7:23PM: The trade has been officially announced by both teams, and the Marlins announced that right-hander Garrett Acton was designated for assignment to create 40-man roster space for Jimenez. Acton has a 10.80 ERA over 6 2/3 innings and seven career big league games — six with the Athletics in 2023 and one with the Rays in 2025, with the 2024 season a wash due to a Tommy John surgery.
Acton is no stranger to DFA limbo, as he has now been designated three times in less than six months. The Rockies claimed the righty after the Rays designated Acton after the season, and Miami then claimed Acton off waivers in Januray following another DFA.
5:30PM: The Marlins are set to acquire infielder Leo Jimenez in a trade with the Blue Jays, according to Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. Francys Romero reports that the Jays will receive minor league infielder Dub Gleed and $250K in international bonus pool money in return. Miami’s 40-man roster is full, so some sort of corresponding move will have to create room for Jimenez before the trade is officially announced.
Jimenez is out of minor league options, so the Jays had to designate the infielder for assignment when he wasn’t included on the Opening Day roster. It didn’t seem likely that Jimenez was going to sneak through waivers and remain with the Blue Jays via an outright assignment, and the Marlins indeed stepped up with a trade offer to bring the 24-year-old into their organization.
Making his MLB debut in 2024, Jimenez posted a respectable 101 wRC+ over his first 210 plate appearances, hitting .229/.329/.358 with four home runs. Bo Bichette‘s injury woes that season opened the door for Jimenez to receive a good chunk of playing time, but with Bichette back in 2025 and other players (i.e. Andres Gimenez, Ernie Clement, Addison Barger) all becoming bigger parts of the infield picture, Jimenez became the odd man out.
Injuries also didn’t help Jimenez’s case, as he played in only 44 total games between the majors and minors in 2025. Over 18 games with the Blue Jays, Jimenez had just a .301 OPS to show for 32 trips to the plate, though he hit better in the minors. Jimenez has a .260/.404/.380 slash line and seven homers over 374 career PA at the Triple-A level.
While it seems like power will never be a big part of Jimenez’s game, his ability to collect hits and draw walks against big league pitching will determine whether or not he can be a regular in the majors. Defensively, there seems to be little question that Jimenez’s glove is ready for primetime, whether as a shortstop or as a second baseman. Jimenez’s arm strength has been seen as a potential barrier to sticking at shortstop, and the Jays used him more regularly at second base over the last couple of years, though that could’ve been more due to Bichette’s presence at shortstop.
Jimenez now gets a fresh start on a new team, playing behind Xavier Edwards at second base and Otto Lopez at shortstop. Miami’s incumbent middle infield duo are both strong defenders and good speed threats, though both Edwards (95 wRC+) and Lopez (86 wRC+) had subpar offensive numbers overall. There’s room for Jimenez to potentially earn himself some playing time, though for now he’ll join a position-player mix that has been depleted by IL stints for Christopher Morel and Kyle Stowers.
Miami already signed Austin Slater to help fill in for Stowers in the outfield, and now Jimenez will bolster the infield depth chart. With Morel out, the Marlins have used Connor Norby and newly-recalled Deyvison De Los Santos at first base, with Graham Pauley and super-utilityman Javier Sanoja at third base. The Fish are expected to mix and match at least until Stowers is back in a few weeks’ time, giving Jimenez some opportunity to play in the field as others are rotated into the DH spot.
The 23-year-old Gleed was a ninth-round pick for the Marlins in the 2024 draft, and his first season of pro ball saw Gleed make it all the way to Triple-A, albeit for just one game. Gleed hit .252/.391/.347 over 275 plate appearances at four different Marlins affiliates, with most of his playing time coming at the A-ball and Double-A levels. Gleed primarily split time between the two corner infield positions, and also appeared in a game apiece as a second basema and as a catcher.
At least the Jays got something for him. The next Otto Lopez?
Whats the joke behind this? Im out of the mlbtr loop
The jays also released Otto Lopez when he was out of options and was squeezed off the roster by other options. They lost him to the Marlins.
Lost him to the Giants who traded him to the Marlins
Not a joke, just another borderline MLB player squeezed off the Jays’ roster and ends up on the Marlins. Otto turned a corner in Miami, I think Leo might too.
They really traded him for a Star Wars character
@mikevm3
Is it me or does Bo Bichette sound alot like Boba Fett?
Plays D like him too
DUB GLEED
One of Atkins first prospects. At least they got something back and good he gets a chance to do something. Just no spot in Toronto
Gleed & $250k int’l money for a an out of options backup utility. I don’t get the Marlins.
He’s 24 and was previously a highly touted prospect, this is pretty easy to get. The return is perfectly suitable
Jay’s love the bonus money so really like the deal
He’s an MLB ready player. You’ll love him.
If you can’t field better than Dante Bichette you are not an infielder.
Dub Gleed!
What’s the missing piece of information? Is Otto or Xavier off the team for some reason?
Jimenez is out of options so has to join the 26 man roster. This weakens the MLB team.
If someone is going down, I would prefer Jared Serna on the team to Jimenez
Theyre probably gonna send de los Santos back down. Id guess the front office werent huge fans of having to start his service time clock this early on. Instead theyll keep rolling out a mix of Norby/Pauley/Sanoja on the corners.
I think Jimenez is in the utility mix. When healthy he does grind through at bats and plays good defense up the middle, just enough to bat 9th some of the time but probably doesn’t get a ton of playing unless they have him work in some 3B/OF too. Lopez and Edwards have earned their stay based on what they’ve done in larger samples, they won’t get usurped anytime soon. It is interesting looking at Miami’s roster though. Lots of slash-n-dash around the infield, and their corners bats are all sluggers with no plate discipline.
The best part of watching the Mets broadcasts : Keith Hernandez on commentary
Dub Gleed played left short stop for the 1886 Allegheny Anthracites in the old VaPenn Laudanum League, and no one should pay attention to this impostor.
Highlanders like to keep fit
Jimenez was a good defender and PR but was never much of a hitter. Given the rise in our talent pool there was no where for him on the bench for the Jays. That new 2B/SS kid Kasevich hit a whole lot better in ST is already our backup. Also can we all just appreciate the Dub Gleed vibe
Jimenez has a solid utility guy profile. If he can squeeze just a little bit of pop out if his swing Miami might have a stew going.
He has added some power. It’s not huge, but for a sound middle infield defender, he can hit the ball relatively hard (110 mph type max EV). His AAA Statcast numbers have been really good when healthy. It’s probably more hard line drives for extra bases type of hitting the ball hard than over the fence power, though he went yard to straightaway CF a few times in ‘24 when he was getting regular major league playing time for a couple of months. He’s also not afraid to get plunked and will stand in over the plate and has good discipline so I’ve often thought he could tap into the Isaac Paredes approach a bit. Hunt something you can pull in the air and hit it hard enough.