- Marlins setup man Brad Ziegler is “likely to be moved soon,” tweets Heyman, who notes that the Cubs and Red Sox are among the more plausible landing spots. The Indians and Astros, too, are potential destinations. The Sox are plenty familiar with Ziegler, having acquired him in late July just two years ago for the stretch run. A free agent at season’s end, Ziegler has been on a terrific run dating back to June 1, yielding just three runs on 15 hits and 11 walks with 22 strikeouts and an 81 percent ground-ball rate in 29 innings. He struck out a pair in a perfect inning of work today. Ziegler is earning $9MM in 2018 and is owed about $3.05MM of that sum through season’s end.
Marlins Rumors
Latest On Marlins' Deadline Plans
- More from Feinsand, who observes that the Marlins shouldn’t have difficulty finding a taker for pending free-agent reliever Brad Ziegler. In the end, though, it may be a relatively quiet deadline for the Marlins, who are “intent on keeping their crop of controllable players, including their young, talented bullpen pieces,” Feinsand writes. That may rule out trades involving the likes of Kyle Barraclough, Drew Steckenrider and Adam Conley, each of whom has come up in the rumor mill this summer. Unlike those three, Ziegler hasn’t enjoyed a strong season overall (4.06 ERA/4.69 FIP with 6.18 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 51 innings), but the 38-year-old has gotten much better results since June and is continuing to induce ground balls at a ridiculous clip (74.5 percent). Ziegler has approximately $3.5MM coming his way through season’s end. The Cubs, Indians and possibly the Red Sox are among the teams with interest in Ziegler, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reports.
[SOURCE LINK]
Marlins Make Cameron Maybin Available For Trade
- Unsurprisingly, the rebuilding Marlins have made pending free-agent outfielder Cameron Maybin available for trade, according to George A. King III of the New York Post. Whether teams are interested in Maybin isn’t clear, but he has been useful for the Marlins this season after signing for $3.25MM during the winter. The 31-year-old has taken 284 plate appearances in 2018 and batted .250/.338/.339 with three home runs and eight stolen bases (though he has also been caught five times). Defensively, Maybin has seen time at all three outfield spots and shined overall, having recorded eight Defensive Runs Saved, a 4.7 Ultimate Zone Rating and five Outs Above Average.
Derek Dietrich On Indians' "Radar"
Blue Jays outfielder Curtis Granderson, Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton and Marlins utilityman Derek Dietrich are on the Indians’ “radar”, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Either Granderson or Hamilton would add a much-needed upgrade to Cleveland’s outfield, which lost Tyler Naquin to the disabled list Saturday, while Dietrich may be able to help both at the keystone and in the outfield. Dietrich has spent the majority of his career at second base, but the 29-year-old – who happens to be a Cleveland native – has amassed 84 appearances in left field this season. Dietrich’s amid his best offensive season, having hit .283/.348/.454 with 13 home runs in 388 plate appearances.
Frisaro’s Latest: Straily, Ziegler, Barraclough, Realmuto
Following this past offseason’s fire sale of MLB assets, the Marlins are likely to ship out a few more players in the coming days prior to the non-waiver trade deadline. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro has some updates on the market for a wide number of Miami assets as we approach July 31st.
- An Athletics scout paid a visit to Marlins Park this past Thursday, and Frisaro reports that he was there to watch right-hander Dan Straily pitch. Straily fell just short of a quality start in that outing, allowing three runs in 5 2/3 innings with six strikeouts against three walks. Astonishingly, Straily’s been able to hold together a 4.07 ERA this season despite a cataclysmic 5.41 FIP. After flashing improved control across the past two seasons, Straily has relapsed back to a 4.29 BB/9 and dealt with right forearm inflammation at the outset of the season, so it remains to be seen whether he’d be an attractive trade target to the A’s organization that drafted and developed him.
- After a rough start to the season that saw him lose his job as the team’s closer, sidewinder Brad Ziegler has rebounded nicely to post a 3.08 ERA in 39 appearances since the start of May (though peripherals paint a worse picture). The Marlins have plenty of potential suitors for the right-hander, Frisaro says, and lists the Cubs, Indians, Red Sox and A’s as potential fits. It’s worth noting that the latter two clubs are already familiar with Ziegler, as he’s spent time pitching for both organizations. The 38-year-old has already been traded twice in his lengthy career, and is playing out the final months of a two-year, $16MM deal.
- Ziegler’s not the only reliever fielding interest, Frisaro notes, as nearly a dozen scouts have been in Miami recently to watch Kyle Barraclough, Drew Steckenrider and Adam Conley pitch. Last we heard, the Marlins had placed a high price on each of the three, but it’s still certainly plausible that many teams would be willing to pay that price for relievers that come with such controllable relief arms; each of the aforementioned three is under team control through at least 2021.
- The Nationals still aren’t having any luck trying to pry catcher J.T. Realmuto from the hands of the Marlins. Frisaro reports that Miami’s NL East rival once again checked in on the club’s best trade asset, but were told that any package for Realmuto would require Washington to fork over both outfield prospect Victor Robles and shortstop prospect Carter Kieboom, both of whom are generally seen as top 100 prospects. Unsurpringly, conversations didn’t go far.
Marlins Interested In Yadier Alvarez?
