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The Trade That Landed NL’s All-Star Starter In Arizona

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The All-Star Game is soon to get underway. Kicking off the festivities on the mound: Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen and Yankees ace Gerrit Cole.

The two pitchers were acquired by their respective clubs at very different stages of their careers. Cole had established himself as arguably the sport’s best pitcher by the 2019-20 offseason. He’d join the Yankees on a nine-year, $324MM free agent contract that shattered the record for the largest pitching deal in MLB history. 519 innings of 3.19 ERA ball later, the Yankees are surely happy with that investment.

Gallen landed in Arizona well before he was established as an MLB starter. Originally drafted by the Cardinals, he was dealt to the Marlins as a prospect alongside Sandy Alcantara, Magneuris Sierra and Daniel Castano in the lopsided Marcell Ozuna trade over the 2017-18 offseason. Gallen spent a year and a half in the Miami system, reaching the big leagues in June ’19.

A rookie starter on a then-noncompetitive Miami club, Gallen wasn’t on many people’s radar as a viable trade candidate going into the 2019 deadline. The Fish and Diamondbacks ignored traditional competitive windows and lined up on the extremely rare swap of top young talents: a one-for-one deal that sent Gallen to Phoenix for Double-A middle infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Swapping highly-regarded prospects at positions of need is far more common in fan speculation than it is in practice. Organizations are typically reluctant to surrender quality controllable talent. Clubs liked those players enough to acquire and develop them in the first place; it’s only natural if teams tend to value their in-house talent more than other organizations might.

Going into the 2019 season, Chisholm was generally regarded as the superior prospect. The Bahamian infielder ranked 59th on Baseball America’s top 100 list and 32nd on Keith Law’s list (then at ESPN). His athleticism, switch-hitting ability and huge raw power made him a potential franchise middle infielder. Gallen was more generally perceived as a future strike-throwing #4 starter than a burgeoning ace.

Gallen flipped that script with a breakout 2019 campaign. He posted a 1.77 ERA over 14 Triple-A starts before his first call-up. He made seven starts with Miami, working to a 2.72 ERA with a strong 28.5% strikeout percentage in his first 36 2/3 frames. Arizona had to view Gallen as a potential top-of-the-rotation starter to make parting with Chisholm worthwhile.

They’ve been proven right in that evaluation. In parts of five seasons as a Diamondback, Gallen has worked to a 3.10 ERA through 539 1/3 innings. He’s striking out just over 27% of batters faced. The North Carolina product was a little walk-prone early in his career, but he has consistently cut into the free passes as he’s gotten more experience.

Only once has Gallen posted an ERA higher than this year’s 3.04 clip. His 4.30 mark in 2021 looks like a blip, as he followed up a career-low 2.54 last season with his All-Star first half. Of the 94 starters with 70+ innings, he’s in the top 25 in ERA (18th), strikeout rate (22nd at 26.5%) and SIERA (14th at 3.53).

Gallen has twice found himself on Cy Young ballots. He’s likely to land some support for a third season after picking up a deserved first All-Star selection. Gallen has been the clear staff ace for a resurgent Arizona club that went into the All-Star Break percentage points behind the Dodgers for first place in the NL West. He is eligible for arbitration for another two seasons.

While the trade leans in Arizona’s favor, Chisholm has tapped into a lot of the promise he’d shown as a minor leaguer. He connected on 14 home runs and swiped 12 bases in only 60 games last season, earning an All-Star nod of his own. Unfortunately, he couldn’t play in that game, as his campaign was ended on June 29 by a back injury.

The Fish moved Chisholm to center field to accommodate the acquisition of Luis Arraez over the offseason. Chisholm has gotten mixed reviews from public defensive metrics for his outfield performance. He’s hitting .246/.302/.443 with nine longballs and 14 steals over 183 trips to the dish this year. Injuries have again been a story, as he lost around a month to turf toe on his right foot and is currently on the injured list with an oblique strain.

