Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Marlins Rumors

Pitching Notes: Lamet, Claudio, Robertson, E. Cabrera, Oberg

By | at

The Padres had to go without breakout star Dinelson Lamet in the playoffs last year because of arm issues, but the right-hander told AJ Cassavell of MLB.com and other reporters that he’s healthy heading into the upcoming season. “I’m coming off that rest period, I did everything I needed to do, I feel well-prepared,” said Lamet. “I feel like I’m 100 percent myself.” That’s another excellent development in an offseason full of them for the burgeoning Padres, as Lamet was a 2020 Cy Young contender who pitched to a 2.09 ERA/3.16 SIERA in 69 innings and struck out more than 12 batters per nine. If healthy, he’ll open the season near the top of a San Diego rotation that added Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove in the offseason, and also has Chris Paddack in the fold as a holdover.

  • Angels lefty reliever Alex Claudio is battling a hip infection that could delay his camp debut by at least one to two weeks, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com tweets. That’s unwelcome news for Claudio and the Angels’ bullpen, as the team’s counting on him to fill a regular role after it signed him to a $1.125MM guarantee in free agency. The 29-year-old spent last season with the Brewers and registered a 4.26 ERA/4.43 SIERA in 19 innings.
  • Free-agent reliever David Robertson held his second showcase of the month on Friday, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. A dozen-plus teams were in attendance to watch Robertson, according to Feinsand, who writes that the right-hander “was said to look good.” Robertson’s fastball regularly checked in between 90-91 mph and hit 92 mph multiple times. The 35-year-old has averaged 92 mph on his fastball since his career started in 2008.
  • Marlins righty prospect Edward Cabrera has an inflamed nerve in his biceps, and there’s no timetable on when he’ll be able to throw, according to Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. The Marlins will obviously be careful with the 22-year-old Cabrera, whom MLB.com ranks as the 68th overall prospect in the game. Cabrera didn’t pitch last year because of the lack of a minor league season, but he put up 38 2/3 innings of 2.56 ERA ball at the Double-A level in 2019.
  • Rockies reliever Scott Oberg hasn’t suffered any setbacks since he underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in September, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes. The hope is that the procedure will help Oberg get over blood clots that have dogged him in the past. Oberg hasn’t taken a major league mound since Aug. 16, 2019, but the righty was highly effective out of the Rockies’ bullpen that season and in the prior campaign.

Pitching Notes: Paxton, Jays, Thor, McGee, Bass

By | at

The Blue Jays were among the teams in on southpaw James Paxton before he agreed to a contract with the Mariners over the weekend. However, Toronto never made a pitch to Paxton (via Gregory Balloch of Sportsnet 650). “They showed a lot of interest, and I had interest too, but they never came forward with an offer,” Paxton said. Paxton was a first-round pick of the Jays in the 2009 draft, but after the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement, he joined the M’s as a fourth-rounder in 2010. The now-32-year-old, who’s known as the Big Maple because of his Canadian roots, will earn a guaranteed $8.5MM in his return to Seattle in 2021.

  • Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard remains on track in his recovery from March 2020 Tommy John surgery, per Tim Healey of Newsday. Barring any setbacks, Thor should rejoin the Mets’ rotation sometime in June or July. Without Syndergaard, they’re slated to open 2021 with Jacob deGrom, Carlos Carrasco, Marcus Stroman and David Peterson as the top four in their starting staff. There isn’t a set fifth member of the group yet, but the team does have interest in free-agent righty Taijuan Walker.
  • Lefty Jake McGee could close games for the Giants this year, manager Gabe Kapler told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and other reporters Wednesday. The 34-year-old McGee, whom the Giants signed to a two-year, $7MM contract last week, has saved 45 games since his career started in 2010, though the former Ray, Rockie and Dodger hasn’t picked up a save since 2018. The Giants went to a closer-by-committee approach last season with five hurlers totaling at least one save, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see McGee join others in finishing games for the team this year.
  • Righty Anthony Bass is the favorite to close for the Marlins, Craig Mish of SportsGrid suggests. Bass signed a two-year, $5MM guarantee with the Marlins last month after a productive season in Toronto, where he notched a 3.51 ERA/4.09 SIERA with a 62.3 percent groundball rate in 25 2/3 innings. He could now be in line to succeed Brandon Kintzler, who closed for the Marlins in 2020 but signed with the division-rival Phillies last week.

