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Marlins Select Braxton Garrett

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The Marlins selected the contract of left-hander Braxton Garrett and named him the 29th man for today’s doubleheader against the Phillies, per a club announcement. They’ve also activated right-hander Nick Neidert from the injured list, optioning left-hander Dan Castano to open active roster space. To clear space on the 40-man roster for Garrett and Neidert, southpaw Brandon Leibrandt was transferred to the 60-day injured list with left elbow ulnar neuritis and infielder Eddy Alvarez was designated for assignment.

Garrett is the most notable name in today’s swath of moves, having been selected seventh overall in the 2016 draft out of an Alabama high school. An ill-timed Tommy John surgery the following June threw Garrett off track, and his prospect status has never completely bounced back. Nevertheless, he’s still among the most talented arms in the Miami farm system, with Baseball America recently placing him ninth among Marlins prospects thanks to his 92-95 MPH fastball and plus curveball. Garrett was due to be added to the 40-man roster this winter to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. The contending Marlins can afford to devote a roster spot to him a few months earlier if they anticipate him helping their playoff push.

Like Garrett, Neidert is one of the Marlins’ better pitching prospects. He was part of Miami’s season-opening roster but pitched in just one game before going on the IL amidst the team’s COVID-19 outbreak. The command artist turned in a 5.05 ERA in 41 Triple-A innings last year (deceptively productive work given the high-octane offensive environment in the Pacific Coast League).

Alvarez, meanwhile, was one of the more remarkable stories in baseball this season. The 30-year-old former Olympic speed skater cracked Miami’s MLB roster in the wake of their COVID outbreak. Unfortunately, he didn’t do nearly enough to hold down a roster spot permanently, hitting just .189/.268/.216 in 41 plate appearances.

Marlins Select Johan Quezada, Release Justin Shafer

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The Marlins announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Johan Quezada from their alternate training site and appointed right-hander Robert Dugger as the 29th man for today’s doubleheader. Miami added that fellow righty Justin Shafer, who was designated for assignment earlier in the week, has cleared waivers and been granted his unconditional release.

Quezada, 26, spent his entire career prior to the 2020 season in the Twins organization but never advanced beyond Class-A Advanced. He spent the 2019 campaign with Minnesota’s Florida State League affiliate in Fort Myers, tossing 52 1/3 innings with a 3.44 ERA, 8.4 K/9, 4.9 BB/9 and a 53.4 percent ground-ball rate.

Listed at an NBA-esque 6’9″, Quezada possesses a powerful fastball but has seen his development arc slowed by shoulder surgery that wiped out his 2017 campaign and by the lack of a minor league season in 2020. He inked a minor league deal with the Fish back in December and clearly did enough at their alternate site to earn a look in the big leagues.

Shafer, 27, was claimed from the Reds earlier this season and tagged for eight runs in 5 2/3 frames out of the Miami ’pen. He posted a solid 3.75 ERA in parts of two seasons with the Blue Jays from 2018-19, but the 32 walks and two hit batsmen he tallied in 48 innings with Toronto serve to underscore the control problems that have hampered him to this point in his MLB career. Shafer is now a free agent and eligible to sign with any team for the final couple weeks of the season.

Marlins Make Several Roster Moves

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The Marlins have announced a series of roster moves, including utility player Jon Berti’s placement on the 10-day IL with a finger injury. They also moved catcher Francisco Cervelli to the 60-day IL with a concussion; selected righty Brett Eibner; recalled second baseman Isan Diaz and lefty Daniel Castano; and optioned RHP Jordan Yamamoto and LHP Alex Vesia.

With a 19-19 record, the Marlins have been one of the majors’ biggest surprises this year, and Berti has played a part in their success. The 30-year-old has batted a league-average .250/.354/.354 with eight stolen bases over 114 plate appearances, and has lined up at a handful of defensive positions. Most of Berti’s reps have come at second base, but he has also handled shortstop, third base, center field and right on occasion.

Cervelli went on the seven-day concussion IL on Aug. 22 and hasn’t played since. The former Yankee, Pirate and Brave has dealt with an alarming number of head injuries throughout his career, making it unclear whether this latest issue will cause the 34-year-old to call it a career. He signed with the Marlins for a one-year, $2MM deal last offseason and batted an effective .245/.355/.453 with three home runs in 62 plate appearances before landing on the shelf.

Eibner, 31, is back with the Marlins exactly a week after they outrighted him. He has thrown 1 1/3 innings of three-run ball in two relief appearances this year.

Marlins Designate Justin Shafer For Assignment

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The Marlins announced that they’ve designated right-hander Justin Shafer for assignment and reinstated infielder Isan Diaz from the restricted list. The club sent Diaz to its alternate training site, and it also added outfielder Connor Scott to its 60-man player pool.

