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Latest On Marlins’ Deadline Plans

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The Marlins remain one of the clearest cut sellers as the deadline approaches. While Miami has somewhat quietly played well since the beginning of June, they remain in the middle of a multi-year rebuild. They’re still seven games under .500 and have almost no shot of making the playoffs this year.

It therefore comes as no surprise that Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald writes that the Fish plan to entertain offers on Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, Jesús Sánchez and Anthony Bender in the coming weeks. All four players appeared among MLBTR’s list of the top 40 trade candidates earlier this month; Alcantara was in the top spot. Jackson adds that the Marlins are shopping impending free agent starter Cal Quantrill, though he’d have less trade value than the rest of the group.

Perhaps more interestingly, Jackson writes that the Marlins would be satisfied running it back with their current middle infield tandem of Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards next season. That’s not to say either player is untouchable, but they’re less likely to move than any of the four Miami players who made our trade candidates writeup. The 26-year-old Lopez is hitting .250/.320/.392 while taking over at shortstop. Edwards, who moved to second base, owns a .288/.352/.347 slash with 16 stolen bases. Both players are controllable for another four seasons.

[Related: Miami Marlins Trade Deadline Outlook]

Alcantara’s availability has been expected for months. He’s making $17MM this year and next, and he’s guaranteed a $2MM buyout on a $21MM club option for 2027. That’d be a bargain rate if he recaptured his ace form, but he has had a poor first season back from Tommy John surgery. Alcantara carries a 7.22 ERA with a diminished 17.3% strikeout rate over 18 starts. He had his best month in June (4.34 ERA) but has given up 11 runs in as many innings over his past two appearances. There’s little reason for the Marlins not to listen to offers, but it’s not a given that they actually pull the trigger on what would be a sell-low trade.

Moving Cabrera this summer would arguably be selling high. The 27-year-old former top prospect has posted a 2.54 ERA while striking out more than a quarter of his opponents in his past 12 starts. He’s making less than $2MM and under arbitration control for another three seasons. Miami would demand a significant return for their top realistic trade chip.

Jackson notes that the Marlins are nevertheless willing to consider offers in part because of Cabrera’s injury history. Shoulder problems sidelined him in both 2023 and ’24. He has yet to reach 100 innings in an MLB season. Cabrera departed his final appearance before the All-Star Break with elbow fatigue. While that’s not considered a serious issue — an MRI has already come back clean and he avoided the injured list — it’s the latest reminder of the injury risk for any pitcher, especially one with a mid-upper 90s fastball.

Sánchez and Bender are each controllable role players who should draw interest. Sánchez is a lefty-hitting corner outfielder who has been a league average regular over the course of his career. This season’s .259/.321/.410 slash line is par for the course. He’s making $4.5MM this year and will go through arbitration twice more.

Bender is a 30-year-old righty reliever who also has two and a half seasons of club control. He owns a 2.06 ERA in 39 1/3 innings, though that obscures unimpressive strikeout (18.9%) and walk (10.7%) numbers. Bender gets a lot of ground-balls and has gotten fantastic results on the mid-80s breaking ball that he uses as his primary pitch. He’s playing on a $1.42MM salary that’ll make him a viable fit for any contender.

As for Quantrill, the Marlins signed him with hopes of flipping him midseason. He’s making $3.5MM on a one-year free agent deal. Quantrill has below-average numbers for a third consecutive season, though. He carries a 5.62 ERA with a 19% strikeout rate over 81 2/3 innings. He’d profile as a sixth/seventh starter or long reliever on most contenders. There’d be minimal interest, but Quantrill is affordable enough that perhaps a team navigating multiple rotation injuries will take a flier. If they can’t find a trade partner this month, Miami could place him on waivers at some point in August in hopes of shedding the final few weeks of his salary.

Marlins Acquire Michael Petersen From Braves

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The Marlins announced that they’ve acquired reliever Michael Petersen from the Braves for cash considerations and optioned him to Triple-A Jacksonville. Miami transferred righty reliever Jesus Tinoco to the 60-day injured list to create a 40-man roster spot. According to the MLB.com transaction log, the Fish also outrighted veteran catcher Rob Brantly to Triple-A after he cleared waivers. Brantly was quietly designated for assignment earlier this week.

