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Marlins Designate Tim Anderson For Assignment

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1:40pm: The Marlins have made it official, announcing Anderson’s DFA and the recall of Edwards, with the latter starting at shortstop tonight.

10:48am: Edwards will indeed be recalled to take Anderson’s spot on the roster, Christina De Nicola of MLB.com reports.

10:28am: The Marlins have designated infielder Tim Anderson for assignment, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald. The team has not yet formally announced the move.

Anderson, 31, was Miami’s lone major league signing in free agency this past offseason. He inked a one-year, $5MM contract on the heels of what was then a career-worst .245/.286/.296 showing in his final season with the White Sox — the only organization he’s ever known. Both Anderson and the Marlins envisioned a rebound of some extent — if not to the outstanding .318/.347/.473 slash he posted in 2019-22, then at least to the point where he’d reclaim his status as a viable regular in a big league infield.

Instead, Anderson’s production has dipped even further. He’s posted career-worst marks in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and strikeout rate — all while delivering the second-worst walk rate of his career. In 241 plate appearances, Anderson is batting .214/.237/.226 with no home runs, a 28.2% strikeout rate and a 2.9% walk rate. Of the 230 hitters this season who’ve tallied at least 200 plate appearances, none has a lower wRC+ than Anderson’s mark of 31 (which indicates he’s been 69% worse than league-average at the plate).

While the Marlins technically have as many as five days to trade Anderson, the overwhelming likelihood is that he’ll simply be released. A team isn’t going to claim the remainder of this season’s salary if he’s placed on waivers, and that contract plus Anderson’s play over the past two seasons renders him without any trade value. Once he’s cleared release waivers, he’ll be free to sign with any club on a minor league or big league deal. A new team would owe Anderson only the prorated league minimum for any days spent on the MLB roster or injured list. That sum would be subtracted from what Miami is required to pay out, but the Fish are on the hook for the majority of his salary regardless.

Anderson’s departure for the roster will clear playing time for younger hitters like Vidal Brujan and perhaps Xavier Edwards. Brujan, once one of the game’s top prospects in Tampa Bay, is hitting .238/.306/.343 in 157 plate appearances with Miami but has received sparse playing time. Edwards, another former Rays prospect, has spent the bulk of the season in Triple-A Jacksonville and is hitting .330/.376/.450 in 119 trips to the plate. It’s a small sample that’s buoyed by a huge .361 average on balls in play, but Edwards is making tons of contact (9.2% strikeout rate). His bat-to-ball skills and speed have long been his calling cards, and at this juncture there’s little reason for a team in Miami’s situation not to take a look at someone like Edwards and/or Brujan over Anderson.

Outright Assignments: Kuhnel, Emanuel

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Rounding up some recent outright assignments….

  • The Brewers outrighted Joel Kuhnel to Triple-A Nashville, as per the right-hander’s MLB.com profile page.  Kuhnel was designated for assignment earlier this week, and for the second time this month, he has been outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster.  The Blue Jays previously outrighted Kuhnel, and he opted for free agency and a subsequent minor league deal with Milwaukee.  It isn’t yet known if he’ll choose free agency again over accepting this outright assignment, or if Kuhnel perhaps wants some stability after already being part of three different organizations in the last two months.  A veteran of five big league seasons, Kuhnel’s 2024 resume consists of two innings in a single appearances with the Astros at the MLB level, and a 2.52 ERA over 25 Triple-A relief innings.
  • The Marlins have outrighted left-hander Kent Emanuel to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to his MLB.com profile page.  This is the fourth time Emanuel has been DFA’ed and then outrighted to the Marlins’ top affiliate in the last three months, and it seems likely that he’ll again accept his outright rather than test the free agent market.  Amidst the flurry of contract selections and outrights, Emanuel has posted a 6.75 ERA over 9 1/3 relief innings for Miami, which represents his first MLB action since 17 2/3 innings with the Astros in his 2021 debut season.  Emanuel also has a 6.60 ERA in 30 Triple-A innings this season, but despite these rough results, he’ll probably continue in his role as bullpen depth and a perpetual 26th or 27th man on the roster.

Marlins Release Christian Bethancourt

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6:50pm: Miami is releasing Bethancourt, tweets Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. He’ll head back to free agency and could look for a minor league opportunity elsewhere.

