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Marlins To Promote Griffin Conine

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The Marlins will promote outfield prospect Griffin Conine before their game against the Rockies on Monday, the team announced. Conine is the son of two-time World Series champion Jeff Conine, known to fans as Mr. Marlin and widely considered one of the better players in the franchise’s history. The younger Conine, 27, is enjoying a solid season at Triple-A Jacksonville (19 home runs, .825 OPS). He will make his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game.

Drafted by the Blue Jays in 2018, Griffin Conine joined the Marlins organization in 2020 as the player to be named later in a trade that sent Jonathan Villar to Toronto. He earned a promotion to Triple-A last August, and while he struggled at first, he has looked much more comfortable there this season, bringing down his strikeout rate and continuing to show off the power that has always been his strongest tool. The lefty slugger has hit especially well over the past three weeks, batting .310 and walking in 12.1% of his plate appearances. He has an .859 OPS and 127 wRC+ since August 3.

According to Christina De Nicola of MLB.com, Conine will not play every day. That said, the Marlins would not have called him up if they weren’t going to give him a good amount of playing time. Miami already has two lefty-batting corner outfielders on the roster – Jesús Sánchez and Kyle Stowers – but Conine could see plenty of reps as a DH against right-handed pitching.

The Marlins have not yet announced any corresponding moves, but De Nicola reports that the team will place shortstop Xavier Edwards on the 10-day IL, thereby opening a space for Conine on the active roster. Edwards, who is suffering from lower back pain, underwent an MRI yesterday. The scan came back negative, but evidently, the club believes he needs more time off his feet.

The Marlins will also need to free up space for Conine on the 40-man. Miami’s 40-man roster is currently overflowing after the team claimed right-hander Mike Baumann earlier this afternoon.

Marlins Claim Mike Baumann

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The Marlins announced that right-hander Mike Baumann has been claimed off waivers.  The Angels designated Baumann for assignment earlier this week.

The claim puts Baumann in position for a unique piece of baseball history, as he could join Oliver Drake as the only players to ever play for five different teams over the course of a single season.  Baumann has a 5.24 ERA over 44 2/3 innings split over stints with the Angels (9 1/3 IP), Giants (two-thirds of an inning), Mariners (16 1/3 IP), and Orioles (18 1/3 IP), and just one appearance with Miami would allow Baumann to get a piece of Drake’s record.

A third-round pick for the Orioles in the 2017 draft, Baumann had spent his entire career in Baltimore’s organization before he was designated for assignment in May, thus sparking his busy summer of transactions.  This is the first time Baumann has left DFA limbo via waiver claim this season, as his first three designations were resolved by trades.  Baumann is out of minor league options, which is why he has been perpetually DFA’ed rather than simply optioned to the minors.

Baumann is a hard thrower with mid-90s velocity, and he had a 3.46 ERA over 64 2/3 relief innings for the Orioles in 2023.  Between this resume and some good minor league numbers (including high strikeout totals), it’s easy to see why various teams have had interest in Baumann, even if he has struggled since leaving Baltimore.  The Marlins are both rebuilding and have been hit hard by pitching injuries this season, so Baumann should have a decent chance at getting some innings and perhaps finally staying put on a roster.

Marlins Select Jonathan Bermudez

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The Marlins announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Jonathan Bermudez from Triple-A Jacksonville.  To clear space on both the 26-man and 40-man rosters, Miami optioned righty Emmanuel Ramirez to Triple-A, and moved outfielder Dane Myers from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL.

The 28-year-old Bermudez will be making his Major League debut whenever he appears in a game.  A 23rd-round pick for the Astros in the 2018 draft, Bermudez pitched in Houston’s farm system until he was claimed off waivers by the Giants during the 2022 season.  San Francisco parted ways with Bermudez just prior to Opening Day 2023 and he then caught on with Miami, spending most of that time at the Marlins’ Double-A affiliate.

Bermudez had a 2.53 ERA over 74 2/3 Double-A innings this year, but his time in Jacksonville was much rockier, with a 6.46 ERA to show for 23 2/3 innings of work (starting three of six appearances).  This performance continued Bermudez’s lack of Triple-A success, as he has a 7.16 ERA over 137 total frames of Triple-A ball counting his time with the Giants’ and Astros’ top affiliates as well as his work in Jacksonville this season.  Bermudez’s career Triple-A numbers also include a 23.69% strikeout rate and 11.13% walk rate.

