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MLBTR Podcast: The Jeff Hoffman Situation, Justin Verlander, And The Marlins’ Rotation

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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.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

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!

Braxton Garrett To Miss 2025 Season Due To UCL Surgery

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Marlins left-hander Braxton Garrett will undergo a revision surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow with an internal brace, reports Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. The southpaw will miss the entire 2025 season. Mish adds that the Fish are looking at free agency as a way to replace Garrett in their rotation.

It’s another unfortunate development in the health department, both for Garrett and the Marlins. The lefty had Tommy John surgery as a minor leaguer in the summer of 2017, which led to him missing the back half of that season and all of 2018.

After recovering from that surgery, he got back on track and made it to the major leagues, serving as an up-and-down guy for the 2020 to 2022 seasons. In 2023, he seemed to establish himself as a viable big league rotation member. He tossed 159 2/3 innings for Miami that year, allowing 3.66 earned runs per nine. His 23.7% strikeout rate was around league average but he had a solid 49.7% ground ball rate and excellent 4.4% walk rate.

But 2024 was a challenge for him, as he made multiple trips to the injured list and only made seven starts. A left shoulder impingement put him on the shelf to start the year. He was back by the middle of May and made his seven appearances over the next few weeks, but then was back on the IL due to a left forearm flexor strain. He was rehabbing in September and seemed ready to come off the IL but suffered a setback when he “felt something” in the back of his elbow. He was diagnosed with an elbow impingement in October and seemed set for a mostly healthy offseason, but that prognosis has apparently changed.

It’s unfortunate for Garrett on a couple of fronts. He’s 27 years old, turning 28 in August of this year, so he’s now set to miss a full season of what could have been his prime. It will hurt him financially as well. He just qualified for arbitration for the first time as a Super Two player, meaning he’ll get four passes instead of the normal three. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $1.8MM salary next year. After missing all of 2025, he’ll likely be slated for the same salary when he hopefully returns to the mound in 2026. Even if he comes back healthy and effective, he’ll be nudging up his salary from a lower foundation than if he had stayed healthy.

For the Marlins, their rotation picture has frequently changed in recent years. The Fish managed to sneak into the playoffs in 2023, partially thanks to a starting staff consisting of Garrett, Sandy Alcántara, Jesús Luzardo, Eury Pérez and Edward Cabrera. But all of those guys were either hurt or ineffective in 2024, causing the club’s competitive chances to fall apart.

There was a chance of having that whole gang back together in 2025 but Luzardo was recently traded to the Phillies and now Garrett is going to be on ice. Miami isn’t planning to compete in 2025 anyhow, based on their lack of offseason additions as well as their trades of Luzardo and Jake Burger, but it’s still less than ideal for Garrett to go down like this. Given his age and years of club control, he was in line to be part of the club’s next competitive window. That could still be the case but the path ahead is a bit foggier now.

Going into 2025, they could still have a rotation core of Alcántara and Cabrera. They could welcome back Pérez midseason, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in April of last year. Ryan Weathers, Max Meyer, Valente Bellozo and Adam Mazur are candidates to take the ball as well. Prospect Robby Snelling isn’t yet on the 40-man but could push his way into the mix.

Given the club’s lack of offseason activity, both in the previous offseason and the current one, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they just rolled with that group and let the chips fall where they may, but it seems as though they will look to add a veteran via free agency. That is perhaps related to recent reporting that they may need to get their competitive balance tax number up to $105MM in order to avoid a grievance from the MLB Players Association related to the usage of their revenue-sharing funds. RosterResource currently pegs their CBT number at $83MM, so it seems they will have to find ways to bridge that gap.

