When the Marlins shipped a pair of intriguing young prospects to New York in order to acquire veteran right-hander David Robertson from the Mets, it was a statement of intent to contend by Miami, as they acquired perhaps the top rental reliever available at this year’s trade deadline. It was Robertson’s second time being dealt at the deadline in as many years, as the 38-year-old veteran was swapped from the Cubs to the Phillies in exchange for pitching prospect Ben Brown 13 months ago. Sporting a 2.23 ERA in 40 1/3 innings of work at the time of that deal, Robertson went on to post similarly excellent numbers in Philadelphia with a 2.70 ERA in 22 regular season appearances down the stretch and just one run allowed in his eight postseason appearances as the Phillies headed to the World Series for the first time since 2009.
At the time of this year’s deal, Robertson was having an even better season, with a 2.05 ERA in 44 innings of work with a 27.9% strikeout rate. Unfortunately for the Marlins, he hasn’t been the shutdown closer they were expecting in ten appearances with the club. He’s posted a brutal 7.20 ERA and 6.17 FIP in ten innings since joining Miami, with just four saves in seven chances. Those brutal results have led the Marlins to remove their veteran deadline addition from the closer role entirely, according to Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. Mish suggests Tanner Scott, who sports a 2.59 ERA and 2.12 FIP in 59 innings of work this season, could replace Robertson as the club’s closer moving forward.
The move reflects the dire situation Miami finds itself in after a difficult August; at the time of the Robertson deal, the club was 54-49 and firmly in the mix for one of the NL Wild Card spots. Since then, the Marlins have gone just 12-16, falling to 65-64 and three games back of the third Wild Card spot. While that’s hardly an insurmountable deficit with more than a month to go in the season, the club is facing playoff odds of just 19.4% at this point per Fangraphs, far worse than their 49.3% odds on the day of the Robertson deal.
More from the NL East…
- Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies has been on the 10-day injured list since earlier this month with a hamstring strain, but could already be nearing a return. Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution relayed an update regarding Albies this evening, indicating that Atlanta will “see just how well he feels” tomorrow after a successful workout this afternoon. When Albies is ready to go, it seems he’ll be activated from the injured list directly, as Toscano notes that manager Brian Snitker has previously indicated the infielder won’t require a rehab assignment before returning to action. Albies, who sports a 121 wRC+ in 510 trips to the plate this season, has been covered for by Nicky Lopez and Vaughn Grissom at the keystone while he’s been on the shelf.
- The Nationals announced this afternoon that the club had optioned outfielder Blake Rutherford to Triple-A. Rutherford, a 26-year-old journeyman and former first-round pick by the Yankees who made his MLB debut with Washington earlier this month, slashed just .182/.206/.182 in 34 trips to the plate with the Nationals prior to his demotion. Rutherford’s demotion sparked rumors regarding who would replace him on the active roster, with both Bobby Blanco and Mark Zuckerman of MASN indicating that the club could look to promote catching prospect Drew Millas. Millas, the club’s 23rd-best prospect per MLB Pipeline, is a defensive-first catcher who has impressed with the bat this season, batting .291/.390/.442 in 328 trips to the plate this season between the Double-A and Triple-A levels.
Dear goodness, it’s scary to see Tanner Scott back as our Closer. And with what I’ve seen, I’m not sure if it’s Robertson that should’ve been removed from the Closer role (or really any pitcher). It should be Stallings removed from working with a Closer in Save situations. For some reason, Puk and Robertson in the weeks before the Marlins acquired Robertson to replace Puk, and with robertson since, there has been a problem with locating pitches in bad spots that are very hittable with Stallings back there. And yesterday’s game, we same the same, but the lead was blown when Stallings drops a ball pitched right into his glove. I think it’s more of a Stallings issue with pitchers being out of whack with him back there. Even Alcantara has had his struggles this year.
While Stallings is a vet with a solid past, and did ok earlier this season, I think due to his age, he’s become fatigued, which has led to possible inability to cover everything with blocking pitches, and with the pitchers knowing it or Stallings calling more catchable pitches, whatever the reason is, pitchers have gotten more hittable with location as the season has gone on with him back there. After Alcantara’s final start this year, the Marlins should begin early and drop Stallings to start looking at someone from the farm. Definitely bring someone not named Alfaro up in September to get some work in and show what they’ve got.
