Marlins Finalizing Deals With Second- And Third-Round Picks
2:00pm: Miami has signed McCambley for a $775K bonus, Mish tweets, which comes in a bit shy of hi $831K slot.
6:23am: The Marlins had lagged the rest of the league in draft signings but now appear to be making progress. Second-rounder Dax Fulton and third-rounder Zach McCambley are putting the finishing touches on agreements, Craig Mish of Sports Grid reports (Twitter links).
Fulton’s deal comes in at a hefty $2.4MM, over half a million over-slot, so the Fish will be applying savings from other selections to make the bonus pool allocation math work. The high-school southpaw had been destined for the University of Oklahoma.
There’s a chance the Miami organization has come away with a steal in Fulton, whose risk profile changed after recently undergoing Tommy John surgery. Even given the added uncertainty, he placed 29th on the ESPN.com board and drew lofty grades from other pundits.
Getting Fulton to his ceiling will require some careful developmental work. Keith Law of The Athletic, who ranked Fulton lowest of the major outlets (#67), says the left needs to clean up his mechanics. Per Law: “There’s definite upside here, assuming his stuff returns, but also real risk if his arm action stays the same.”
As for McCambley, a Coastal Carolina product, the bonus value isn’t yet known. He was taken 75th overall, a pick that came with a $831,100 allocation. That’s precisely the range where most prognosticators expected him to be taken.
Like Fulton, McCambley is a potentially explosive lefty. In this case, the questions surround his ability to develop a third offering. Baseball America explains that McCambley features a plus heater and curve, but needs to re-work his change if he’s to progress towards a big-league rotation.
Marlins Release Ryan Cook
The Marlins have released righty Ryan Cook, per a club announcement. He had been in camp on a minor-league deal.
Additionally, the team announced that fellow righty relievers Josh Smith and Nick Vincent have been reassigned to the club’s alternative training site. It appears that they’ll both remain with the organization but fall shy of making the Opening Day roster.
Cook hooked on with the Fish in January after pitching in Japan for the 2019 season. The 33-year-old is a six-year MLB veteran but has only made 28 total appearances since the start of the 2015 campaign.
Marlins Place Matt Joyce, Lewis Brinson On IL
The Marlins have placed outfielders Matt Joyce and Lewis Brinson on the 10-day injured list, Craig Mish of Sports Grid relays. Neither player has appeared in Summer Camp yet.
The left-handed-hitting Joyce, a proven threat against righty pitchers, joined the Marlins on a one-year, $1.5MM deal over the winter. Joyce enjoyed a strong 2019 in a limited role as a member of the Braves, with whom the 35-year-old slashed .295/.408/.450 (128 wRC+) with seven home runs and 38 walks against 45 strikeouts in 238 plate appearances.
Brinson, 26, was a former top prospect who has struggled mightily in the majors. Since the Marlins acquired him from the Brewers in January 2018 in the Fish’s regrettable Christian Yelich trade, Brinson has hit an unsightly .189/.238/.294 (44 wRC+) with 11 HRs and minus-2.7 fWAR in 654 PA as a major leaguer. Brinson was much better than that last year at the Triple-A level, though, as he batted .270/.361/.510 and totaled 16 homers over 338 attempts.
The absences of Joyce and Brinson weaken Miami’s depth, but it still has several more outfield-capable players on hand, including Corey Dickerson, Jonathan Villar, Harold Ramirez, Monte Harrison, Magneuris Sierra, Sean Rodriguez, Jon Berti, Brian Anderson and Garrett Cooper. Dickerson, Villar and Ramirez may make up the Marlins’ season-opening outfield.
Marlins Sign Supplemental 2nd-Rounder Kyle Nicolas
The Marlins have signed supplemental second-rounder Kyle Nicolas for $1,129,700, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets. That’s the full slot value of Nicolas’ pick, No. 61 overall.
The 21-year-old Nicolas attended college at Ball State, where he struggled to keep runs off the board in his first two seasons before coming into his own during a shortened 2020 campaign. Across 23 innings last season, he logged a 2.74 ERA with 14.5 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9. He subsequently entered the draft as a top 70 prospect according to FanGraphs (53), MLB.com (60), ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel (64) and Baseball America (No. 68). FanGraphs, the most bullish of those outlets, calls Nicolas a relief-only prospect and writes that he brings a high-90s fastball and a promising slider/curveball mix to the table.
Nicolas joins first-rounder Max Meyer as the only 2020 draft picks the Marlins have signed so far. Second-rounder Dax Fulton, third-rounder Zach McCambley, fourth-rounder Jake Eder and fifth-rounder Kyle Hurt are still without the deals. The Marlins went into the draft with a $12,016,900 bonus pool. Between Nicolas and Meyer, they’ve spent just over $7.8MM.
Marlins Add Santiago Chavez To Player Pool
The Marlins announced this morning that they’ve added catcher Santiago Chavez to their 60-man player pool and placed catcher Will Banfield on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to July 6). No reason for the IL placement was listed.
