The Marlins announced that they have placed right-hander Sandy Alcantara on the 15-day injured list with a right forearm flexor strain. Also, outfielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler going on the 10-day injured list due to a right oblique strain and right-hander Geoff Hartlieb has been designated for assignment. Outfielder Dane Myers and right-hander Edward Cabrera have been recalled while left-hander Devin Smeltzer had his contract selected.
It’s a batch of unfortunate and ill-timed news for the Marlins, who are in the thick of a playoff race. They haven’t qualified for the playoffs in a full season since 2003 but have a chance this year, currently just half a game behind the Reds for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. The club hasn’t provided any specifics about the expected absences but it seems possible they might have to undergo the rest of the race without either their best pitcher or their best power hitter.
Alcantara is one of the best pitchers in the sport when at his peak, which he showed last year. He finished 2022 with a 2.28 earned run average over 228 2/3 innings, earning the National League Cy Young in the process. He struck out 23.4% of batters, walked just 5.6% and kept the ball on the ground at a 53.4% rate. Here in 2023, his ERA has jumped to 4.14, but he seemed to have righted the ship after a rough start. He had a 5.08 ERA through June 21 but has a much more palatable 3.13 ERA since then. Soler, meanwhile, is an incredibly inconsistent hitter but is one of the best in the league when on a heater. He has 35 home runs this year and is slashing .240/.329/.513 overall for a wRC+ of 124.
Subtracting that arm from the pitching staff and that bat from the lineup is obviously less than ideal, especially when considering the timing. There’s just over three weeks remaining in the regular season, which doesn’t give either player much time to get healthy before it could be too late. Further updates will undoubtedly come after more tests, but both injuries are worrisome. Oblique strains are notoriously frustrating and can often keep players sidelined for weeks, even in mild cases.
A flexor strain, meanwhile, can be even more serious. Both Dustin May of the Dodgers and Drew Rasmussen of the Rays were diagnosed with flexor strains earlier this year before each required season-ending surgery. That’s not to say that Alcantara is necessarily going to follow the same path, but it shows the potential severity of today’s news.
Looking ahead to the winter, Alcantara won’t be significantly impacted from a financial perspective as he signed an extension that runs through 2026 with a club option for 2027. Soler, on the other hand, has one year and $9MM remaining on his deal but can opt out at season’s end. Assuming he is healthy, he should be able to top that guarantee on the open market based on his strong season and the lack of impact bats available this winter.
For now, it seems as though Cabrera will jump into the rotation to replace Alcantara. The 25-year-old posted a 4.79 ERA in 17 starts earlier this year, with an unsightly 15.4% walk rate, before getting optioned down to the minors. In five Triple-A starts since then, he has a 2.22 ERA with a 10.6% walk rate that’s still high but a marked improvement over his major league results this year.
Hartlieb, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Marlins in the offseason and had his contract selected a month ago. He’s only been able to get into two big league games in that time, spending much of it on optional assignment. He has a 3.29 ERA in 38 1/3 Triple-A innings this year, with a 25.3% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and 44.7% ground ball rate. He has less than two years of service time but will be out of options next year. The Marlins will place him on waivers in the coming days. If he were to clear, he would have the right to elect free agency by virtue of having a previous career outright.
Smeltzer, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Marlins in the offseason and has been on and off their roster all year. This is the fourth time the club has selected his contract this season, with each of the previous three instances eventually resulting in him being designated for assignment and accepting an outright assignment. He’s tossed 18 2/3 innings for the club this year with a 5.79 ERA, 18.1% strikeout rate, 4.8% walk rate and 32.8% ground ball rate.
Craig Mish and Jordan McPherson, both of the Miami Herald, relayed the details of these transactions prior to the official club announcement.
Ruh-roh. Has he had TJ before?
No need. Take 2 Aleve a day until the symptoms stop. He’ll be fine.
Or just rub some dirt on it?
Spray it with Windex!
Put some Tussin on it!
Spit some chewing tobacky on it.
I thought it was Advil. I remember Nolan Ryan telling us in the 90s.
Advil, huh? Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret I learned back in grade school.
What you gonna wanna do is take two of them Advil, slap’em onto a big hunk of duct tape, and then put those Advil on the duct tape against your arm and then wrap it up real tight with more duct tape around your arm.
Don’t worry if you wrap your arm so tight that it goes white—that’s a good thing. It means your medicine’s workin.