Atlanta had designated Petersen for assignment last week. The 31-year-old righty pitched four times for the Braves. He tossed 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball, striking out five with a pair of walks. Petersen has spent more of the season with their top affiliate in Gwinnett. He has turned in a 3.13 ERA with a solid 25.7% strikeout rate and a 7% walk percentage in the minors. It’s his second straight impressive Triple-A season. He fired 33 innings of 1.64 ERA ball while punching out more than a third of opponents there last year.

This will be Petersen’s second stint with Miami. The Fish grabbed him off waivers from the Dodgers last September. Petersen pitched five times, giving up four runs (three earned) through 5 2/3 frames. He was in the major league bullpen for the final two and a half weeks of the season. They lost him on waivers to the Blue Jays at the beginning of the offseason. Petersen subsequently made his way to the Angels and Braves in minor transactions before heading back to Miami.

Petersen stands at 6’7″ and averages 97 MPH with his fastball. He uses the heater and a low-90s cutter as his two offerings. While he hasn’t missed many bats in his scattered MLB action, he has shown notable strikeout upside in Triple-A. He’s in his second of three option years and has less than one year of MLB service.

Tinoco has been out since June 3 due to a forearm strain. He has yet to begin a minor league rehab assignment, though he has been throwing for the past couple weeks (via the MLB.com injury tracker). This is a procedural transfer that officially rules him out until the first week of August. Tinoco is multiple weeks away from a return anyways, as he’ll need to progress through bullpen and batting practice sessions before he goes on a rehab stint.

MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola first reported that the Marlins were acquiring Petersen for cash and optioning him.

Rangers Place Jake Burger On Injured List

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The Rangers announced that first baseman Jake Burger has gone on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 13, with a left quad strain. They’re unlikely to make the corresponding roster move until Friday, when they resume play with a weekend series against the Tigers.

Injured list placements can only be backdated by up to three days. Burger last played on July 12. That’s why the Rangers made the IL transaction tonight rather than waiting until Friday. He would only miss five games if he’s able to return after a minimal stint. Burger suffered the injury while running out a ground ball during last Friday’s win in Houston. He remained in the game for one more defensive inning before being subbed out. Burger made a pinch-hit appearance the next night and sat out the following day’s series finale entirely.

Ezequiel Duran was in the lineup at first base for the final two games against the Astros. He’s the only backup infielder on the active roster. Texas could recall one of Justin Foscue, Blaine Crim or Josh Jung to take Burger’s roster spot. Rowdy Tellez is also a possibility after signing a minor league contract on July 5. He has gone 5-15 with a couple home runs in four games with Triple-A Round Rock. Texas would need to select Tellez onto the 40-man roster to bring him up, but they already have a vacancy in that regard after waiving Billy McKinney last week.

Regardless of the corresponding move, first base is a clear target for GM Chris Young and his staff over the next two weeks. They acquired Burger from the Marlins in an offseason trade. They shipped out Nathaniel Lowe a few weeks later. Burger has connected on 11 home runs but is hitting .228 with a dismal .259 on-base percentage in his first season in Arlington. This is his second injured list stay of the year. Even if he’s expected back in a week, he hasn’t played well enough to keep the front office from looking elsewhere. The Rangers have gotten nothing out of the designated hitter spot either, so Burger could still see some at-bats there if Texas displaces him as the first baseman.

Duran is hitting .150 with no homers in 90 plate appearances. Foscue and Crim have combined to make 23 major league appearances in their careers. Crim has had a strong year at Round Rock, but he’s a 28-year-old in his third full Triple-A season. Tellez, a left-handed hitter, posted a .208/.249/.434 slash in 185 plate appearances for the Mariners earlier in the year. Seattle released him last month.

The Rangers just optioned Jung two weeks ago. He had the worst month of his MLB career in June. Texas sent him down to get his swing back on track. He has only gotten into seven Triple-A games with unremarkable numbers (.250/.300/.321 in 30 plate appearances). Jung has no first base experience, so the Rangers would only recall him if they intend to move third baseman Josh Smith back across the infield while Burger is out.

Trade Candidate: Charlie Morton

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Charlie Morton’s time with the Orioles couldn’t have begun much worse. He started his first five appearances and lost all of them. His best outing in that stretch was a five-inning start in which he recorded 10 strikeouts but allowed five runs. By the end of April, he’d lost his rotation spot. He carried a 9.45 earned run average with nearly as many walks (21) as strikeouts (26) through 26 2/3 innings.

