Pirates’ Tucupita Marcano To Undergo Season-Ending ACL Surgery
August 10: Marcano underwent successful surgery on August 9, as reported by Justice delos Santos of MLB.com. The utility player is expected to return to full baseball activities in nine to 12 months.
August 3: Pirates infielder Tucupita Marcano will undergo season-ending surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, team director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk announced yesterday (link via Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). A date for the surgery has not yet been set, as Marcano will need to wait for the swelling around the injury to subside before surgeons perform the necessary repair. The team had already placed Marcano on the 60-day injured list but had not yet divulged the full extent of the injury he’d suffered.
Marcano originally sustained the injury more than a week ago when running the bases in a game against the team that originally signed him out of Venezuela back in 2016: the Padres. The now-23-year-old Marcano was one of three prospects traded from San Diego to Pittsburgh in 2021’s Adam Frazier deal. Pirates center fielder Jack Suwinski and minor league righty Michell Miliano also went to the Bucs in that swap.
It’s been a tough couple years in the Majors for Marcano, who’s logged 397 plate appearances with the Pirates but mustered only a .221/.267/.334 batting line in that time. He’s fared quite a bit better in Triple-A, where he’s slashed .274/.359/.401 with 11 homers, 23 doubles, four triples and 16 steals in parts of three seasons (575 plate appearances). He’s also regularly posted excellent walk numbers and low strikeout rates in the minors, showing off the advanced approach and contact skills that surely appealed to the Pirates when acquiring him.
Marcano has played second base, third base, shortstop and both outfield corners for the Pirates in the Majors. The bulk of his professional innings have been split between the two middle infield spots. That’s become an increasingly crowded spot in Pittsburgh — hence the team’s deadline trade of Rodolfo Castro — with Oneil Cruz, Nick Gonzales, Alika Williams, Liover Peguero and Ji Hwan Bae all having reached the big league level.
Cruz and Bae are both on the injured list alongside Marcano at the moment, but the Bucs will have a crowded mix of options once the entire group is healthy in 2024. Cruz is slotted to be the everyday shortstop, so the competition for playing time really boils down to who’ll see the bulk of time at second base and who’ll claim some spots on the bench. In that sense, Marcano’s versatility is an advantage, but he’ll obviously need to hit more in the Majors if he’s going to carve out a long-term role on the club.
The Opener: Lorenzen, Crawford, Garcia
As second-half postseason pushes (or, in some cases, collapses) are in full swing, here are three things the baseball world is looking at today…
1. Lorenzen’s historic night:
Michael Lorenzen is the talk of baseball after one-upping his gem of a Phillies debut (eight innings of two-run ball in Miami) with a no-hitter in his Citizens Bank Park debut last night. Lorenzen was wild early on but settled in and blanked the Nationals on 124 pitches — with his family in attendance (video link). Following the game, an emotional Lorenzen discussed the highlight of his career, noting how special it was to achieve that goal after years of questions about whether he can start and to do so in front of a ravenous new fan base that kept him going.
The Phillies have been rolling, with seven wins in their past ten games, moving into the top Wild Card spot in the National League. They’re still a massive 10.5 games back in the division and unlikely to close that gap in the remaining time on the schedule, but the manner in which Lorenzen has reinforced the rotation only further tightens Philadelphia’s grip on a postseason spot. FanGraphs gives the Phillies an 86% chance of reaching the postseason, while Baseball-Reference has them at 89.8%.
2. Crawford tested for concussion symptoms:
Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford is undergoing testing for a possible concussion, manager Scott Servais announced last night (Twitter link via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). Crawford and third baseman Eugenio Suarez both charged a slow grounder off the bat of Xander Bogaerts in the fourth inning of last night’s game, which resulted in Crawford colliding sharply with Suarez’s shoulder as the latter fielded the grounder and managed to throw out Bogaerts in a close play (video link). Crawford was slow to his feet but remained in the game, but he wasn’t feeling well in the later innings, per Servais.
