The Marlins have made a batch of roster moves, per their transactions tracker at MLB.com. Left-hander Braxton Garrett and infielder Garrett Hampson were recalled from the minors, while left-hander Daniel Castano had his contract selected. In corresponding moves, right-hander Johnny Cueto was placed on the 15-day injured list with right biceps tightness, infielder Joey Wendle was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right intercostal strain and right-hander Jeff Lindgren was designated for assignment. Craig Mish of the Miami Herald reported some of these moves earlier today (Twitter links).
Cueto, 37, signed a one-year, $8.5MM deal with the Marlins this offseason, with that deal containing a club option for 2024. The veteran had a strong bounceback in 2022 after struggling with injuries and underperformance in the preceding seasons. With the White Sox last year, he tossed 158 1/3 innings with a 3.35 ERA. He struck out just 15.7% of batters he faced but limited walks to a tiny 5.1% rate. He made his debut with the Marlins last night but departed after throwing just 30 pitches, having already allowed four runs while recording only three outs.
It’s unclear how long the club expects Cueto to be out of action but this IL placement indicates it will be at least a couple of weeks. In his absence, they should still have a strong front four of Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Trevor Rogers and Edward Cabrera. Garrett opened in the season in a long relief role but was optioned just yesterday. He’d normally have to wait 15 days before rejoining the team but an exception is made when someone is placed on the injured list. He will likely jump into the back of the rotation after posting a 3.58 ERA in 17 starts last year.
Lindgren, 26, was only just added to the roster yesterday. When Cueto departed with his injury, Lindgren stepped in and tossed five innings of emergency long relief, allowing four earned runs, four walks and three hits without recording a strikeout. The Fish will have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He tossed 136 2/3 innings in the minors last year with a 4.21 ERA, 20% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate.
Since Lindgren tossed 80 pitches last night, he likely wouldn’t have been available for a few days. In his stead, Castano will likely take over the long man gig. The left-hander has thrown 85 2/3 innings for the Marlins over the previous three seasons, posting a 3.89 ERA despite a 12% strikeout rate. He’s kept his walks down to a 7.5% clip and gotten grounders on 44.5% of balls in play. He was designated for assignment in January when Cueto’s signing became official but cleared waivers and stuck with the organization, now getting his roster spot back. He tossed six innings in a Triple-A start on Friday and should be able to eat some innings if needed.
Wendle, 33 later this month, was bumped up to the club’s top shortstop option with this offseason’s trade of Miguel Rojas to the Dodgers. Wendle sat out last night’s game due to oblique soreness, which has now been diagnosed as a strain. It’s not known how long he is expected to be out but even mild oblique/intercostal strains can lead to weeks-long absences.
With Wendle on the shelf, the Fish will likely turn to Jon Berti and Hampson to cover the shortstop position. The latter had spent his entire career with the Rockies until he was non-tendered at the end of last season. The Marlins signed him to a minor league deal and then selected him to the 40-man in mid-March to prevent him from triggering an opt-out. Hampson has never hit much, posting a career batting line of .235/.296/.370 despite playing half his games at Coors Field. But he does have 52 stolen bases in 419 career games and the ability to play all over the field. He’s played the three infield positions to the left of first base as well as some time in center and left.
Lind green welcomed to the show and then a quick DFA.
It shows a lack of confidence in the rest of the pitching staff of 13 when you have to ship someone out because they cant pitch multiple innings for a couple days. Do you have no confidence in your starters lasting? Can no one else in the bullpen pitch multiple innings? Sad!
I don’t blame Marlin players. I blame the front administration, namely GM and scouts for taking team to sucking to whole new levels. Really tough and embarrassing to be a fan. They have not hit but a couple (at best) of trades and/or draft choices. I thought Mike Hill was as bad as it gets and how I was wrong.
@george c
I too thought that there was no way that anyone could be as bad as Hill and certainly not worse, but Ng has shown that it was indeed possible.