While the repeated health questions are surely frustrating for Chisholm and the organization alike, he’s flashed the ability to be a franchise building block. Controllable through 2026, he figures to play an everyday role in South Florida for the next few seasons.

In spite of Chisholm’s two absences, Miami is 14 games over .500 and in possession of the National League’s top Wild Card spot. That’s in large part thanks to an excellent rotation. Miami’s starting staff would be better if Gallen were a part of it — every team’s would — but the Fish are as well suited as any club to surrender quality pitching for a potential impact position player. They took a similar approach last offseason, sending Pablo López to Minnesota for Arraez.

Overall, both clubs probably feel strongly about their evaluation of the young player they acquired four seasons ago. Gallen has been healthier and the more valuable player to this point, but Chisholm is one of the top hitters on a Marlins’ club that skews toward pitching. While trades like this don’t happen frequently, the surprising Gallen-Chisholm swap has been impactful for a pair of the NL’s upstart contenders.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Marlins Reinstate Johnny Cueto, Transfer Jonathan Davis To 60-Day IL

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The Marlins made a few roster moves today, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. Right-hander Johnny Cueto was reinstated from the 60-day injured list, with righty Sean Reynolds optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move. To open a spot for Cueto on the 40-man roster, outfielder Jonathan Davis was transferred to the 60-day IL. Cueto will not rejoin the rotation initially, per Craig Mish of the Miami Herald.

The Marlins signed Cueto, 37, in the offseason to a one-year, $8.5MM deal, which came in the form of a $6MM salary this year and a $2.5MM buyout on a $10.5MM club option for 2024. That deal came on the heels of a strong 2022 campaign wherein Cueto tossed 158 1/3 innings for the White Sox with a 3.35 ERA. The move initially seeded somewhat curious since the Fish already had a stacked rotation, but it was just over a week later that they flipped Pablo López and a couple of prospect to the Twins in exchange for Luis Arraez.

Cueto opened the season in the club’s rotation alongside Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Edward Cabrera and Trevor Rogers. However, he left his first start after recording just three outs due to right biceps tightness. He started a rehab assignment in early May, though that was shut down after just one appearance. Rehab assignments come with a 30-day maximum for pitchers, though they are sometimes halted due to renewed soreness or a new injury. He started a second assignment June 11 and the 30 days of that are now up, which prompted today’s moves.

However, it seems Cueto won’t be returned to the rotation, as mentioned above. In the 26 2/3 innings he’s thrown on his most recent rehab assignment, he allowed 27 earned runs, leading to a 9.11 ERA. He struck out just 11.1% of batters faced in that time. Reading the stat line on rehab assignments can be misleading, as pitchers might be more focused on mechanics and velocity as opposed to results. But it’s telling that the Marlins evidently aren’t willing to slot him back into the rotation.

Since Cueto’s been gone, there have been a few changes in the club’s starting mix. Cabrera and Rogers are each on the injured list as well, though Cabrera was recently sent out on a rehab assignment and could be an option shortly after the All-Star break. With those injuries, the club has given opportunities to pitchers like Braxton Garrett and Bryan Hoeing. Garrett has a 3.70 ERA while Hoeing is at 4.54.

Another wild card in this deck is Eury Pérez. The 20-year-old rookie came into the year as one of the top prospects in the league and has delivered on that hype as the Marlins were dealing with those injuries. He posted a 2.36 ERA through his first 11 starts but the club recently optioned him to the minors on account of workload concerns. Since he’s already set a personal high for innings pitched in a season, they want to tap the brakes a bit and save some gas for later in the year and perhaps the postseason.

With Rogers on the shelf and Pérez on ice, it seems the club will proceed with a rotation core of Alcantara, Luzardo, Garrett and Hoeing for now, with Cabrera perhaps joining them just over the horizon, leaving Cueto in the bullpen for the time being. He could perhaps rejoin the rotation down the line if another injury pops up, though it will perhaps depend on the timing with the return of Pérez presumably coming at some point.

As for Davis, it’s not a shock to see him wind up on the 60-day IL. He recently required meniscus surgery and is expected to miss the next three to six months. This move means he will be ineligible to return until early September, which wasn’t in the cards anyway.