Acquiring a player making decent money from another club would be one way to do that, but free agency is obviously another. The starting pitching market has been hot but guys like Jack Flaherty, Nick Pivetta Andrew Heaney are still out there. It would be a surprise if the Marlins went after those guys, who are surely looking for notable multi-year deals, but the market also has guys that will likely be limited to one-year deals such as Kyle Gibson, Patrick Corbin, Chris Flexen, Lance Lynn, Ross Stripling, Jose Quintana, Jakob Junis, Colin Rea, Spencer Turnbull and more.

Marlins Sign Freddy Tarnok To Minors Deal

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The Marlins have signed right-hander Freddy Tarnok to a minor league deal, Aram Leighton of Just Baseball Media writes.  The contract includes an invitation for Tarnok to attend Miami’s big league Spring Training camp.

Tarnok made his MLB debut in the form of a single appearance and two-thirds of an inning for the Braves in 2022, and Atlanta then dealt him that winter as part of the three-team, nine-player trade that saw Sean Murphy head to the Braves and William Contreras and Joel Payamps land in Milwaukee.  The Athletics’ end of the trade saw them obtain Tarnok and four other players, only two of whom (Esteury Ruiz and Royber Salinas) are still with the A’s just over two years ago.

Tarnok’s own time on Oakland’s big league roster was limited to five games and 14 2/3 innings in 2023, with the righty delivering a 4.91 ERA in that limited sample while also allowing four homers and 11 walks.  Shoulder and hip injuries hampered Tarnok for much of the year, and he ended up having hip surgery in August 2023.  Some rust wasn’t unexpected after Tarnok’s recovery, but he managed only a 7.39 ERA in 31 2/3 Triple-A innings this past season.

That time in Triple-A was spent with both the Athletics’ top affiliate and in the Phillies’ farm system, as Philadelphia claimed Tarnok off waivers this past June.  The Phils outrighted Tarnok off their 40-man roster at the start of November and he elected to become a minor league free agent.

An increase in both his walk and home run totals plagued Tarnok in the upper minors as well as in his brief time in the majors.  These issues have led to a 4.68 ERA over 92 1/3 career Triple-A innings, as well as an 11.97% walk rate and 23.44% strikeout rate.

While Tarnok has some ability to miss bats, his inability to keep the ball in the park or keep batters off the basepaths has left him looking for a fresh start entering his age-26 season.  It is possible a healthy Tarnok gets back to his much more solid pre-injury form, and for the minimal cost of a minors contract, the Marlins are betting that he can become at least a depth swingman now that he is further removed from his hip surgery.  Leighton writes that Miami will again give Tarnok a chance to start games.

Cubs, Marlins Swap Matt Mervis, Vidal Brujan

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1:28pm: The deal is now official, per a club announcement by the Marlins.

12:27pm: The Marlins are set to acquire first baseman Matt Mervis from the Cubs, according to a report from Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that infielder Vidal Bruján is headed to Chicago in exchange for Mervis’s services. Brujan had been designated for assignment by the Marlins last week. Maddie Lee of the Sun Times also reports that the Cubs are sending cash to Miami alongside Mervis.

Mervis, 26, signed with the Cubs as an undrafted free agent back in 2020. After struggling in his first taste of professional action in 2021, the slugger tore up the minor leagues in 2022, slashing an excellent .309/.379/.606 with 40 doubles and 36 homers in 137 games across three levels of the minors. That included a long run of success at the Triple-A level, where he hit .297/.383/.593 with 15 doubles and 15 homers in just 57 games. The performance was strong enough to earn Mervis some top-100 prospect buzz during the 2022-23 offseason, and his rapid ascent through the minors provided some optimism for a Cubs franchise that had recently dealt longtime first baseman Anthony Rizzo to the Yankees prior to the trade deadline in 2021.

