The Marlins announced the acquisition of utility player Vidal Bruján and right-hander Calvin Faucher from the Rays. Miami is sending minor league infielder Erick Lara, right-hander Andrew Lindsey and a player to be named later to Tampa Bay. The Fish already had three openings on the 40-man roster, so no further moves were necessary.
Bruján is the biggest name in the deal. While the switch-hitting utilityman has yet to find much major league success, he was once a top prospect. The Dominican Republic native was a top 10 prospect in a strong Rays system at Baseball America each year from 2019-22. He ranked in the back half of BA’s top 100 overall minor league talents throughout that run.
Praised for his speed, bat-to-ball skills and defensive flexibility, Bruján fit the general profile that Tampa Bay prioritizes. Despite excellent minor league production, he never got much consistent run at the MLB level with the Rays. Bruján struggled when he did see relatively brief stints at the highest level in the last three seasons.
In 272 MLB plate appearances, the 25-year-old is a .157/.218/.221 hitter with three home runs. He has been far better at Triple-A Durham, hitting .273/.357/.450 over parts of three seasons. That includes a .272/.362/.477 slash with 10 home runs and 19 stolen bases (albeit with 14 times caught stealing) over 59 games for the Bulls this year.
Bruján has exhausted his minor league option years, so he’ll have to stick on the MLB roster next season. A Tampa Bay team deep in infield talent may not have been able to afford that opportunity, so they’ll clear a 40-man roster spot early in the offseason. Miami has a bit less bench depth and is without a clear answer at shortstop, where Jon Berti projects as the starter. While Bruján is unlikely to get an everyday job, he can play either middle infield position, any outfield spot, and has experience at third base.
Faucher, 28, had been designated for assignment on Tuesday. He’s now traded for the second time in his career. The former Twins draftee went to the Rays at the 2021 deadline in the Nelson Cruz/Joe Ryan swap. He debuted with Tampa Bay in 2022 and has pitched in 39 big league contests (four starts) over the past two seasons.
The results haven’t been great. Faucher owns a 6.32 ERA in 47 MLB innings. His 20.8% strikeout rate and 10% walk percentage are each a little worse than average. The UC Irvine product throws in the mid-90s and has a cutter, sweeper and curveball in his offspeed repertoire. He owns an excellent 2.75 ERA in 72 Triple-A innings over three years, striking out 29.4% of batters faced at that level.
Faucher still has one option year remaining, so the Marlins can move him between Miami and Triple-A Jacksonville for another season. It’s the second straight year in which the Fish acquired a reliever and a former top infield prospect from Tampa Bay. Last November, the sides lined up on the Xavier Edwards/JT Chargois deal. That was orchestrated by previous Miami general manager Kim Ng. Miami’s first-year president of baseball operations Peter Bendix was working in the Rays’ front office for that trade. One of his first transactions leading the Marlins is to bring in a pair of players with whom he’s familiar from their in-state rivals.
In return, Tampa Bay picks up a pair of prospects (and likely a third) who are nowhere near occupying 40-man roster spots — common practice as they churn the roster for future talent. Lara is a 17-year-old shortstop who recently signed out of the Dominican Republic. Baseball America’s Ben Badler wrote in May that he could stick at shortstop depending on his 6’2″ frame fills out. He’s a left-handed hitter.
Lindsey was a fifth-round pick this past summer out of Tennessee. The 6’3″ hurler pitched to a 2.90 ERA in 71 1/3 innings during his junior season for the Volunteers. He struck out nearly a quarter of opponents against a modest 6.4% walk rate. He turned 24 this week. BA wrote in his draft report that he sits in the mid-90s with a sinker and has a high-80s slider as his top secondary pitch.
Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase first reported the Marlins were acquiring Bruján and Faucher.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Tampa received a bag of air.
And the Marlins received flatulence.
Lara was good in the DSL. It wasn’t to far back they sent Tobias Myers for just some kid in the DSL and he might have ended up being pretty good
But I still think we can all ask Pepto Bismol if they want to be the official sponsor of this trade announcement.
Brujan is so awful. It’s a miracle he lasted this long on a 40 man roster. The guy doesn’t do anything well but sticks around because he can play 4 positions poorly. Yuck
Wait, wasn’t he like a top 50 (at least) prospect at some point fairly recently? He can’t be that old, either.
Yes. Only like 250 major league PA’s under his belt and he’s only 25. Might be something there
How many plate appearances are warranted with his numbers before you pull the plug?
That ranking was back when he was younger and people thought he would have an OK hit tool to complement his speed and hit 8th or 9th. That’s not who he is. He’s a bench or triple a depth guy who’s been “waiting for his shot” for the last 3 years. It’s time to face the music. He sucks
Or, he wasn’t good coming off the bench and regular playing time may get him in his groove.
27 OPS+ is rank
Surprised it’s not worse.
Don’t the Rays need a SS tho??
They also have prospects Basabe, Caminero, and Carson Williams.