Morton spent the next three weeks working out of the bullpen. He allowed eight runs (seven earned) over 16 1/3 innings across six appearances. It was better than his early-season production but wasn’t a full-fledged turnaround. Injuries reopened a rotation spot at the end of May.

The 41-year-old Morton has seized the new starting opportunity. He has allowed two or fewer runs in six of his past eight starts. Over that stretch, he carries a 2.76 ERA. Morton has fanned more than a quarter of opponents with a vastly improved 7.5% walk rate. His 12.4% swinging strike percentage during that time is a top 30 mark in MLB. Morton’s fastball has gained some life. The heater averaged 93.7 MPH in April but has climbed to 94.4 MPH since the beginning of June.

Morton’s April struggles still leave him with a 5.18 ERA on the season. Yet he’s coming up on two months of the mid-rotation form he showed throughout his time with the Braves. This version of Morton is the pitcher the Orioles expected when they signed him to a $15MM free agent contract.

It’s an important development with two weeks until the deadline. Morton has quietly reemerged as an intriguing trade chip for a Baltimore team that is nine games below .500. As recently as six weeks ago, he seemed closer to a DFA candidate than a trade asset. He’s now probably the most appealing of Baltimore’s three impending free agent starting pitchers.

Zach Eflin has struggled since his suffering a lat strain in mid-April. He’s on the injured list with a lower back strain, though it seems likely he’ll return to make a start or two before July 31. Tomoyuki Sugano has a 6.62 ERA in seven starts since the beginning of June. Opposing hitters have a .327/.380/.520 slash line in that time. Sugano has a 14% strikeout rate and has allowed 1.72 homers per nine innings on the season. The O’s are going to have a difficult time drumming up interest.

Morton is owed a little more than $6MM the rest of the way. That’ll drop to roughly $4.75MM from the deadline through season’s end. That’s a decent sum for two months, but it’s reasonable if an acquiring team feels he’s back to being a playoff-caliber starter. Baltimore is going to get plenty of calls on All-Star slugger Ryan O’Hearn in the next couple weeks. Morton is pulling alongside Cedric Mullins and relievers Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto in their next tier of rental trade candidates.

Shintaro Fujinami Signs With NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars

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Former big leaguer Shintaro Fujinami has returned to Japan. He signed with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball, the team announced. The hard-throwing righty was released from a minor league deal with the Mariners last month.

This probably marks the end of Fujinami’s two and a half seasons in affiliated ball. The 6’6″ righty has an upper-90s fastball but hasn’t been able to harness his stuff. The rebuilding A’s took a one-year, $3.25MM flier on Fujinami in advance of the 2023 season. They initially gave him a rotation opportunity, but he struggled mightily in seven starts and quickly moved to the bullpen.

While Fujinami had an 8.57 ERA in 34 appearances with the A’s, they managed to flip him to the Orioles at the trade deadline. He tallied 29 2/3 frames of 4.85 ERA ball for Baltimore. Fujinami secured a big league split deal from the Mets in his return to free agency. He never made an MLB appearance with New York, spending time on the injured list before being designated for assignment.

Fujinami pitched in Puerto Rico over the winter to land another affiliated opportunity. He secured a minor league contract with Seattle in January but struggled to a 5.79 ERA with 26 walks in 18 2/3 Triple-A innings. He’ll now head back to NPB, where he owns a 3.41 earned run average in parts of 10 seasons.

Trade Deadline Outlook: San Diego Padres

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Our team-by-team Trade Deadline Outlook series continues with the Padres. San Diego's top-heavy roster makes it easy to identify the priorities. If they remain resistant to trading either of their top prospects, they could pivot to under-the-radar or rental trade targets.

Record: 52-44 (48.3% playoff probability, per FanGraphs)

Other series entries: Rockies, Giants, Phillies, Pirates, Astros, Marlins, Athletics, Orioles, White Sox, Nationals, Cubs, Rays, Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, Angels, Mets, Blue Jays, Mariners

Buy Mode

Potential needs: Catcher, left field, starting pitcher, utility infielder

San Diego has had the same top few needs going back to the offseason. Free agent departures of Kyle Higashioka and Jurickson Profar left them without answers at catcher and in left field, respectively. The rotation depth has been a question since Joe Musgrove underwent Tommy John surgery. The late-offseason Nick Pivetta signing has been massive, but the back of the rotation still feels tenuous. Low-cost pickups in catcher and left field have not panned out, leaving the Padres to address both positions over the next two and a half weeks.