Tanner Scott is always a puckering experience
AJ Puk is always a Pukering experience too
Tanner Scott is a cause of hypertension in South Florida…heart disease when combined with empanadas.
It can’t be fun for NYM fans watching Danny Mendick right now – but Cohen made the right move dealing and assumably reloading for next year.
It’s not fun watching the Mets,period! I’ve had less pain getting a tooth extracted than watching the 2023 Mets post trade deadline. Just awful!
At least the Mets have a future…the Marlins have zero understanding of asset management
@formerlyz
Come on, I don’t think we’re that bad. Even with my criticism of Ng, I don’t think even she and her team could mismanage a roster like the Mets did if she was able to spend $370+ million. I don’t even think Mike Hill could screw that up. OK, maybe my mention of Mike Hill was hyperbole on my part. But I don’t think the Marlins could’ve screwed up $370+ million of spending on payroll. It takes a special sort of incompetence to do that.
And to add, does anyone really think that a team that screwed up spending $370+ million in payroll would be any better at picking the right prospects from trades?
The Mets farm system is infinitely better than the Marlins right now, especially after the trades they made. They have way more assets to play with, they have an actual core in the big leagues, and then they have a crazy billionaire willing to spend that much on filling spots they need, if necessary, either in FA, or through trades
It doesnt take much to see that, even if you don’t think the Marlins are in the position I’m talking about yet
@brooklyn62
Look at the bright side. The Mets 2023 season will be the sequel for a book in two book franchises that cobine together – kind of like those Marvel movies.
2023 Mets: The Worst Team Money Can Buy With the Advisement of the Maverick’s Moneyball
Nick Castellanos and Brandon Marsh must’ve
broke him or smth
The Mets spent more this season than any other American professional sports team in history and are in dead last, behind the Nationals, a team that is actually tanking.
We all know that. At least the Mets are better at tanking.
It’s awesome! Like watching a luxury liner slowly sink!
Too soon. The titanic just happened 111 years ago.
@brooklyn62
Good metaphor, but I feel it is a little different. It seems like the Mets were a luxury liner that hired a bunch of guys that were respinsible for the sinking of other ships and a couple of inflatable rafts, who then hired a bunch of ship staff that were either ready for retirement, or not competent at the roles they would be expected to do, or just flat out should not be serving on a ship or anything that floats.
@OldDerb. I hate to tell you this but there are a LOT of us that think that thought just never gets old. It’s historic. If you’re tired of people talking about that then buckle up because people haven’t stopped talking about the Astros scandal either. We’re all going to be astonished for a very long time.
@Yeti
How is going 17 Wins -8L in August “tanking”. I’m curious how you come up with that….
They did sell at the trade deadline which is what tankers do. I don’t think having one good month means a whole lot. I suppose you could argue they JUST shifted their intentions but I would need to see more.
Point taken, but the Nationals actually aren’t tanking right now.
Robertson seems destined for the glue factory. You had a decent run, pal.
It’s 10 innings fool.
12-26 I think since the all star break…as I’ve said, it’s an instant replay of 2014-2017
This is exactly where I said the Marlins would be. The moment Arraez wasnt hitting .400, what happened? The moment the bullpen didnt get away with certain things they did in the first half, what happened? What happened after trading so much of the supposed pitching depth? That’s right they need SPs…
None of this is a revelation, and the farm system is now a clown show once again. As I’ve continued to say, unless they get super lucky somehow, trading off pieces in the next year or so is going to have to happen again. Tell me when I’ve told any lies
I resigned myself to this fact a long time ago. The last 3.5 years have been a clown show by this organization, the same way it has been for 20+ years.
People werent paying attention in the first half. The offense was propped up by a guy hitting near .400, and production from only 5 guys at most. Even in the 1st half, they scored 4 or fewer runs in 55 of their 92 games and still somehow managed to win 53 of them. That pace was never going to be sustainable. Coupled with the schedule getting harder, they have now scored 4 or fewer in 27 of their 39 games following the break and their pitching cant keep up against the better offenses they are currently facing.
Seeing Robertson and Rutherford mentioned in the same article reminds me of a time when Cashman used to make good trades.
Marlins sinking just like I figured they would. They don’t have the depth. Looks like they won’t be playing meaningful baseball in September. Not that anyone notices a thing that they do anyway.