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Marlins, Jorge Alfaro Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Marlins have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran catcher Jorge Alfaro, reports Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). The CAA client will return for a second stint with the Fish, having previously spent the 2019-21 seasons in Miami. He’ll be assigned to Triple-A Jacksonville.

Alfaro, 30, originally signed with the Rangers as an amateur out of Colombia but was traded to the Phillies in the Cole Hamels blockbuster and then to the Marlins as part of Miami’s return for J.T. Realmuto. Alfaro logged 876 plate appearances in his three seasons with the Marlins, batting a combined .252/.298/.386 before being traded to the Padres in exchange for cash in Dec. 2021.

The 2023 season has seen Alfaro pinball around the league. Alfaro signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox in January but opted out of that deal in June after a big start to his season in Triple-A. He landed with the Rockies on a new minor league deal but was quickly selected to the Majors, where he hit .161/.188/.387 in a tiny sample of 32 plate appearances. Cut loose by Colorado, Alfaro returned to the Red Sox — this time on a big league deal. He went 2-for-17 and lasted just eight games in Boston before being designated for assignment and again electing free agency.

Now back with the Marlins, Alfaro will serve as some experienced catching depth in the upper minors. He’s never really delivered on his longstanding status as a top prospect, batting .252/.303/.393 in 1710 plate appearances at the big league level between five teams. However, Alfaro has a solid track record in Triple-A and is enjoying a big year there in 2023, posting a combined .323/.366/.524 line between the top affiliates for the Rox and Sox.

Catching help has been a perennial need for the Marlins since they traded Realmuto, as neither Alfaro nor his successor (fellow trade acquisition Jacob Stallings) has taken the job and run with it. Stallings is sporting a dismal .188/.290/.250 batting line on the current season, and fellow backstop Nick Fortes has only been marginally better at .221/.270/.312. Both have delivered sound defensive grades — Fortes, in particular, has been strong — but the lack of offense is glaring. Stallings and Fortes have combined for a .207/.280/.288 output at the plate, and the resulting 60 wRC+ (suggesting they’ve been 40% below league-average at the plate) ranks 29th in the Majors, leading only the Guardians.

Marlins Outright José Castillo

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The Marlins have outrighted left-hander José Castillo to Triple-A Jacksonville, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. There had been no previous indication that the club had designated him for assignment, but they evidently passed him through waivers in recent days. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.

Castillo, 27, has only been a member of the organization for a short time, having been acquired from the Padres in a cash deal just over two weeks ago. He had a solid major league debut with the Friars back in 2018, tossing 38 1/3 innings while allowing 3.29 earned runs per nine frames. He struck out 34.7% of the batters that came to the plate while walking 8% of them.

Unfortunately, injuries have prevented him from building off that strong first impression. A torn ligament in his hand limited him to just two thirds of an inning in 2019, then a lat strain wiped out his 2020. He then required Tommy John surgery in March of 2021, which kept him on the shelf until last summer, with the Padres mostly keeping him in the minors for the final months of the year. He finished 2022 with a strong 2.91 ERA in 43 Triple-A appearances.

But here in 2023, a left shoulder strain put him on the IL to start the year and he made just one major league appearance in early July, allowing four earned runs in a third of an inning. His work in Triple-A hasn’t been pretty this year either, with a 12.27 ERA in 22 frames at that level between the two organizations.

Those injuries and poor recent results likely helped him slip through waivers unclaimed. He’s also in his final option year, meaning he’ll be out of options for 2024. He has the right to reject this assignment since he has over three years of major league service time. However, he lacks the five years of service necessary to reject it and also retain his salary.

He and the Padres avoided arbitration in the winter by agreeing to a $730K salary for 2023, with about $240K left to be paid out. He would have to leave that money on the table for the right to pursue other opportunities, so perhaps he will stick with the Marlins to provide them with some depth but without using a spot on the 40-man roster. He’ll qualify for minor league free agency at season’s end if he still doesn’t have a roster spot at that time.

The Marlins’ Quartet Of Lefty Relievers

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Heading into the 2023 season, most fans would’ve expected the NL East to contain at least three legitimate playoff contenders. Few, however, pegged that trio to include the Braves, Phillies and … the Marlins. Conventional wisdom said that the Mets’ $350MM+ payroll, the Braves’ perennial excellence and the Phillies’ 2022 World Series appearance made them the teams to watch in the division. But, here are the Marlins, sitting 60-56 on Aug. 9 and tied with the Cubs for a share of the final Wild Card spot in the National League.