The Padres have had arguably the worst catching tandem in MLB. Elias Díaz and Martín Maldonado have combined to hit .195/.255/.306 over 327 plate appearances. Neither player rates highly as a pitch framer. While both players, especially Maldonado, have a strong reputation for the unquantifiable aspects of catcher defense (e.g. game-calling, managing a pitching staff), the production has not been there. It speaks to how far former top prospect Luis Campusano has fallen in the organization's eyes that he hasn't gotten an opportunity this year.

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Jim Clancy Passes Away

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Former All-Star Jim Clancy has passed away, the Blue Jays announced. He was 69.

Clancy was drafted by the Rangers in the fourth round of the 1974 draft out of a Chicago high school. The 6’4″ right-hander pitched three seasons in the minors. The Blue Jays selected him in the expansion draft in advance of their inaugural season in ’77. Clancy made his big league debut against his former club that July. He started 13 games as a rookie and would remain a fixture in Toronto’s rotation for the next decade.

He won 10 games with a 4.09 earned run average over 31 outings during his first full MLB season. He struggled through an injury-plagued ’79 season before breaking out the following year. Clancy turned in a career-low 3.30 ERA across 250 2/3 innings in 1980. After a down season in ’81, he was one of the top pitchers in the sport in 1982. Clancy led MLB with 40 starts and tossed a career-high 266 2/3 innings. He won 16 games and earned an All-Star nod.

That kicked off a six-year run in which he posted five seasons with a sub-4.00 ERA. Clancy surpassed 30 starts and 200 innings in all but one of those years. While injuries limited him in 1985, he managed a 3.78 ERA across 23 starts and helped the Jays to the first playoff berth in franchise history.

Clancy pitched in Toronto through the end of the ’88 campaign. He finished his Jays tenure with a 4.10 earned run average and 128 wins. Longtime teammate Dave Stieb is the only pitcher in franchise history to top Clancy’s 2204 2/3 innings pitched. He trails only Stieb and Roy Halladay on the franchise leaderboard in strikeouts and wins. After leaving Toronto in free agency, he finished his career as a swingman with the Astros and Braves.

At age 35, Clancy was part of Atlanta’s pennant-winning ’91 team and made three appearances in that year’s classic World Series against Minnesota. He was the winning pitcher in Game 3, recording one out in the top of the 12th inning before Atlanta walked it off in the bottom half. He made his final major league appearance two nights later, tossing two innings of one-run ball to record a hold in an eventual blowout win. That pulled Atlanta ahead in the series by a 3-2 margin, but Minnesota won the final two games in extras (capped by Jack Morris’ 10-inning shutout in Game 7) to win the title.

MLBTR joins others throughout the game in sending our condolences to Clancy’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

Grant Hartwig Signs With NPB’s Hanshin Tigers

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Reliever Grant Hartwig has signed with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The 6’5″ righty had been on a minor league contract with the Mets but was released last month. It seems that was to pursue this opportunity.

Hartwig, 27, pitched in the big leagues for the Mets in each of the previous two seasons. He logged 35 1/3 innings of 4.84 ERA ball as a rookie in 2023. He spent most of last year in Triple-A and lost a couple months to a meniscus tear that required surgery. Hartwig appeared in four MLB games, allowing six runs in 6 2/3 innings. The Mets dropped him from the 40-man roster early in the offseason and brought him back on a minor league deal.

A product of Miami Ohio, Hartwig signed with the Mets in 2021 as an undrafted free agent. He has turned in a 3.42 earned run average in parts of five minor league campaigns. Hartwig had a matching 3.42 ERA across 23 2/3 Triple-A frames this year, though he bizarrely surrendered 13 unearned runs (against nine earned) in 21 appearances. He fanned 29% of batters faced with a solid 8.8% walk rate while averaging nearly 95 MPH on his sinker. Hartwig will presumably lock in a stronger guarantee in NPB than he would’ve made had he played out the season in Triple-A.

