With a 97 mile per hour fastball and a 29% strikeout rate, Marlins lefty Tanner Scott is one of the better relievers likely to be dealt today – especially since he’s eligible for free agency after the season. But it’s also worth considering several lower-profile members of the Marlins’ bullpen, with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic naming Huascar Brazoban, Anthony Bender, and Declan Cronin as trade candidates in an article today.
The Marlins already traded their setup man, A.J. Puk, to the Diamondbacks five days ago. Third in leverage index for manager Skip Schumaker over the last month after Scott and Puk: Brazoban. Brazoban, 35 in October, broke into the Majors with the Fish as a 32-year-old. His fastball sits around 96 miles per hour, and this year he’s improved both his strikeout and walk rates to reach 27.2% and 8.8%, respectively. He also has a healthy 50% groundball rate. Team control is perhaps less exciting for a player soon to turn 35, but Brazoban will not be eligible for arbitration until 2026, and would reach free agency after 2028.
Brazoban has shined over his last ten appearances, with no runs allowed and a 34.5 K%. He could be just as effective as some of the household names changing teams this month, and he’s earning a mere $753K.
Rosenthal also mentioned Bender, a 29-year-old righty who missed all of 2023 due to Tommy John surgery. Bender has bounced back from the procedure to post a 3.83 ERA, 24.4 K%, and 7.0 BB%, and 49.1% groundball rate on the season. However, Bender’s velocity has not returned, as he was at 98.1 prior to surgery and sits at 95.5 this year. His usage suggests he’s mostly been outside Schumaker’s circle of trust this year, but in allowing one run over his last 14 appearances, that’s changing. Bender is earning $770K this year as a Super Two player, and he’s under team control through 2027.
Cronin, 27 in September, was a February waiver claim from the Astros, who had claimed him from the White Sox. The righty has worked to a solid 25 K%, 7.9 BB%, and 54.2% groundball rate this year, racking up 50 1/3 innings. More than half of his appearances have been more than one inning, and he’s been going two-plus often of late. He’s potentially under team control through 2029.
Earlier this month, Craig Mish of the Miami Herald named Scott, Calvin Faucher, and Cronin as potential Marlins bullpen trade candidates, and wouldn’t rule out Andrew Nardi. It’s safe to assume Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix will be listening today on his entire bullpen, and there’s a good chance of more trades. And while this post focused on some new relief names, Rosenthal reminds us that starting pitcher Trevor Rogers and left fielder Bryan De La Cruz are candidates to move as well.
Could Trade Multiple .
– There’s your template for today.
Anybody COULD do anything…. sigh
Ha! I used brackets and the forum thought I was typing HTML. Hilarious.
(Insert Team) Could Trade Multiple (Insert Position).
Is it odd that there hasn’t been a deal yet this morning? So many deals already, but it is 1030 on the east coast already. I was expecting to wake up to a handful of trades already, but nothing since the soler deal
Calm this morning yes. But forecasters are calling for a chance of scattered trades by mid-day, becoming likely by this afternoon, with a potential for isolated heavy blockbusters..
Hahaha what a forecast for this turbulent day.. well done!!!
I think the deadline is two hours later than in years past, so that could be pushing activity back.
Any untouchables?
Eury and Sandy to a lesser extent.
I thought Marlins were going to be good a couple years back but their front office has proven time and time again how to be incompetent. They’re up there with the Rockies these days
…could? Even being a consideration to not move every bullpen arm with value is continually dumbfounding
Getting ready for new promotion to drive attendance- let the FANS PLAY!
Call the Astros, offer them up your worst one and take the rest of their farm system. After watching Toronto last night, everyone should be calling Houston to rip them off. They have a moron running the team, take what you want from them!
No one goes to the games. They have no star power. No marketability. This is what the modern day Expos would look like.
If the reliever market remains the same, the Marlins could make out pretty well.
Doubt it changing in the next 8 hours, it’s a sellers market.
Somehow they’re going to end up with only AAAA prospects. It’s the Marlins Way TM
After seeing Houston last night, they might be in worse shape lol. Their GM just dropped his pants for nothing.
Marlins Could Do A Lot Of Things
Is there a worse new term in baseball than “leverage”? These guys make up new terms all the time to try and sound cool and important.
@Boz
Agreed. Prefer see-saw.
After watching the D’Backs game last night, and Montgomery falling apart last night, it would not surprise me if the D’Backs look into kicking the tires on a number of starting pitchers.
Hoping the keep Nardi and make him the closer. He had excellent numbers last year, and I believe he went 3-3 in Save opportunities when Scott hit the IL. Plus, he’s only 25-years old.
Got off to a horrible start and it’s taken the better part of three months to get his ERA down to where it is now. However, if we just look at the past month and a half, he’s been as good as any LH reliever.