Crawford, 28, is enjoying the finest offensive season of his career, batting .266/.379/.411 with a personal best 10 home runs on the season already. His 14.8% walk rate is the seventh-best mark in all off baseball among qualified hitters, while that .379 OBP ranks 13th. Were Crawford to miss time, the Mariners would likely turn to rookie Jose Caballero or utilityman Dylan Moore for the majority of reps at shortstop. Seattle is currently riding MLB’s longest active win streak at eight games, and the M’s certainly don’t want any sort of extended absence for one of MLB’s top table-setters.
3. Will someone take a chance on Garcia?
Yankees righty Deivi Garcia, once one of the sport’s top-ranked pitching prospects, was designated for assignment earlier this week after years of struggles both in Triple-A (6.52 ERA in 214 innings) and the Majors (4.84 ERA in 48 1/3 innings). The 24-year-old Garcia ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects heading into both the 2020 and 2021 seasons, having dominated in the lower minors all the way up through Double-A. Questions about the 5’9″ righty’s ability to maintain a starter’s workload were always present, even as scouts continued to be impressed by the quality of his arsenal. It’s been a steep fall for Garcia over the past few seasons, however, and he’ll now be available to all 29 other clubs.
Technically, teams have five days to place a player on waivers following a DFA, but with trades no longer allowed for any player who’s been on a Major League roster, the majority of August DFAs have been resolved within a matter of days. There’s a good chance we’ll find out today or tomorrow whether any team wants to take a chance on the formerly lauded prospect. Garcia is in his final option year, so he can be freely sent to the minors for the remainder of the current season but will need to crack a new team’s Opening Day roster in 2024 or else be designated for assignment.
MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: The Streaking Mariners, the Struggling Angels and Injured Aces
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:
- The scorching hot Mariners (2:15)
- The ice cold Angels (6:20)
- The Rangers will be without Josh Jung for a while, impacting them and the Rookie of the Year race (8:45)
- Shane McClanahan could be out for the year and maybe part of 2024 as well (13:15)
- Yankees put Carlos Rodón back on the injured list (18:35)
- Red Sox get Trevor Story back (21:35)
Plus, we answer your questions, including:
- Any chance that the Cubs try to sign Cody Bellinger to a long term deal? (24:35)
- Of all the players on the Dodgers’ injured list, which will have the most immediate impact both now and for the postseason not named Clayton Kershaw? (30:15)
- Are the Angels’ manager and general managers jobs respectively in jeopardy if they fail to make the playoffs? (33:25)
Check out our past episodes!
- Trade deadline recap – listen here
- The Angels Are All In, Lucas Giolito and Picking a Lane – listen here
- All Eyes on the Angels, Cardinals Trade Options and Buyers or Sellers – listen here
KBO’s Samsung Lions To Sign Taylor Widener
The Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization have agreed to a deal with right-hander Taylor Widener, reports Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News (Twitter link). Righty Albert Suarez is being released in a corresponding move.
Widener has spent the ’23 campaign in South Korea. The former Diamondback signed an offseason deal with the NC Dinos. He started 11 games, working to a 4.52 ERA over 61 2/3 frames. Widener had a decent 22% strikeout rate against a slightly elevated 8.9% walk percentage.
While his production was serviceable, it wasn’t enough for the Dinos to commit one of their two allotted roster spots to foreign-born pitchers. They released him last week and signed left-hander Tanner Tully out of the Yankees’ organization. According to Yoo, Widener’s contract will be made official on Friday, as KBO rules require a player to wait a week upon being waived before signing with another team.
It’s not common to see foreign players immediately catch on with a different KBO team after being released. Widener is healthy, though, so the Lions will swap him in for Suarez. The Venezuelan-born hurler (and older brother of Padres reliever Robert Suarez) recently suffered a calf injury and is expected to be out around a month, tweets Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.
Suarez, a 33-year-old righty who pitched in the majors with the Giants from 2016-17, spent a year and a half with the Lions. He had an excellent 2.49 ERA showing through 173 2/3 innings a season ago and carried a 3.92 ERA over 19 starts this year. Unfortunately, the injury cut that productive run short.