Marlins Designate Harold Ramirez For Assignment

By | at

The Marlins announced Wednesday that they’ve designated outfielder Harold Ramirez for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander John Curtiss, whose previously reported acquisition from the Rays is now official. Miami also formally announced its one-year deal with outfielder Adam Duvall today, placing righty Jeff Brigham to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move.

Ramirez, 26, made his Major League debut with the Marlins in May 2019 and came out of the gates on fire, batting .368/.419/.474 in his first month of action. His bat cooled after the fact, but that early hot streak was enough to leave him with a respectable .276/.312/.416 batting line through 446 plate appearances as a rookie.

The 2020 season was another story entirely, however, as Ramirez was among the many Marlins players to test positive for Covid-19 early in the year when the team was hit with an outbreak of the virus. He returned in early September but sustained an immediate hamstring injury that resulted in him being carted off the field. Ramirez didn’t make it back to the active roster following that injury and finished out his 2020 season with just three games and 11 plate appearances.

That was obviously a disappointing outcome for a player who likely hoped to have cemented himself on the big league roster with a decent rookie showing, and today’s DFA is a further downturn in trajectory. The Marlins will have a week to trade Ramirez or pass him through outright waivers. SportsGrid’s Craig Mish tweets that Miami has been attempting to move him “to no avail,” though with the DFA clock now ticking, it’s possible those talks could be accelerated.

Ramirez does have a minor league option remaining, and in addition to a respectable output at the plate in 2019,  he carries a career .303/.358/.421 slash in parts of eight minor league seasons. He’s still appeared in only 31 games at the Triple-A level, but Ramirez has been productive both there and in Double-A. He’s best deployed in an outfield corner, but the Fish gave him 192 innings of center field work in 2019, so he can at least handle the position. Teams in search of a right-handed, corner outfield bat could certainly have interest in swinging a minor deal for Ramirez, who can be controlled through at least the 2025 season.

Rays Trade John Curtiss To Marlins

By | at

The Marlins and Rays are in agreement on a trade sending right-hander John Curtiss from Tampa Bay to Miami in exchange for minor league first baseman Evan Edwards, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link).

John Curtiss

Curtiss, who’ll turn 28 in early April, had his first taste of Major League success with the Rays in 2020. The former Twins draftee ranked as one of the more promising relief prospects in the organization as he climbed through the minors, but he struggled in the big leagues with two teams (Twins, Angels) and in Triple-A with a third (Phillies) before finally landing with the Rays and ostensibly breaking through.

In 25 innings last year, Curtiss posted a 1.80 ERA with a 25.3 percent strikeout rate and just a three percent walk rate. He’s never displayed that level of command before last year’s shortened season, however, and walks have often been his undoing when he’s struggled. Curtiss also benefited from an 87.2 percent strand rate that he’s not likely to sustain. Curtiss has slightly above-average spin and velocity on his fastball, though he also yielded one of the highest average exit velocities in the game last year (92 mph).

Clearly the Marlins are of the belief that Curtiss can continue to thrive in the big leagues, even if he takes a step back from last year’s sub-2.00 ERA. Curtiss does have multiple minor league option years remaining, so he’ll give the club some depth and flexibility in the ’pen for the foreseeable future. He’s controllable all the way through the 2025 campaign if he can manage to solidify himself as a consistent big league presence.