Much of that success has been attributable to Miami’s strong showing in one-run games. At 26-10 in such contests, the Marlins have been baseball’s best team by a wide margin. Their .722 winning percentage in one-run contests leads the Brewers (21-10, .677) and Orioles (20-11, .645) and is rather comfortably the best in the game. Heck, as I was writing this, the Marlins won another one-run game, thanks to some late heroics from deadline acquisition Josh Bell and the underrated Bryan De La Cruz.

There are certain traits that make a team likely to compete and succeed in large number of closely contested games. A lineup that struggles to score runs in bulk and is heavily reliant on station-to-station baseball — as if the case in Miami — is bound to play in a lot of close games. That’s been an apt description of the Marlins so far in 2023; they entered play Wednesday 26th in MLB with 465 runs scored and 27th with 106 home runs.

A strong bullpen that’s capable of holding the too-often narrow leads afforded to the pitching staff is also a key factor in mastering one-run victories. Again, that’s been the case in Miami for much of the season. While the Marlins shook up their bullpen prior to the deadline, swapping out Dylan Floro for Jorge Lopez (an exchange of struggling change-of-scenery candidates) and trading a pair of prospects for David Robertson, the Marlins have generally had a solid relief corps in 2023. Or rather, they’ve had a strong top half of a top-heavy bullpen. Adding Robertson to help deepen the group makes the team better, to be sure, but Miami was already had a strong bullpen group thanks in large part to a quartet of left-handers whom they acquired at virtually no cost.

Chief among that group is hard-throwing 29-year-old Tanner Scott. Long one of the most touted arms in the Orioles’ farm system, Scott was traded to Miami alongside righty Cole Sulser just before Opening Day 2022. The O’s deserve plenty of credit for the team they’ve put together, but this swap is probably one that Baltimore GM Mike Elias would like back. The Fish landed Scott and Sulser in a trade that sent a trio of low-level minor leaguers — Kevin Guerrero, Antonio Velez and Yaqui Rivera — to the Orioles. None of that trio ranks among the Orioles’ top 30 prospects at Baseball America, MLB.com or FanGraphs.

Sulser has already departed the Marlins organization — the D-backs claimed him on waivers last November — but Scott has emerged as one of the best lefties in the game. His power arsenal was always tantalizing, but Scott’s lack of command continually proved frustrating for the O’s. That continued into the 2022 season, his first in Miami, but the 2023 campaign has been another story. After logging a 4.31 ERA, 31.1% strikeout rate and ghastly 15.9% walk rate last year, Scott is now touting a 2.80 ERA, a 36.4% strikeout rate and a vastly improved 10% walk rate. Yes, it’s still too many free passes, but he’s improved it as the season has gone on. Over his past 32 frames, Scott has walked only 7% of his opponents.

Scott entered play Wednesday with a mammoth 17.2% swinging-strike rate and 36.2% chase rate — and that’s before he struck out the side against the Reds in this afternoon’s inning of work. There are only three pitchers in baseball who’ve thrown 50-plus innings and have a higher swinging-strike rate. Scott isn’t working in low-leverage mop-up settings, either. He’s piled up 22 holds and a pair of saves, and only four qualified relievers top him in terms of win probability added (WPA). The Fish are paying him a bargain $2.825MM this season and control him through the 2024 season.

Many clubs would be thrilled to simply have one quality southpaw of this caliber, but the Marlins are deeper than any club in MLB when it comes to lefty relievers. Scott might be the biggest name of the bunch, but the Fish are swimming (sorry, sorry) in quality southpaws. Andrew Nardi might be the most anonymous member of the group, but he’s been nothing short of outstanding this season.

A former 16th-round pick by Miami, Nardi had an inauspicious MLB debut in 2022, pitching 14 2/3 innings but allowing 16 runs in that time. Few fans looked at him and saw a breakout candidate, but in 39 2/3 innings this year, he’s sporting a 2.95 ERA, 33.1% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate. He’s been limited by a triceps injury this summer but was reinstated from the IL earlier this month and is back working in a high-leverage capacity. Since picking up his first big league save back on May 7, he’s pitched to a 1.80 ERA with a 36-to-6 K/BB ratio in 25 innings. He’s grabbed eight holds and a pair of saves along the way — and both numbers would be higher had he not spent a month on the injured list in that span.