This is called “time release” pain medication. As time passes that Advil is gonna release into your arm. You’re gonna feel a whole lot better and if they have to take the arm well then your arm wasn’t meant to be healed.
NO!!!!!
marlinsfan818: Hopefully Burger can hit enough “Burger Bombs” to make up somewhat for the loss of Soler.
this usually bodes ill
Boding is not good.
Ill even worse.
Screenshot sent to my friend, Mister Boding!
The ever dreaded forearm strain. Hoping for the best. Hate when stud pitchers are gone for a whole year plus.
The good news is rest is sometimes all that’s required. I though for sure Shane Bieber was gonna need TJS, but now CLE is projecting him to rejoin the rotation around 9/20.
Didn’t Masahiro Tanaka avoid TJS as well just rehabbing? Surgery isn’t always the answer.
I think so but his was only a slight tear if I’m not mistaken.
“It’s just a flesh wound”
totally sucks
Too bad! I love Alcantra but thought he’d been pitching through something. Such a loss. For the Marlins, fans, and my playoff fantasy baseball team
Prayers and well wishes sent to both players…now we sit and wait for the healing.
Hired Gun:Maybe a kind evangelist will lay hands on them and heal them in one service. Just as good as praying. “Crying won’t help you, praying won’t do you no good.”
Hallelujah! (as I crack open a cold beer)…
Clown Show
For injuries?
For how they run things. Soler should have just been put on the DL to begin with. Guy was out for however many days, w9th his hip, was still bothering him as he had said, and then immediately hurts his oblique, which has been an issue for him many times in the past
Sandy started looking like he was laboring a little bit about 4 starts ago. I even said at one point that I noticed more effort in his delivery than ever before. There is more to it, but I just dealt with something extremely infuriating personally, so I dont want to get into it, but honestly, the way the organization has handled everything the last 3.5 years, and especially this last 2, is incomprehensible…
Honestly, if they were trading Pablo, especially for the thousandth 2nd baseman on the roster that needs to hit .400 to have any value, they should have just traded everything else, instead of what I had said about another year. Instead, their farm system is an even bigger clown show, and they traded more pieces from that to do nothing, and out them in the same position they were in before this whole thing started 6 years ago, with an instant replay of 2014-2017
Honestly, give me a reason why we didnt even give certain young pieces opportunities back in like June…give me a tangible reason why Xavier Edward’s is just now getting in the lineup, and why we havent seen the others at all. Give me a reason Joey Wendle is still here when he should have been traded last year in June. Give me a reason why we havent seen even a couple of the young arms close to the big leagues, when pitching has been an issue, and they’re desperate for depth…give me a reason why Jazz is still in CF, a pitch away from getting injured again, or injuring someone else. I can keep going…
The reason is: CLOWN SHOW
Nobody’s reading all that incoherent crap
B/c nobody passed the 2nd grade, and have any comprehension, or critical thinking, skills…He asked a question, and I answered
You spend your lives on social media looking for your gotcha moments, like this comment. Congrats. You’re so cool. Here are your cool points. Social media is a sickness
@formerlyz
Just seeing this now because I’m out of town.
Well, obviously we all are holding our breaths about the Sandy thing. The one thing that I can say there, is that we do know that he has been off this year. If there was a problem that the team could see earlier, clearly they should have, and certainly not have had him continuing to eat innings. I’m sure more information will come if there’s something that occure there.
With Soler, it was pretty bad that he was hurt, then he’s brought back to go on the IL. That obviously comes from poor evaluation or lack of communicating with the player to assess that he may have been lying about how badly he was hurt. Clearly part of a team’s leasdership is often saving hurt players from themselves. Something obviously wrong with how Soler went on the IL.
The Pablo trade is debabtable. With teh trading of everything else, I guess that’s more of all of us having our opinions, which all of us will see things differently. I think we all agree that the Marlins should not be all in for win-now mode since we aren’t really there, but we’ll all have our opinions about what we should be doing in contrast. We’ll see how it all turns out. Could be the replay or something different. I’m intrigued to see what happens beyond this year with the roster. Unlike before, there is a plan – whether it is a good one or not, time will tell. But there is a plan – clown show or ingenious.
