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Justin Marks

Dodgers Designate Justin Marks, Select Fabio Castillo

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The Dodgers have designated left-hander Justin Marks for assignment and selected the contract of right-hander Fabio Castillo, whom they subsequently optioned to Triple-A, per a team announcement.

Marks joined the Dodgers last month as a waiver claim from the Rays, with whom he threw 10 1/3 innings from 2016-17 and gave up two earned runs on nine hits and 10 walks (against seven strikeouts). The 29-year-old has fanned 11 hitters in 10 frames as a member of the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate this season and allowed five earned on 11 hits and four walks. Since going to the Athletics in the third round of the 2009 draft, the majority of Marks’ work has come at Triple-A, where he owns a 4.82 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 across 444 2/3 frames.

Castillo, 28, is in his first year with the Dodgers organization. The former Korea Baseball Organization and Mexican League hurler has spent the majority of the 2017 season with Triple-A Oklahoma City and posted a 3.65 ERA, 9.24 K/9 and 2.43 BB/9 across 37 innings and nine appearances (seven starts). Castillo, formerly a member of the Rangers, Giants, Reds and Padres organizations, has never pitched in the majors.

Dodgers Claim Justin Marks

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The Dodgers announced that they’ve claimed left-hander Justin Marks off waivers from the Rays and optioned him to Triple-A. Outfielder Andre Ethier was transferred to the 60-day disabled list to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.

The 29-year-old Marks has a 1.74 ERA in 10 1/3 innings for the Rays over the past two seasons, but he’s also issued 10 walks against just seven strikeouts in that sample. Marks has had questionable results through his minor league tenure as a starting pitcher, though he dominated left-handed opponents last season in his work between the Majors and minors; same-handed opponents mustered just a .199/.268/.344 batting line against Marks in 168 plate appearances.

Rays Designate Justin Marks For Assignment

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The Rays have designated southpaw Justin Marks for assignment, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter links).  In a corresponding move, right-hander Erasmo Ramirez has been reinstated from the paternity list.

Tampa just selected Marks’ contract on Friday, and he allowed a run in 1 1/3 innings of work during the Rays’ 8-4 loss to the Blue Jays last night.  It was only the lefty’s sixth career MLB game, as Marks previously received cups of coffee with the Rays last season and with the Royals in 2014.  Originally a third-round pick for the Athletics in the 2009 draft, Marks has bounced around to several different organizations and posted a 4.56 ERA over 815 2/3 IP at the minor league level.

Marks is one of four players currently in “DFA limbo,” as per the MLB Trade Rumors DFA Tracker, joining the Brewers’ Tommy Milone, the Blue Jays’ Mat Latos and the Twins’ Danny Santana.

Rays Outright Decker, Marks, Querecuto

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Teams are quickly cleaning house this time of year, and the Rays vacated several roster spots over the past weekend, outrighting outfielder Jaff Decker, left-hander Justin Marks and infielder Juniel Querecuto off the 40-man roster this weekend, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Decker has elected free agency, per Topkin (Twitter link), and the other pair has the right to do so as well. Dana Eveland, too, was outrighted and elected free agency, as noted by Topkin yesterday.

Decker, 26 (27 in February), received the most big league time of the bunch but didn’t exactly excel in his brief time with the Rays. In 57 plate appearances, the former No. 42 overall draft pick batted .154/.211/.173. It’s been more than five years since Decker was considered a Top 100 prospect, but he does have a solid line in parts of four seasons at the Triple-A level, where he’s batted .266/.368/.409 with 31 homers in 1506 plate appearances. He’ll likely land elsewhere on a minor league deal this winter and hope to compete for an opportunity to prove himself in the Majors, where he’s managed just a .477 OPS in 129 PAs.

Marks, meanwhile, returned to the Majors for the first time since 2014 this past year and tossed nine innings for the Rays while allowing only one run. However, the 28-year-old (29 in January) also yielded seven hits and walked nine men against just six strikeouts in that time, exhibiting some obviously troubling issues with control. His Triple-A work was encouraging, though, as he pitched 140 innings with a 3.86 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 with a 44.7 percent ground-ball rate. Given the dearth of starting pitching talent available this winter, some team figures to look at that solid performance and consider him a possible depth piece.

Querecuto, 24, made his MLB debut this year when he tallied 11 plate appearances in late September and collected a triple for his first and only big league hit. The Venezuela native signed with Tampa Bay back in 2009 and spent this past year playing third base, second base and shortstop (listed in order of frequency) between Double-A and Triple-A, where he hit a combined .241/.298/.341 in 375 plate appearances.

Rays Designate Hank Conger For Assignment

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The Rays announced on Monday that they have designated catcher Hank Conger for assignment. His roster spot goes to 28-year-old lefty Justin Marks, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Durham. The Rays also announced that they’ll recall Mikie Mahtook, Richie Shaffer and Steve Geltz as part of their latest wave of September call-ups.

Conger, 28, was acquired from the Astros this winter in exchange for cash considerations but struggled tremendously at the plate in his lone season with Tampa Bay, hitting just .194/.265/.306 in 137 plate appearances. That’s a significant departure, at least in terms of OBP and slugging, from a 2015 season that saw Conger slash .229/.311/.448 with 11 homers in 229 plate appearances for the Astros. Houston deemed Conger expendable after he developed an alarming issue in throwing out baserunners, as he halted just one of 43 attempts against him in 2015. Conger was much better in that regard this year (albeit still below average), throwing out 19 percent of potential thieves. He’s also long graded out as an above-average pitch framer behind the dish, per Baseball Prospectus.

Marks will be entering just the second big league stint of his career. He tossed two innings for the 2014 Royals but has otherwise spent the bulk of the past four seasons in Triple-A between the Royals, Rangers, A’s, D-backs and Rays. In 419 innings at that level, Marks has a lackluster 4.83 ERA, but he’s been considerably better in 2016, posting a 3.79 ERA in a career-high 145 innings. Marks has averaged 8.1 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9, and lefties have batted just .185/.253/.348 against him this season.

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