4:50pm: Marlins catcher Christian Bethancourt went unclaimed on waivers following his recent DFA and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. As a player with more than three years of big league service, he has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. However, Bethancourt is at 4.129 years of service, placing him 43 days shy of the five full years he’d need to elect free agency and retain the remainder of this season’s $2.05MM salary. Since he’d have to forfeit the remainder of that salary in order to elect free agency, he’ll surely accept it and report to Jacksonville.

First-year Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix was the Rays’ general manager when Tampa Bay acquired Bethancourt from the A’s, and in one of his first moves after being hired as Miami’s president of baseball ops, he brought Bethancourt to the Marlins in a cash swap with the Guardians, who’d previously claimed the catcher off waivers from the Rays.

The trade didn’t go as hoped, clearly. Bethancourt opened the season mired in a disastrous slump as the Fish received staggeringly poor production from their catching corps early on. By the time he was designated for assignment in favor of journeyman Ali Sanchez, he’d only managed to pull his batting line up to .159/.198/.268 in 88 plate appearances.

At one point, Bethancourt ranked among the game’s top catching prospects, but he’s fallen into journeyman status and at one point entirely moved on from catching in favor of outfield/infield work and even (more briefly) relief pitching. He spent the 2019 season in the KBO, didn’t play during the 2020 season, and bounced around the league in a more traditional catcher/first baseman role since 2021. That includes a 2022 season split between Oakland and Tampa Bay where he slashed a respectable .252/.283/.409 with a career-high 11 homers, but Bethancourt has been unable to replicate even that modest production since that time.

A career .292/.329/.468 hitter in parts of seven Triple-A seasons, Bethancourt will stick with the Marlins organization and provide some additional depth behind Nick Fortes and Sanchez. If either is injured and/or if Bethancourt gets his bat going in Jacksonville, he could get a look later this season. If not, he’ll be eligible for minor league free agency at season’s end, as is the case for all players with three-plus years of service who are outrighted off a 40-man roster, accept the assignment, and are not added back to the 40-man before the end of the year.

MLBTR Podcast: Injured Trade Candidates, The Cristopher Sánchez Extension And Blue Jays’ Woes

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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…

  • “What would it take for the Rockies to consider trading some young assets like Ryan McMahon or Brendan Rodgers?” (23:55)
  • “The Astros are clearly out of it, so why isn’t Ryan Pressly a top target of teams with bad bullpens?” (30:35)
  • “Would the Marlins or Nationals trade with the Mets, Phillies or Braves, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Lane Thomas being good fits?” (39:25)
  • “Will T.J. McFarland of the Athletics be traded to the Cubs or another contender?” (47:45)

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!

Marlins Select Valente Bellozo

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TODAY: The Marlins have selected Valente Bellozo from Triple-A Jacksonville, the team announced. In a corresponding move, left-hander Kent Emanuel has been designated for assignment. Emanuel will likely clear waivers and be sent outright to Jacksonville. He has already accepted multiple outright assignments to Triple-A this season.

JUNE 25: The Marlins will select the contract of right-hander Valente Bellozo before tomorrow’s game with the Royals, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (X link). He’ll take the ball opposite Brady Singer in the series finale. Miami will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

It’ll be the major league debut for Bellozo, a 24-year-old native of Mexico. He signed with the Astros as an amateur free agent back in 2017. Bellozo pitched through Double-A in the Houston farm system. The Astros dealt him to Miami for depth infielder Jacob Amaya in April. Bellozo has split his time with the Fish between the top two minor league levels.

The 5’10” hurler hasn’t had great numbers this season. Bellozo has allowed a 5.02 ERA in 52 innings between Double-A Pensacola and Triple-A Jacksonville. He has decent strikeout and walk numbers, punching out more than a quarter of batters faced against a tidy 6.7% walk percentage. Home runs have been an issue since he was promoted to Triple-A, though. Bellozo has given up seven longballs in 20 2/3 frames with Jacksonville.

Bellozo has never gotten much prospect fanfare. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs gave him a brief mention on his write-up of the Miami system earlier this month, crediting him with a solid changeup but few other weapons. The Fish have needed to dig into their rotation depth this season after being pummeled by injury.

They placed Jesús Luzardo and Braxton Garrett on the shelf last week. That duo joins Eury Pérez, Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, Ryan Weathers and Sixto Sánchez on the injured list. Trevor Rogers has been the lone consistent presence. Bellozo will be the 14th starting pitcher they’ve used over the course of the year as they’ve cycled through depth arms.