Nardi’s 14.3% swinging-strike rate is excellent, and his 35% chase rate is even better. Virtually no one can square up the ball against the 24-year-old; he sits in the 99th percentile of big league pitchers in terms of average exit velocity and the 98th percentile in overall hard-hit rate. Nardi doesn’t even have a year of Major League service yet, so the Marlins can control him all the way through the 2028 season, and he won’t even reach arbitration until after the 2025 campaign.

There’s also 32-year-old Steven Okert to consider — a gem unearthed in minor league free agency. The left-hander came to Miami on a minor league deal in the 2020-21 offseason and, at the time, had just 48 1/3 innings of 4.28 ERA ball under his belt — all coming from 2016-18 with the Giants. In three seasons with Miami, Okert has graduated from a generic depth signing to a stalwart member of a talented relief corps. He’s logged 129 1/3 innings with a 2.85 ERA since relocating to South Florida, punching out 30% of his opponents against a 10.6% walk rate.

Again, the walks are a bit too high, but it should be noted that Okert has boosted his strikeout rate to a career-high 33.5% in 2023 while dropping his walk rate to 9% — his lowest mark in three years with the Fish. His velocity has ticked up each season, and the Marlins have scrapped three of his five pitches, turning him solely into a four-seam/slider reliever. Okert pitches more in the middle innings than Scott and Nardi, but he’s still picked up 10 holds. The results are outstanding, and he can be controlled cheaply for three years beyond the current season. Not too shabby for someone signed to a minor league deal three offseasons ago.

Left-hander A.J. Puk might be the most recognizable name of the bunch, thanks to both his lofty draft status (No. 6 overall in 2016) and his inclusion in a reasonably high-profile trade this offseason (sending former No. 4 overall pick JJ Bleday back to Oakland). Puk’s 4.62 ERA is by far the least impressive of the group, but the underlying numbers are far more impressive. He’s fanned 30.9% of his opponents against just a 4.9% walk rate while recording a swinging-strike rate just shy of 15%. Puk had a sub-3.00 ERA himself in early June before a rough patch that saw him allow runs in six of nine appearances. He’s since rebounded with four straight scoreless outings, whiffing five hitters without issuing a walk in 3 1/3 innings.

Puk has been hampered by a .337 average on balls in play and an abnormally low 63.1% strand rate, prompting metric like FIP (3.41) and SIERA (2.66) to cast a far more favorable light on the lefty than his earned run average does. Puk certainly wasn’t flawless in serving as the Marlins’ primary closer — 15-for-21 in save opportunities — and that, coupled with his rough stretch last month, might have nudged Miami to acquire Robertson. That said, lefties who average 96 mph don’t grow on trees, and Puk’s blend of elite strikeout and walk rates signals better days ahead.

In fact, Marlins relievers as a whole are among the best in baseball when it comes to both piling up strikeouts and limiting free passes. Each of the four lefties profiled here rank in the top 10 of all qualified relievers in terms of differential between strikeout rate and walk rate (i.e. K-BB%). The Marlins are sixth in all of baseball as a collective group in that category, and adding Robertson for the final two months of the season should help them out.

There are plenty of reasons for the Marlins’ success this season. Luis Arraez’s surefire batting title, big steps forward from Jesus Luzardo and Braxton Garrett, a dominant debut season from Eury Perez and a rebound effort from Jorge Soler have all helped drive this unlikely playoff push. But heading into the season, few would’ve pegged the Marlins to receive this type of output from their left-handed bullpen corps. Add in the fact that they came to the organization via a minor league deal, a 16th-round pick, and trades sending out three marginal prospects and a former first-rounder who’s still struggling in Oakland — and the core of this bullpen is even more impressive. They’ll all return for the 2024 season at least, and with Robertson helping lead the charge down the stretch in ’23, the Marlins will continue to be dangerous in tightly contested games.

Marlins Outright Devin Smeltzer

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Marlins left-hander Devin Smeltzer cleared waivers following last week’s DFA and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald tweets.

