Marlins Listening On Starters; A.J. Puk To Be Stretched Out In Spring

The Marlins are listening to trade offers on their starting pitchers, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. On a related note, the club is planning to have left-hander A.J. Puk get stretched out in the spring, per Isaac Azout of Fish On First and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

The past few offseasons have seen plenty of rumors surrounding the Miami rotation, as they have had lots of attractive young arms but holes in the lineup that need to be addressed. However, that surplus has been chipped away at quite a bit in the past year. The Fish finally made a significant deal in January when they flipped Pablo López to the Twins for Luis Arráez. They also traded away prospect Jake Eder at the deadline for Jake Burger. Then Sandy Alcántara required Tommy John surgery late in the year, making him unavailable for all of 2024.

That still leaves them with a strong front three of Jesús Luzardo, Eury Pérez and Braxton Garrett, though it gets a bit shakier after that. Trevor Rogers was great in 2021 but struggled the year after and then was limited by a left biceps strain to just four starts in 2023. Edward Cabrera can rack up both strikeouts and ground balls but he also has significant control problems. Ryan Weathers has a career earned run average of 5.88 thus far. Max Meyer missed all of 2023 rehabbing from his own TJS. Sixto Sánchez has been held back by shoulder issues and has thrown one minor league inning over the past three years.

There are some options in there but it’s not quite overflowing with talent the way it was a year ago. Perhaps that’s why the club is considering moving Puk back to the rotation. He came up as a starter but was moved to the bullpen by the Athletics before the Marlins acquired him. He has generally fared well out of the bullpen, posting an ERA of 3.12 with the A’s in 2022 and a mark of 3.97 with the Marlins in 2023.

Puk was once considered a top 100 prospect during his time as a minor leaguer with the A’s, so perhaps the Marlins think there’s more value to be tapped into by stretching him out. However, he’s faced his fair share of health issues in his career, having undergone shoulder surgery in 2020 and then subsequently dealt with a strained left biceps and nerve irritation in his left elbow. But there’s generally no harm in getting stretched out in the spring and then moving into the bullpen, as it’s much easier than doing it the other way around.

Teams are generally willing to listen to all kinds of trade offers, so it doesn’t mean that the Marlins are likely to make a move just because they will pick up the phone. We saw last year that they flipped López and then tried to make up for his loss by signing Johnny Cueto. Though that didn’t work out since Cueto had an injury-marred season, they could try a similar strategy again. But since then, general manager Kim Ng has departed the club and Peter Bendix has been hired as president of baseball operations, perhaps leading to a change in the way the club operates.

A new decision maker can sometimes lead to a roster shakeup, as the new person is less committed to the incumbent players than their predecessor. Perhaps Bendix will have some willingness to move on from someone in this group and maybe that’s why there’s a shift in the strategy with Puk. Then again, it might also be down to the fact that the club is loaded with lefty relievers and the bullpen could be fine without Puk in it.

The Marlins have obvious needs in their lineup, with Bendix admitting that shortstop and catcher are areas where the club is looking to improve. The Marlins generally aren’t big spenders and the free agent options for those positions aren’t amazing, so perhaps the club will earnestly considering trading from their rotation in order to fill those spots. Just about every club in the league is looking for some starting pitching help, so they will undoubtedly be fielding plenty of calls.