Guardians Outright Chris Vallimont
The Guardians have sent pitcher Chris Vallimont outright to Triple-A Columbus, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment on Monday when Cleveland claimed Ramón Laureano from Oakland.
Vallimont hasn’t thrown a big league pitch with the Guardians. His sole major league experience came last month as a member of the Orioles, when he recorded two outs in a scoreless appearance against the Yankees. Baltimore designated him for assignment shortly thereafter and sold his contract to Cleveland.
The 26-year-old righty has spent parts of five seasons in the minors. Split between four organizations — Minnesota, Miami, Baltimore and Cleveland — he owns a 4.97 ERA in 422 1/3 minor league frames. That includes a 5.65 mark between the O’s and Guardians’ Triple-A clubs in 2023. Vallimont has a serviceable 22.7% strikeout rate over that stretch, but a 12.7% walk rate is suggestive of strike-throwing concerns that have been present for much of his career.
This is the second time Vallimont has cleared waivers in his career. Baltimore outrighted him over the offseason before re-selecting his contract and then designating him again. Players with multiple career outrights have the right to test minor league free agency. It’s not clear whether Vallimont will do so or stick with Columbus and try to pitch his way back onto the MLB roster before season’s end.
Diamondbacks Sign Aaron Sanchez To Minor League Deal
The D-Backs signed veteran right-hander Aaron Sanchez to a minor league deal, according to an announcement from their Triple-A club in Reno. He’s making his organizational debut with the Aces tonight.
Sanchez was released by the Twins a few weeks ago. The 31-year-old had spent the year with Minnesota’s top minor league club, working 73 innings over 18 appearances. Sanchez struggled to a 5.30 ERA with a modest 16.8% strikeout percentage and a massive 15.6% walk rate. That unsurprisingly wasn’t enough to crack a Minnesota rotation that has been one of the best in the majors.
While this year’s results are poor, Sanchez managed a solid 3.75 ERA in 13 Triple-A starts a season ago. He couldn’t carry that over in a few stints in Minnesota, where he surrendered a 6.60 ERA over 60 MLB frames. Sanchez has been up-and-down as a depth option for a few teams in recent seasons, settling in as a journeyman since winning the AL ERA title with the Blue Jays back in 2016. Sanchez’s velocity is down from those halcyon days due to intervening injuries, but he’s an experienced depth option who still induces a decent number of grounders.
Arizona has been in a free fall over the past six weeks. After leading the NL West for a good chunk of the first half, they’re 8-23 since the start of July. An ongoing seven-game losing streak has dropped them to 57-57, the first time they’ve been .500 since April 7.
An unsettled rotation behind Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly has been a big reason for that. Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson haven’t pitched well, while Zach Davies and Tommy Henry are on the injured list. With the deadline past, minor league deals of this ilk are the club’s clearest way to add rotation depth. Despite their dismal recent run, the D-Backs are still just two games back of the final National League Wild Card spot.
Poll: What Path Should The Mets Pick With Pete Alonso?
The outlook for the Mets has completely changed in recent months. They spent heavily this winter, running up the highest payroll in major league history, and came into the season as World Series contenders. Unfortunately, they struggled to get into a groove in the early parts of the season and decided to sell at the deadline. Not only did they flip rental pieces like Tommy Pham and David Robertson, but also guys who could have helped the 2024 club like Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Mark Canha.
After being traded to the Rangers, Scherzer spoke publicly about how he was given the sense that next year “is now looking to be more of a kind of transitory year,” with the aggression dialed back a bit. Owner Steve Cohen addressed that situation the next day, essentially confirming Scherzer’s framing by saying that the 2024 club “won’t be as star-studded” as this year’s team. He did say that he hopes the team will still be “very competitive” and that this “doesn’t mean we’re not going to bring in free agents,” but it seems the plan is to step back.