Marlins Outright Jeff Lindgren

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Marlins righty Jeff Lindgren went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’d been designated for assignment over the weekend.

Lindgren, 26, made his big league debut for Miami this season and has appeared in a total of three games, allowing a total of four runs on four hits and four walks with one strikeout. He’s started a dozen games for the Marlins’ Jacksonville affiliate in 2023, logging 61 1/3 innings and posting a 4.55 ERA with a sub-par 17.5% strikeout rate against an elevated 11.4% walk rate.

A 24th-round pick by Miami back in 2019, Lindgren posted steady numbers up throughout much of his minor league tenure, including a 3.56 ERA in 174 2/3 innings at the Double-A level. He’s been hit harder in 27 Triple-A starts since last year, however, logging a 4.94 ERA with shaky strikeout-to-walk numbers and a few too many home runs allowed (1.32 HR/9). He’s averaged just 90.4 mph on his heater in limited big league action.

Lindgren has already been outrighted two times earlier this season, so he’ll have the right to decline the assignment in favor of electing minor league free agency. However, he also had that right following the second outright and opted to remain with the Marlins. Assuming he once again chooses to stay — he’s listed as active on the Jumbo Shrimp roster right now — he’ll continue to serve as depth in the upper minors, be it in the rotation or the bullpen.

Marlins Select Robert Garcia, Designate Jeff Lindgren

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The Marlins selected the contract of left-hander Robert Garcia, reports Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald, with righty Jeff Lindgren designated for assignment in a corresponding move. They also optioned Eury Pérez and recalled Sean Reynolds, both of which were reported earlier today.

Garcia, 27, cracks a big league roster for the first time. Originally a Royals prospect, he came over to the Marlins in the minor league portion of the 2021 Rule 5 draft. He split last year between Double-A and Triple-A, posting a 3.75 ERA in 62 1/3 innings. He struck out 24.5% of batters faced while walking 11.5%. He’s spent all of this year in Triple-A, with his walk rate jumping to 13.3% but his strikeout rate ticking up to 34.2%. He has a 2.95 ERA through 36 2/3 innings this year.

Lindgren, 26, has thrice been added to the Marlins’ roster this year only to be quickly designated for assignment shortly thereafter. He’s tossed seven big league innings over three appearances with a 5.14 ERA. He’s spent more time in Triple-A, with a 4.55 ERA in 61 1/3 innings over 12 starts.

The Marlins will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Both of his previous DFAs resulted in him clearing waivers and being outrighted to the minors. Players with previous career outrights have the right to reject further assignments in favor of electing free agency. Lindgren could have therefore rejected his second outright but elected to stay in the organization. It’s possible that the same series of events plays out again in the coming days, though that remains to be seen.

Marlins Option Eury Pérez

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The Marlins are optioning right-hander Eury Pérez to the minor leagues, per Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. It might seem like a strange decision at first blush since the rookie has an excellent 2.36 ERA through his first 11 starts, but it was reported earlier that the club was going to manage the youngster’s innings this year.

Pérez came into this season regarded as one of the best pitching prospects in the league, despite a fairly limited track record. He was signed as an amateur in 2019, but then the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues in 2020. He made his professional debut in 2021, tossing 78 innings. Last year, he was on pace to eclipse that mark but suffered a lat strain in the summer and was limited to shorter stints upon his return, finishing the year with just 77 innings pitched.

He’s had excellent results everywhere he’s pitched but came into 2023 without having cracked 80 innings in a season. He continued his run of excellent at the start of this year, posting a 2.32 ERA over 31 Double-A innings. He got called up to the majors and has thrived with a 2.36 ERA in 53 1/3 innings, striking out 28.4% of opponents against a 7.9% walk rate. Between Double-A and the majors, he’s already at 84 1/3 innings this year, more than either of the previous two campaigns.