Pirates Release Matt Gorski

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The Pirates released outfielder Matt Gorski, per the MLB.com transaction tracker. Pittsburgh designated him for assignment last week to open a 40-man roster spot for reliever Yohan Ramírez.

Gorski has been on the Triple-A injured list since late May. Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers. Once Pittsburgh designated him for assignment, a release was essentially inevitable. Assuming Gorski clears release waivers, the Bucs could try to bring him back on a minor league contract. He’ll have the right to pursue other opportunities as a free agent though.

The righty-hitting Gorski is a former second-round pick. He has power and speed but has had issues making consistent contact throughout his minor league career. The Indiana product got out to a hot start this year with Triple-A Indianapolis. Pittsburgh called him up in late April.

Gorski blasted a 434-foot home run off Tyler Anderson in his first major league at-bat. He recorded two homers and a triple in 15 games, but he also struck out 16 times while drawing just one walk. Pittsburgh optioned him back to Triple-A on May 17; he suffered the undisclosed injury a week later. He has hit .195 in 41 major league at-bats and is a career .254/.313/.509 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons.

Twins Not Currently Discussing Joe Ryan In Trade Talks

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The Twins are among nearly a dozen bubble teams around MLB with just over two weeks until the trade deadline. Minnesota sits two games under .500 and four games out of the American League’s final Wild Card spot. They’re tied with the Angels and have two teams (the Rays and Rangers) between them and the Mariners, who currently hold the AL’s last playoff position.

Robert Murray of FanSided reports that the Twins have yet to have serious conversations about the possibility of selling. Specifically, Murray adds that Minnesota hasn’t had discussions with other clubs about All-Star starter Joe Ryan. That doesn’t mean they’d necessarily consider Ryan untouchable if things go poorly over the next couple weeks, but they’re evidently not currently focused on moving him. Jon Morosi of MLB Network noted last week that the Twins would need to be completely out of the playoff race and be blown away by an offer to deal Ryan.

President of baseball operations Derek Falvey told SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson last week that he anticipated that most bubble teams would take right up to the July 31 deadline to determine their directions. Falvey broadly acknowledged that other teams have interest in Minnesota’s controllable pitching talent. At the same time, he expressed optimism that the team would play better coming out of the All-Star Break than they did in the first half and didn’t sound eager to sell. The Twins will resume play this weekend with a very winnable series at Coors Field. They’ll then head to L.A. to take on the Dodgers before home sets against the Nationals and Red Sox that’ll take them to the deadline.

If they struggle and pivot to selling, the Twins would obviously have no trouble drumming up interest in Ryan. The 29-year-old has steadily improved over his four-plus year MLB career. He owns a personal-best 2.72 earned run average while striking out more than 28% of opposing hitters in 19 appearances. Every team could accommodate his $3MM salary, and he remains controllable via arbitration for another two seasons. If the Twins seriously entertained dealing him, he’d probably be the prize of the rotation market.

Ryan has been the lone consistent force in a rotation that has struggled since losing Pablo López and Zebby Matthews to injuries. Minnesota starters have performed fairly well in July but had an MLB-worst 5.59 ERA in June. A Ryan trade would more or less wave the white flag on 2025, and it’d deal a huge hit to next year’s pitching staff. It’s tough to see them doing that as long as they’re within a few games of a playoff spot.

That won’t stop other teams from trying. While Ryan may be Minnesota’s most valuable trade chip, they have a number of players who’d be coveted if they sell. Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax will get a lot of attention from clubs looking for high-leverage bullpen help. Impending free agents Willi Castro and Harrison Bader are quality role players on the position player side. Chris Paddack would pique the interest of some teams that are looking for a back-end starter. Jon Heyman of The New York Post wrote this evening that the Twins could field offers on Duran and Jax if they drop further in the standings. There’d be little reason not to shop Castro, Bader and Paddack in that situation as well.

In any case, it’s highly unlikely that Byron Buxton is going anywhere. The star center fielder is signed through 2028 and having the kind of monster season that has long been possible if he can stay healthy. Even in the improbable event that the front office considered trading him, Buxton’s deal has a full no-trade clause. The two-time All-Star tells Heyman he wouldn’t have any interest in waiving his no-trade rights and leaving the only organization he has ever known.

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