Now that the deadline has passed, the club can’t make any more trades for the next few months, but it’s possible they could resume their selling in the offseason. Starling Marte will still have two years remaining on his contract after this one, with salaries of $19.5MM in each season. José Quintana will have one year and $13MM left on his contract. Omar Narváez is a lock to trigger his $7MM player option and Adam Ottavino seems like he’ll exercise his at $6.75MM as well. The club has a $6.5MM option for the services of Brooks Raley in 2024. Trevor Gott has one year of control and will be due an arbitration raise on this year’s $1.2MM salary.
If the Mets are looking to continue down the path they picked at the deadline, trading veterans for prospects and eating money to get a better return, any of those players could be a candidate for such an approach. Some of those cases will present the club with difficult decisions, but the most challenging will be their choice of how to handle Pete Alonso. He is making $14.5MM this year and is eligible for one more arbitration raise in 2024, before he’s slated for free agency.
Alonso, 28, is obviously an incredibly talented hitter. From his 2019 debut to the present, he’s hit 180 home runs, including 34 this year. His career batting line of .255/.343/.533 is 37% better than league average, according to wRC+. His home run tally in that stretch is the highest in the majors and that wRC+ places him just outside the top 10 among qualified hitters.
With the Mets looking to ease off the gas pedal in 2024 and Alonso slated for the open market after that campaign, the club will have to pick a lane. They could pursue trades in the offseason, though doing so would come with the negative public relations hit of moving on from a homegrown star player, as Alonso was drafted by the Mets in 2016. They could also try to sign Alonso to a long-term extension, though he would have to agree to any such pact.
The Mets could also kick the decision down the road and see how things go in 2024. It doesn’t seem like they will be giving up all hopes of contention. As Cohen said, it seems they will likely still bring in some free agents and see how things go next year. The club could hang onto Alonso until next year’s deadline, see if the baseball gods are any kinder to them and pick a lane at that point. Even if they held onto to him all the way through 2024 and took a shot at contending, they could recoup a draft pick by extending him a qualifying offer at that point. That path would come with some risk, as Alonso could always suffer an injury or a downturn in performance, causing his trade value to drop.
The path of pursuing a trade this offseason would certainly lead to the club finding many suitors. They will only be marketing one year of his services but the free agent crop of position players in incredibly weak this winter, with the class far heavier on the pitching side. Alonso will be making a hefty salary which could eliminate some suitors, but the Mets haven’t been shy about swallowing money in order to facilitate deals, sending more than $35MM to the Rangers in the Scherzer deal.
The Mets certainly have the resources to get an extension done, though it’s unclear how much appetite they would have to get one done with Alonso. Cohen recently called him “an integral part of the Mets” and hoped they can “work things out” on a long-term deal, but their plan to dial back their spending might clash with that. They already have significant long-term deals on the books for Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Díaz, Kodai Senga and Jeff McNeil, which means they already have over $100MM on the books as far out as 2026.
If the Mets are focused on building up their pipeline of young talent and assessing the future before charting their next big moves, will they want to add a massive deal for Alonso to the pile when that will surely require a nine-figure outlay of some kind? There’s also the question of how his defense will age, since he’s not a star in that department as it is. Defensive Runs Saved has given him a passable +3 grade for his career, but Ultimate Zone Rating pegs him at -2.9 with Outs Above Average at -16. A long-term deal would come with the risk of him sliding into DH-only status over time.
Perhaps another factor will be the development of the prospects they have recently added to the system. Ryan Clifford, acquired from the Astros in the Verlander deal, can play the outfield corners but has spent more time at first base this year. He has yet to reach Double-A but the Mets surely acquired him in the hopes that he would be a part of a future championship core at some point down the line. Perhaps they would prefer to track his development before deciding on how to proceed with Alonso.
Until the Mets either trade Alonso or get an extension done, his in-between status is likely to be one of the biggest storylines this offseason. What do you think is the path they should take? Put him on the trading block and continue loading the farm system for future success? Lock him up so that he can be a part of the next competitive window? Or wait until the 2024 deadline, when they will have more information about their own competitive chances and the development of their prospects?
Have you say in the poll below. (Link to poll for app users)
What Path Should The Mets Pick With Pete Alonso?