This was the third time in 2023 that the Marlins have designated Smeltzer for assignment, and it’s now the third time he’s passed through waivers and been outrighted. His prior outright assignments give him the right to reject an assignment in favor of free agency, but Smeltzer accepted an outright assignment following each of his two prior DFAs in Miami.

The 27-year-old Smeltzer’s most recent stint with the Fish was his most successful of the season. He appeared in two games and fired three shutout innings with five strikeouts and no walks. Overall, he’s pitched to a 5.79 ERA with an 18.1% strikeout rate and 4.8% walk rate through 18 1/3 innings since signing with Miami on a minor league contract over the winter. He’s spent the bulk of the season in Jacksonville, where he’s worked out of the rotation but turned in a shaky 5.95 ERA with an 18.4% strikeout rate and an uncharacteristically high 12.6% walk rate.

Smeltzer spent the four prior season in Minnesota, pitching to a 3.99 ERA in 140 innings between the Twins’ rotation and bullpen, fanning a well below-average 16.6% of his opponents against a strong 6.4% walk rate.

Marlins Select Geoff Hartlieb

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Prior to today’s game with the Rangers, the Marlins selected Geoff Hartlieb’s contract from Triple-A Jacksonville.  Left-hander Ryan Weathers was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding transaction.

The move brings a fresh arm into Miami’s bullpen, as Weathers threw 3 2/3 innings of relief on Saturday and was hit hard, allowing six earned runs against the powerful Texas lineup.  It is possible Hartlieb’s stint in the majors lasts for only a day until the Marlins need a roster spot to bring Eury Perez back to the Show, but Hartlieb pitched an inning against the Rangers, marking his first MLB appearance since 2021.

Hartlieb signed a minor league deal with Miami during the winter and has spent the entire season in Jacksonville, though injuries kept him on the shelf until May.  This late start might’ve cost the right-hander an earlier look on the big league roster, as Hartlieb has a 3.18 ERA over 34 relief innings and some solid peripherals (25.5% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate, 47.2% grounder rate).

A 29th-rounder for Pittsburgh in the 2016 draft, Hartlieb tossed 66 1/3 innings over 57 games with the Pirates and Mets from 2019-2021, posting a 7.46 ERA.  The Red Sox acquired him via waiver claim in September 2021 but he didn’t receive any Major League action in over a year in the organization, as Hartlieb had a 5.16 ERA over 61 innings for Boston’s Triple-A affiliate in 2022.

East Notes: Red Sox, Verdugo, Severino, Narvaez, Perez

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The Red Sox issued a positive update regarding the status of right-hander Garrett Whitlock today, with manager Alex Cora (as relayed by MassLive’s Christopher Smith) indicating that he’s poised to begin a minor league rehab assignment next week. Whitlock has been on the 15-day injured list due to a bone bruise in his elbow for just over a month. Meanwhile, both right-hander Tanner Houck and left-hander Chris Sale could also be nearing returns, with Houck expected to make three rehab starts before rejoining the club while Sale will be evaluated tomorrow as he nears a return to the majors.

Whitlock’s return to the Red Sox, according to Cora, could come with a change of role, as the manager indicated there was “a good chance” that Whitlock would be used in a multi-inning relief role rather than as a member of the rotation. That’s a role that has suited Whitlock quite well throughout his career, as he owns a sterling 2.24 ERA in 112 2/3 innings of work out of the bullpen, a far more impressive figure than his rather pedestrian 4.76 ERA in 19 starts as a member of the rotation.

Even with Whitlock seeming ticketed for the bullpen, the impending returns of Houck and Sale could create a logjam in Boston’s rotation. With the aforementioned trio on the shelf, the club was recently forced to move right-hander Nick Pivetta back into the rotation alongside regular starters James Paxton, Brayan Bello, and Kutter Crawford despite the fact that Pivetta sported a dominant 1.98 ERA in 41 innings coming out of the bullpen since he was removed from the rotation back in May.

With Paxton, Bello, and Sale all likely locked into rotation spots when healthy, the Red Sox will have to pick one of Pivetta, Houck, or Crawford to join Whitlock in the rotation unless the club plans on moving to a six-man rotation upon the return of Sale and Houck to starting action. While Pivetta’s 5.98 ERA coming out of the rotation is the weakest figure of that trio, his 7 1/3 inning, three-run outing in his return to the starting rotation may to have given Red Sox brass renewed confidence in him as a starting option going forward.