While Bermudez has mostly worked as a starter in his career, it seems likelier that he’ll work out of the bullpen in Miami.  Andrew Nardi was just placed on the 15-day IL yesterday, leaving the Marlins with just Kent Emanuel as the lone left-hander in the relief corps.  Bermudez could add more depth from the left side and eat some innings in long relief, and it certainly seems possible he might pick up a start or two as the Marlins play out the string.

Myers has been out of action since fracturing his ankle in mid-July, so the move to the 60-day IL will now push his activation date to mid-September at the earliest.  In MLB.com’s most recent update on Myers’ status, he is now out of a walking boot and is starting to ramp up workouts in the hopes of a return before the season is over.

Orioles Claim Emmanuel Rivera, Designate Terrin Vavra

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The Orioles have claimed infielder Emmanuel Rivera off waivers from the Marlins, per announcements from both clubs. Rivera was designated for assignment by the Marlins a few days ago. The Orioles opened a 40-man spot by designating infielder Terrin Vavra for assignment.

Rivera, 28, is in his fourth major league season and he will now be joining his fourth major league club. He’s been in 314 big league games between the Royals, Marlins and Diamondbacks, largely serving as a light-hitting infielder with strong glovework.

In 969 plate appearances, he has hit .239/.302/.354 for a wRC+ of 81. That includes a line of .214/.294/.269 and a 61 wRC+ this year. He has logged just under 2,000 innings at third base in his career, racking up 11 Defensive Runs Saved and 5 Outs Above Average.

The Orioles had a surplus of position players not too long ago but it has been thinned out in recent weeks. Jordan Westburg, Jorge Mateo and Heston Kjerstad all landed on the injured list at the end of July. Austin Hays was traded to the Phillies and the club also traded Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers to the Marlins. Coincidentally, Norby’s promotion earlier this week nudged Rivera off that club’s roster.

The club recently gave Coby Mayo a shot at the hot corner with Westburg out, but sent Mayo back down after he got just one hit in his first 20 plate appearances, striking out 10 times. Ramón Urías is covering third now but his defensive metrics are oddly down this year. He has a strong reputation for his glovework but has -3 DRS and -7 OAA at third base in 2024.

Perhaps the O’s will try Rivera at third with Urías going back to being a multi-positional guy. Liván Soto is on the roster but he has options and could be sent down when Rivera reports to the club. Rivera is on pace to qualify for arbitration this winter and could be retained if he lasts on Baltimore’s roster through the season and they decide to tender him a contract.

Vavra, 27, was once a notable prospect but has struggled in recent seasons. A third-round pick of the Rockies in 2018, he went to the O’s in the August 2020 trade that sent Mychal Givens to Colorado. Vavra then slashed .275/.406/.449 across multiple levels in 2021 for a wRC+ of 138. Baltimore added him to their 40-man roster in November of that year to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

In 2022, he served as an up-and-down depth player for the O’s and performed well. He slashed .258/.340/.337 in his 40 major league games, exactly league average performance. He also had a strong slash of .324/.435/.451 in 45 Triple-A games. But in 2023, he missed time due to shoulder issues, eventually getting diagnosed with a torn labrum in his right shoulder that required surgery. He only played 43 games that year, majors and minors combined.

Outrighted off the roster in November, he got his spot back in July when Mateo hit the injured list but was optioned the next day. He has a line of .243/.350/.368 in Triple-A this year, which translates to a 92 wRC+.

Vavra is in his final option year and will be out of options next season, though he has less than a year of service time. The O’s will have to place him on waivers in the coming days since the trade deadline has passed. It’s been a rough couple of years but if any club is interested in his pre-surgery form, they could control him for many years to come. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, his previous outright gives him the right to elect free agency.

Marlins Designate Emmanuel Rivera For Assignment

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The Marlins announced Monday that they’ve designated infielder Emmanuel Rivera for assignment and optioned righty George Soriano to Triple-A Jacksonville. Their roster spots will go to right-hander Adam Oller and second baseman/left fielder Connor Norby, whose previously reported promotions to the big leagues are now official.

Acquired in exchange for cash after the D-backs designated him for assignment, Rivera appeared in 96 games for Miami and tallied 229 plate appearances. He hit just .214/.296/.269 in that time, clocking in 39% worse than a league-average hitter, by measure of wRC+. The 28-year-old provided plus defense at third base, as he’s done with the Royals and D-backs throughout his three prior MLB seasons, and he filled in occasionally at first base as well. The slick glovework at the hot corner was no longer enough to outweigh a trio of slash stats all sitting shy of .300, however.