Miami’s pool had previously been full, and teams can only exceed 60 players when players are put on the injured list due to COVID-19-related situations. Marlins general manager Michael Hill had previously revealed that four players have tested positive for the coronavirus, though he did not specify which players. Banfield’s IL placement doesn’t guarantee that he was one of the four. Players can be placed on the COVID-19 injured list if they exhibit symptoms but have yet to test positive or if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive.
The 24-year-old Chavez isn’t on the 40-man roster. The longtime Athletics farmhand spent his entire career with the Oakland organization prior to signing a minor league deal with Miami in the 2018-19 offseason. He re-signed a similar deal this past winter and will give the club some depth behind Jorge Alfaro, Francisco Cervelli, Chad Wallach, Ryan Lavarnway and Brian Navarreto. Chavez has never hit in the minors — 2018’s .635 OPS between Class-A Advanced and Double-A was a career-high — but he’s thrown out a ridiculous 48 percent of attempted base thieves in eight professional seasons.
4 Marlins Players Test Positive For Coronavirus
Four Marlins players have tested positive for COVID-19, president of baseball operations Michael Hill told reporters (including the Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson) today. The players’ identities aren’t known since they didn’t consent to having their names publicly released, as per league COVID-19 protocols, though all four are members of the Marlins’ 60-man player pool.
Three of the players are already “nearing the end of their quarantine,” Hill said, as the trio tested positive within the last two weeks and prior to their arrival in Miami for the start of the Marlins’ training camp. The fourth player produced a positive test on Wednesday during the intake screening that all players must pass before taking part in Summer Camp, and that player is now in quarantine himself. Any positive test requires a mandatory two-week isolation period, and if a player is then symptom-free, he must deliver negative results on two different COVID-19 tests before being allowed back into team activities.
“We’ve very pleased that a majority of our players made it through intake without it, but this is a daily battle, the disease is still out there,” Hill said. “The pandemic is still out there. Florida’s recording record highs and daily reports of the virus. We have to continue to be mindful. We have to continue to be smart.”
Marlins, First-Rounder Max Meyer Agree To Deal
June 30: Meyer is taking his physical for the Marlins today and will receive a signing bonus of “about” $6.7MM, Heyman tweets.
June 10: It hasn’t been long since the Marlins made University of Minnesota right-hander Max Meyer the third overall pick in the draft on Wednesday, but the two sides have already reached an agreement, pending a physical, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com tweets. He’ll earn a bit less than the $7,221,200 slot value of his selection, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports.
The 21-year-old Meyer was a member of the Golden Gophers from 2018-20, when he combined for a sterling 2.13 ERA with 11.4 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 over 148 innings. Meyer carries a 99 mph fastball and a devastating slider, according to Keith Law of The Athletic, who contends he’s possibly “the most major-league ready player in the draft” (subscription link). Marlins director of amateur scouting DJ Svihlik agrees, having said (via Frisaro) that Meyer is “just about” ready for the majors.
Meyer is now the latest high-end pitching prospect in the Marlins’ system. Before the team selected Meyer, it already boasted fellow righty Sixto Sanchez, a 21-year-old who ranks as MLB.com’s 22nd-best farmhand.
Marlins Sign Nick Vincent, Add No. 3 Pick Max Meyer To 60-Man Pool
The Marlins have signed veteran right-handed reliever Nick Vincent to a minor league contract and will add him to the team’s 60-player pool, president of baseball ops Michael Hill told reporters Monday (Twitter link via the Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson). They’ll also add infielder/outfielder Sean Rodriguez once a minor league deal to re-sign him has been wrapped up. Perhaps of most interest to Fish fans, though, is that No. 3 overall pick Max Meyer will be added to the pool as well. That trio of moves will fill the Marlins’ initial pool.
Vincent, 33, had some uncharacteristic struggles with the Giants a year ago when he posted an ugly 5.58 ERA in 30 2/3 innings. A strained pectoral muscle may have been to blame, though, as Vincent was sharp for his first six weeks with San Francisco (2.25 ERA in his first 24 frames) before imploding over the next two weeks and eventually landing on the injured list. By the time he was healed up, the Giants opted to simply cut him loose. He caught on with the Phillies and yielded just three runs in 14 innings with a 17-to-4 K/BB ratio to close out the year.
From 2012-18, Vincent was quietly a very effective reliever. Over the life of 332 innings with the Padres and Mariners in that time, he compiled an impressive 3.17 ERA and 3.09 FIP with 9.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and 0.78 HR/9. Soft-tossing, extreme fly-ball righties aren’t exactly en vogue these days — Vincent averages 89.7 mph on his fastball and has a career 33.9 percent grounder rate — but there’s no denying Vincent’s solid track record. And if he does make his way to the Miami ‘pen, their spacious home park should help to keep those airborne balls in the yard.
The 35-year-old Rodriguez can play virtually anywhere on the diamond and has typically been a solid, albeit unspectacular bat against left-handed pitching. That makes him a nice potential bench bat for a club with an expanded roster in 2020, though. Rodriguez’s 2017-18 seasons were ruined by an offseason car accident in 2016 that ultimately led to shoulder surgery, but he turned things around to an extent last year. After batting .167/.277/.305 in the wake of that car crash, he logged a .233/.348/.375 line with Philadelphia in 2019.