More from around MLB’s East divisions…

  • Sticking with the Red Sox, outfielder Alex Verdugo was scratched from today’s lineup shortly before the game started. Following the game, Cora briefly discussed Verdugo’s situation with reporters, including Smith. In his comments, Cora indicated that Verdugo’s absence from the lineup was not injury-related. While neither Cora nor Verdugo commented on the specifics of the situation, Cora stressed that it was “the manager’s decision”, saying: “We need everybody available. I decided the reason that he didn’t play. But he wasn’t available today. He was ready to play but he wasn’t available. … The manager decided not to play him today. And he has his reason. I’m not going to go into details or whatever.” After a hot start to the 2023 campaign, Verdugo has slashed just .157/.245/.277 in 94 trips to the plate since the start of July.
  • Yankees manager Aaron Boone indicated to reporters, including The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, that “everything is on the table going forward” regarding right-hander Luis Severino, including a move to the bullpen. Once a rising star in the game as a reliable, front of the rotation arm, Severino has struggled massively in 13 starts this season with a 7.74 ERA and 6.56 FIP. Severino has made fifteen appearances out of the bullpen during his career to excellent results. He’s posted a microscopic 0.31 ERA with a 30.6% strikeout rate in 29 1/3 innings of work as a reliever. If Severino were to exit the rotation, that could open up starts for a younger arm like Jhony Brito or Randy Vasquez.
  • Sticking to New York, Mets catcher Omar Narvaez indicated to Will Sammon of The Athletic that he would “probably be back next season” when discussing his upcoming $7MM player option for 2024. Narvaez opened the season as the club’s starting catcher but suffered a calf strain early in the season. While Narvaez was on the shelf, youngster Francisco Alvarez emerged as the club’s everyday player behind the plate, leaving Narvaez in a part-time role upon his return. In addition to his diminished role, Narvaez has struggled badly at the plate this season, slashing just .189/.281/.245 with a wRC+ of 54 in 24 games this year.
  • The Marlins figure to welcome young right-hander Eury Perez back to the rotation on Monday, according to Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. Perez made his last big league start on July 6 before being optioned to the minors in an effort to manage his innings and keep him fresh for the stretch run. Perez’s return figures to be a significant boost to the Marlins rotation, as he impressed with a 2.36 ERA and 3.70 FIP in eleven starts during his first stint in the majors earlier this season. The Marlins currently sport a 58-54 record and are just half a game out of the final NL Wild Card spot. That spot is currently occupied by the Reds, against whom Perez is slated to make his return on Monday.

Marlins Announce Four Roster Moves

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The Marlins placed right-hander JT Chargois on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to August 4) and designated left-hander Devin Smeltzer for assignment, according to Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald.  In corresponding moves, the club called up righty Huascar Brazoban and left-hander Ryan Weathers from Triple-A.

This is the third time that Smeltzer has been DFA’ed this season, so it is possible that he’ll once again clear waivers and accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Jacksonville.  He does have the ability to reject an outright and become a free agent, though Smeltzer might not mind shuttling back and forth as one of the Marlins’ go-to depth options.

The numbers also aren’t in Smeltzer’s favor this season, as he has a 5.79 ERA over 18 2/3 innings with the Marlins and a 5.95 ERA over 65 frames at the Triple-A level.  The home run problems that arose for Smeltzer with the Twins in 2022 have continued this year, as he has allowed 20 homers over his 83 2/3 combined innings at both levels.  Smeltzer has started all 14 of his games in Jacksonville but he has only started one of his eight appearances with the Marlins, as Miami has mostly utilized him as a long reliever.

Chargois is dealing with a strain in his right rib cage, marking his second IL stint of the season after he missed about five weeks earlier this year with a right oblique strain.  When he has been able to play, Chargois has been a solid member of Miami’s bullpen, posting a 3.68 ERA/4.09 SIERA over 29 1/3 innings.  Despite a 96.3mph fastball, Chargois isn’t a big strikeout pitcher, instead relying on soft contact and keeping the ball on the ground.  The right-hander has a 59.3% grounder rate this season, and a .259 BABIP has further enhanced his success.