- The Dodgers sent scouts to watch pitchers on both the Marlins and Rays when the two Florida rivals faced off last weekend, the Miami Herald’s Clark Spencer reports (Twitter link). L.A. could have interested in any number of relievers or perhaps even starting pitchers on either roster, given how many Miami and Tampa players have been cited in trade rumors. Interestingly, Spencer’s tweet was linked to a tweet from Michael J. Duarte of NBC Los Angeles, who said that the Marlins had scouts watching Yadier Alvarez’s most recent Double-A outing. A consensus top prospect headed into the 2017 season, Alvarez didn’t crack the preseason top-100 lists for Baseball America or MLB.com this year (though Baseball Prospectus still had him 41st) in the wake of an unimpressive season. Alvarez has continued to struggle in 2018, with a 5.85 ERA and 25 walks in 20 frames for Double-A Tulsa, though he’s still missing a lot of bats with his 100-mph fastball.
Latest On Ziegler, Conley
- The Mariners are one of the teams who have recently called the Marlins about Brad Ziegler. After a tough start to the season that saw him lose his closer’s job, Ziegler has pitched much better over the last two months and has reignited some trade interest. Ziegler is a free agent this winter and is still owed around $3.2MM of his $9MM salary for the 2018 season. Among other Miami relievers mentioned as trade candidates, interest in lefty Adam Conley is “picking up steam” since other southpaws like Brad Hand and Zach Britton are no longer available, according to one source.
[SOURCE LINK]
Marlins' Asking Price In Talks With Red Sox Steep
- The Marlins’ ask on its controllable relievers appears to be quite high, with Morosi tweeting that Miami indicated to the Red Sox that Jay Groome or Michael Chavis alone would not be enough to land Drew Steckenrider. (Morosi doesn’t suggest that either was ever offered up by the Red Sox — only that the Marlins wouldn’t have considered a one-for-one swap in either case.) While Groome and Chavis are generally regarded as Boston’s top two prospects, Groome underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this summer. Chavis, meanwhile, missed the first 80 games of the season due to a PED suspension and has only logged 10 games since being activated.
Sonny Gray Drawing “A Bit Of Interest”
Sonny Gray was part of a trade deadline deal last year, and the right-hander may end up on the move again this season. Gray, whom the Yankees acquired from the Athletics last July, is generating “a bit of interest” with July 31 nearing, Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets. Heyman casts doubt on the Yankees shipping out Gray, though, noting that the playoff shoo-ins are more interested in adding starters than subtracting them.
The Gray experiment hasn’t worked out thus far for New York, and as a result, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reported Saturday that some teams believe the Yankees do want to move him. The 28-year-old Gray has been a quality mid-rotation starter for the majority of his career, but he’s now amid his second-worst season in terms of both ERA (5.34) and FIP (4.41). While Gray has managed the second-best strikeout rate of his major league tenure (8.53 K/9), he has partially offset that with a personal-worst walk rate (3.94 BB/9). He has also generated the fewest ground balls of his career (a still-respectable 47.6 percent), racked up just 96 innings in 19 starts and totaled only seven quality starts.
As poorly as Gray has pitched this year, he’s still one of the Yankees’ five best starting options right now, to which Heyman alluded. Despite their excellent record (63-34, 4 1/2 games behind AL East-leading Boston), the Yankees haven’t gotten much from any starters but Luis Severino and CC Sabathia – the latter of whom is a 38-year-old with past knee problems. One of Gray’s fellow established starters, Masahiro Tanaka, has also had difficulty preventing runs. Meanwhile, Jordan Montgomery is out for this year and at least some of 2019 on account of Tommy John surgery, rookie Domingo German hasn’t been part of the solution, and fellow first-year man Jonathan Loaisiga didn’t offer length during his first four starts before succumbing to shoulder troubles.
Given their obvious starting pitching issues, the Yankees are known to be on the hunt for rotation help in advance of the deadline. The problem is that no front-line starters appear destined to move, which could leave the Yankees to choose from uninspiring hurlers who, like Gray, bring clear flaws to the table. One such option is righty Dan Straily, whom the Yankees have spoken with the Marlins about, according to Heyman. But the teams “don’t appear to be close” to a deal, per Heyman, and Straily certainly wouldn’t represent a slam-dunk upgrade over Gray.
As a result of the weak pitching market, Gray may at least finish the season as a Yankee, and then the team will have to decide whether to retain him in 2019. Gray, who’s on a $6.5MM salary this season, is slated to go through arbitration one more time.
Dodgers Scouting Marlins
- Along with Baltimore’s closer, Zach Britton, the reliever-needy Dodgers are interested in Orioles setup man Brad Brach, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. The Dodgers have also scouted the Marlins and Rays and “monitored” Athletics closer Blake Treinen, Shaikin adds, though it seems improbable he’ll go anywhere with the A’s making a major push for a playoff spot. Conversely, as a pending free agent on a rebuilding team, the 32-year-old Brach is a good bet to end up in another uniform in the coming weeks. The problem for Baltimore is that Brach is in the midst of his least effective season in a while, with a 4.34 ERA/3.61 FIP and a 4.34 BB/9 in 37 1/3 innings. On the positive side, Brach has struck out upward of nine hitters per nine and generated swinging strikes at a solid clip (13.2 percent).
