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Padres To Acquire Tanner Scott, Bryan Hoeing

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3:37pm: The Padres are sending left-hander Robby Snelling and right-hander Adam Mazur to Miami, reports ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez. Mish adds that infielder/outfielder Graham Pauley is also part of the return, and Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base reports that infielder Jay Beshears is the fourth and final player in the return. It’s a major haul that’ll send three of the Padres’ top remaining prospects (Snelling, Mazur, Pauley) to Miami in exchange for the pair of relievers.

3:32pm: The Padres are finalizing a deal to acquire closer Tanner Scott from the Marlins, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald adds that righty Bryan Hoeing is also going to San Diego in the deal.

It’s the latest trade market strike for a Padres club that has already added righty Jason Adam in a deal with the Rays and that picked up Luis Arraez in another early-season blockbuster with Miami. The Scott trade is still pending the medical review of the players involved.

Scott, 30, has one of the lowest ERAs in the majors this season, with a pristine 1.18 mark in 45 2/3 innings of work. He’s averaged 97.1 mph on his heater, fanned 29.1%  of his opponents and induced grounders at a hearty 49% clip. The flamethrowing lefty has picked up 18 saves for Miami on the season and tacked on another 12 saves in 2023, when he tossed 78 innings of 2.31 ERA ball.

Impressive as Scott’s earned run average has been, he’s seen a resurgence of the command troubles that plagued him for his entire career prior to the 2023 campaign, when he went from a lifetime 14.2% walk rate to a tidy 7.8% mark. Scott has issued a free pass to a glaring 14.8% of his opponents this season, although a good portion of his command troubles came in the season’s first few weeks. He’s posted a 0.49 ERA, 32.6% strikeout rate and more manageable (but still too high) 10.9% walk rate dating back to April 20. At this point, last year’s strong walk rate looks like an aberration.

Scott is playing the season on a one-year, $5.7MM contract. He’s a pure rental for the Friars, barring an extension, and won’t net them any draft compensation, as his midseason trade renders him ineligible for a qualifying offer. The Padres are ponying up on a big offer in hopes of building a dominant bullpen that can help them navigate short postseason series with off-days baked in throughout the schedule. Scott and Hoeing join the aforementioned Adam, Robert Suarez (1.51 ERA in 41 2/3 innings), Jeremiah Estrada (2.92 ERA in 39 2/3 frames), Adrian Morejon (2.74 ERA in 42 2/3 innings) and Yuki Matsui (3.45 ERA in 47 2/3 frames) to round out a formidable relief corps.

Also joining the revamped bullpen is the 27-year-old Hoeing. He’s not nearly as established as Scott and the majority of his new bullpen-mates but is nevertheless enjoying a strong 2024 campaign. In 30 frames, he’s logged a 2.70 ERA with a below-average but respectable 20.2% strikeout rate against a 7.3% walk rate. Hoeing has kept the ball on the ground at a 48.9% clip in part because of a sinker that averages a solid 93.7 mph. He throws that pitch just over half the time and pairs it with a slider-splitter combo — and a rarely-used four-seamer — that helps keep both lefties and, to a lesser extent, righties off balance.

Although Hoeing will turn 28 in October, he’ll finish the season with just two years of MLB service time. That’ll make him controllable for the Padres not only for the stretch run in ’24 but for four additional seasons thereafter. He won’t be arbitration-eligible until the 2025-26 offseason at the earliest, and he still has a pair of minor league option years remaining. That gives them a potential long-term piece in the ’pen, which the Friars surely coveted in exchange for giving up what looks like an impressive collection of young talent that’ll continue to beef up a rapidly improving Marlins system.

Among the names going to the Marlins in the deal, the 23-year-old Mazur and 23-year-old Pauley have both made their big league debuts. Mazur is the more highly regarded of the two, having been a second-round pick back in 2022. He’s struggled to a 7.49 ERA through his first five big league appearances but has posted a 4.39 ERA with a 24.7% strikeout rate and outstanding 5% walk rate in 55 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season.