Unfortunately, Mervis wasn’t able to make the most of his opportunity when he first reached the big leagues in 2023. While he continued to rake at Triple-A (.282/.399/.533 in 100 games), he struggled badly in 99 big league plate appearances with a lackluster .167/.242/.289 slash line that was good for a 48 wRC+ that year. Strong batted ball data and a .317 xwOBA indicated that Mervis may have been slightly unlucky in his first cup of coffee in the majors, but his hefty 32.3% strikeout rate would’ve been a significant red flag even if he had gotten better fortune in terms of batted balls finding holes. That led the Cubs to pivot away from Mervis last winter, trading for Dodgers prospect Michael Busch and installing him as the club’s everyday first baseman.

Busch took off as an above-average hitter right out of the gate with Chicago, posting a 119 wRC+ and 2.3 fWAR in his rookie season. Mervis, by contrast, appeared in just nine games and posted a dreadful -4 wRC+ in that limited playing time. Even his minor league numbers took a step back this year, as he hit just .235/.329/.434 (97 wRC+) in 81 games at Triple-A this past season. All this made Mervis entirely expendable for Chicago, so the club opting to trade him is hardly a shock. With a rebuilding Marlins club, the Triple-A slugger figures to get a larger big league opportunity than he ever received in Chicago. He’ll compete for playing time at first base with incumbent first baseman Jonah Bride, who impressed with a 123 wRC+ in 71 games for the Marlins last year but has yet to complete a wire-to-wire season in the majors ate age 29.

While Mervis is hardly a surefire big league piece, the Marlins are giving up very little to land him. Bruján, 27, was DFA’d by the Marlins last week to clear 40-man roster space after he struggled to produce as a big league regular in 2024. Once a consensus top-100 prospect with the Rays, Bruján failed to hit at all in 99 games with Tampa across three seasons before being dealt to Miami last winter. The Marlins made him a fixture of their bench mix this year, but he hit just .222/.303/.319 (73 wRC+) in 278 trips to the plate. Despite that lackluster performance at the plate, Brujan did provide some modest value as a decent baserunner and an extremely versatile fielder. The switch-hitter mostly split his time between shortstop, second base, and third base in Miami last year but is also capable of playing all three outfield spots and even made brief cameos at first base and on the pitchers mound last year.

That should be enough to earn Brujan the opportunity to compete for a bench job with the Cubs this spring. Chicago has completely overhauled their bench mix this offseason, parting ways with Christian Bethancourt, Mike Tauchman, Nick Madrigal, and Patrick Wisdom last month to make way for alternative options. Carson Kelly joined the club’s roster to form a tandem with Miguel Amaya that will occupy one bench spot, and outfielder Alexander Canario currently seems poised to act as the club’s reserve outfielder behind Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki, and Kyle Tucker. That leaves two spots up for grabs, and Brujan currently appears poised to compete with Rule 5 draft selection Gage Workman and internal options Miles Mastrobuoni and Luis Vasquez for those two spots, though another external addition could certainly grab at least one of those bench roles and only the catching tandem appears to be completely locked in for 2025.

Marlins Notes: Payroll, Alcantara

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The rebuilding Marlins have continued to subtract from their big league roster this winter, trading Jake Burger to the Rangers and Jesus Luzardo to the Phillies.  Since Burger wasn’t yet arbitration-eligible and Luzardo was projected for a modest $6MM in his second arb year, the trades were more about adding young talent than cutting payroll, yet losing even Luzardo’s estimated $6MM salary has an additional impact on a bigger-picture question facing Miami’s finances.

As observed by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (using estimates from RosterResource), the Marlins have a luxury tax number of roughly $82.8MM.  This leaves the Fish some ground to cover before they reach the $105MM threshold estimated as the figure representing 150 percent of the club’s reported $70MM or so in revenue-sharing funds.  As stipulated by the league’s collective bargaining agreement, teams who receive revenue-sharing funds must spend at least 150 percent of those funds on player payroll, at the risk of facing a grievance from the players’ union.