Mish provides some more context in a subsequent tweet, saying that the club had planned on making this move earlier in the year. However, injuries to Johnny Cueto, Edward Cabrera and Trevor Rogers, as well as the continued excellence of Perez, pushed them to keep rolling with him for a while longer. Now the All-Star break is imminent and Cueto is nearing a return, putting them in a better position to continue without him. By all accounts, the club is hoping to slow Pérez down, using the less-competitive environment of the minors to manage his workload so that he still has some bullets left for the postseason race or appearing in the playoffs themselves. Mish adds that the timeline of this plan hasn’t yet been definitively worked out.

Subtracting Pérez from the rotation leaves them with Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Braxton Garrett and Bryan Hoeing. Cueto will be rejoining the club after the All-Star break, per Mish, but his role has yet to be determined. He posted a 10.50 ERA over six rehab starts and perhaps the club is hesitant to install him back into a rotation job right away. Cabrera is also working his way back to health and will start a rehab assignment tomorrow, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald.

As for Pérez and his service time, he was called up May 10 and wasn’t going to be able to get to a full year here in 2023. He could have been granted the entire year by finishing in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting, but that was always going to be a challenge as long as these workload limits were part of the conversation. He would have been in a decent position to qualify for arbitration after 2025 as a Super Two player, though his odds of maintaining that trajectory will be dropped, depending on how the rest of the season plays out.

Sherman: Marlins Will Have Resources At Deadline

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Marlins owner Bruce Sherman spoke with Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald about the club’s season, expressing his delight with the overall results thus far and declaring that general manager Kim Ng will have financial resources to work with at the upcoming deadline.

“This has been one of the most exciting seasons in Marlins history, and I am thrilled with what we have accomplished thus far,” he said. “The job is not done. We want to be in the 2023 postseason. I am prepared to give Kim and her staff the resources she needs over the next month to help the club.”

It’s been a long time since the Marlins found themselves in this position. Though the club made the postseason in the shortened 2020 campaign, the last time they qualified in a full season was way back in 2003. The last time they finished with a winning record in a 162-game season was 2009. But here in 2023, the club is well above .500 at 51-38. They’re 8.5 games back of a dominant Atlanta club in the National League East, but Miami currently holds the top Wild Card spot in the NL. A skeptic might point to the club’s negative run differential and incredible 21-5 record in one-run games to suggest this run isn’t sustainable. But regardless of how they came to be, those wins are in the bank and the club is well-positioned to make deadline additions to help with the remainder of the schedule.

Part of the reason the club has struggled so much over the past two decades is a lack of financial resources, as the club has rarely been a significant spender, especially not in recent history. Per the data at Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the club has only twice in this century run a payroll to get out of the bottom 10. The most recent time was back in 2012, well before Sherman bought the club in late 2017.

Shortly after the Sherman group took over, the club’s most significant moves were of the cost-cutting variety. Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna were all traded between December of 2017 and January of 2018, with J.T. Realmuto dealt just over a year later. The club has essentially been in rebuilding mode since then, with last year’s 69-93 record their strongest in any recent full season.

That means that we don’t have much of a blueprint for how the Marlins will operate at this year’s deadline, with the club never having performed this well during Sherman’s tenure. The same goes for Ng, who only got her job after the 2020 season. This year’s deadline is also expected to be fairly unpredictable in the sense that few clubs are clear sellers and it’s expected by many that there will be more trades between contenders.

All those factors make it difficult to predict exactly how the Marlins will behave, but there would be reasons to expect aggressiveness. Since it has been so long since the club had any kind of meaningful success, it would be fair to expect an internal desire to strike while the iron is hot and take advantage of their current position. The fact that Sherman is apparently willing to help the club out with some financial wiggle room should only help them keep more of their trade targets on the table.

As for which parts of the roster they upgrade, there would be a few options. Just about every contender looks to grab an extra reliever or two around this time of year and the Marlins should be no exception. Their relief corps has a collective ERA of 4.12, placing them 20th out of the 30 clubs in the league. The rotation has been an area of surplus at times but suddenly has some question marks. Each of Trevor Rogers, Johnny Cueto and Edward Cabrera are currently on the injured list while 20-year-old Eury Pérez could run into some workload limits at the season progresses. Cabrera and Cueto could potentially return shortly, with their health and performance perhaps having an impact on whether or not the club feels the rotation needs reinforcing.