Both Baseball America and MLB.com ranked Mazur as the Padres’ No. 4 prospect, calling him a potential mid-rotation starter on the back of 60- or 70-grade command. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen offered a more measured approach recently, noting that Mazur’s command struggles in the majors and some lost life on his heater have him looking more like a potential reliever. There’s some variance in potential outcomes, as is to be expected with a 23-year-old starter who’s rapidly climbed the minor league ranks, but Mazur has the potential to be a rotation piece for several years in Miami.

Pauley went 4-for-32 in a tiny cup of coffee with the Padres earlier this season and has struggled through a down year in Triple-A, hitting just .228/.342/.390. Even as he’s stumbled there, however, he’s drawn walks at a 13.9% clip and played all over the diamond, logging innings at first base, second base, third base and in both outfield corners.

Again, both BA and MLB.com are more bullish on Pauley, ranking him inside the Padres’ top-six prospects, while FanGraphs pegged him at 13th earlier this month. He raked at a .308/.393/.593 clip across three minor league levels in 2023, and his versatility adds value to his profile.

Pauley was primarily a third baseman early on but began moving around the field as the Padres looked to make him more versatile (understandable with Manny Machado entrenched at the hot corner in San Diego). He won’t face that type of permanent roadblock in Miami — Jake Burger could move across the diamond following the trade of Josh Bell — giving Pauley a potential audition as an everyday third baseman or at least a bat-first utilityman.

While Mazur and Pauley have both reached the majors, it’s arguably Snelling who’s the headliner of the deal. The 20-year-old has struggled in the minors this year, but that’s in large part due to an aggressive assignment to Double-A, where he’s one of the league’s youngest players.

The No. 39 overall pick in 2022, Snelling breezed from Low-A to Double-A last season, posting 103 2/3 innings of 1.86 ERA ball with a combined 28.4% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate as a 19-year-old. He’s been roughed up for a 6.01 ERA in his second shot at Double-A — he only pitched 17 innings there last year — with strikeout and walk rates that have trended in the wrong direction (20.2% and 10%, respectively). Still, Snelling ranks as the game’s No. 44 prospect at MLB.com (though he’s fallen off top-100 lists at FanGraphs and BA).

Rounding out the Marlins’ return is Beshears, a 22-year-old Duke product whom the Padres selected in the sixth round of last year’s draft. He’s hitting .261/.373/.377 between Low-A and High-A this season, with a gaudy 13.6% walk rate against just an 18.7% strikeout rate. He’s a power-over-hit infielder who ranked near the back of the Padres’ top 30 on most publications, in part due to questionable arm strength that makes him a tough fit for the left side of the infield.

The Padres have held firm on their reluctance to trade top-ranked prospects like catcher Ethan Salas and shortstop Leodalis De Vries, but the remainder of their system has been picked over in the past four months thanks to acquisitions of Scott, Hoenig, Adam, Arraez and (in spring training) Dylan Cease. They’re a Wild Card team at best in all likelihood, but president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has never encountered a star player he didn’t love on the trade market and isn’t deviating from old habits in 2024. With Salas and De Vries still in tow, the Padres have the firepower to make another blockbuster add if they soften their stance on that pair, and the timing of this trade gives Preller a bit more than an hour to survey the remainder of the trade market.

Mariners Acquire JT Chargois

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The Mariners have landed right-hander JT Chargois in a deal with the Marlins, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (X link). In return, the Marlins will receive minor league right-hander Will Schomberg, as reported by Christina De Nicola of MLB.com (X link).

Chargois began the 2024 season on the injured list due to neck spasms and did not make his 2024 debut until mid-June. Since his return from the IL, the 33-year-old has put up excellent surface-level numbers, having allowed just three earned runs over 16 2/3 innings. However, he has struck out only 12 batters (16.9% K%) while walking seven (9.9% walk rate), and all three runs he has given up have come on home runs. What’s more, he is inducing groundballs at just a 34.6% rate, well below his 52.9% career average entering the season. As a result, Chargois’s underlying numbers are not nearly as impressive as his sparkling ERA; he has a 4.74 SIERA and 5.21 xERA, both of which would be the worst of his career. Even more worrisome, his fastball velocity has decreased significantly. His sinker, which averaged 96.3 mph last season, is down to 94.4 mph this year.

