Marlins Claim Brett de Geus, Desigate Seth Martinez For Assignment

The Marlins announced that they have claimed right-hander Brett de Geus off waivers from the Pirates. The latter club designated him for assignment last week. In a corresponding move, the Marlins designated fellow right-hander Seth Martinez for assignment.

de Geus, 27, has never pitched for the Pirates. They acquired him from the Blue Jays in a cash deal last month. Though when they were able to sign Andrew Heaney last week, de Geus was the roster casualty.

He has bounced around the league quite a bit, pitching for the Mariners, Marlins and Jays last year. His major league work to this point hasn’t been great, as he has a 7.48 earned run average in 61 1/3 innings. His 16.6% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate are both poor marks, but he has generated ground balls on 52.5% of balls in play.

Those grounders are likely why he keeps garnering interest from so many clubs, despite the poor run prevention. He also tossed 39 Triple-A innings last year with a 5.31 ERA, getting grounders at a 56.6% clip.

The raw stuff is also intriguing. de Geus averaged 96.4 miles per hour on his sinker last year and 98 mph on his four-seamer, in addition to throwing a knuckle curve, cutter and splitter. He didn’t translate that arsenal into good results last year but clubs clearly think it’s possible, including the Marlins, as they claimed him off waivers in August. They bumped him off the roster a month later, with de Geus claimed by the Jays, but the Fish have now taken the chance to bring him back into the fold again.

He still has options and therefore won’t need to be guaranteed a roster spot. He also has just a bit more than a year of service time, meaning he can theoretically be affordably controlled for years to come if things click for him.

Martinez, 30, was himself just claimed off waivers a week ago. He is out of options and therefore has less roster flexibility than de Geus. With the quick claim and DFA, it’s possible the Marlins claimed Martinez with the plan to put him right back on waivers in short order. He has less than three years of service time and no previous career outright, so he would stick with the Marlins as non-roster depth if he can be passed through waivers unclaimed.

The righty tossed 137 1/3 innings for the Astros over the past four years with a 3.93 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. Over that same timespan, he also threw 105 innings in the minors with a 2.66 ERA, 31.5% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate. He got put on waivers at the end of last season, getting claimed by the Diamondbacks, though the Snakes put him back on waivers when they signed Kendall Graveman.

The Fish will now have one week of DFA limbo to figure out what’s next for Martinez, whether that’s a trade or another trip to the waiver wire. The waiver process can take as long as 48 hours, so any trade interest would have to be explored in the next five days.