago.
Kim Ng – queen of minor league deals.
Its a good fit for Iggy. He may not start, but he will get a good amount of playing time.
Cham you missed the boat…… again!
Yeah honestly he would have been nice depth. Kike full time at SS seems like a mistake and Mondesi is great but injury prone.
And if the Red Sox signed him, the narrative wouldve been ‘another over-the-hill player’. Red Sox cant win.
Iglesias’s competition wouldve been:
Christian Arroyo – OPS 1.000
Ryan Fitzgerald – OPS 1.044
Adalberto Mondesi – Still recovering from off-season surgery
David Hamilton – OPS .644
I dont see the value in waiving another player off the roster to make room for him, especially if you have young competition like this.
I love Iggy, and he was unbelievably huge in 2021, but I think we should continue to introduce some kids into the lineup, when the opportunity is there.
JB: Just as I said about Hunter Renfroe, Iggy has been with 6 teams in the past 5 years, even though he hasnt been that bad. Now he has to sign a minor league deal with the Marlins? Theres more to the story than what hits the newspapers/internet.
Joe – this would be a great year to toss kids into the breach, have something positive come of it.
Several of us had been advocating for Iggy all offseason, and I recall there were a few speculative of the cost being a preventative factor.
Well, now we know. I still think Kiki in the OF and Iggy in the IF would be a better look to things. Even with mondesi in the fold.
Interesting that some of these older players who might have been on a top 50 (or at least an honorable mention) are signing late, for a lot less, and occasionally not even for a guaranteed roster spot. There’s a tremendous amount of “risky” spending (like Rondon and DeGrom but that at least comes with the hope of upside. These veterans might end up being a steal, but more likely the market is valuing them as replaceable lottery tickets.
Iglesias and Gurriel may reconsider their agent representation..
Gurriel is old and Iglesias oldish whose defensive calling card is no longer there. Sometimes the player holds out for more, not realizing at that age leverage is low if they reject a couple mil offer.
If Gurriel is replacing Groshans, which seems a good idea.
That makes Iglesias replacement for Jon Berti. Not sure I’m convinced of that. Defensive downgrade, huge loss of speed on the bases and an average pretty certain to be a lot less considering he’s moving from Coors to Loandepot looks like a bigger subtraction than possible addition
Berti will be backing up the OF’ers. Iglesias will probably platoon with Wendle at SS
There is room for Berti, too.
1B Cooper, Gurriel
2B Arraez
SS Wendell, Iglesias
3B Segura
RF Avisail Garcia
DH Soler
CF Jazz
LF De La Cruz, Sanchez
C Fortes, Stallings
Util Berti
SP Alcantara
SP Luzardo
SP Rogers
SP Cueto
SP Braxton
CL Floro
SU Scott
SU Puk
SU Barnes
@ mannyBeingMVP
I thought a roster is 26. 13 position and 13 pitching
I have 14 position players and 9 pitchers. If the roster is 25, there would be two more pitchers. I’m just not sure which two.
I’m liking this team. I’m gonna say it’ll be an 83-79 season…
This team has the best pitcher in baseball. Depth but no stars for offense. Adequate starters 2-5 although I am unsure about Cueto. The change in ballpark should help him. I think Floro is ok but not good as closer, but better than Scott or Barnes. Puk is a great add as a multi-inning reliever.
I see a huge bounceback for Soler and mini-bounceback for Avisail.
I will predict 75-87 for the Fish.
Figured Dodgers would have picked him up
Marlins literally traded a similar player in Rojas for a controllable prospect. Good play by Ng
Yep, they essentially got Rojas equivalent now with Iglesias, and Rojas future with Amaya.
He played a lot of 2nd with the Red Sox in 2021 and his glove and bat were a nice late season addition to a horrible team.
Yes, making it to the ALCS is one of the truest hallmarks of a horrible team
Not a bad strategy by Kim Ng. Stock the roster with high contact hitters and hope the offense will follow. So why did the team invest in power hitters last year, given their ballpark?
If even one of Soler/Stallings/Avi can get back on track this is gonna look like a decent offense.
Good day for the Marlins with both additions. Solid additions that stabilize both 1B and SS.