With all that said, Chargois has been an effective reliever in the recent past. Over 211 2/3 career innings with the Twins, Dodgers, Mariners, Rays, and Marlins, he has a 3.40 ERA and 3.84 SIERA. He was particularly effective from 2021-23, following his return from a brief stint in NPB. Across those three seasons, the righty went 9-1 with a 2.89 ERA and 3.99 SIERA over 118 1/3 innings. Perhaps a return to Seattle – an organization known for developing excellent pitching – will help Chargois get back on the right track. After all, it was the Mariners who took a chance on him in 2021 after his difficult 2019 season with the Dodgers (6.33 ERA in 21 1/3 IP) and poor performance in Japan (4.58 ERA in 35 1/3 IP). He pitched to a 3.00 ERA in 30 IP with Seattle over the first four months of the season before he was traded to Tampa Bay at the deadline.

Chargois will presumably slot into a middle relief role in the Mariners’ bullpen. Seattle ranks 12th in MLB with a 3.76 bullpen ERA and sixth with a 3.54 bullpen SIERA this season. Every reliever currently on the team’s active roster has a SIERA under 3.70, but the Mariners surely understand that there is no such thing as too much bullpen depth down the stretch. Chargois, who is earning $1.285MM this season, will be eligible for arbitration one more time in 2025.

Schomberg signed with the Mariners organization as an undrafted free agent in July of 2023. He has split the 2024 season between Single-A and High-A, pitching to a 2.83 ERA and 4.23 FIP in 19 starts (92 1/3 innings). Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs included Schomberg among the “other prospects of note” beyond his top 34 prospects in the Mariners system earlier this month. Longenhagen praised the righty’s “elite breaking ball spin,” noting the success he had “throwing a lot of cutters and curveballs” before his promotion to High-A.

Orioles To Acquire Trevor Rogers

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The Orioles are acquiring southpaw starting pitcher Trevor Rogers from the Marlins, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.  The Marlins will receive second baseman/outfielder Connor Norby in the deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided.  Miami also gets outfielder Kyle Stowers, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.

Rogers marks the Orioles’ second recent rotation addition, after they acquired Zach Eflin from the Rays four days ago.  Rogers, 27 in November, owns a 4.53 ERA, 18.0 K%, 9.7 BB%, and 46.9% groundball rate in 105 1/3 innings this year.  Rogers has a 3.17 ERA over his last nine starts, but with no apparent improvement in his skills.

Rogers was at his best three years ago, when he made the All-Star team and finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting by posting a 2.64 ERA in 133 innings.  He averaged 94.6 miles per hour on his fastball that year, and looked like one of the game’s best young starters.  The lefty had a strong pedigree, as well, having been drafted 13th overall out of high school in 2017.

Things took a turn in 2022, as Rogers’ strikeout rate plummeted and he missed a month with lower back spasms.  That season also ended a bit early due to a lat strain.  2023 was worse, as Rogers’ season ended in April after four starts due to a left biceps strain and a partial tear in his right lat.

Rogers then entered the arbitration system, and is earning $1.53MM this year.  He remains under team control through 2026.  Rogers has avoided the IL thus far this year, but it’ll be up to Orioles pitching coach Drew French and the rest of the staff to attempt to help him regain his 2021 form.  Rogers’ average fastball velocity is down to 92.2 miles per hour this year, a notable 2.4 mile per hour drop from his one stellar season.

Having lost Kyle Bradish, John Means, and Tyler Wells to Tommy John surgery, the first-place Orioles have a rotation of Corbin Burnes, Grayson Rodriguez, Eflin, Dean Kremer, and Rogers.  Burnes and Means are eligible for free agency after the season, leaving Rodriguez, Kremer, and new additions Eflin and Rogers for 2025.

The Orioles had been connected to Garrett Crochet and Blake Snell, and could theoretically add one of them in the next three-plus hours, but are likely done with their rotation at this point.  Aside from Eflin and Rogers, Orioles executive vice president and GM Mike Elias also bolstered his bullpen by acquiring Seranthony Dominguez last week.

Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix did quite well in adding a pair of Major League-ready position players for two-plus years of Rogers.

Norby, 24, ranked 93rd on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects heading into the 2023 season.  Prior to this season, BA gave Norby a 50 grade, calling him a “bat-first second baseman” who can also handle left field.  The former 2021 second-rounder has spent most of the season repeating Triple-A, and has shown quite well with a 134 wRC+ in 80 games.  He’s gotten a few brief looks with the Orioles due to Jorge Mateo’s injuries, but has only played in nine big league games so far.  Norby is under the Marlins’ control through 2030 and will likely receive regular playing time at second base for the rest of the season.