In return for Curtiss, the Rays will receive the 23-year-old Edwards — a 2019 fourth-rounder out of North Carolina State. He only has half a season’s worth of pro experience due to last year’s lack of minor league games, but Edwards was productive in that time. In 308 plate appearances following the draft, Edwards batted .281/.357/.442 with nine homers, 15 doubles and a triple.

It should be noted, though, that the Marlins weren’t particularly aggressive with Edwards’ assignments that year, sending him to short-season Class-A and then the Class-A Midwest League where most of the competition he faced was younger than him. He also posted a 26.9 percent strikeout rate, so he’ll likely need to improve his bat-to-ball skills as he climbs the minor league ladder. Edwards didn’t rank among the Marlins’ top 30 prospects heading into the 2021 season, per Baseball America.

Marlins To Acquire Dylan Floro

By and | at

2:32pm: The Dodgers are also getting righty Kyle Hurt, a fifth-round pick of the Marlins in 2020. Hurt is a California native who pitched at USC. Baseball America wrote before the draft that teams interested in Hurt “see his future as a hard-throwing reliever.”

2:01pm: The Marlins are set to acquire right-handed reliever Dylan Floro from the Dodgers in exchange for lefty Alex Vesia and a prospect, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). It’s the second bullpen-related trade of the day for the Dodgers, who dealt lefty Adam Kolarek to the A’s in exchange for infielder Sheldon Neuse as part of a four-player trade this morning.

Floro may provide an upgrade to Miami’s bullpen, which was among the worst in the majors a year ago. The 30-year-old, whom the Dodgers acquired in a trade with the Reds in 2018, pitched to a 3.10 ERA/3.68 SIERA with a 22.4 percent strikeout rate and 7.1 percent walk rate in 98 2/3 innings in a Los Angeles uniform. Floro’s 52.7 percent groundball rate during that span was one of the main reasons he was so effective, as he also posted a meager 8.5 percent home run-to-fly ball rate. Floro isn’t eligible for arbitration until after this season, and he’s not due to become a free agent until the end of 2023, so he could be a multiyear piece for Miami.

Vesia, 24, was a 17th-round pick of the Marlins in 2018 who made a 4 1/3-inning major league debut last season and allowed nine earned runs on seven hits and seven walks (with five strikeouts). He does, however, carry a 1.62 ERA with great strikeout and walk rates in 100 innings of work in the minors.

FA Pitching Notes: Robertson, Kintzler, Marlins, Shoemaker, Parker

By | at

Free-agent reliever David Robertson will hold his previously reported showcase on Thursday, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. There will be a large group of teams in attendance, Heyman suggests, owing to a combination of the 35-year-old Robertson’s past accomplishments and what should be a low-risk contract. Robertson enjoyed great success as a Yankee and White Sox from 2008-18, establishing himself as an oft-dominant workhorse along the way, but the right-hander fell off as a Phillie after that. He threw 6 2/3 innings in an injury-shortened 2019 and didn’t pitch at all last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

  • Brandon Kintzler turned down a $2MM guarantee from the Marlins to join the Phillies on a non-guaranteed pact Wednesday, Barry Jackson of the Miami relays. The righty is betting on himself that he’ll land a roster spot in Philadelphia and earn a $3MM salary with up to $1MM in incentives. Kintzler was the closer last year in Miami, where he saved 12 of 14 games and posted a terrific 2.22 ERA with a similarly impressive 57.3 percent groundball rate. The veteran’s ability to keep the ball on the ground helped him overcome a K-BB percentage of 3.0 – the sixth-lowest mark among qualified relievers. The Marlins had an opportunity to keep him after last season, but they instead declined his $4MM option in favor of a $225K buyout.
  • Righty starter Matt Shoemaker is “weighing multiple offers” and may sign somewhere this week, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reports. Shoemaker, 34, was a Blue Jay from 2019-20, but injuries held him back in both seasons. He threw 28 2/3 innings in ’19 because of a torn ACL and finished last year with another 28 2/3 while battling shoulder inflammation. A lofty 29.6 percent home run-to-fly ball rate led to a 4.71 ERA for Shoemaker in 2020, but his 4.35 SIERA, career-high 92.1 mph fastball velocity, and above-average walk and groundball percentages (7.6 and 48.1) were more encouraging.
  • Reliever Blake Parker is deciding among three teams’ offers (one of which is a major league deal) and could make his choice soon, per Heyman. The 35-year-old righty turned in a fine 2020 as a Phillie with a 2.81 ERA/3.39 SIERA and an exorbitant strikeout rate (36.0 percent) over 16 innings, though he also walked 13.0 percent of the batters he faced.