As for Wendle, you my thoughts on it and I;m pretty sure nearly all of us Marlins fans have bashed Ng for dropping the ball at last year’s trade deadline and Winter Meetings and all the way until it was weeks before pitchers and catchers reporting, and the Marlins FanFest. I don’t think any of us argue that and all are in agreement there and have bashed that in many ways…and about the many players she didn’t trade that we all expected would be…and the fecal storm of incompetence there showed when she let Aguilar go for nothing after they didn’t trade him at the deadline to clear space for the young players to come up so we can see what they could do.
As for reasons related to not giving certain young players opportunituies, you know I feel the same way as you do about this – both with position players at certain positions, and pitchers that could’ve been given the chance to fill our Closer role. So, no reason I can see other than veterans blocking them – but essentially veterans that are worthless to our team, whcih leads to your Wendle question.
Wendle clearly is done. Unfortunately, like many GMs do, Ng wants to play the guy instead of facing that she made a mistake there, just like Stallings being on the roster and taking playing time away from Fortes, and the same way that Avi Garcia does with taking playing time away from Sanchez. While some reasoning may fudged up, clearly there is no acceptable reason for these three players to be taking pklaying time away from any players, and that we shouldn’t have already moved on from Wendle and should move on from Stallings, especially if Alcantara is out for a while. And with Avi Garcia, they need to move him this offseason because that situation has all the ingredients to get ugly because we have no use for him, and players that situation can become disruptive – and we’re talking about a plyer who has a past history of causing major strife in a clubhouse and another player’s household.Someone with his character, even if his past was when he was young, a leopard rarely changes his spots. He can become a problem again.
With pitching, ir is one of those baffling things, but it also ties to my questions about those arms and our Closer issue as well.
As for Jazz, that a very good discussion at this point. There sre two things from what we see him at this point. He clearly should not be playing CF for a team looking to make the playoffs. He has some strong flaws that have resulted in gaffes that has hurt the team, injured himself and could have injured others. There is not doubt about this. But on the other hand, he has shown progress as the season has gone on. So now, the Marlins are at a point of, after this offseason, they have to determine whether they see enough progress that gives them the confidence to let him have a full offseason of working on it, and then seeing where he’s at come Spring Training…or do they abandon it completely, and return him to the infield. Cases can be made both ways. However, if they intend to try to contend for Wild Card spots or playoffs in general, if Jzz is at CF next year, it’s only because he has become passable as a CF. He’s clearly not that right now,. If he is not passable as a CF, Then the Marlins need to go get a CF, while moving Jazz to SS. That to me is job #1 this offseason because we need another bat – either at SS or CF depending where Jazz is playing, but we can’t have it where he’s failing at a position while we’re competing for a playoff spot. And I know it probably won’t be considered, I’d gauge the opinions/perspectives of both De La Cruz and Sanchez based on their work with Jazz and what they’ve seen when they’ve been ut there with him. We’ll see.
Crazy out of all of this, we may still make the playoffs despite all of this, and everything you’re concerned about.
And we need to accept the reality that, despite many of us (myself included) having wanted and kind of expected this would be Ng’s final season in Miami, the team competing, and her coming through at this year’s deadline (despite I still don’t like giving Watson in the Bell trade), she’ll be back in all likelihood, and she may be a contender for Executive of the Year (I know…crazy). All we can do is see what happens and see if she’s actually learning. One thing for sure…it’s hard to have a beef with what can be bashed when the team is competing for a playoff spot…even if it’s just luck or other factors.
Making the new version of the playoffs to lose in the first of a thousand rounds to whoever the 8th wild card is doesnt mean anything to me, and was never the objective
Sustainable winning is the objective
Well, the reality with the playoffs under the current structure, is that even the lowest seed can win it all in MLB. If you can make the playoffs MLB, you go for it in the best way your team is capable. This isn’t the NBA. It’s the NBA where the bottom playoff seeds have virtually no shot at winning the Finals. In MLB, any seed can win it all.