Stowers, 26, was drafted by the Orioles in the second round out of Stanford in 2019.  Known for his big raw power from the left side, Stowers has been unable to secure regular playing time on the stacked Orioles since his 2022 debut.  Stowers, who is best-suited for right field, will get that chance with the Marlins.  Like Norby, Stowers has spent most of the season at Triple-A, posting a decent 115 wRC+.

If the Marlins did indeed come up with a pair of controllable regulars for a back-end starter in Rogers, it’ll be quite the win as Bendix makes his mark on the team.

At the time of this writing, Bendix still has three-plus hours remaining to further remake the Marlins, likely by dismantling his bullpen and possibly trading outfielder Bryan De La Cruz.  The team’s 2024 rotation is particularly bare with the departure of Rogers, leaving Edward Cabrera, Max Meyer, and Kyle Tyler.  Jesus Luzardo is working his way back from a lumbar stress reaction, Ryan Weathers is recovering from an index finger strain, and Braxton Garrett is on the IL for a forearm strain.  Next year, the team will get Sandy Alcantara and eventually Eury Perez back from Tommy John surgery.

Padres Have Discussed Multiple Marlins Relievers

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The Padres paid a hefty prospect price to add Jason Adam to their late-innings mix over the weekend. San Diego is open to bringing in more relief help. Dennis Lin of the Athletic reports that the Padres have discussed Miami right-handers Anthony Bender and Huascar Brazoban among that search. Lin’s colleague Ken Rosenthal wrote this morning that the Fish are fielding offers on essentially all their relievers. Closer Tanner Scott is the most obvious name, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Miami part with anyone from their bullpen.

Bender and Brazoban would be affordable targets for a San Diego team that doesn’t want to surpass the luxury tax threshold. Brazoban is still two years away from reaching arbitration. Bender qualified for early arbitration last winter as a Super Two player. After missing the 2023 season to Tommy John surgery, though, he’s barely making more than the league minimum in his first trip through that process.

The asking price would probably be higher on the 29-year-old Bender, who has a 3.83 ERA over 40 innings of work. He’s striking out 24.4% of batters faced against a 7% walk rate while getting grounders at a 49.1% clip. Brazoban has been even more effective, turning in a 2.93 earned run average with a 27.2% strikeout rate across 30 2/3 frames. He’ll turn 35 in October, though, so a rebuilding Miami team shouldn’t have many qualms about giving him up for young talent.

MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell tweets that the Padres are hoping to come out of deadline season with another acquisition for both the rotation and the relief group. Lin writes that San Diego is among the teams that have shown interest in Miami starter Trevor Rogers. Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald tweeted this afternoon that Miami’s talks on Rogers with multiple teams were picking up and the Marlins were likely to trade him somewhere soon. That at least opens the speculative possibility of some kind of package deal involving one of Miami’s relievers, though there’s not any indication that San Diego’s talks with Miami have gotten that far-reaching.

Marlins “Closing In” On Trevor Rogers Trade; Multiple Teams Still Involved In Bidding

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11:42am: The Marlins are “closing in” on a trade of Rogers, Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald reports. At this point, there are still multiple teams bidding for his services, but it seems the Fish are close to selecting an offer and then turning their focus to the wide array of relievers they could move today.

10:10am: The market for Marlins left-hander Trevor Rogers has picked up some steam this morning, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports. He’s among a slew of Marlins who could potentially be moved before this evening’s trade deadline. SNY’s Andy Martino adds that the Mets are one team that’s been talking to Miami about a deal for the 26-year-old Rogers.

Rogers, the 2021 National League Rookie of the Year runner-up, has had a healthy 2024 season after missing the majority of the 2023 campaign with a biceps strain and considerable time in 2022 due to both back spasms and a lat strain. He hasn’t been the same pitcher after navigating those health troubles, pitching to a 4.53 earned run average with diminished velocity (92.2 mph average fastball), strikeout (18%) and walk (9.7%) rates in 105 1/3 innings this season.