The 27-year-old Shafer joined the Marlins via waivers from the Reds in late July, when Miami was dealing with a team-wide COVID-19 outbreak. Shafer came to the team as someone with a 3.75 ERA in 48 major league innings, all with the Blue Jays, but his Marlins tenure has gone terribly so far. He threw 5 2/3 innings of eight-run ball while allowing eight hits and eight walks (against four strikeouts) before they designated him.

Scott, the Marlins’ 15th-ranked prospect at MLB.com, was the 13th overall pick in the 2018 draft. The 20-year-old topped out last season at High-A, where he batted .235/.306/.327 with one home run in 111 plate appearances.

Marlins Outright Adam Conley

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The Marlins have outrighted left-hander Adam Conley to Triple-A Wichita, the team announced. Conley’s now out of the Marlins’ 60-man player pool and off their 40-man roster, but he’ll remain part of the organization, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com tweets.

Conley, who was one of many Marlins to land on the injured list because of the coronavirus earlier in the summer, hasn’t pitched at all this year. The club designated Conley for assignment Aug. 31.

At his peak from 2015-16, Conley was a valuable part of the Marlins’ pitching staff (primarily as a starter). He posted a 3.82 ERA/4.07 FIP during that 200 1/3-inning span, but his production has been unpalatable since then. Dating back to 2017, Conley has seen his velocity soar from the high-80s/low-90s range to around 95 mph as a reliever, yet he has logged an unsightly 5.76 ERA/5.02 FIP across 214 frames.

Going forward, the 30-year-old Conley still has another two arbitration-eligible seasons left. However, considering the way the past few seasons have gone, it’s very much in question whether he’ll pitch for Miami again.

Marlins Recall Monte Harrison, Place Brandon Leibrandt On 10-Day IL

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The Marlins left-hander Brandon Leibrandt has been placed on the 10-day injured list. Monte Harrison has been recalled to take his roster spot, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (via Twitter).

A sixth-round pick of the Phillies in the 2014 draft, the 27-year-old Leibrandt made his major league debut this season. He appeared in 5 games, pitching to an even 2.00 ERA across 9 innings, though he struggled with his control by walking 7 over that span. He now heads to the injured list with left elbow ulnar neuritis. While anything short of Tommy John surgery should be a relief, ulnar neuritis is still likely to require a months-long recover process, effectively ending Leibrandt’s season.

Harrison rejoins the club, hoping for better results than the last go-round. The 25-year-old Harrison could muster a triple slash of just .133/.212/.267 over his first 33 plate appearances in the big leagues. The speedy Harrison mostly lined up in center, but with Starling Marte now manning the middle, Harrison is more likely to see time in the corners, where he should be a plus defensively.

Marlins Reinstate Jose Urena

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The Marlins announced a number of roster moves today. Infielder Eddy Alvarez was optioned to the team’s alternate training site, Harold Ramirez was transferred to the 60-day IL, and Jose Urena was reinstated from the IL.

Alvarez, 30, was an medal-winning Olympian in a past life, but the former speed skater slashed just .189/.268/.216 in his first stint with the Marlins. While playing all over the infield, Alvarez managed to steal a couple of bases, but a strikeout rate of 39% slowed his offensive progress and relegated him to the team’s alternate training site for the near-term.

Ramirez only appeared in 3 games this year before a strained hamstring sent him to the injured list. The 25-year-old established himself as a useful player last season with a triple slash of .276/.312/.416. It wasn’t necessarily a standout season, but enough to get a look this season, had he been healthy. Ramirez’s future is probably as an extra outfielder because of his ability to play all three outfield spots. Starling Marte now mans the middle, and Ramirez doesn’t likely holster enough thunder to provide regular ABs in the corner.

The Marlins are on the verge of a playoff spot as of today, but they remain percentage points behind the Giants. Getting Urena back from the COVID-19 injured list should provide a boost to their pitching corps. The right-hander will step right back into the rotation today to take on the Braves. Urena has been a starter for most of his Miami tenure, though he was moved to the bullpen at the end of last season where he was used primarily to finish games.

Urena holds a 4.57 ERA /4.69 FIP for his career, but he’s usually been either a tick better or worse than those averages. The Dominican righty looked sharp from 2017 to 2018 over which time he went 23-19 in 59 starts with a 3.90 ERA. While he was able to outperform his FIP for each of those seasons, his fortunes reveresed last year when he put up a 5.21 ERA despite a marginally-better 4.74 FIP. His strikeout-to-walk numbers have shown modest improvement from his younger days, though the biggest jump came during the 2018 season when he posted 6.7 K/9 to 2.6 BB/9 for a 2.55 K/BB.

For now, at least, it appears Urena will fill out the rotation alongside Pablo Lopez, Sandy Alcantara, Sixto Sanchez, and Trevor Rogers. Assuming Urena can return to form, the Marlins suddenly boast a potentially formidable starting five. The remaining few weeks of the season provide a stretch of baseball that should test their mettle, as they have little more than three weeks to find their way past the Giants to earn their first playoff berth since 2003.