It wouldn’t be the first time that the Marlins faced this consequence, as the MLBPA filed a grievance against the Marlins, Rays, Pirates, and Athletics in February 2018 based on the union’s stance that the clubs were simply pocketing a good deal of their revenue-sharing money, rather than reinvesting those funds towards player payroll.  Rosenthal and his Athletic colleague Evan Drellich recently noted that that grievance was still pending in an adjusted form, though the most recent CBA saw the minimum spend rise from 125 percent to its current 150 percent figure.

The revenue-sharing minimum drew more of a spotlight this winter when the A’s started to increase their payroll, which was viewed as the team trying to hit that $105MM tax number and avoid any heat from the players’ union.  The Athletics’ situation is a little different since their revenue-sharing status was reduced in the earlier years of the CBA while the team was looking for a new ballpark, and they are now back to receiving a full-fledged share of revenue-sharing funds in 2025.

The Marlins have generally been among the lowest-spending teams in baseball for most of their history, and spanning multiple ownership groups.  Bruce Sherman’s purchase of the Marlins in 2017 was initially viewed as a possible light at the end of the payroll tunnel, though the sudden departure of CEO Derek Jeter prior to the 2022 season threw a wrench into that perception, especially since payroll expenditures were reportedly one of several sources of disagreement between Sherman and Jeter.

Miami did elevate spending a bit under GM Kim Ng and the team made the playoffs in 2023, but Sherman’s desire for a better farm system led to Ng’s departure after that season, and the hiring of Peter Bendix as the Marlins’ new president of baseball operations.  Taking a page from Bendix’s former team in Tampa Bay, the Marlins seem to be moving towards a Rays-esque model of relying on a strong minor league pipeline to build their rosters, while only modestly spending on payrolls.  Bendix’s arrival kickstarted yet another rebuild, as the Marlins have dealt several of their more experienced and higher-priced players over the last year.

As much as the Athletics’ winter moves were made with the revenue-sharing number in mind, acquiring Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, and Gio Urshela are also sensible from an on-field standpoint, given the club’s needs in the rotation and at third base.  Considering that the A’s played solid baseball over the last three months of the 2024 season, the West Sacramento team might even have some darkhorse potential as a wild card contender if everything breaks right and the Athletics get another breakout or two from younger players.

The Marlins are in a different situation.  While there is some interesting talent on the roster, it is very hard to imagine Miami contending in 2025, nor does contending seem to be in the front office’s plans within the near future as Bendix focused on overhauling the player development system.

Spending $22.2MM to get up to the $105MM threshold likely won’t translate, therefore, in any additions that will help Miami win ballgames in 2025.  The Marlins could add a couple of lower-cost veterans on one-year deals, with an eye towards potentially trading those players at the deadline once the majority of their salaries have been officially tallied onto the team’s tax bill.  With a nod towards the Marlins’ goal of restocking the farm system, Bendix could potentially look into trading for a bad contract or two from another team, with that other team adding some prospects as a sweetener to further entice Miami into absorbing most or all of the money owed.

Unsurprisingly, Bendix didn’t provide many details on the Marlins’ spending plans, telling the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson and other reporters this week that “I’m not going to comment on what we might or might not do.  Bruce continues to give us all the resources we need to build this franchise for sustainable success.”

Bendix also didn’t entirely close the door on the possibility that Sandy Alcantara could be traded, saying that “We never rule out anything.  We listen to everything.”  That said, Alcantara was told back in August that he probably wasn’t getting dealt this offseason, and Bendix noted that “Sandy is a really important piece for our organization.  I’m really excited to see him pitch on Opening Day.”

Alcantara is the highest-paid player on Miami’s roster, as the 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner is owed $17MM in each of the next two seasons, plus there is a $21MM club option ($2MM buyout) on his services for 2027.  This salary has naturally made Alcantara the subject of continued trade rumors, even though Alcantara didn’t pitch in 2024 due to Tommy John surgery.