That said, Rogers was legitimately excellent as a rookie. The former No. 13 overall pick (2017) burst onto the scene with 133 innings of 2.66 ERA ball, a 28.5% strikeout rate and an 8.4% walk rate. His fastball was averaging a much more encouraging 94.6 mph at the time, but Rogers has some track record, some pedigree as a former top pick and, perhaps most importantly, plenty of affordable club control remaining.

The silver lining to those injuries (for the Marlins anyway) is that they limited Rogers’ time on the field and thus weighed down his price tag in arbitration. He’s earning just $1.525MM this season and is under club control for an additional two years. If a club feels they can coax another level out of Rogers — even if it’s not all the way back to his 2021 form — he’s a highly appealing option. Even if another club is simply looking at him as a controllable and affordable back-of-the-rotation arm with a full slate of three option years remaining, however, there’s some value in that as well.

The Mets are a fit for just such a depth option in the rotation. Veterans Luis Severino, Jose Quintana and Sean Manaea lead a staff that also includes homegrown arms Tylor Megill and David Peterson. It’s not long ago that there was some thought to the Mets actually trading away a veteran arm like Quintana even as they looked to remain in contention, but the outlook has changed dramatically in Queens with likely season-ending injuries to both Kodai Senga (high-grade calf strain) and top prospect Christian Scott (UCL sprain).

Rogers isn’t necessarily a concrete upgrade over Megill and Peterson at the back of Carlos Mendoza’s staff, although it’s always fair to wonder how a change of scenery might impact a talented but struggling arm like Rogers. But even if Rogers is indeed viewed as a pure depth play for the Mets, there’s good reason to land that type of arm. With Scott and Senga now on the shelf and with veteran Adrian Houser’s recent DFA, the Mets don’t have any other rotation options on the 40-man roster. Southpaw Joey Lucchesi and righty Max Kranick are depth candidates in Triple-A after they both cleared waivers earlier this season, but that’s not sufficient for a team targeting a postseason berth.

Marlins Could Trade Multiple Relievers

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With a 97 mile per hour fastball and a 29% strikeout rate, Marlins lefty Tanner Scott is one of the better relievers likely to be dealt today – especially since he’s eligible for free agency after the season.  But it’s also worth considering several lower-profile members of the Marlins’ bullpen, with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic naming Huascar Brazoban, Anthony Bender, and Declan Cronin as trade candidates in an article today.

The Marlins already traded their setup man, A.J. Puk, to the Diamondbacks five days ago.  Third in leverage index for manager Skip Schumaker over the last month after Scott and Puk: Brazoban.  Brazoban, 35 in October, broke into the Majors with the Fish as a 32-year-old.  His fastball sits around 96 miles per hour, and this year he’s improved both his strikeout and walk rates to reach 27.2% and 8.8%, respectively.  He also has a healthy 50% groundball rate.  Team control is perhaps less exciting for a player soon to turn 35, but Brazoban will not be eligible for arbitration until 2026, and would reach free agency after 2028.

Brazoban has shined over his last ten appearances, with no runs allowed and a 34.5 K%.  He could be just as effective as some of the household names changing teams this month, and he’s earning a mere $753K.

Rosenthal also mentioned Bender, a 29-year-old righty who missed all of 2023 due to Tommy John surgery.  Bender has bounced back from the procedure to post a 3.83 ERA, 24.4 K%, and 7.0 BB%, and 49.1% groundball rate on the season.  However, Bender’s velocity has not returned, as he was at 98.1 prior to surgery and sits at 95.5 this year.  His usage suggests he’s mostly been outside Schumaker’s circle of trust this year, but in allowing one run over his last 14 appearances, that’s changing.  Bender is earning $770K this year as a Super Two player, and he’s under team control through 2027.

Cronin, 27 in September, was a February waiver claim from the Astros, who had claimed him from the White Sox.  The righty has worked to a solid 25 K%, 7.9 BB%, and 54.2% groundball rate this year, racking up 50 1/3 innings.  More than half of his appearances have been more than one inning, and he’s been going two-plus often of late.  He’s potentially under team control through 2029.