Injury Updates: Hamels, Soler, Rays, Ramirez, Yankees

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Cole Hamels will throw a live batting practice session on Sunday, as the injury-plagued southpaw might yet still have a chance to factor into the 2020 season.  Braves manager Brian Snitker told MLB.com’s Mark Bowman and other reporters that “We’re just looking to get through a couple live BPs and see how he is,” perhaps wisely not setting even a speculative timeline given that Hamels battled shoulder issues during Spring Training and is currently on the 45-day injured list recovering from left triceps tendinitis.  Bowman speculates that Hamels likely won’t start pitching in simulated games until next weekend at the earliest, so the left-hander might not be able to join the Braves until roughly the last 7-10 days of the regular season.

It makes Hamels into a total wild card for Atlanta’s playoff drive, though with the club looking to have a good shot at the postseason, it isn’t out of the question that Hamels could be part of a playoff roster.  Having a former World Series MVP coming out of the bullpen would be quite an interesting wrinkle for Atlanta, though Hamels has only worked as a reliever twice in his 439 career games in the regular season and postseason.

Some more injury situations from around baseball…

  • Jorge Soler left tonight’s game due to what the Royals described as right oblique soreness.  This is the second time in four days that Soler has exited a game due to such an injury, and perhaps on a related note, Soler is hitless over his last eight plate appearances.  Soler has been a few steps behind his big 2019 numbers this season, though he is still hitting a solid .237/.333/.459 with eight homers over 159 PA.
  • The Rays have been plagued by pitching injuries this season, and two more hurlers ran into potential issues on Saturday.  Newly-acquired southpaw Cody Reed left tonight’s game during the eighth inning with an injury to his pinkie, though manager Kevin Cash told MLB.com’s Jose Toribio (Twitter links) that the problem doesn’t appear to be serious.  The news isn’t as good for left-hander Shane McClanahan, as the prospect will miss around two weeks after suffering a hyper-extended left knee during a fielding play at the Rays’ alternate training site.  The 31st overall pick of the 2018 draft, McClanahan got some top-100 prospect attention from Baseball Prospectus and Baseball American prior to the season, and there was some speculation Tampa Bay might give the 23-year-old his first taste of big league action sometime in September.
  • Marlins outfielder Harold Ramirez had to be carted off the field tonight after suffering what the club described as a left hamstring strain.  Ramirez suffered the injury while trying to beat out a grounder during the fifth inning of Miami’s 7-3 win over Tampa Bay.  Playing in just his third game of the season, Ramirez was only activated off the injured list today, as he was one of the many Marlins players sidelined after positive COVID-19 tests.
  • Yankees manager Aaron Boone provided reporters (including ESPN’s Marly Rivera) with updates on injured sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, saying that Judge will increase his baseball-activity work on Monday.  Stanton, who Boone feels is “a little ahead of Judge” in terms of readiness, has already been taking part in baseball activities and is now running at 80 percent as he continues his recovery from a hamstring strain.

Marlins Place Elieser Hernandez On 60-Day Injured List

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TODAY: Hernandez’s season is over, as the Marlins today shifted him from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL.

SEPTEMBER 2: The Marlins have placed right-hander Elieser Hernandez on the 10-day injured list due to a strained right lat and recalled infielder Eddy Alvarez from their alternate training site, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald tweets.

It’s a tough blow for the Fish, as Hernandez has been a key piece of their surprising 2020 season. The 25-year-old has made six starts and totaled 25 2/3 innings while running up a 3.16 ERA and a brilliant 34-to-5 K/BB ratio in that time. He departed last night’s game after just two innings due to soreness in his problematic lat muscle, and a subsequent MRI revealed the strain.

With less than a month left in the season, it’s tough to say whether Hernandez will be able to take the hill for the Marlins. And having just traded away Caleb Smith and Humberto Mejia to acquire Starling Marte from the Diamondbacks, the Marlins’ rotation depth has been thinned out a bit in recent days. Miami will continue to trot out Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez, Sixto Sanchez and Trevor Rogers for the time being, and they also have Jordan Yamamoto and Dan Castano in their player pool at the alternate training site. Both have started games for the Marlins in 2020.

Right-handers Jose Urena and Nick Neidert have not pitched yet in 2020 and were placed on the injured list at the time of the team’s Covid-19 outbreak, but SportsGrid’s Craig Mish tweeted earlier today that both could be ready to return should Hernandez need to go on the injured list.

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/3/20

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The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Marlins have outrighted hurler Brett Eibner and catcher Brian Navarreto to their alternate training site, per a team announcement. The 31-year-old Eibner, formerly an outfielder with the Royals, Athletics and Dodgers from 2016-17, reinvented himself as a pitcher and signed with the Marlins a month ago. The right-hander’s time with Miami hasn’t gone well, though, as he made two appearances and allowed three earned runs on four walks and two hits before the team designated him for assignment Aug. 29. The Marlins designated Navarreto, 25, on the same day as Eibner. Navarreto made his big league debut with the Marlins this year and went 2-for-5 in two appearances prior to his DFA.
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