Rivera is out of minor league options, so the Marlins didn’t have the ability to send him to the minors without removing him from the 40-man roster. Rivera will reach three years of big league service time tomorrow, while he’s in DFA limbo, so he’d have been arbitration-eligible and due a raise this offseason had the Fish opted to keep him on the roster. That would’ve made him a non-tender candidate anyhow, but Rivera will now be available to the other 29 clubs via waivers. If he clears, he’ll have exactly enough service time to reject the assignment in favor of free agency.

With Rivera jettisoned from the roster and Norby on the way up, it seems quite possible that defensive-minded second baseman Otto Lopez will now slide over to third base, with Norby taking frequent reps at second base. Lopez has graded out brilliantly at second base but provided scant offensive production. However, Lopez is younger, more versatile, more controllable and still has a minor league option remaining, so of the two defensive-minded righty-hitting infielders it’ll be Lopez rather than Rivera who keeps his spot on the roster.

Marlins To Promote Connor Norby

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The Marlins are calling up infield/outfield prospect Connor Norby to make his team debut, as first reported by Isaac Azout of Fish On First. He’ll presumably receive regular playing time down the stretch.

Norby, 24, came to Miami alongside outfielder Kyle Stowers in the trade sending left-hander Trevor Rogers to Baltimore. While Stowers went right onto the big league roster (and has struggled considerably in his first 16 games), Norby was the more highly regarded young player of the two. He’s a bat-first second base/left field prospect who’s hit well at every minor league stop, including this year in Triple-A, where he’s batting .293/.382/.496 with 17 homers, 24 doubles, a triple, 13 steals (in 16 tries) and a 12% walk rate. His 28% strikeout rate in Triple-A this season is admittedly a red flag, but Norby hasn’t had major strikeout concerns in the past.

It’s worth pointing out that Norby’s production has dropped off sharply since the trade, though he’s generally still holding his own outside of a dip in power, hitting .271/.338/.373 in 67 plate appearances with the Marlins’ affiliate in Jacksonville. Even still, Norby’s aggregate production in Triple-A between the two organizations has been 28% better than league-average, by measure of wRC+, and the Marlins have little incentive not to see what they have in a player who could be a core piece moving forward.

Among the 30 big league teams, Miami ranks 27th in terms of production from its second basemen (again, per wRC+) — and  that’s including the 144 plate appearances Luis Arraez received before being traded to San Diego (during which he batted .293/.343/.368). Otto Lopez has seen the bulk of the playing time at the keystone since that trade, but he’s batting just .236/.270/.316 on the season, making him one of the least-impactful hitters in the entire league.

Lopez has provided huge value with his glove, but he can still impact that game defensively in a utility role while Miami gives a legitimate audition to Norby — a former top-100 prospect who’s looked largely MLB-ready for some time but fell down the Orioles’ depth chart due to the glut of touted young infielders present in Baltimore (e.g. Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo). There’s far less competition in this stripped-down version of the Marlins, which president of baseball operations Peter Bendix is rebuilding from the ground up. MLB.com currently ranks Norby third among Miami farmhands, while Baseball America pegs him sixth.

Norby’s pending promotion gives him nearly six weeks to make his case for a 2025 role. It’s a not a true sink-or-swim test, of course. Norby only turned 24 in June and is in the first of three minor league option years. Even with a poor showing down the stretch, he’d still be in the mix to earn a spot on the roster next spring. He won’t lose his place in the team’s future plans with a so-so team debut, but he can likely go out and cement himself in their ’25 plans with a productive run. Miami currently controls Norby all the way through the 2030 season, and he’s not currently scheduled to be arbitration-eligible until the 2027-28 offseason.

Marlins To Select Adam Oller

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The Marlins plan to select Adam Oller’s contract from Triple-A Jacksonville, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 Houston. The righty will get the start on Monday, as the Marlins welcome the Diamondbacks for the first game of a three-game set. Oller signed a minor league deal with Miami in July.