Obviously the Marlins wouldn’t be trading the right-hander for a maximum return in the wake of this injury, which is why a deal this winter remains unlikely.  If Bendix was to sell low on Alcantara now only to see him rebound to ace form in the early part of the 2025 season, that’ll count as a missed opportunity to gain the biggest possible trade package for the Marlins’ biggest remaining trade chip.  Miami’s payroll might also factor into the equation here, as Rosenthal notes that trading Alcantara would leave the Marlins even further away from the $105MM revenue-sharing threshold.

Just as Bendix isn’t likely to openly state that Alcantara is available in trade talks, the PBO also isn’t likely to entirely shut down any offers because of basic due diligence.  Bendix surely doesn’t want to limit options just in case a pitching-needy team actually is willing to part with a premium return for a pitcher coming off a lost season.

Phillies Acquire Jesus Luzardo

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The Phillies made a big acquisition to their rotation, announcing they’ve acquired Jesús Luzardo from the Marlins. It’s a two-for-two trade sending Luzardo and minor league catcher Paul McIntosh to Philadelphia for shortstop prospect Starlyn Caba and outfield prospect Emaarion Boyd.

Luzardo, 27, is coming off something of a lost season but was among the most coveted starters available on the trade market as recently as last winter. The southpaw made just 12 starts in 2024 due to a lumbar stress reaction and struggled when he was healthy enough to take the mound with a 5.00 ERA (91 ERA+) in 66 2/3 innings of work. While Luzardo maintained a solid 8% walk rate, his 21.2% strikeout rate was far below his career norms and his fastball velocity was more than a tick below where it was in 2023.

Even with those warts, however, it’s easy to see why Luzardo would be an attractive addition to the rotation for the Phillies. In 279 innings of work for the Marlins between 2022 and ’23, Luzardo dominated to the tune of a 3.48 ERA (129 ERA+) with a 3.40 FIP. His 96.7 mph average fastball velocity was near the top of the scale for left-handed starting pitchers, and his 28.7% strikeout rate ranked eighth among starters with at least 250 innings of work in that time, sandwiched between Dylan Cease and Shane McClanahan.

While there’s no guarantee Luzardo will be able to recapture that ace-level production he flashed prior to his injured 2024 season, the Phillies won’t need to rely on him for front-end production. Instead, Luzardo joins an incredibly deep Phillies rotation that already features Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez, and Cristopher Sánchez. Even a fully healthy and effective Luzardo would slot in as the #2 starter in that rotation between Wheeler and Nola, and even if the southpaw merely pitches to the peripherals (4.23 FIP, 4.33 SIERA) he posted during his injury-marred 2024 campaign he’d be a noticeable upgrade over Taijuan Walker, who pitched to an ugly 7.10 ERA in 83 2/3 innings of work this past season.

The Phillies have been known to have interest in adding rotation help this winter, though that was generally expected to come in the form of a depth piece who could pitch out of the bullpen or give Walker competition for the fifth starter spot, not unlike the club’s signing of right-hander Spencer Turnbull last winter. The acquisition of a player with Luzardo’s talent and pedigree obviously goes well beyond that, however, and surely pushes Walker into a long relief role to open the season assuming the rest of the rotation is healthy.

Adding Luzardo also eases the club’s long-term need for rotation help, as he’s under team control for the next two seasons. With Suarez scheduled to hit free agency following the 2025 season, it’s possible that the addition of Luzardo allows the Phillies to rely on some combination of Walker and top prospect Andrew Painter to round out their 2026 rotation. That would push the need for an additional starter off to the 2026-27 offseason, at which point both Walker and Luzardo himself will be eligible for free agency.

For now, though, Luzardo is a cost-controlled addition to the Phillies’ rotation who figures to raise the group’s already impressive ceiling considerably. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Luzardo for an arbitration salary of just $6MM in 2025, a figure that pushes the Phillies’ payroll to the $285MM range and their luxury tax payroll up to $304MM per RosterResource. Notably, that pushes them past the highest $301MM tax threshold for next season, at which point the club is taxed at a 110% rate on any overages beyond $301MM in addition to their highest pick in the 2026 draft being pushed back ten spots.