Earlier this month, Craig Mish of the Miami Herald named Scott, Calvin Faucher, and Cronin as potential Marlins bullpen trade candidates, and wouldn’t rule out Andrew Nardi.  It’s safe to assume Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix will be listening today on his entire bullpen, and there’s a good chance of more trades.  And while this post focused on some new relief names, Rosenthal reminds us that starting pitcher Trevor Rogers and left fielder Bryan De La Cruz are candidates to move as well.

Mets Considering Tanner Scott, John Brebbia

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The Mets have already added Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek to their bullpen this month. They don’t appear to be content with that pair of acquisitions as they remain linked to a handful of relievers.

Tim Britton and Will Sammon of the Athletic write that the Mets have discussed a pursuit of White Sox righty John Brebbia. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that New York is one of multiple teams that has engaged Chicago on southpaw Tanner Banks. While the Sox relievers are more middle innings or setup options, FanSided’s Robert Murray suggests the Mets have also shown interest in top rental closer Tanner Scott.

Brebbia and Scott are both very likely to land elsewhere tomorrow. They’re each impending free agents on last place teams. Brebbia’s contract contains a $6MM mutual option with a $1.5MM buyout, but it’s fair to presume that will not be exercised by both parties. The Sox righty is playing this season on a modest $4MM deal.

While he owns an underwhelming 5.71 earned run average, Brebbia has more intriguing peripherals. He has fanned almost 30% of batters faced against a tidy 6.6% walk percentage. A lofty .346 average on balls in platy against him is the primary reason for his disappointing run prevention mark. The bat-missing ability should get him a middle relief spot on a contender.

Banks is a less clear trade candidate because he’s controllable for the foreseeable future. Yet he’s already 32 years old on a Sox team at the nadir of a rebuild. It’s unlikely that Banks is playing a meaningful role the next time the White Sox are in contention. He’s having a solid ’24 season, fanning nearly 27% of opposing hitters against a 7.3% walk rate. Banks has logged 48 innings of 4.13 ERA ball. He’s still two seasons away from qualifying for arbitration.

Scott is a much bigger name and would be tougher to land. The hard-throwing southpaw is on the radar of most contenders. He’s striking out 29.1% of opposing hitters with a sterling 1.18 ERA across 45 2/3 frames for the Marlins. Scott has locked down 18 of 20 save chances.

Marlins Claim David Hensley From Astros

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The Marlins announced that they have claimed infielder David Hensley off waivers from the Astros. The latter club designated him for assignment a week ago. The Marlins already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster and don’t need to make a corresponding move.

Hensley, 28, was selected to Houston’s 40-man roster in August of 2022 but has only played in 46 big league games since then, slashing a paltry .177/.273/.274 in those contests. His work in the minors has been better, but has also tailed off lately.

He slashed .298/.420/.478 at Triple-A in 2022, which led to a 130 wRC+ and Hensley getting the call to the big leagues. But he’s hit just .228/.358/.367 in 651 Triple-A plate appearances over 2023 and 2024, with that production translating to an 86 wRC+.

The Marlins had an open roster spot and there’s little harm in taking a shot on Hensley to see if his results bounce back. Despite the tepid results overall, he’s drawing walks in 15.1% of his plate appearances this year and can play all four infield spots, as well as the outfield corners. He’s also a threat for double-digit steals most of the time with 17 so far this year. He can be optioned for the rest of this year and one more season beyond that. He also has less than a year of service time and can be a long-term piece if he manages to carve out a role.

Marlins To Place Josh Bell On Waivers

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The Marlins are placing first baseman Josh Bell on waivers, reports Robert Murray of FanSided on X. At this point, there’s been nothing to suggest Bell has been removed from the roster. In fact, he’s in the lineup for Miami’s game against the Brewers that is taking place as of this writing. It’s possible he stays in Miami if he clears waivers, similar to what happened with Kevin Kiermaier and the Blue Jays earlier this month.

When a player is placed on waivers without being removed from the roster, the club is hoping that some other team will put in a claim and take the contract off their hands. If the player clears, they can send them outright to a minor league affiliate. But Bell has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while retaining all of his salary, so the club can also decide to simply hang onto the player. That’s what transpired with Kiermaier, as he went unclaimed but the Jays kept him around.