This season is over. I saw that during the first game. Sadly, the second year in a row that I saw our season was done after Game 1 of the season. The flaws are there, and this year is now worse with a faulty defense to go with the problems of the hitting and bullpen the last two years.
I think you need to give a GM a few years, since you have no idea about the draft picks & international signings.
But the Marlins had 5 SPs that could easily start for the RS, and Perez, Meyer & Sixto in the minors. What was the point in signing the 37 year old Cueto?
@JoeBrady
Ng has been the GM since the 2020-21 offseason, She has set the franchise backward with many questionable moves, bad decisions, and even in her hiatus from activity from last year’s trade deadline until we were weeks from pitchers and catchers reporting. And to make things worse, is along the way, she makes sure to not miss her interviews, public appearances and other self-promoting items.
She’s had her chance and has failed pretty poorly.
With Cueto, it was to bring another pitcher in to not put pressure on some of the young arms for when she would eventually trade Pablo Lopez. However, you have a solid point, but that also calls into question another one of Ng’s decisions.
All the young guys pitched in 2022. Cabrera had the lowest IPs with 71.2 IPs in 14 starts. IMO, there was no reason to not go with a rotation of Alcantara, Rogers, Luzardo, Garrett & Cabrera. Except for Rogers, they all pitched well, so it wasn’t a matter of more minor league development.
And the idea of signing a FA pitcher, so you could trade an existing pitcher, I’ve just never seen that work out.
I was just pointing out what Ng’s line of thinking seems to have been.
Again, as you point out, another reason to question Ng’s decision making.
Does Cueto still have a mop for hair? Haven’t seen him in a while.
5 games in and I’m just watching because of my love of baseball and the Marlins. We’re looking at possibly losing 100 games this year. I don’t care how ell our SPs pitch, other than Arraez, Jazz and a couple of other pieces, the rest of the team is a mess.
And don’t look now, but Brian Anderson looks healthy in Milwaukee.
Youre right about one thing, dont look now. Instead, look at the end of the season when his OPS is again sub 750. Only way he is having any type of productive season is if MLB juiced the ball again.
Don’t look now, but Brian Anderson hit 2 HRs tonight.
I’m not saying he’s Mike Schmidt or comparable to Nolan Arenado, but every team can’t have those guys. But when you’re a limited budget team, and you can have a nice player who is a nominee to lose the GG to Arenado, you keep that guy.
Look at whatever numbers you want for Anderson, but at the end of the year, compare what we get offensively and defensively out of 3B to what Anderson does in both categories. Considering that it was Ng that nixed the extension discussions in the 2020-21 offseason that the Marlins were in with him before she was hired, this may not end well for Ng considering all of her other questionable decisions in running the team.
But when you’re a limited budget team, and you can have a nice player who is a nominee to lose the GG to Arenado, you keep that guy.
===========================
I didn’t quite get that move either. I like Segura well enough, and was hoping my RS would go after him, and the $$$ are reasonable.
But the guy has virtually no experience at 3B. It shouldn’t make too much difference, but do you really want a 33 year old to learn a new position?
If Anderson stays healthy this year, and continues with what he’s been doing and his pre-2021 track, this is going to look really ugly for Ng…especially if Segura doesn’t work out at 3B.
Segura should’ve been an addition for 2B. Arraez should be on 1B. I can accept trying Jazz in CF, but I would’ve preferred him at SS. Anderson should be on 3B, with Wendle as his backup. Cooper should be wearing another uniform.
Would they be any worse if the played Cooper, Segura, Chisholm & Anderson in the IF? Sign Duvall to play CF? It just feels to me like too many moving pieces.
With Cooper instead of Arraez? Yes, they would be worse because Cooper will take his annual leave on the IL during the season while Arraez has played. Also, Arraez is part of what the Marlins hope Cooper will give them with the batting average. For the rest, Arraez is also better because he stays on the field.