Marlins Claim Austin Kitchen From Rockies

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The Marlins announced that they have claimed left-hander Austin Kitchen off waivers from the Rockies. Right-hander Sixto Sánchez has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. Christina De Nicola of MLB.com relayed the Kitchen claim on X prior to the official announcement, adding that the lefty will report to Triple-A Jacksonville.

Kitchen, 27, was just added to Colorado’s roster over the weekend as that club wanted a fresh arm. However, he was designated for assignment the very next day without getting into a game. Though he’s still looking to make his major league debut, the Marlins are intrigued enough to give him a roster spot.

The lefty hasn’t racked up a ton of strikeouts in his minor league career but has been able to keep the ball on the ground. He has a 3.95 earned run average in 225 2/3 innings on the farm overall, with a 19.4% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rate. But he has kept at least 50% of balls in play on the ground at each stop along the minor league ladder.

Sánchez was placed on the 15-day injured list at the start of this month due to right shoulder inflammation. There haven’t been many updates since then, but that’s an ominous diagnosis since he has had multiple surgeries on that shoulder, which limited him to just one minor league inning pitched over the 2021 to 2023 period. Now that he’s been transferred to the 60-day IL, it seems the Marlins aren’t expecting him back by the end of July.

With that situation, the Fish essentially had a roster spot to burn and have used it to grab Kitchen. He’ll report to their Triple-A club and give them a bit of optionable bullpen depth. He has a full slate of options and essentially no service time, so he could stay on the 40-man roster for a long time if his performance justifies him hanging onto a spot.

Marlins Place Braxton Garrett On 15-Day Injured List With Forearm Flexor Strain

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The Marlins announced several roster moves this morning, headlined by the club placing left-hander Braxton Garrett on the 15-Day injured list with a left forearm flexor strain. The club also optioned right-hander Shaun Anderson to Triple-A. Taking Garrett and Anderson’s spots on the club’s active roster will be right-hander Kyle Tyler and left-hander Kent Emanuel, both of whom had their contracts selected. Left-hander Jesus Luzardo and right-hander Edward Cabrera were both transferred to the 60-day injured list to clear space for the duo on the 40-man roster.

Garrett’s placement on the injured list isn’t necessarily a surprise, as the club had already scratched him from today’s start due to elbow soreness yesterday. With that being said, the diagnosis of a forearm flexor strain is a concerning one that suggests Garrett could be in for a lengthy absence, though details about his exact timeline are not yet available. For Marlins fans, it surely brings to mind September of last year, when the Marlins provided the same diagnosis for right-hander Sandy Alcantara before the ace ultimately required Tommy John surgery.

Fortunately, not all forearm strains require such drastic treatment. Nationals right-hander Josiah Gray suffered a similarly-termed strain back in April that ultimately proved to be purely muscular without damage to the UCL. Gray is currently on a rehab assignment and could factor into the Nationals’ pitching plans prior to the All Star break, roughly three months after the initial injury. A similar timeline could see Cabrera return sometime in September, prior to the end of the 2024 campaign.

Regardless of when Cabrera winds up being able to return to the club, however, the Marlins figure to be in a bit of a pickle as they look to piece together their rotation mix. Miami currently has seven starters on the injured list, leaving them with lefty Trevor Rogers, righty Roddery Munoz, and righty Yonny Chirinos as their only three established starting pitchers. That trio will be joined by Tyler, who is slated to start today’s game against the Mariners. A 20th-round pick by the Angels in the 2018 draft, the righty has made eight multi-inning relief appearances in the big leagues since he first made his MLB debut back in 2021, though he’s never started a game at the big league level.

He’s pitched fairly well in his limited opportunities in the majors with a 2.45 ERA and 4.36 FIP in 18 1/3 innings of work. That includes a single appearance with the Marlins earlier this year where he allowed one run in two frames where he allowed one hit and no walks with one strikeout. It’s unclear if Tyler will continue to pitch as part of the club’s rotation after today or if this is a spot start for the 27-year-old. Also joining Tyler on the active roster is the lefty Emanuel, who has been shuttling between the 40-man roster and the minor leagues all throughout the 2024 campaign for the Marlins. In 8 1/3 innings of work for the club this year across four appearances, Emanuel has struggled to a 7.56 ERA with an 8.19 FIP. Nonetheless, the southpaw will provide the club with a multi-inning option out of the bullpen who could piggyback with the right-handed Tyler if necessary this afternoon.