Meyer, 21, is one of the best pitchers in the history of the University of Minnesota. The now-former Gopher ace was long expected to be a top 10 pick, but the Marlins still surprised some pundits by passing over fellow college arms like Asa Lacy and Emerson Hancock as well as Vanderbilt third baseman Austin Martin in order to scoop up Meyer third overall earlier this month. With a triple-digit fastball, a plus slider and a career 2.13 ERA and 187-to-41 K/BB ratio in 148 college innings, it’s easy to see why the Marlins were so enamored of Meyer though.
Many scouting reports on Meyer picked him to be among the fastest players to reach the Majors from this year’s draft — if not the fastest. The Athletic’s Keith Law even suggested that some clubs might be bullish enough to think that Meyer could pitch in the Majors as soon as this season, although that accelerated timeline would burn a year of control and service for the Marlins despite the fact that they’re not expected to contend. Anything can happen in a shorter season, though, so if the Fish do get out to a torrid start, perhaps they’ll be emboldened to bring Meyer up to the big leagues in an effort to bolster their staff.
Marlins Announce Initial 60-Man Player Pool
Today marks the deadline for teams to submit to Major League Baseball their initial spring training player pools, which can comprise up to 60 players. Players are not eligible to participate in either a spring training or regular season game until they are included in the pool. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit. However, players removed from a team’s 60-man (for reasons unrelated to injury, suspension, etc.) must be exposed to other organizations via trade or waivers.
Not all players within a team’s pool are ticketed for MLB playing time, of course. Most teams will include well-regarded but still far-off prospects as a means of getting them training reps with no intention of running them onto a major league diamond this season. A comprehensive review of 2020’s unique set of rules can be found here.
The Marlins’ initial player pool consists of the following players.
Right-handed pitchers
- Sandy Alcantara
- Brad Boxberger
- Jeff Brigham
- Edward Cabrera
- Ryan Cook
- Robert Dugger
- Tommy Eveld
- Yimi Garcia
- Jorge Guzman
- Elieser Hernandez
- Jordan Holloway
- Brandon Kintzler
- Pablo Lopez
- Humberto Mejia
- Nick Neidert
- Aaron Northcraft
- Johan Quezada
- Sixto Sanchez
- Sterling Sharp
- Josh A. Smith
- Ryne Stanek
- Drew Steckenrider
- Jose Urena
- Jordan Yamamoto
Left-handed pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
- Jesus Aguilar
- Eddy Alvarez
- Brian Anderson
- Jon Berti
- Jazz Chisholm
- Jose Devers
- Isan Diaz
- Lewin Diaz
- Miguel Rojas
- Jonathan Villar
Outfielders
Quick Hits: Fans In Stands, Red Sox, Marlins, Cardinals
Major League Baseball will allow its teams to decide whether they’ll allow fans in the stands this season “based on local, state ordinances and procedures,” Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Schulman expresses doubt that either the Giants or Athletics will play in front of fans in their stadiums in 2020, though.
It may be a different story for the Marlins, as Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez told Andy Slater of Fox Sports 640 that he’ll at least consider allowing spectators at their stadium. The Marlins will first have to come up with an effective social distancing plan, however, and that could be especially difficult with coronavirus cases in Florida rising at an alarming rate.
Meanwhile, speaking with Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald and other reporters Wednesday, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy said “it’s a possibility” that Fenway Park will be able to host fans sometime this year. Kennedy added “there are clubs around Major League Baseball that are anticipating having fans in their ballparks,” though it remains to be seen whether that will prove to be wishful thinking.
Here’s more from the majors…
- Kennedy and Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom offered further updates on the franchise, as Mastrodonato was among those to cover on Twitter. Bloom revealed the Red Sox have had one player test positive for the coronavirus, but that individual is no longer exhibiting any symptoms. Those who do test positive are required a 14-day quarantine/monitoring period, and then they have to test negative on multiple occasions before returning, Bloom said.
- Bloom also spoke on on outfielder Alex Verdugo and right-hander Collin McHugh, two players who have dealt with injuries. A stress fracture in Verdugo’s back slowed him during the first version of spring training, but one of the key components of the Mookie Betts trade will be a full go for Boston when camp resumes in July. And McHugh, still on the mend from elbow problems that limited him in 2019, is making progress. The Red Sox are hopeful he’ll be able to pitch this season, which is his first with the club. Boston signed the ex-Astro to a one-year, incentive-heavy deal in free agency.
- Back to the Marlins, who recently had a player and a staff member test positive for the virus at their Jupiter, Fla., complex, Craig Mish of Sports Grid reports. Both people are now asymptomatic.
- The Cardinals have become the latest team to make a financial commitment to their minor leaguers until the conclusion of the campaign, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak announced Wednesday they’ll pay their minors talent $400 a week through August, the end of a season those individuals likely won’t be able to play.