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Extension 51% (5,037)
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Trade 29% (2,817)
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Wait and see how 2024 goes 20% (1,927)
Total votes: 9,781
Tigers Outright Zach Logue
The Tigers announced that left-hander Zach Logue, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Toledo. He has the right to reject that assignment and elect free agency, though it’s not yet clear if he’s chosen to do so or not.
Logue, 27, first came to the Tigers in the offseason when they claimed him off waivers from the A’s. Detroit then put him back on waivers in the following days, with Logue passing through, thus sticking in the organization without occupying a roster spot.
He got his roster spot back in late June and made three long relief appearances for the big league club, tossing a combined 11 innings in those with nine earned runs allowed. The results haven’t been much better in Triple-A, as he’s tossed 63 2/3 innings at that level this year with a 6.22 ERA. There might be a bit of bad luck in there when looking at his .344 batting average on balls in play and 69% strand rate, but his 20.7% strikeout rate, 11.2% walk rate and 39.1% ground ball rate are all subpar.
Since this is his second outright, he’ll have the ability to reject this assignment and elect free agency. All 29 teams just passed on the chance to grab him for free, so it’s possible his market is limited and he might just stay with the Tigers. Though if he were to opt for the open market, he could have some agency in choosing his employer and the organization he thinks is the best fit. Even if he were to accept, he would reach minor league free agency at the end of the season if not added back onto the roster.
Rangers Expected To Select J.P. Martínez
The Rangers are expected to add outfielder J.P. Martínez to their 40-man roster ahead of Friday’s game, per reporter Francys Romero as well as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Martínez isn’t currently on the club’s 40-man roster, which is full, meaning he will require a corresponding move to be added. The club has an off-day tomorrow.
Martínez, now 27, left Cuba in November of 2017 in the hopes of signing with a major league club. Despite being just 21 years old at that time, he already had five seasons of experience under his belt in the Cuban National Series, hitting .333/.470/.498 in the last of those five years. Once he was given clearance to sign, he was frequently connected to the Rangers, who officially announced his signing in April of 2018. The club had saved some international bonus pool space to make a run at Shohei Ohtani, but used some of it on Martínez when Ohtani signed with the Angels.
The Cuban outfielder was a prospect of note in his first few years in the affiliated ranks, though his stock dipped as his results in the minors were more solid than outstanding and he was generally older than those he was playing with. But he seems to have put himself back on the map with a strong showing in this year. In 67 Triple-A games, he’s hit 12 home runs and walked in 15.3% of his plate appearances. Even in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, his .312/.427/.565 batting line amounts to a 139 wRC+, or 39% above average. He’s also stolen 33 bases in in 37 attempts at that level.
It’s unclear how the Rangers will deploy Martínez, but he’s capable of playing any of the three outfield slots. The recent injury of Josh Jung likely means Ezequiel Durán will be spending more time there and less in the outfield. That leaves the club with Adolis García, Leody Taveras, Travis Jankowski and Robbie Grossman in their outfield mix.
García is having an outstanding season but the other three have less of a firm grip on playing time. Taveras had a strong first half but has hit just .231/.252/.368 since the start of July. Jankowski is having a nice season overall but has a long track record of subpar offense and has slumped to a line of .045/.250/.091 in his last 28 plate appearances. Grossman’s hitting .228/.312/.386 for the season.
If Martínez can carry any of his strong results up to the majors with him, it should provide a boost to the Rangers as they look to fend off the Astros and hold onto their lead in the American League West.
The Marlins’ Quartet Of Lefty Relievers
Heading into the 2023 season, most fans would’ve expected the NL East to contain at least three legitimate playoff contenders. Few, however, pegged that trio to include the Braves, Phillies and … the Marlins. Conventional wisdom said that the Mets’ $350MM+ payroll, the Braves’ perennial excellence and the Phillies’ 2022 World Series appearance made them the teams to watch in the division. But, here are the Marlins, sitting 60-56 on Aug. 9 and tied with the Cubs for a share of the final Wild Card spot in the National League.