As for Luzardo and Cabrerea, the 60-day IL placements come as a mild surprise for both players. In Luzardo’s case, the lefty was placed on the IL just yesterday with a lumbar stress reaction, and manager Skip Schumaker suggested that injury typically has a 4-6 week timeline. Now that Luzardo is out for at least the next two months, it’s safe to say the Marlins believe he’ll be out for longer than that general timeline. He’ll first be eligible to return from the shelf in late August. Cabrera’s placement also somewhat surprising given the fact that he’s already built up to the 50-pitch range on a rehab assignment, though given the fact that the righty would be eligible to be activated from the shelf in just two weeks it could be a purely procedural transaction.

Braxton Garrett Scratched From Sunday Start Due To Elbow Discomfort

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Marlins left-hander Braxton Garrett has been scratched from his scheduled start against the Mariners tomorrow due to discomfort in his left elbow, as noted by MLB.com’s Christina DeNicola earlier today. DeNicola adds that Garrett is set to undergo further evaluation on his elbow.

It’s not currently clear how severe Garret’s ailment, which he reportedly felt following his bullpen session on Friday, will wind up being. That being said, elbow issues are always anxiety-inducing for fans and players alike given the fact that serious elbow injuries often require season-ending surgery, as has been the case for a number of star pitchers of late, ranging from Spencer Strider of the Braves to Kyle Bradish of the Orioles to Garrett’s teammates Eury Perez and Sandy Alcantara. Of course, it’s important to remember that elbow issues can also be relatively minor, as was the case for Astros lefty Framber Valdez when he was placed on the IL with elbow soreness back in April and ended up requiring only a minimum stay.

Regardless of if Garrett misses an extended period or is down for just one start, it’s the latest difficult injury news for a Miami franchise wracked with pitching injuries. The club already has six starting pitchers on the injured list after placing left-hander (and potential top trade candidate) Jesus Luzardo on the injured list due to a lumbar stress reaction earlier today. Luzardo joined right-handers Perez, Alcantara Edward Cabrera, and Sixto Sanchez as well as fellow southpaw Ryan Weathers on the IL. That massive group of injured starters has left the Marlins scrambling to fill out a rotation that on paper should have been the deepest part of the club’s roster entering the season.

Trevor Rogers, Roddery Munoz, Yonny Chirinos, and Shaun Anderson currently occupy rotation spots alongside Garrett, and it’s possible that top prospect Max Meyer could replace Garrett in the rotation in the long-term if needed. DeNicola notes that Meyer last started in Triple-A on Thursday, however, meaning he would not be lined up to pitch  tomorrow even if the club did want to call him up for a spot start in Garrett’s stead. DeNicola floats the possibility that the club could turn to multi-inning reliever George Soriano, who pitched three innings at the Triple-A level on Tuesday, to open a bullpen game tomorrow. Soriano is already on the 40-man roster, and an alternative spot starting option such as Kent Emanuel or Devin Smeltzer would require the Marlins to make space on the 40-man.

While the Marlins are widely acknowledged to be one of the game’s few clear sellers this summer after already shipping Luis Arraez to the Padres earlier this year, an injury of significance for Garrett would surely all but guarantee that he remains with the Marlins for the remainder of the 2024 season. After all, the July 30 trade deadline is just over a month away at this point, and even a minimum stint on the IL for Garrett would sideline him for long enough to allow him just three more starts prior to the trade deadline.

For a pitcher who was already shelved with a shoulder impingement earlier this year and has struggled to a 5.35 ERA in the seven starts he’s been healthy enough to make this year, that timeline makes it difficult to imagine Garrett convincing an interested club of his health and effectiveness enough for them to be comfortable dealing for the lefty prior to the deadline. Fortunately for the Marlins, there’s no real urgency to move Garrett given that the southpaw is under team control through the end of the 2028 season. That gives the lefty plenty of time to return to the form he flashed over 48 appearances between 2022 and 2023, when he pitched to a 3.63 ERA with a 3.64 FIP with a 23.8% strikeout rate.

Marlins Outright Kent Emanuel

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TODAY: The Marlins have outrighted Emanuel to Triple-A after he cleared waivers, as per Emanuel’s MLB.com profile page.  There isn’t yet any word as to whether or not Emanuel has accepted the assignment.

JUNE 19: The Marlins announced Wednesday morning that left-hander Kent Emanuel has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander Yonny Chirinos, whose previously announced promotion to the big league roster is now official. Chirinos will start today’s game for the Fish.