Bell, 31, has had some really good seasons in his career but has been trending down of late. He slashed .266/.362/.422 for a wRC+ of 123 in 2022 and then headed into free agency. The Guardians signed him to a two-year, $33MM deal, with Bell making $16.5MM in each year and having the ability to opt out after the first season.

His tenure in Cleveland didn’t go especially well. He slashed .233/.318/.383 in 97 games for a wRC+ of 96. Since Bell isn’t especially fast nor considered a strong defender at first base, he needs to hit to provide value.

He was flipped to Miami at last year’s trade deadline in a swap of bad contracts, with Jean Segura and prospect Kahlil Watson going the other way. Bell’s results improved after the deal, as he hit .270/.338/.480 for a wRC+ of 119 and helped the Marlins get into the playoffs. Despite the hot start, he decided to trigger his player option and stick with the Fish for one more year.

But he hasn’t been able to carry over his strong finish from 2023, as he’s hitting .239/.303/.396 this year for a wRC+ of 96. With his lack of contributions on defense or the basepaths, he’s been below replacement level.

There’s just a bit under $6MM left on Bell’s deal, so the odds of him being claimed are pretty slim. The Marlins are clearly in sell mode, as they have traded controllable players like Luis Arráez and Jazz Chisholm Jr., so a rental player like Bell will undoubtedly be available. Though assuming he goes unclaimed in the coming days, the Fish will likely have to eat some of that money to facilitate a deal. Clubs like the Yankees, Astros, Mariners and others are looking for first base help and could perhaps look into buying low on Bell.

Yankees Acquire Jazz Chisholm Jr.

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Jazz Chisholm Jr. is on his way to the Big Apple. The Yankees announced they’ve acquired Chisholm from the Marlins for three prospects: catcher Agustin Ramirez and infielders Jared Serna and Abrahan Ramirez.

Chisholm, 26, was a consensus top-100 prospect when the Marlins acquired him from the Diamondbacks in the deal that sent right-hander Zac Gallen to Arizona. While Gallen has blossomed into one of the NL’s top starters since arriving in the desert, Chisholm’s time in Miami has been far less consistent. After a rookie 2021 campaign where he split time between shortstop and second base with roughly league average offense, Chisholm committed to second full-time in 2022 and broke out in a big way with an excellent .254/.325/.535 (136 wRC+) slash line that year. Unfortunately, Chisholm’s All-Star campaign was cut short by a stress fracture in his back that limited him to just 60 games that year.

That injury combined with the Marlins’ lack of quality options in the outfield led Miami to move Chisholm out of the infield ahead of the 2023 season, installing him in center field. The results of that experiment were somewhat mixed, as Chisholm took a step backwards on offense with a 103 wRC+ and was limited to just 97 games by a bout of turf toe but proved to be surprisingly solid defensively in center with +4 Outs Above Average, although Defensive Runs Saved disagreed with that assessment and graded him as one of the ten worst outfield defenders in the sport last year with a -14 figure. Chisholm’s offense hasn’t rebounded much in 2024 as he’s slashing .249/.323/.407 (104 wRC+) on the year, but his defensive metrics have settled in a bit more to paint him as a roughly scratch defender (+1 OAA, -4 DRS) in center field. Perhaps most importantly, the youngster has stayed healthy and on the field this year as he’s appeared in 101 of Miami’s 104 games while even getting some work in at second base again in recent weeks.

Chisholm’s versatility is surely part of what makes him an attractive addition for the Yankees. While Aaron Judge and Juan Soto’s otherworldly 2024 campaigns have kept the Yankees offense afloat for the most part to this point and allowed the club to post a solid 60-45 record overall, they’ve gone just 6-13 in the month of July thanks in part to a lackluster supporting cast that has seen only catcher Austin Wells post above average numbers by measure of wRC+ among healthy Yankees players with at least 100 PA this year not named Judge or Soto.

With so many spots in the lineup that could do with an upgrade, Chisholm’s slightly better than average bat and versatility figure to be a major asset for the Yankees. SNY’s Andy Martino was among those to suggest following news of the trade that Chisholm’s position with the Yankees is not yet fully set in stone, and it’s easy to see why. Chisholm’s ability to play center could allow manager Aaron Boone to turn to struggling left fielder Alex Verdugo, who has posted a wRC+ of just 56 since the start of June, less often while pushing Judge to a less taxing spot in the outfield or perhaps even allowing him to DH on days where both Chisholm and Verdugo are roaming the outfield.