The rest works. It would’ve been an easier transition for Jazz to move over to SS than it is for CF. Duvall would’ve been nice for CF, but I’m more inclined to have fiven the role to de la Cruz because of youth, upside, and a potential learning curve for him because, unlike Sanchez last year, de la Cruz actually has some tools that can convert him into a passable or even above-average CF.
But hey, at least you guys will have a high team batting average with Arraez and Yuli. Isn’t a high batting average the ultimate goal anyway?
I don’t recall anyone saying that it’s the ultimate goal. Having an effective offense is the ultimate goal. In order to do that, you need a mix of offensive types. Guys that can hit for average are a key part to an effective lineup because pitchers that throw strikes are still getting hit by guys like Arraez and Jeff McNeril types. Guys that can’t hit, but keep the bat glued to their shoulders hoping for a walk are only effective against pitchers that are struggling with the strikezone. The minute they face a pitcher that is pounding the strikezone, those OBP guys that can’t hit are neutralized. When you make the playoffs, guess what type of pitchers you face on the good teams – guys that throw strikes and pound the strikezone because the teams loaded with pitchers that struggle with control don’t make the postseason. Pitchers that throw strikes have a hard time neutralizing guys that can hit for average.
Personally, I think a lot of these GMs are missing golden opportunities when you consider how batting average is underrated now. If I’m a GM in this era, I’d try to build a starting lineup with all the guys that hit .300 or .290+. I guarantee a lineup with that ain’t struggling to score runs.
You want them to build a team that hits .290+ and yet youre complaining about how they let Brian Anderson go and just last week you were saying how you couldnt wait for them to rid themselves of Garrett Cooper? Both of those guys are injury prone, which is one of your complaints about Cooper, but guess which one is closer to that .290 hitter you believe teams should stock up on.
Like I said, not everyone can have studs. Anderson, we know is really good when he’s healthy. Cooper is a ‘meh’ kind of player when he’s healthy, which is not very often.
And while I do want a bunch of .290+, even as batting average is undervalued now, do you think Ng would be the GM to make that happen? I’m being realistic about our situation versus what would be ideal for me to see the Marlins try.
He is NOT “really good” at all! He is a guy who had a couple decent seasons at a time when MLB was using a live ball, and when you compare him to other players during that same time frame he is a “meh” player. Hell, even Mark Canha managed to hit 26 HRs in 2019, and his next highest total both before and after is a whopping 17. For a better understanding of how juiced the ball was, Yuli hit 31 that year. Anderson is NOT good, he was barely a product of the ball the league was using.
Well, we’ll see how Anderson does this season. That should settle this.
And sorry, but Cooper should not be on our roster either. The guy has been given a ridiculously embarrassing level of job security for such an injury-prone ‘meh’ player.
Id prefer to see them both gone. Im just not sure how you can give anderson the benefit of doubt of “when healthy he is” but then call cooper an injury prone meh player, when in reality healthy or not all the advanced metrics point to cooper actually being the slightly better of the 2. Either way, you cant use one guys injuries as an excuse while burying the other for injuries.
For me, it’s simple when I compare the two with benefit of the doubt.
Brian Anderson = 29 years old.
Garrett Cooper = 32 years old.
I have to admit, I can’t argue with neither of them being on the team. I’d actually be fine with that and would prefer guys that historically do stay healthy.
Cracks me up when a pitcher gets bombed then immediately placed on the DL. The question is always are they actually hurt or are they just struggling and they come up with something to give them a rest and reset?
It all depends on whether the doctors find something.
Either way, there’s still an injury. If the doctors find something, then it’s what the doctors find. If the doctors don’t find something, then it’s clearly a case of labial growth.
BTW, hitters do it too when they are in slumps that are bringing their batting average, OBP, SLG, and OPS numbers down.
Cueto’s “highlight” was his walk onto the mound when they announced his signing.