Emanuel, 32, was selected to the Marlins’ big league roster for a second time this season over the weekend. He tossed 2 1/3 shutout innings across two appearances during this most recent stint. The former Astros, Phillies and Pirates farmhand made two more appearances with Miami back in April and was hit hard. Overall, he’s surrendered seven earned runs in 8 1/3 major league innings this season. That’s a far cry from the 2.55 ERA he notched in a 17 2/3-inning big league debut with the 2021 Astros (the team that originally selected him in the third round of the 2013 draft).

Things haven’t gone much better for Emanuel in Triple-A Jacksonville. He’s made nine appearances, four of them starts, and totaled 30 innings of 6.60 ERA ball. The 6’4″ UNC product has fanned 19% of his opponents against a tidy 5.8% walk rate in that time. It’s the sixth season in which Emanuel has logged time at the Triple-A level. Overall, he owns a 5.18 ERA, a 20% strikeout rate and a 6.1% walk rate in 391 frames there.

Within the next week, Emanuel will either be traded, placed on outright waivers or released. He’s been outrighted in the past, so if he goes unclaimed on waivers he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Marlins Place Jesus Luzardo On 15-Day Injured List

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12:59PM: The move has been officially announced, with Luzardo’s placement retroactive to June 19.  The left-hander’s injury has been termed as a lumbar stress reaction, and Schumaker floated a recovery timeline of 4-6 weeks to De Nicola and other reporters.  Though Schumaker was speaking in more general terms about recoveries from similar injuries rather than what can be expected for Luzardo himself, it nevertheless remains unclear if Luzardo will be able to pitch again before the trade deadline.

10:42AM: The Marlins have placed left-hander Jesus Luzardo on the 15-day injured list due to a back injury.  The team already announced yesterday that Luzardo was being scratched from his planned start today, and Shaun Anderson is being recalled from Triple-A to take the hill against the Mariners.

Luzardo has been trying to pitch through his back problem “for a couple of weeks,” manager Skip Schumaker told MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola and other reporters, and the team even considered scratching him from his previous start against the Nationals last Sunday.  As De Nicola notes, Luzardo’s velocity was down during that outing, though Luzardo still managed five innings of two-run ball against Washington.

“You don’t want to overdo another side of the body or another part of the body because you’re trying not to hurt whatever is being hurt or is hurting,” Schumaker said.  “You definitely don’t want to push through something, especially the back, because it could lead to other things.  So we’ll see what the results say and what the doctors say, but it’s definitely not something that you push through.”

This is Luzardo’s second IL trip this season, as he also missed just under three weeks dealing with tightness in his throwing elbow.  Luzardo has a lengthy and well-documented injury history that also includes a Tommy John surgery, but the 2023 season showed a glimpse of what the southpaw could do when he was finally healthy.  Over 32 starts and 178 2/3 innings for Miami last year, Luzardo posted a 3.58 ERA, 28.1% strikeout rate, and 7.4% walk rate to help lead the Marlins to a wild card berth.

The numbers have fallen off in 2024, with health undoubtedly some sort of factor in Luzardo’s 5.00 ERA over 66 2/3 frames.  While his 4.20 SIERA is a little more respectable, Luzardo’s strikeout rate has sharply dropped to 21.2%, and his fastball velocity has gone from 96.7mph in 2023 to 95.1mph this year.  As per Statcast, Luzardo’s four-seamer was one of the more effective pitches in baseball last season, but is now a below-average offering.

Anderson has already made one spot start for the Marlins since he was acquired in a trade with the Rangers last month, and now might get more opportunities as Miami continues to deal with an injury-plagued rotation.  Since the last-place Marlins have long since thrown in the towel on contending this season, much of the focus on Miami has been around on what the team might do at the trade deadline, with Luzardo’s name often mentioned a prime candidate to be moved.

Even considering his shaky 2024 production, Luzardo has been viewed as possibly the Marlins’ best trade chip due to his age (26) and the two-plus years of arbitration control that runs through the 2026 campaign.  However, this latest injury creates new doubt that Luzardo will even be back on the mound by the July 30 deadline, given how back problems can tend to linger.  There’s no urgency for the Marlins to move Luzardo this summer when other trades could be explored this winter or really at any time during Luzardo’s remaining tenure with the organization, but naturally another injury-marred season will lower his trade value.

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