It isn’t great news for the Marlins to lose a pretty reliable reliever during their playoff push, especially after the club made a point of adding to its bullpen at the deadline.  The reinforcements from Jacksonville might help, as Brazoban has also been back and forth from Triple-A a couple of times this season, while Weathers is now set to make his Marlins debut.  The Fish acquired Weathers from the Padres in exchange for Garrett Cooper and Sean Reynolds in a deadline deal on Tuesday, and Weathers will look to get on track in a new environment after posting a 6.25 ERA over 44 2/3 innings with San Diego this season.

Marlins Had Interest In Turner, Lynn, Cron Prior To Trade Deadline

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The Marlins were one of the league’s busier teams in advance of the trade deadline, as Miami made several moves to bolster its lineup and bullpen for the wild card race.  Such names as Josh Bell, David Robertson, Jake Burger, Jorge Lopez, and Ryan Weathers joined the organization, but there were plenty of interesting players on Miami’s radar, including a few who weren’t previously mentioned in pre-deadline buzz.  The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Levi Weaver report that the Marlins had “extensive discussions” with the Red Sox about Justin Turner, while Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald report that the Marlins were also interested in Lance Lynn and C.J. Cron.

Reports surfaced on July 28 that the Sox weren’t moving Turner, which is probably when (as Rosenthal and Weaver write) the Marlins turned their attention to other position players.  Miami’s talks with the White Sox about Lynn also developed into the eventual Burger trade, as the Fish landed Burger for left-hander Jake Eder in a one-for-one swap.  Burger was also something of a fallback once the Marlins balked at the Nationals’ asking price for Jeimer Candelario, and Miami was more comfortable trading a controllable pitcher like Eder for another younger player with multiple years of control, whereas Candelario is a free agent after the season.

Lynn and Cron were seen as likely trade candidates since the White Sox and Rockies are both out of contention, and indeed both players were moved in pre-deadline deals.  (Chicago sent Lynn and Joe Kelly to the Dodgers as part of a five-player trade, while the Rockies dealt Cron and Randal Grichuk to the Angels for two pitching prospects.)  There would certainly have been more eyebrows raised over a Turner deal given that the Red Sox are fighting for a wild card berth in the American League, yet even such a trade wouldn’t have been a total shock considering how Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom both moved and acquired veterans at the 2022 deadline when Boston was also on the periphery of the playoff chase.

This year’s deadline season was comparatively quieter at Fenway Park, as the Sox only acquired Luis Urias from the Brewers and sent Enrique Hernandez to the Dodgers.  The Red Sox were known to be looking for controllable pitching, and Rosenthal/Weaver theorize that the Marlins’ deep crop of arms might have gotten Bloom to at least consider the idea of moving Turner.

Speculatively, it is also worth wondering if Edward Cabrera might have been part of the Marlins/Red Sox talks.  Jackson and Mish write that several teams called about Cabrera, to the point that the Marlins had Devin Smeltzer on hand in case Cabrera was moved prior to his scheduled start on Monday.  Cabrera only lasted three innings in that start, and he was optioned to Triple-A on Wednesday and Smeltzer’s contract was officially selected from Triple-A a day later.

As much as the Red Sox needed pitching, it is safe to guess that trading Turner for almost anyone wouldn’t have gone over well with Boston fans, or even within the clubhouse.  Turner has hit .286/.356/.481 with 17 homers over 441 plate appearances, with his offense steadily increasing over the course of the season.  Though Turner will be 39 in November, he is still playing well enough that it’s possible he could opt out of the final season of his two-year contract with the Sox and again enter free agency this winter, looking to land a more lucrative multi-year commitment.  If that scenario occurs, one would imagine the Marlins would come calling, considering their interest in Turner dates back at last winter.

Marlins Select Devin Smeltzer

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The Marlins have selected the contract of lefty Devin Smeltzer from Triple-A Jacksonville, tweets David Wilson of the Miami Herald. Noah Berger of Fish On First had previously pointed out the Smeltzer was in the team’s clubhouse this morning. The Marlins optioned right-hander Edward Cabrera earlier this week, and he’d been slated to start one of their games in Texas this weekend, so Smeltzer could potentially step into that spot (if he’s not used in long relief prior to that point). The Marlins optioned right-hander Huascar Brazoban to open a spot for Smeltzer on the active roster. They already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster. Smeltzer’s addition brings them to capacity in that regard.