As for sustainablility, I’ve wondered about that. I do know that for sustainability, the Marlins will not be able to sign the highest priced free agents any time in the near future. They just don’t have the market and revenue for it at the moment. They have to build that up. Until then, they’ll have to build with their farm and affordable, good players…and build deep rosters that win through accumulation of good to solid talent since they’ll not be able to add or hold onto the Superstar talents right now (except for discounted ones). Obviously there are flaws with this team, but this year is progress whether that is accepted or not. We’ll just have to see what happens from here. They are a legit playoff team, which is what we’d want. The question is will it be sustainable? Nothing they did at the trade deadline hurt the posibility. They traded prospects which amount to worhtless ones for Robertson; Eder for Burger who was replaced with the acquisition of Weathers; and the one potential loss of propsect capital in Watson for Bell. Bell and Burger have improved our chances, especially with Burger being under control for awhile and filling a needed role for the team (3B and HRs). Bell is a good veteran, who is better, younger and historically more durable than the previous 1B we had. While the Marlins aren’t a juggernaut, there is progress. At this point, the next steps is to see what happens with Wendle, Stallings and Garcia. Obviously we know that these three deadweights need to be dumped off. And, of course, you have a valid reason for concern when considering that these three were the result of inept decisions – and more inept decision-making when the Marlins didn’t move them (among others) when they could have. But from my observation and opinion, the Marlins finally saw the light when they moved on from Cooper. This offseason, that may end up being the case with Wendle and, when they make an upgrade at Catcher, Stallings. And I’m pretty sure that with no space for Garcia, they’ll be exploring ways to move him too – perhaps in a deal similar to the Bell/Segura deal in which they move him as part of a contract acquisition from someone else as they may add a prospect to entice the team like they did with Watson to Cleveland.
Bell has historically been injured several times too
Also, I agree the playoffs in baseball allows for anything to happen, under normal circumstances, but you are forgetting the major law of life which is death, taxes, Braves beat the Marlins no matter what…especially now
Also, the Marlins dont currently have the pitching to potentially carry them through situations like that, as they did a couple of years ago, and they also have more guys that strikeout than would typically be conducive to winning in the playoffs
Jury is still out on Dax Harwood/Casey Mcghee jr, but I will admit he has been a lot better than anticipated in the short sample, though he still cant play defense
But again, none of that is the point I was making, as you’re aware of at this point, and I can tell you want to agree in a lot of areas. I get it. Its difficult b/c we want to be wrong. We want to believe we arent in the same cycle we’ve been in for 20+ years. We wanted to believe that when it came time to do the right things, we wouldnt be doing that in between type of stuff they did with Loria. At some point, reality has to set in. I wanted to be wrong 3.5 years ago when this stuff started. I wanted to be wrong a couple of years ago, but these last 2 years have kicked me in the groin too hard, the way I have too much experience feeling
The Marlins desperately need to somehow get lucky in multiple areas, and if they lose Sandy, I dont even think its remotely possible for that to be even in consideration any longer
Alcantara sounds like he’s cooked. All those innings. Not like the Marlins were going anywhere but that certainly sucks for them this year and probably next. Looks like another dud signing that will sink the non spending Marlins for years to come.
@Chris from NJ
Alcantara another “dud signing”? At least when you’re going to troll, show some sembance of actually seeming to come close to knowing something about a situation you’re commenting on. Marlins got Alcantara as part of the Ozuna trade to the Cardinals.
You clearly are one of those Mets fans whop don’t know anything outside of Mets land.
Alcantara aside from last year isnt a 500 pitcher he has about a 3.50 era outside of last year. And in marlin land it’s alot of money hes signed for. This will sink them. Just live Garcia and Dickerson. Soler up until this year all busts. Your delusional. Stop hating the Mets and everyone who is critical of your team. Id worry about that barren farm system. Everyone is up and your still not winning. And even when they are winning you don’t draw flies. You are the Marlins fan base!! Enjoy Jake Burger and an empty stadium.
Enjoy going to games to watch the fans. I’ll keep going to games to watch the games.
BTW…It’s hilarious that a Mets fan talks about a guy’s history when you guys overrate your players more than anyone.
It must be great being one of the 30 people there. You’ve got some issues. The crowd is part of the game and the atmosphere. You wouldn’t know that going to an empty stadium. Watching people? No you watch a game. No farm system no hope of ownership spending and your prospects that the Marlins have called up haven’t produced consistently. Now what? The Mets have a better farm and money to burn. How’s Bruce Sherman doing? Like I said above Dickerson,Garcia,Soler, now Alcantara. You can’t afford to make mistakes and constantly do. Even Alcantara they gave up on the wrong pitcher. Wouldn’t you rather have Gallen ? Again enjoy your empty stadium!!