Phillies To Sign Brandon Kintzler

By | at

The Phillies have agreed to a minor league pact with free-agent righty Brandon Kintzler, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports (Twitter links). The veteran reliever had a big league offer to return to the Marlins, Rogers adds, but he opted for a non-guaranteed deal with the Phillies that offers more earning potential if he makes the club: a $3MM base salary plus additional incentives. Kintzler is represented by agent Kevin Kohler.

Based on his track record and the general state of disrepair in which the Phillies’ bullpen resided over the past couple seasons, Kintzler would seem to have a good chance at cracking the roster and securing that $3MM base. The 36-year-old sinker specialist has pitched to a 2.55 ERA over the past two seasons between the Cubs and Marlins, and he’s notched a 3.15 mark or lower in four of the past five years. In that half-decade span, Kintzler has a 3.26 ERA and 3.67 SIERA with a sub-par 16.2 percent strikeout rate but an excellent 6.3 percent walk rate and similarly strong 55.4 percent grounder rate.

Kintzler will add to a late-inning relief mix that has been quickly overhauled since Dave Dombrowski was named president of baseball operations in Philadelphia. Righty Hector Neris, the team’s most frequent closer in recent years, is back for the 2021 season, but Dombrowski has added hard-throwing lefty Jose Alvarado from the Rays, signed Archie Bradley and now inked Kintzler.

If Kintzler does indeed make the club, he’ll push the Phillies north of $201MM in luxury-tax obligations. That doesn’t leave too much room for additional spending — assuming owner John Middleton aims to keep his club south of that mark — but it could leave the door open for some additional low-cost signings and/or non-roster invitees between now and Opening Day. Dombrowski has mentioned multiple times that he hopes to stockpile as much pitching depth as possible after last year’s truncated 2020 season shortened every MLB pitcher’s workload.

Dodgers, Padres Have Shown Interest In Garrett Cooper

By | at

8:50pm: The Padres have also shown interest in Cooper, tweets Mish, who adds that “no shortage of teams” have called the Marlins about him in the wake of the Duvall agreement. Trading for Cooper would be the latest notable offseason move by the Padres, who have aggressively tried to chase down the division-rival Dodgers throughout the winter.

7:34pm: The Marlins are adding Adam Duvall to their outfield, and that pickup could push Garrett Cooper out of Miami. Cooper’s status with the team is in question now that Duvall is coming aboard, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The Dodgers have already inquired about Cooper, Craig Mish of SportsGrid reports.

Whether Miami would seriously consider trading Cooper is unknown, but it could deem him redundant because of the Duvall signing. Both players are right-handed hitters capable of lining up in the corner outfield, and though Cooper has mostly been a first baseman, the Marlins have another righty starter there in Jesus Aguilar. If there is no universal DH in 2021, Cooper could wind up elsewhere.

Cooper, who turned 30 on Christmas Day, has been a productive and affordable part of the Marlins’ offense over the past couple years. He was certainly among their best hitters last season, in which he slashed .283/.353/.500 (134 wRC+) with six home runs in 133 plate appearances. His history of mixing respectable offense (114 career wRC+) with defensive versatility, not to mention his three remaining years of team control and $1.9MM salary in 2021, would figure to make him a quality trade chip for Miami.