Smeltzer, 27, has had a couple of stints with Miami this season already, pitching 15 2/3 innings with a 6.89 ERA and a 10-to-4 K/BB ratio in that small sample. The southpaw spent the four prior season in Minnesota, pitching to a 3.99 ERA in 140 innings between the Twins’ rotation and bullpen, fanning a well below-average 16.6% of his opponents against a strong 6.4% walk rate.

Things haven’t gone much better for Smeltzer in Jacksonville this year. He’s pitched 65 innings for the Jumbo Shrimp but been tagged for a 5.95 ERA, thanks in no small part to an uncharacteristic 12.6% walk rate. He’s had better run-prevention numbers of late, working to a 3.58 ERA in his past six Triple-A starts, but the improvement in ERA comes despite an ugly 15.5% walk rate in that time.

It could be a short stay on the roster for Smeltzer once again. The Marlins have selected him to the big league roster twice this season but designated him for assignment twice as well. Smeltzer has accepted an outright assignment to Jacksonville on both occasions, despite the fact that he has the right to reject an assignment in favor of free agency. Smeltzer is out of minor league options, so if the Fish want to send him back down at any point, he’ll need to be designated for assignment for the third time this season alone.

Marlins Option Edward Cabrera

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Amid the flurry of deadline moves yesterday, the Marlins optioned right-hander Edward Cabrera to Triple-A Jacksonville, with Jordan McPherson of The Miami Herald among those who relayed the info.

Cabrera, 25, was generally considered one of the top 100 prospects in the league in his time in the minors but has yet to put together an extended stretch of big league success. He made his debut in the big leagues in 2021 with seven starts, posting an ERA of 5.81 in those. In 2022, he was able to get that down to 3.01, obviously a much better number, but that came in just 14 starts as he made multiple trips to the injured list. He was probably lucky to have that ERA, as his .207 batting average on balls in play and 86.1% strand rate were both on the fortunate side of average, leading to a 4.59 FIP and 4.68 SIERA.

Here in 2023, Cabrera was able to stay healthy for the first half of the season. He did land on the IL in mid-June due to right shoulder impingement, returning after just over a month. His 17 starts and 77 innings are already personal highs at the major league level, and he’s getting strikeouts at a strong 27.6% rate as well as grounders at a 54.4% clip. But he’s paired those with a 15.4% walk rate, the highest such rate of any pitcher with 70 innings pitched this year, almost a full percentage point beyond Alek Manoah’s 14.6% rate. Despite a solid combination of strikeouts and grounders, those control issues have Cabrera’s ERA at 4.79 for the year.

Despite once having a rotation surplus, the Marlins have seen that thinned out this year. They traded Pablo López to the Twins in the offseason and currently have Trevor Rogers and Max Meyer on the 60-day IL. Their rotation mix is now Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Johnny Cueto and Braxton Garrett. With Cabrera nudged out, it’s possible that his spot goes to Ryan Weathers, who was just acquired from the Padres in the Garrett Cooper trade yesterday. Eury Pérez has been optioned himself to monitor his workload, but he could be back up at some point.

This option will likely put the Marlins and Cabrera in a bit of a bind since he only has one option season remaining. Once he spends 20 days on optional assignment, he will burn that last option, meaning he will enter 2024 out of options unless he’s quickly recalled in the coming weeks. It’s unlikely to affect his path to free agency, as he came into this season with 168 days, just under the 172 required for a full year. He’s already gone well beyond that one-year mark, though his chances of reaching Super Two status after 2024 might slip depending on how long he’s in the minors.

The Marlins have a bit of time to decide what to do. If they still believe Cabrera is capable of reining in his control and taking a step forward as a major league starter, they can keep him in that role. Cueto is likely to return to free agency this winter as his $10.5MM club option for 2024 will probably be spurned in favor of a $2.5MM buyout, since he’s mostly been injured and not at his best this year. That could reopen a spot for Cabrera next year, though Rogers and Meyer might be healthy and back in the mix by then as well.

If they think his true future is in the bullpen, they could consider giving him some time in that role now so that he goes into 2024 with a bit of preparation, but doing so would give them a bit less starting depth for the final months of this season. Once the offseason rolls around, they could perhaps pursue trading Cabrera to a rebuilding club with more willingness to give him a starting job at the big league level, though that will be an avenue to pursue in the future. For now, the Fish seem to be at a turning point with the former prospect, which will be an interesting situation to monitor.

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