In terms of the actual financial cost, then, bringing Luzardo into the fold figures to cost the Phillies something closer to $10.5MM between the southpaw’s salary and the tax bill that comes with it. It’s an unprecedented level of spending for the Phillies, and it’s not clear how much more room the club will have to manuever as it seeks to make further upgrades. Perhaps that’s why president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski suggested the club was unlikely to make further major additions earlier this week, with a swingman for the pitching staff and a bench piece for the lineup highlighted as the club’s remaining priorities. The addition of Luzardo likely eliminates the need for a swingman by pushing Walker into that role, of course.

For the Marlins, the prize in this deal is Caba. Ranked as MLB Pipeline’s #81 prospect in the game and #54 at Baseball America, Caba just celebrated his 19th birthday earlier this month and looked solid in complex league play this year with a .254/.427/.335 slash line. While he offered little power, he walked more than he struck out and stole 37 bases in 45 attempts across 225 plate appearances at the level. Caba was promoted to Single-A down the stretch and struggled badly with a .179/.304/.190 slash line in 115 trips to the plate, though he still recorded more walks (16) than strikeouts (15). While he’s roundly projected for below-average power by prospecting services, he’s regarded as having the potential to be a special defender at shortstop and his impressive knack for plate discipline should give him a solid offensive floor.

Boyd, meanwhile, was the Phillies’ 11th-round pick in the 2022 draft. The 21-year-old hit just .239/.317/.331 in 400 trips to the plate at the High-A level in 2024, though he’s stolen 83 bases over the past two seasons due to elite speed and is regarded as a potentially plus defender in center field due to his wheels. That was enough to make him the #23 prospect in the Phillies organization, according to Pipeline. That said, Boyd currently offers minimal power and has a below average hit tool, though his contact-heavy approach and potential to grow into a little more power as he physically matures is enough to keep him on the radar as a potential big league contributor.

Also in the deal is McIntosh, who joins Luzardo in heading from Miami to Philadelphia. The 26-year-old isn’t considered to be much of a prospect, having been selected by the Marlins in the 34th round of the 2018 draft. He slashed .246/.340/.385 in 117 games with the Marlins’ Double-A affiliate in Pensacola this past season. For the Phillies, McIntosh should offer a solid glove-first option behind the plate to help guide the club’s young pitchers in the upper minors and perhaps provide some depth behind the club’s big league catching corps.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported the Phillies were acquiring Luzardo. Craig Mish of the Miami Herald was first to report that Miami was acquiring Caba and Boyd. Matt Gelb of the Athletic had McIntosh’s inclusion.

Marlins Make Two Additions To Coaching Staff

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The Marlins are in the process of filling several vacancies on manager Clayton McCullough’s coaching staff. Earlier this week, they reportedly hired Tyler Smarslok to be their new first base coach. They also promoted Brandon Mann from the position of pitching strategist to bullpen coach. Both moves were reported by Isaac Azout of Fish On First. The team has not yet confirmed the news.

Smarslok, 32, spent several years working with college teams before the Twins organization hired him in 2020. He coached for the Triple-A St. Paul Saints over the past four seasons. In addition, he managed the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League earlier this year. His job with the Marlins will be his first major league gig. Smarslok replaces previous first base coach Jon Jay.

Mann, 40, enjoyed a long professional pitching career. A southpaw, he played parts of 12 seasons in the minors with the Rays, Dodgers, Pirates, A’s, and Rangers organizations and made a handful of big league appearances with Texas in 2018 – 16 years after he was taken in the 27th round of the draft. He also spent time in NPB, the CPBL, the Atlantic League, and the American Association. Following his retirement from playing, he briefly served as minor league pitching coordinator for the Lotte Giants of the KBO before returning stateside to work at Driveline Baseball. After two years at Driveline, he took a job as the pitching strategist for the Marlins for the 2024 season. He will now take over for Wellington Cepeda as Miami’s bullpen coach.