Much of that success has been attributable to Miami’s strong showing in one-run games. At 26-10 in such contests, the Marlins have been baseball’s best team by a wide margin. Their .722 winning percentage in one-run contests leads the Brewers (21-10, .677) and Orioles (20-11, .645) and is rather comfortably the best in the game. Heck, as I was writing this, the Marlins won another one-run game, thanks to some late heroics from deadline acquisition Josh Bell and the underrated Bryan De La Cruz.
There are certain traits that make a team likely to compete and succeed in large number of closely contested games. A lineup that struggles to score runs in bulk and is heavily reliant on station-to-station baseball — as if the case in Miami — is bound to play in a lot of close games. That’s been an apt description of the Marlins so far in 2023; they entered play Wednesday 26th in MLB with 465 runs scored and 27th with 106 home runs.
A strong bullpen that’s capable of holding the too-often narrow leads afforded to the pitching staff is also a key factor in mastering one-run victories. Again, that’s been the case in Miami for much of the season. While the Marlins shook up their bullpen prior to the deadline, swapping out Dylan Floro for Jorge Lopez (an exchange of struggling change-of-scenery candidates) and trading a pair of prospects for David Robertson, the Marlins have generally had a solid relief corps in 2023. Or rather, they’ve had a strong top half of a top-heavy bullpen. Adding Robertson to help deepen the group makes the team better, to be sure, but Miami was already had a strong bullpen group thanks in large part to a quartet of left-handers whom they acquired at virtually no cost.
Chief among that group is hard-throwing 29-year-old Tanner Scott. Long one of the most touted arms in the Orioles’ farm system, Scott was traded to Miami alongside righty Cole Sulser just before Opening Day 2022. The O’s deserve plenty of credit for the team they’ve put together, but this swap is probably one that Baltimore GM Mike Elias would like back. The Fish landed Scott and Sulser in a trade that sent a trio of low-level minor leaguers — Kevin Guerrero, Antonio Velez and Yaqui Rivera — to the Orioles. None of that trio ranks among the Orioles’ top 30 prospects at Baseball America, MLB.com or FanGraphs.
Sulser has already departed the Marlins organization — the D-backs claimed him on waivers last November — but Scott has emerged as one of the best lefties in the game. His power arsenal was always tantalizing, but Scott’s lack of command continually proved frustrating for the O’s. That continued into the 2022 season, his first in Miami, but the 2023 campaign has been another story. After logging a 4.31 ERA, 31.1% strikeout rate and ghastly 15.9% walk rate last year, Scott is now touting a 2.80 ERA, a 36.4% strikeout rate and a vastly improved 10% walk rate. Yes, it’s still too many free passes, but he’s improved it as the season has gone on. Over his past 32 frames, Scott has walked only 7% of his opponents.
Scott entered play Wednesday with a mammoth 17.2% swinging-strike rate and 36.2% chase rate — and that’s before he struck out the side against the Reds in this afternoon’s inning of work. There are only three pitchers in baseball who’ve thrown 50-plus innings and have a higher swinging-strike rate. Scott isn’t working in low-leverage mop-up settings, either. He’s piled up 22 holds and a pair of saves, and only four qualified relievers top him in terms of win probability added (WPA). The Fish are paying him a bargain $2.825MM this season and control him through the 2024 season.
Many clubs would be thrilled to simply have one quality southpaw of this caliber, but the Marlins are deeper than any club in MLB when it comes to lefty relievers. Scott might be the biggest name of the bunch, but the Fish are swimming (sorry, sorry) in quality southpaws. Andrew Nardi might be the most anonymous member of the group, but he’s been nothing short of outstanding this season.
A former 16th-round pick by Miami, Nardi had an inauspicious MLB debut in 2022, pitching 14 2/3 innings but allowing 16 runs in that time. Few fans looked at him and saw a breakout candidate, but in 39 2/3 innings this year, he’s sporting a 2.95 ERA, 33.1% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate. He’s been limited by a triceps injury this summer but was reinstated from the IL earlier this month and is back working in a high-leverage capacity. Since picking up his first big league save back on May 7, he’s pitched to a 1.80 ERA with a 36-to-6 K/BB ratio in 25 innings. He’s grabbed eight holds and a pair of saves along the way — and both numbers would be higher had he not spent a month on the injured list in that span.
