12:59PM: The move has been officially announced, with Luzardo’s placement retroactive to June 19. The left-hander’s injury has been termed as a lumbar stress reaction, and Schumaker floated a recovery timeline of 4-6 weeks to De Nicola and other reporters. Though Schumaker was speaking in more general terms about recoveries from similar injuries rather than what can be expected for Luzardo himself, it nevertheless remains unclear if Luzardo will be able to pitch again before the trade deadline.
10:42AM: The Marlins have placed left-hander Jesus Luzardo on the 15-day injured list due to a back injury. The team already announced yesterday that Luzardo was being scratched from his planned start today, and Shaun Anderson is being recalled from Triple-A to take the hill against the Mariners.
Luzardo has been trying to pitch through his back problem “for a couple of weeks,” manager Skip Schumaker told MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola and other reporters, and the team even considered scratching him from his previous start against the Nationals last Sunday. As De Nicola notes, Luzardo’s velocity was down during that outing, though Luzardo still managed five innings of two-run ball against Washington.
“You don’t want to overdo another side of the body or another part of the body because you’re trying not to hurt whatever is being hurt or is hurting,” Schumaker said. “You definitely don’t want to push through something, especially the back, because it could lead to other things. So we’ll see what the results say and what the doctors say, but it’s definitely not something that you push through.”
This is Luzardo’s second IL trip this season, as he also missed just under three weeks dealing with tightness in his throwing elbow. Luzardo has a lengthy and well-documented injury history that also includes a Tommy John surgery, but the 2023 season showed a glimpse of what the southpaw could do when he was finally healthy. Over 32 starts and 178 2/3 innings for Miami last year, Luzardo posted a 3.58 ERA, 28.1% strikeout rate, and 7.4% walk rate to help lead the Marlins to a wild card berth.
The numbers have fallen off in 2024, with health undoubtedly some sort of factor in Luzardo’s 5.00 ERA over 66 2/3 frames. While his 4.20 SIERA is a little more respectable, Luzardo’s strikeout rate has sharply dropped to 21.2%, and his fastball velocity has gone from 96.7mph in 2023 to 95.1mph this year. As per Statcast, Luzardo’s four-seamer was one of the more effective pitches in baseball last season, but is now a below-average offering.
Anderson has already made one spot start for the Marlins since he was acquired in a trade with the Rangers last month, and now might get more opportunities as Miami continues to deal with an injury-plagued rotation. Since the last-place Marlins have long since thrown in the towel on contending this season, much of the focus on Miami has been around on what the team might do at the trade deadline, with Luzardo’s name often mentioned a prime candidate to be moved.
Even considering his shaky 2024 production, Luzardo has been viewed as possibly the Marlins’ best trade chip due to his age (26) and the two-plus years of arbitration control that runs through the 2026 campaign. However, this latest injury creates new doubt that Luzardo will even be back on the mound by the July 30 deadline, given how back problems can tend to linger. There’s no urgency for the Marlins to move Luzardo this summer when other trades could be explored this winter or really at any time during Luzardo’s remaining tenure with the organization, but naturally another injury-marred season will lower his trade value.
If only the marlins traded him this off-season or last deadline then they could’ve gotten a better return
They have to keep some players, right?
That’s what the media wants you to believe
What front office leaked this intel you speak of?
They made the playoffs last year. I’m not saying trading him is the right or wrong thing, but I think it’s funny that people complain about holding onto players too long like Luzardo and Ohtani, and then complain that teams don’t go for it. If they had traded Luzardo last offseason they would have been skewered.
This is just another example of why to trade players at peak value and the time to trade Luzardo was last winter, the Marlins wont get anything back in deals now this summer for other players that benefit the team in the future, they’re going to have to start nailing their draft picks period these next 2-3 years, draft their own Judge, Acuna, Ohtani
I am not second guessing them on keeping Luzardo because I don’t know what they were offered. A “Zardo” trade, Manzardo for Luzardo?
How do you know what peak value is without the benefit of hindsight?
“Draft their own Judge, Acuna”…Excellent points. The only way for teams to be relevant consistently is for teams to draft & develop at a high level. The Mets & Padres of last year proves that teams cannot rely on signing expensive, older free agents as a means of contention.
On the other hand, the Phillies, Yankees and Dodgers are proof that you can
All 3 of those teams have loads of young talent making league minimum. The combination of a big budget and a good system of drafting and developing is what makes a team great typically.
Orioles just scratched him off their list.
One thing the bad small-to-medium budget teams do is always wait too long to cash in their good veterans for younger guys in line with their winning window.
One thing the good ones do is cash them in as soon as they start costing money, even if sometimes it’s before their value peaks.
The pattern is almost perfect.
As the Reds’ Dick Wagner always used to say, “Better to trade a player too early than too late.” Some teams are much better at this than others, but the list of teams who typically hold onto their trade chips too long seem to do so as a matter of course. With so many teams hovering around .500 we can expect a lot of them are gonna get burned this year.
Where’s Max.
Yes, it is beyond criminal the way the FO, and the lunatic bendix and that clown show of an organiz. has treated Max.
Wasting away crucial development time riding busses in/ out of Jax, all for his magical 4IP per week.
Max could just as easily get his weekly 4IP vs players and teams like ATL and SEA, rather than facing old AAAA vets on Durham and Gwinnett.
This inept Bendix FO easily the worst in MLB and all of sports, which is saying a lot given the current malaise with the current Rockies and White Sox.
I mean, no need to trade him if the Marlins consider this season as a retool season instead of breaking it all down.
Tough year for the fish. This likely removes Luzardo from consideration as a trade deadline target.
Winning the draft lottery and the right to select Jace LaViolette will be the best thing to happen for the Marlins since the World Series win, they need it badly, best chance to get an impact franchise player to build around who beings excitement, hope
The team is a disaster, and they have very little to trade away. If Scott isn’t traded ASAP, someone should get fired.
The Marlins sure are trying to keep Luzardo’s trade market alive listing this as a “lumbar stress reaction” instead of “broken back.”
15 day IL for stress fractures in a spine sure seems optimistic, LOL.