Since the Pirates selected Oller in the 20th round of the 2016 draft, he has bounced between several organizations. After three seasons in the Pirates system, he briefly played in independent ball before signing on with the Giants in 2019. The Mets took him in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft the following December, and two years later, they selected his contract to the 40-man roster to protect him from the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft. That same offseason, he was traded to the Athletics as part of the package for Chris Bassitt, and it was with Oakland that he finally made his MLB debut. Oller appeared in 19 games for the A’s in 2022, making 14 starts and pitching to a 6.30 ERA and 5.83 SIERA. He made another nine appearances, though only one start, in 2023 before he was designated for assignment. He put up a 10.07 ERA and 6.02 SIERA in 19 2/3 innings of work.

The Mariners claimed Oller off of waivers, and he finished out the 2023 season starting for the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. He was DFA’d and outrighted at the end of the season, and he elected free agency in November. After that, the right-hander signed a minor league deal with the Guardians, and although he earned an invitation to spring training, he never made his way onto the big league roster. After pitching to a 7.48 ERA and 6.00 FIP over 12 appearances (six starts) for the Triple-A Columbus Clippers, Oller was released by the Guardians in July.

Since joining the Marlins organization, the 29-year-old Oller has seen noticeably better results. Across six appearances (three starts) at Triple-A Jacksonville, he has a 2.88 ERA and 3.46 FIP in 25 innings pitched. His 17.3% K-BB% is the highest it’s been at any stop in his professional career since his 2021 season at Double-A.

The Marlins have gone without a No. 5 starter since they designated Kyle Tyler for assignment earlier this month. Thanks to some well-scheduled off days, they have gotten by with just Edward Cabrera, Roddery Muñoz, Valente Bellozo, and Max Meyer since Tyler’s last appearance on August 8. However, they will need another starter on Monday, and it appears Oller is the man for the job. The Marlins’ rotation has been stretched thin by injuries this season, with names like Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Eury Pérez, Braxton Garrett, Ryan Weathers, and Sixto Sánchez all currently on the 60-day IL. Thus, Miami will look to Oller to provide innings as they try to ride out the rest of a thoroughly disappointing season.

Before putting Oller on the mound, the Marlins will need to make room for the right-hander on the 26 and 40-man rosters. One way for Miami to free up a 40-man spot would be to transfer outfielder Dane Myers from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL if the team does not think he will return from his fractured ankle before September 13. Alternatively, the Marlins could DFA a reliever like Brett de Geus or Kent Emanuel.

MLBTR Podcast: The White Sox Fire Their Manager, Víctor Robles Extended, And The Marlins’ Front Office

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

We had some technical difficulties during this recording, so the audio is of a lower quality than usual. Apologies for that, but the source has been discovered and everything will be back to normal next week. This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Will Camilo Doval pitch again this season (or ever) for the Giants? (25:10)
  • What ever happened to Archie Bradley this season? (29:20)
  • Well, if your offense stops failing you, let the pitching failures take the spotlight! As a Braves fan, I am feeling quite trampled after all the high expectations that this season came with. Should I forget any postseason hopes? (31:00)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Marlins Do Not Intend To Trade Sandy Alcantara In Offseason

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The Marlins have informed Sandy Alcantara that they will not trade him during the upcoming offseason, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (X link). Mish writes that the Fish are hopeful that the 2022 NL Cy Young winner will be ready to take the ball for them on Opening Day.

Alcantara missed this entire season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in October. That was the first major blow in what has turned out to be a very difficult 12 months at loanDepot Park. Eury Pérez went down with a Tommy John procedure of his own a week into the ’24 season. The Marlins got 12 inconsistent starts out of Jesús Luzardo; his season is over due to a stress reaction in his back. A finger injury has interrupted what might have been a step forward from Ryan Weathers. Lefty Braxton Garrett is currently down with a flexor strain and has made all of seven starts. Edward Cabrera lost a couple months in the first half.

A rotation with a fully healthy Alcantara, Luzardo, Pérez, Garrett and Weathers would probably be a top 10 group in MLB. The Marlins have instead lost them all for significant chunks of the season. Between that brutal stretch of starting pitching injuries and one of the worst lineups in the majors, the Marlins have had a nightmare of a year. They started 0-9, never got back to .500, and are fully amidst a rebuild. Miami shipped out Jazz Chisholm Jr., Luis Arraez, Josh Bell, Trevor Rogers, Tanner Scott, Bryan De La Cruz and a few others as part of a roster overhaul. First-year president of baseball operations Peter Bendix has begun to reshape the front office, and it’s widely believed that manager Skip Schumaker and the organization could part ways at season’s end.