On the other hand, Gleyber Torres is having a relative down season (96 wRC+) as the club’s regular second baseman and third base has been a massive hole for the Yankees all season, though neither Torres nor Chisholm have any experience at the hot corner in the majors. Given Torres’s excellent 119 wRC+ against lefties and Verdugo’s brutal 63 wRC+ against fellow southpaws this season, it’s possible even to imagine Chisholm (who sports a decent 96 wRC+ against southpaws in spite of his own lefty bat) playing the outfield against lefty starters while mixing into the infield more often against righties, allowing the Yankees to play matchups more effectively for both Verdugo and Torres, especially in the event that New York brass don’t want to have either Chisholm or Torres learn third base on the fly.

Of course, another factor in Chisholm’s value to the Yankees is the fact that he’s controlled through the end of the 2026 season. For an offense that figures to see Soto, Torres, Verdugo, J.D. Davis, and perhaps Anthony Rizzo all depart for free agency following the 2024 campaign, adding Chisholm to the lineup as a long-term building block alongside sluggers Judge and Giancarlo Stanton as well as youngsters Wells, Anthony Volpe, and Ben Rice offers the Yankees the ability to decide Chisholm’s long-term home on the diamond based on both his defensive performance and the needs of the roster surrounding him in an offseason where re-signing Soto figures to be the top priority. It’s possible to imagine Chisholm settling in as a fixture of the club’s mix in either the infield or outfield depending on both the club’s external additions this winter and the performance of up-and-coming youngsters in the club’s system like infielder Oswald Peraza and outfielder Jasson Dominguez, both of whom could vie for everyday roles in 2025.

As for the Marlins, they’ll receive a package of three prospects in return for the youngster who has been the club’s lone productive hitter this year ever since Luis Arraez was dealt to San Diego back in May. The closest to making an impact at the major league level of that group is Ramirez, a 22-year-old catcher who is already on the 40-man roster and reached the Triple-A level earlier this year. The youngster is just the #20 prospect in the Yankees system according to MLB Pipeline but is a far more robust third in the system according to Baseball America.

A bat-first catcher who slashed an impressive .290/.372/.570 in 58 games at the Double-A level this year prior to his promotion to the next level, Ramirez offers enticing raw power and a knack for making contact in the zone, though upper-level breaking balls have given him trouble and both Pipeline and BA suggest that he’ll need to improve his swing decisions a bit to reach his potential as a hitter. Scouts have plenty of questions about whether or not Ramirez will be able to stick behind the plate in the majors, though there’s optimism that he’ll have a future in the big leagues even if he ends up moving off catcher to a more offensively demanding position like first base.

Also heading to Miami in the return is Serna, a 22-year-old infielder in the midst of a solid season at the High-A level. The club’s #19 prospect per Pipeline and #11 prospect per BA, Serna has slashed a respectable .253/.341/.444 in 88 games with the Yankees’ affiliate in Hudson Valley while swiping 11 bags and slugging 13 home runs, although his body doesn’t project for much more power and he’s expected to slug at below average levels in the majors. Serna is also viewed as unlikely to stick at shortstop long-term, with BA noting that his fringey arm means he’s likely to end up at second base although he does have experience in the outfield and at the hot corner as well.

As for the latter Ramirez, he signed with the Yankees out of Venezuela back in 2022 on a $30,000 bonus (h/t Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com) and made his stateside debut earlier this year. In 49 games in complex ball this year, the 19-year-old has looked good with an excellent .348/.447/.513 slash line in 189 trips to the plate while splitting time between shortstop as well as second and third base. Ramirez is not ranked within the Yankees’ top-30 prospects by any major public-facing evaluators at the moment, although given his youth and big numbers in complex ball it wouldn’t be a shock to see him make some noise in that regard with Miami at some point in the future.

Craig Mish of SportsGrid first reported the Yankees and Marlins were in talks about a deal that’d send Chisholm to New York for three prospects. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic was first to say the deal was done. ESPN’s Alden González reported Agustin Ramirez was the headliner and Abrahan Ramirez’s inclusion. Christina De Nicola of MLB.com had Serna’s inclusion.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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