On the position player side, MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently wrote about how an infield pursuit makes sense for the club, especially with third baseman Jean Segura hitting a paltry .202/.272/.252 this year. The outfield has been fairly strong overall but center field is a question mark right now. Jazz Chisholm Jr. recently landed on the injured list due to an oblique strain and his replacement, Jonathan Davis, is potentially done for the year due to knee surgery. Thankfully, Chisholm’s strain is apparently mild and he could potentially return shortly. Behind the plate, neither Nick Fortes nor Jacob Stallings are providing much offense but catching upgrades at the deadline can be tricky because an incoming backstop would have to learn an entirely new pitching staff on the fly.

However Ng and her staff decide to play it, it’s surely an exciting time for the Marlins and their fans. The on-field results are the best they’ve had in quite some and they’re going into the deadline as obvious buyers with the owner signaling that notable moves will be possible. The extent of those resources and how they are deployed won’t be known for a few weeks, but the Marlins are positioned to be key players between now and the August 1 trade deadline.

Marlins To Promote Sean Reynolds

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The Marlins are calling up reliever Sean Reynolds, reports Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. The right-hander is already on the 40-man roster but will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

Reynolds, now 25, was drafted by the Marlins as a hitter back in 2016. He didn’t have much success at the plate in his first taste of professional ball and converted to pitching in 2021. He tossed 32 innings over 19 Single-A appearances that year with a 3.09 ERA. Last year, he split his time between High-A and Double-A, tossing 52 1/3 innings with a combined 4.13 ERA, 29.6% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk rate.

Since he was drafted so long ago, Reynolds was eligible for the Rule 5 draft last year. The Marlins decided to give him a roster spot in November in order to prevent him from being selected, showing faith in his recent conversion. This year, he’s been in Double-A and Triple-A, tossing 40 2/3 innings between those two levels with a 2.66 ERA. He’s struck out 27.8% of opponents while walking 11.2% of them.

Reynolds is currently considered the #28 prospect in the Marlins’ system by Baseball America and #23 at FanGraphs. Both outlets highlight his fastball, which averages around 96mph but can hit triple-digits. His curveball and changeup are considered works in progress, but that’s not terribly surprising for a guy who hasn’t been pitching for very long relative to others at these levels.

The reliever might still have a bit of rawness given his unusual trajectory, but he brings plenty of intrigue with his velocity and 6’8″ frame. The Fish will give him a chance to try to get outs at the big league level and see how it goes. The club currently holds the top Wild Card spot in the National League and will likely be looking for bullpen upgrades at the deadline like all contenders, but the performance of their in-house options could perhaps influence the aggressiveness of that pursuit.

Marlins’ Jonathan Davis To Miss 3-6 Months Due To Meniscus Surgery

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July 6: Marlins manager Skip Schumaker tells Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald that the recovery time for Davis is three to six months, meaning his season is likely over.

July 5: Marlins outfielder Jonathan Davis suffered a meniscus injury in his right knee, the club informed reporters (including Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase). While it’s not a tear, he will need to undergo surgery to address the issue tomorrow.

Davis was injured yesterday while manning center field. He dove for a Tommy Edman line drive and landed awkwardly on his knee. The club called for a cart to take him off the field. Rookie Dane Myers replaced him in center field yesterday and got his first major league start there this evening.

The timetable for Davis’ return isn’t clear. Miami placed him on the 10-day injured list before tonight’s dramatic win over the Cardinals, initially calling the injury a knee sprain. He’ll obviously be out beyond that minimum stay but the club didn’t provide many further specifics.

The Fish acquired Davis from the Tigers in late May. He had a chance at regular center field work once Jazz Chisholm Jr. went down with an oblique strain, making his own injury particularly frustrating. Known more for his speed and defense than his bat, Davis has suited up 34 times for Miami on the season. He’s hitting .244/.307/.378 with two homers in a career-high 104 trips to the plate.