Pete getting all the Ray’s he liked.
Brujan being traded is irrefutable evidence Franco will be back next season.
Or it means nothing at all. But I’m 100% certain it might mean something, maybe.
I think Franco comes back but Brujan was done regardless
Nov. 15, 2022, Rays trade 2B Xavier Edward’s and RP JT Chargois to the Marlins
Nov. 17, 2023 Rays trade 2B Vidal Brujan and RP Calvin Faucher to the Marlins
I sense a theme here…
Xavier Edward’s, or as Blake Snell would say: slap dick prospect
Huh. Andrew Lindsey is a legit pitching prospect. I do not like this from Miami’s side.
What is it about a mediocre 24 year old pitching prospect in Rookie ball that makes you believe the Marlins will regret this trade?
Tennessee product, just getting started. Throwing lots of strikes as a starter (I believe he was a reliever in college). Kid’s got a lot of potential, even if he did turn pro at a slightly elevated age. Best player in this deal unless the 17 year old turns out.
17 year old Lara is the wild card. Hope the Rays strike gold in the mold of the Junior Caminero and Curtis Mead trades
His stats at 17 years sure look promising. He’s several years away, but that’s what they thought with Caminero too.
I think this is a good move by the Marlins. No risk in taking a flyer on a good athlete who plays a position of need.
Might be a good move. Also might be better off acquiring Vidal Sassoon.
I think I used Vidal Sassoon hair gel back in the 80’s.
Marlins love acquiring Rays trash.
Yep…Jesus Sanchez absolutely sucks!
So the Marlins acquire what they hope is the next Jon Berti in Brujan and maybe the next Anthony Bass in Faucher.
I hope Brujan works out.
Any word on Stallings being non-tendered yet?
Brujan Run Down:
Bad Attitude
Bad Teamate
Entitled
Borderline un coachable
Kind of shocking because Bendix knows about all of this.
Good luck!
Seriously, has Stallings been non-tendered yet?
I believe he’ll be included in an upcoming deal where the Marlins will also be sending millions in international pool money plus a couple competitive balance round B picks including of course Jazz and Eury for say future MVP Joey Bart. Or someone similar
@Mjm117
Really? But I thought Mike Hill and Kim Ng left our organization. Did we ever get any pool money for the trades that landed us Cameron Maybin, Emilio Bonifacio, and Lewis Brinson? Or did we use up all that money on one of the Victor Mesa brothers?
And now Stallings is officially non-tendered
End of an era.
Next stop, Cooperstown…if Sandy bounces back from TJS and ends up there and invites Jacob to carry is…um…anything Sandy wants him to carry for him to Cooperstown.
Otherwise, Jacob will be buying a ticket like everyone else.
I’m really questioning the ability of these “scouts”. Some of these guys never hit but play defense really well in the minors and these talent evaluators think that all of a sudden once they reach the majors that they are going to turn it around. Doesn’t make any sense. The worst MLB pitchers are all DoubleA or better. Guys from the Rays system like Taylor Walls and Brujan all got called up because of their defense even though their bats aren’t nearly good enough
Little annoyed at giving up international guys that look good relatively frequently the last couple of years, especially with the Ray’s multiple times now, but I like this deal for the Marlins. Brujan was a top prospect just a couple of years ago, and is worth giving an opportunity to for a guy not even stateside yet, and a college reliever they just drafted. If I recall correctly, b/c I’ve taken a couple of years away from being as focused on the rest of the league as I used to be, he was mostly blocked by other similar top prospects with the Rays, so this should be a bigger opportunity for him,and it would be extremely helpful if he can break out
Wish they hadn’t non tendered Hampson earlier, but it is what it is there. I liked him 5-6 years ago when he was in A ball with Colorado, and he played hard, and really well for the Marlins last season, in my opinion, and should have got more opportunities over certain others, just as several other young players also should have. Hopefully his time with the Marlins leads him to another major league roster spot somewhere else
There is potential for Vidal Bruján but he needs to work on plate discipline.
Here are the stats for the average MLB player’s plate discipline:
Stat Average
O-Swing 30%
Z-Swing 65%
Swing 46%
O-Contact 66%
Z-Contact 87%
Contact 80%
Zone 45%
F-Strike 59%
SwStr 9.5%
Now his career numbers:
O-Swing: 30.5
Z-Swing: 71.5
Swing: 51.3
O-Contact: 69.1
Z-Contact: 85.8
Contact:80.9
Zone: 50.7
F-Strìke: 61.8
SwStr: 9.7
Swinging a bit too much outside the zone and not enough swinging inside the zone. Given the Ray’s are one of the top analytical teams in MLB, I’d say this is a mental thing that Vidal Bruján needs to understand. He’s probably been shown all the data but still struggles with controlling the zone.
Brujan sucks glad he’s gone, total bust of a prospect
This is like Rays-to-Rays trade since the Marlins new GM just came from the Rays.