That upheaval means there aren’t many players whom the Marlins would probably steadfastly refuse to discuss in trade talks. That said, it never seemed especially likely they’d deal Alcantara next winter. He’s rehabbing a major arm procedure that at least clouds his trade value. While there’d surely still be interest if the Marlins shopped him, other teams would presumably want to price in some kind of discount in case Alcantara doesn’t regain his pre-surgery form.

There’s little reason for the Marlins to entertain diminished trade offers. Miami signed Alcantara to a $56MM extension the year before his Cy Young campaign. He’s under contract for another two seasons and the team holds an option for 2027. Alcantara is making $9MM this year. His salaries will jump to $17MM annually for the next two seasons; the option is valued at $21MM and comes with a $2MM buyout. (He’d also receive a $1MM assignment bonus if the Marlins trade him at any point.) From here forward, it’s a two-year, $36MM guarantee that comes with a third-year club option.

Despite the surgery, that’s good value for a pitcher of Alcantara’s caliber. Bounceback starters like Frankie Montas, Jack Flaherty and Luis Severino signed for between $13MM and $16MM in free agency last offseason. They all inked one-year deals, but that allowed them all to retest free agency in search of a much bigger contract if they returned to form. Alcantara is coming from a higher baseline than that trio of pitchers. If he looks anything like his old self, the final guaranteed season and the club option would be well below market value.

It’s a relatively costly commitment by Miami’s standards, but the Marlins have little else on the books next year. They owe the already released Avisaíl García $17MM between his $12MM salary and a $5MM buyout on his 2026 option. They’re responsible for $10MM annually to the Yankees between 2026-28 on the Giancarlo Stanton contract. Minor league reliever Woo-Suk Go, who is owed $2.75MM next season between his salary and a ’26 option buyout, is the only other player on a guaranteed deal beyond this season.

Luzardo, Jesús Sánchez and Garrett headline what’ll be a relatively light arbitration class. The Fish aren’t likely to do much in free agency after spending all of $5MM last winter on a one-year deal for Tim Anderson. Even with Alcantara’s salary rising by $8MM, they could open next season with a lower player payroll than their approximate $92MM mark this year (calculated by Cot’s Baseball Contracts).

If Alcantara performs well in the first half, he could be one of the most in-demand players at next summer’s deadline. Even if all their starters come back healthy, Miami will be hard-pressed to compete barring a major lineup overhaul. The Marlins still may not want to move Alcanatara with the amount of time remaining on his deal, but that’d be a more interesting question for the front office than it would to sell low on him over the offseason.

Marlins Outright Shaun Anderson

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The Marlins have sent right-hander Shaun Anderson outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He has the right to elect free agency but it’s not clear if he’s chosen to do so.

Anderson, 29, began the year with Olmecas de Tabasco in the Mexican League but made one start of seven shutout innings and quickly landed a minor league deal with the Rangers. After about a month in Triple-A, the Rangers called him up to the big leagues in the middle of May. He was designated for assignment just over a week later and sent to the Marlins for cash.

The righty has largely been kept on optional assignment this year. Between the Rangers and Marlins, he has made five big league appearances, mostly in mop-up fashion. He hasn’t performed especially well in those outings, to put it mildly, allowing 15 earned runs in 14 innings. He hasn’t been helped by a .452 batting average on balls in play or his 48.6% strand rate, but he also only punched out 11.8% of batters faced.

His performance in the minors has been far better. Between the two organizations he has pitched for this year, he has thrown 48 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 2.42 earned run average, 23.2% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate. But that wasn’t enough to get him claimed by one of the other clubs in the league.

Anderson has been previously outrighted in his career, which gives him the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency. If he decides to stay, he’ll provide non-roster depth to a fairly snakebitten Miami rotation. Each of Sandy Alcántara, Eury Pérez, Ryan Weathers, Jesús Luzardo, Braxton Garrett and Sixto Sánchez are on the 60-day injured list, with each of Alcántara, Pérez and Luzardo done for the year.

The rotation is now down to Max Meyer, Edward Cabrera, Roddery Muñoz and Valente Bellozo. The Marlins have a few off-days scattered through the rest of their schedule which could perhaps allow them to run that four-man rotation with occasional bullpen days. They have Adam Mazur, Darren McCaughan and Xzavion Curry on optional assignment and Yonny Chirinos as a non-roster depth option. If Anderson sticks around, he can join Chirinos in the veteran non-roster camp. Anderson has 149 2/3 big league innings of big league experience but with a 6.19 ERA in that time.

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