Nardi’s 14.3% swinging-strike rate is excellent, and his 35% chase rate is even better. Virtually no one can square up the ball against the 24-year-old; he sits in the 99th percentile of big league pitchers in terms of average exit velocity and the 98th percentile in overall hard-hit rate. Nardi doesn’t even have a year of Major League service yet, so the Marlins can control him all the way through the 2028 season, and he won’t even reach arbitration until after the 2025 campaign.
There’s also 32-year-old Steven Okert to consider — a gem unearthed in minor league free agency. The left-hander came to Miami on a minor league deal in the 2020-21 offseason and, at the time, had just 48 1/3 innings of 4.28 ERA ball under his belt — all coming from 2016-18 with the Giants. In three seasons with Miami, Okert has graduated from a generic depth signing to a stalwart member of a talented relief corps. He’s logged 129 1/3 innings with a 2.85 ERA since relocating to South Florida, punching out 30% of his opponents against a 10.6% walk rate.
Again, the walks are a bit too high, but it should be noted that Okert has boosted his strikeout rate to a career-high 33.5% in 2023 while dropping his walk rate to 9% — his lowest mark in three years with the Fish. His velocity has ticked up each season, and the Marlins have scrapped three of his five pitches, turning him solely into a four-seam/slider reliever. Okert pitches more in the middle innings than Scott and Nardi, but he’s still picked up 10 holds. The results are outstanding, and he can be controlled cheaply for three years beyond the current season. Not too shabby for someone signed to a minor league deal three offseasons ago.
Left-hander A.J. Puk might be the most recognizable name of the bunch, thanks to both his lofty draft status (No. 6 overall in 2016) and his inclusion in a reasonably high-profile trade this offseason (sending former No. 4 overall pick JJ Bleday back to Oakland). Puk’s 4.62 ERA is by far the least impressive of the group, but the underlying numbers are far more impressive. He’s fanned 30.9% of his opponents against just a 4.9% walk rate while recording a swinging-strike rate just shy of 15%. Puk had a sub-3.00 ERA himself in early June before a rough patch that saw him allow runs in six of nine appearances. He’s since rebounded with four straight scoreless outings, whiffing five hitters without issuing a walk in 3 1/3 innings.
Puk has been hampered by a .337 average on balls in play and an abnormally low 63.1% strand rate, prompting metric like FIP (3.41) and SIERA (2.66) to cast a far more favorable light on the lefty than his earned run average does. Puk certainly wasn’t flawless in serving as the Marlins’ primary closer — 15-for-21 in save opportunities — and that, coupled with his rough stretch last month, might have nudged Miami to acquire Robertson. That said, lefties who average 96 mph don’t grow on trees, and Puk’s blend of elite strikeout and walk rates signals better days ahead.
In fact, Marlins relievers as a whole are among the best in baseball when it comes to both piling up strikeouts and limiting free passes. Each of the four lefties profiled here rank in the top 10 of all qualified relievers in terms of differential between strikeout rate and walk rate (i.e. K-BB%). The Marlins are sixth in all of baseball as a collective group in that category, and adding Robertson for the final two months of the season should help them out.
There are plenty of reasons for the Marlins’ success this season. Luis Arraez‘s surefire batting title, big steps forward from Jesus Luzardo and Braxton Garrett, a dominant debut season from Eury Perez and a rebound effort from Jorge Soler have all helped drive this unlikely playoff push. But heading into the season, few would’ve pegged the Marlins to receive this type of output from their left-handed bullpen corps. Add in the fact that they came to the organization via a minor league deal, a 16th-round pick, and trades sending out three marginal prospects and a former first-rounder who’s still struggling in Oakland — and the core of this bullpen is even more impressive. They’ll all return for the 2024 season at least, and with Robertson helping lead the charge down the stretch in ’23, the Marlins will continue to be dangerous in tightly contested games.