Back in October, the Marlins announced they would not bring back any of their coaches for the 2025 season. Since hiring McCullough to lead the squad, they have brought on Carson Vitale as bench coach, Pedro Guerrero as hitting coach, Daniel Moskos as pitching coach, and Derek Shomon as assistant hitting coach. Smarslok and Mann are the newest additions to the staff.

Marlins Sign Eric Wagaman, Designate Vidal Bruján

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The Marlins announced they have signed infielder/outfielder Eric Wagaman to a one-year major league deal. Infielder Vidal Bruján has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. Salary figures for Wagaman weren’t reported but it’s likely near the major league minimum since the Paragon Sports International client just made his major league debut this year. Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase reported on the signing prior to the official announcement.

Wagaman, 27, was drafted by the Yankees and spent his entire career with that club until about a year ago, when the Angels plucked him away in the minor league phase of the 2023 Rule 5 draft. After a strong season in the minors, the Angels called him up to the big leagues on September 10. He got into 18 games down the stretch as the club was playing out a losing season, stepping to the plate 74 times and hitting .250/.270/.403. He was non-tendered at the end of the year, sending him to free agency without being exposed to waivers.

That’s a very small sample size and the Marlins probably aren’t giving it much weight. He has 897 minor league plate appearances over the past three years, with some intriguing numbers in that larger sample. He hit 35 home runs, struck out just 16.9% of the time and drew walks at a 9.5% clip. He has a combined batting line of .276/.348/.473 over those three seasons, which translates to a 129 wRC+.

He also stole 26 bases in that stretch, getting caught seven times. Defensively, Wagaman was mostly a first baseman with the Yankees but the Angels fanned him out a bit, having him line up at first but also third base and the outfield corners this year.

The rebuilding Marlins have very little settled in their position player mix. At last year’s deadline, they traded away Jazz Chisholm Jr., Josh Bell and Bryan De La Cruz. This offseason, they’ve sent Jake Burger packing as well. None of the position players on the roster have even four years of major league service time. Jesús Sánchez is the only guy with more than three, while Nick Fortes and Derek Hill are the only guys with more than two.

In short, there’s very little written in stone. Sánchez will likely have a corner outfield job but is a candidate to be traded if the Marlins get an offer they like. Connor Norby, Jonah Bride, Griffin Conine, Deyvison De Los Santos, Kyle Stowers and others are candidates for jobs in the corners but they are all fairly inexperienced. Wagaman has a full slate of options, so he can provide minor league depth at various spots or battle for a big league job. He has just a few days of service time and can be cheaply retained into the future if he continues to hang onto his roster spot.

Bruján, 27 in February, was once a top 100 prospect but he hasn’t yet lived up to that hype. He was praised for his speed, athleticism, plate discipline and ability to play multiple positions. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to do enough damage with the bat to make an impact. He has stepped to the plate 550 times over the past four seasons, with five home runs and a .189/.261/.270 batting line. He has swiped 14 bags but he’s also been caught 13 times.

DFA limbo normally lasts a week but recent years have seen that clock paused over the period from Christmas to New Year’s. On this date last year, Ryan Jensen was designated for assignment by the Marlins and he wasn’t claimed off waivers by the Twins until January 4, over two weeks later. That will give the Fish some time to see if any club is interested in taking a flier on Bruján.

For what it’s worth, the minor league results have continued to be good, even as he has floundered in the majors. He has just over a thousand Triple-A plate appearances over the past four years and has slashed .272/.357/.451 in those for a wRC+ of 113. He is out of options but he has less than three years of service time, meaning he can provide four years of club control if any team is willing to give him a roster spot. He has played every position except catcher, giving him plenty of ways to theoretically slot into a club’s plans.