Marlins Outright Eli Villalobos

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The Marlins have sent right-hander Eli Villalobos outright to Double-A Pensacola, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment on Monday.

Villalobos, now 26, first got his roster spot in November of last year when the Marlins added him to the 40-man to prevent him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. He got that spot based on his strong performance last year, posting a 2.86 ERA in 78 2/3 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A. He struck out 32.7% of batters faced while issuing walks at a 9.4% clip.

Yet when the club needed a roster spot in the first week of April, Villalobos was designated for assignment and went to the Pirates on a waiver claim. He was in that club’s system for about two months before they put him back on waivers and he was claimed by the Marlins, back to where he started.

Amid those transactions, he’s posted a 6.26 ERA in 23 minor league innings, walking an incredible 19.5% of batters faced. His third time on waivers resulted in him clearing and he will now stick in the Marlins’ system. He still hasn’t made it to the majors and thus has no service time. Since this is his first career outright, he won’t have the right to elect free agency, providing the Marlins with some non-roster pitching depth on their farm as he looks to work his way back to the majors.

NL Notes: Wainwright, Syndergaard, Chisholm

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The Cardinals put veteran right-hander Adam Wainwright on the 15-day injured list today, with manager Oli Marmol citing “a variety of limitations” to reporters (including The Athletic’s Katie Woo) regarding the reason for Wainwright’s placement on the shelf. Woo added that the official designation for Wainwright’s IL stint was shoulder inflammation, while MLB.com’s John Denton noted that Wainwright made clear that he intends to return before the end of the season.

Wainwright, 41, is currently in the midst of his twentieth season as a member of the Cardinals organization and his eighteenth pitching for the big league club. After posting the numbers of a solid middle of the rotation starter over the past few seasons, with a 3.57 ERA and 3.90 FIP in 635 1/3 innings since the start of the 2019 campaign, the wheels have fallen off for the veteran hurler in 2023. Through ten starts this season, Wainwright has posted a ghastly 7.45 ERA that’s 41% worse than league average by measure of ERA+ with a 5.47 FIP. His strikeout rate has dropped from 17.8% last season to a measly 10.7% figure this season, a figure that’s actually lower than his sky-high barrel rate of 10.9%.

With Wainwright headed to the IL, the Cardinals figure to look toward one of Steven Matz or Dakota Hudson to join the starting rotation in Wainwright’s stead. Matz has struggled to a 5.72 ERA in ten starts this season, but has shown signs of life since moving to the bullpen with an excellent 1.98 ERA in 13 2/3 innings of work as a multi-inning relief arm. Hudson, meanwhile, has spent most of the 2023 campaign in the minors with an unsightly 6.00 ERA in 48 Triple-A innings, but the righty impressed with 2 2/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen recently, a performance that could earn Hudson another look on the major league pitching staff.

More from the National League…

  • Dodgers right-hander Noah Syndergaard could return in the near future, as manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jack Harris of the LA Times) that Syndergaard is scheduled to throw live batting practice later this week and that, if it goes well, he could advance to a rehab assignment shortly thereafter. Syndergaard struggled mightily to a 7.12 ERA with a 5.55 FIP across 12 starts prior to his placement on the injured list a month ago. Despite those ugly numbers, if Syndergaard has managed to get right during his time on the shelf, he could be an asset to a Dodgers rotation that recently saw Clayton Kershaw head to the IL and Dustin May’s season end with an impending elbow surgery.
  • Marlins center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. went on the injured list yesterday with a left oblique strain just a week after returning from a six week IL stint due to turf toe. Fortunately for Miami the young outfielder, Chisholm’s MRI results came back today and showed only a mild strain, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. That’s excellent news, as mild strains can often be resolved fairly quickly. Chisholm will have the upcoming All Star break to rest and rehab and while no timetable for his return has been announced, it’s possible the 25 year old could return to big league action shortly thereafter.
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