Every time anyone says anything remotely negative about the Marlins, people dont want to admit its true, which is part of the reason this cycle continues, b/c our “fanbase” either accepts it or complains about the wrong things, like not spending money, which is not the issue, as you alluded to
As I’ve said before, the Mets situation is infinitely better than the Marlins right now. Its ridiculous to not see it, but anytime anyone points out truths, the conversation stops there. Basically, as I’ve said, the Marlins need to somehow get exponentially lucky in some ways, organizationally, in the next half of a seasonish, or it’s time to start over, which it probably was already this year
I’m not happy about it, obviously. I dont get where criticism turns into hating, when its true
It’s funny how you reveal a bit about yourself in your statement.
“The crowd is part of the game and the atmosphere. You wouldn’t know that going to an empty stadium.”
See, I wouldn’t know about that because I’m not in need of validation like every single crowd-follower is. I can enjoy something that I enjoy…whether it’s just me or an infinite amount of people enjoying the same thing. But for the person that needs validation and acknowledgment of whether he/she is enjoying something good, they need to be part of a large crowd to enjoy it.
Sorry kid. I don’t have that need. I don’t run with the crowd and I don’t use bandwagon reasoning like you clearly have and do.
But feel free to argue that your assertion that something is better enjoyed with a crowd is not a need for validation or acknowledgement, and a clear use of bandwagon reasoning. That should be entertaining.
I wish more people can figure this out. Popularity doesnt equal quality. That I unequivocally agree with. As a fan of certain pro wrestling companies, this is something that too many people cant seem to grasp. If I wanted to eat McDonald’s, I wouldnt have stopped eating fast food 15 years ago
That being said, south florida sports just dont have crowds that create the type of atmosphere you get elsewhere. It’s not just the Marlins. That’s just how it is here. They wait to react, instead of creating the electricity. Even a full Marlins park is that way. That’s why when you simply yell “lets go Marlins” in the 9th inning with the bases loaded in a 1 run game, you get looked at like an alien, and thrown out of the stadium and tackled by security…
@formerlyz Exactly. I don’t eat McDonald’s either.
It’s funny every single time those Mets fans yap that whole ‘at least we have fans in our stadium’ garbage, all the while not realizing what they reveal about themselves in those statements.
One thing about us Marlins fans, we don’t need validation. We watch our team through thick and thin…filled stadium or just us and the crickets chirping. We don’t need the things we enjoy validated, acknowledged, or be part of the whole ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ mentality that Mets fans fall into. And when our team stinks up the joint, we don’t disappear with a mass exodus like Mets fans do. We’re Marlins fans! We love our team! We will enjoy them no matter what! Even if we’re the only ones in the entire stadium!
Before medical and financial reasons the last few years, I went to between 50-72 games every year from the end of 1995 when I was barely 4 years old until 2019, and never, ever leave early
And even then, I went to the ballpark the day after having a full cornea transplant. I went the same day as having other surgery lol. Etc
The only reason I havent been able to go is I prefer to go with my father, who cant go to games b/c they changed the start times, and also doesmt want to do anything since the pandemic. It’s not the same without him
Exactly.
These are two tough injuries. Alcantara, even as he struggled, was eating up innings and resting the bullpen. Soler, while and all-or-nothing hitter, was providing power to work with the otehr pieces we have.
No use worrying about this, but still tough injuries to have to work around at this time of the year.
For me, they should make sure to offset this by telling Avi Garcia to go hiome for the rest of the year and take acob Stallings with him now that Alcantara is hurt.
“Meanwhile” can’t be in the middle of a sentence. Start the sentence with it. How do you screw this up twice in one piece?
You are a foolish boy aren’t you? So with your logic fan’s who attend games where other fans care enough to go the games are band wagon jumpers? And don’t tell me about band wagon jumpers. I’m a Mets fan!!! Nobody is jumping on that bandwagon!!I lived thru the last Yankee dynasty and there was a lot of jumping on that band wagon. You wouldn’t know what that is because again nobody cares about your Fish. If you enjoy going to an empty stadium where no one cares that’s good for you. I enjoy atmosphere. The assertation I was making and is correct is the Marlins don’t draw flies. There is no fan interest. The Mets being the @#it show they’ve been this past season are still getting people to come to their games which generates revenue, which a team needs to operate. You know that already. But you need to get some help. You have a major small man complex. I actually feel for you. Every year you have to hope everything breaks right and then maybe you have an outside chance. It must be tough and has turned you into a defensive and very envious fan. Your best hope is contraction.Did I reveal enough about myself Dr. Marlin?