Luzardo Talks Between Cubs, Marlins Have Reportedly Cooled

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The Cubs have been extremely active on the trade market over the past week, but it seems their latest deal may have hit a snag. Bruce Levine of 670 The Score said on air this morning that Chicago’s talks for Marlins lefty Jesus Luzardo “appear to be dead” after having some serious momentum earlier in the week (audio link, Luzardo talk around the 2:13:45 mark). It’s not entirely clear whether the parties will seek to rekindle negotiations, but Levine suggests that medical reviews on one side or the other could have thrown a wrench into talks.

The natural inclination for many will be to presume that Luzardo’s medical records proved to be the hitch, but there’s no firm indication that’s the case. It’s every bit as possible that the Marlins took a look at medical records on one of the prospects who was a focal point in the proposed return and balked at what they saw.

Luzardo, 27, has repeatedly demonstrated front-of-the-rotation potential but hasn’t been able to consistently deliver results at that level — often due to injuries. He posted a 3.48 ERA with an excellent 28.7% strikeout rate against a sharp 7.9% walk rate in 279 innings from 2022-23 but missed time along the way due to a forearm strain. Luzardo, who had Tommy John surgery as a prospect, also spent time on the injured list early in 2024 due to elbow tightness. He returned and pitched well — 3.98 ERA over his next seven starts — only to land back on the injured list in mid-June with a lumbar stress reaction that wound up ending his season.

Luzardo has only reached 100 big league innings twice in his career and has only started more than 18 games in the majors once. Including minor league work, he topped 100 innings each year from 2021-23, but those are his only professional seasons doing so. His 178 2/3 innings from 2023 are far and away a career-high mark.

Durability concerns notwithstanding, prime-aged lefties who average around 96 mph on their heater while boasting plus swinging-strike and strikeout rates alike are rare. Add Luzardo’s at least average command into the mix, and the potential for him to emerge as a bona fide star is clear. He was a top-100 draft pick and one of the top pitching prospects in baseball prior to his debut, after all. However, keeping him healthy has been a difficult task for the A’s and Marlins alike.

Even if it was Luzardo’s medicals that held up a potential deal — and again, we decidedly do not know that to be the case — that doesn’t eliminate the possibility of a trade sending him elsewhere. We’ve seen plenty of past instances where one team backs out of a deal based on a player’s medicals while another club finds them acceptable. For instance, the Yankees reportedly nixed a trade for Jack Flaherty over the summer due to medical concerns. The Dodgers were comfortable enough making a deal and got 10 regular season starts out of Flaherty, plus another five in the postseason. Different teams have different thresholds, and everything that’s taken into consideration is done so relative to the valuation of the players going the other direction in the deal.

As for the Cubs and what might be next if the Luzardo talks can’t be revived — that’s an open question. The trade of Cody Bellinger trimmed $25MM of his $27.5MM salary from the books, giving Chicago plenty of flexibility. RosterResource estimates their current payroll to be around $174MM, with just over $191MM of luxury obligations. That puts the Cubs roughly $50MM shy of the first luxury threshold. At least on paper, that leaves room to add virtually any free agent without needing to worry about the luxury tax, though Levine pushes back strongly on the idea of Chicago making a run at Corbin Burnes.

There’s a clear need for bullpen help and a strong likelihood that the Cubs will jump into the market for some notable late-inning options. History suggests that president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer will prefer to keep any free agent commitments there to the short-term variety. Hoyer has not given out a multi-year deal to a reliever since taking over baseball operations in Chicago. Kirby Yates, old friend David Robertson and Kenley Jansen are among the older but still-effective closing options who could be had on short-term deals. If the Cubs are willing to break from their past behavior on the relief market and pursue larger-scale targets, then names like Tanner Scott, Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez currently top the market.

MLBTR Podcast: Kyle Tucker To The Cubs, And Trades For Devin Williams And Jeffrey Springs

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This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

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