The Dodgers are known for placing high value on players who can line up at multiple positions, so Cooper would seem to fit in with the reigning World Series champions. He could perhaps see time at first base along with the likes of Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger and Edwin Rios, and would join Bellinger, Mookie Betts, Chris Taylor and AJ Pollock as outfield-capable veterans on the Dodgers’ roster.

Marlins To Sign Adam Duvall

By and | at

3:15pm: Duvall will earn $2MM in 2021, while there’s a mutual option for $7MM or a $3MM buyout in 2022, per Mish.

2:44pm: The Marlins are “extremely close” to wrapping up a deal with free-agent outfielder Adam Duvall, SportsGrid’s Craig Mish reports (via Twitter). MLB Network’s Jon Heyman initially connected the two sides, noting that the Fish might need to “stretch” an already light $60MM payroll in order to accommodate what should be a modestly priced deal for the CAA client.

The 32-year-old Duvall was one of the majors’ most prolific home run hitters a season ago in Atlanta, where he slashed .237/.301/.532 with 16 homers in 209 plate appearances. It was the latest high-powered campaign for Duvall, a former Giant and Red who has twice smacked 30-plus HRs in a season.

As a Brave from 2019-20, Duvall hit a well-above-average .248/.307/.545 (117 wRC+) and totaled 26 homers in 339 trips to the plate. Duvall has also been a significant plus in the outfield, where he has combined for 42 Defensive Runs Saved and a 14.8 Ultimate Zone Rating across 4,000-plus innings in the majors. Nevertheless, the Braves still moved on from Duvall earlier in the offseason, choosing to non-tender him instead of giving him a projected $4MM in arbitration.

The Marlins, meanwhile, earned a surprise playoff berth in 2020, but they haven’t done much to upgrade their offense so far this winter. The right-handed Duvall may be able to help their cause in left field, where he could share time with the lefty-swinging Corey Dickerson. Starling Marte, Garrett Cooper, Magneuris Sierra, Lewis Brinson, Harold Ramirez and Monte Harrison are among the other outfielders on the Marlins’ 40-man roster.

FA News & Rumors: Puig, Phils, Mets, Dee, Soria

By | at

Despite sitting out all of last season, outfielder Yasiel Puig looks as if he could be an interesting and inexpensive pickup for someone this winter. The problem is that no one seems to be aggressively pursuing Puig. The Royals, Marlins and Yankees have all been connected to Puig in recent weeks, but none of them are going after him, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports. Puig, who turned 30 in December, was a standout with the Dodgers earlier in his career, but he endured a mediocre 2019 between the Reds and Indians and sat on the open market for all of last year. While Puig did appear to have a deal with the Braves in the summer, that collapsed when he tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-July.

  • The Phillies have shown interest in a pair of utility players – Marwin Gonzalez (previously reported) and Brad Miller – as well as outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, according to Heyman. The division-rival Mets are also considering Gonzalez, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com relays. Gonzalez and Miller are fits just about anywhere because of their histories of combining respectable offense with defensive versatility, whereas the Phillies and other NL teams look like an imperfect match for Choo. Not only is he 38 years old, but Choo has struggled as a defender for most of his career.
  • Four to five teams are in the mix for middle infielder/outfielder Dee Strange-Gordon, and he could make a decision on his next club by week’s end, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com tweets. The Red Sox were interested in Strange-Gordon earlier this offseason, but they’re likely out of the running after signing fellow infielder/outfielder Enrique Hernandez, per Cotillo. The Reds are reportedly one of the teams in on the 32-year-old speedster, who’s a free agent at an inopportune time after three consecutive dismal seasons with the Mariners.
  • Veteran reliever Joakim Soria agreed to join the Diamondbacks for a $3.5MM guarantee Wednesday, but he turned down bigger offers from elsewhere to do so, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The 36-year-old right-hander, a two-time All-Star who turned in his latest solid season with the Athletics in 2020, is in line to close for Arizona.
Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top