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Marlins Outright Jeff Lindgren

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The Marlins have sent right-hander Jeff Lindgren outright to Triple-A Jacksonville after he went unclaimed on waivers, tweets Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. It’s the second time this month in which the Fish ran Lindgren through waivers.

Lindgren, a 24th round pick in 2019, has one big league outing under his belt. That was a five-inning relief appearance at the start of this year. He allowed four runs with three walks and no strikeouts after being pressed into earlier than expected work following a injury to Johnny Cueto. That preceded his first DFA. He wound up starting two games for Jacksonville, throwing 10 2/3 frames of seven-run ball before being called back up over the weekend.

The Illinois State product’s second promotion didn’t result in any action. Miami designated him for assignment again on Monday as part of a revolving door at the back of the pitching staff. He could now head back to Triple-A, though he’d have the right to test free agency as a player who has twice cleared outright waivers in his career.

The Marlins Are Still Facing Questions In Their Outfield

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The Marlins came into 2023 with a fairly unsettled outfield mix, despite not making any external additions. The club planned to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. off second base in order to take over the center field job that they had been trying to fill for years. Veterans Jorge Soler and Avisaíl García were both coming off disappointing seasons, while a batch of younger player were still looking to establish themselves at the major league level.

Almost one month into the season, the Fish are swimming at a decent pace so far. They are currently 12-12, though with a -37 run differential that suggests they might be a bit lucky to be at that level. Then again, it’s still early and they’ve had a challenging schedule, with all of their games coming against teams that came into the season as surefire contenders or borderline ones (Seven against the Mets, three each against the Twins, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Giants and Guardians, two against Atlanta).

How are their outfielders faring so far? Let’s take a quick look at each one.

Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Chisholm hit .254/.325/.535 in 60 games last year for a wRC+ of 139 before a stress fracture in his back put him on the shelf. He perhaps could have returned late in the year, but the club was out of contention and shut him down, at which point Chisholm underwent surgery on a torn meniscus that he had been playing through.

Whether it’s due to the long layoff, the injuries or the position change, he hasn’t gotten into a groove at the plate yet this year. He’s currently hitting .218/.269/.391 for a wRC+ of 81. He’s struck out in 38.3% of his plate appearances thus far, a jump of more than 10 percentage points from his 27.4% rate last year.

As for that position change, the early reviews are mixed. Defensive Runs Saved has him at -1 so far, with Ultimate Zone Rating at -1.1. On the other hand, Outs Above Average has him at roughly par, 56th percentile. His outfielder jump is in the 84th percentile and his sprint speed is in the 92nd. Some growing pains were surely to be expected since he’s never played the position before, so hopefully these numbers will all trend in a positive direction over time.

Jorge Soler

Soler is perhaps the most mercurial player in the league, having spent the past few years oscillating between being one of the most feared sluggers on the planet and looking lost at the plate. Last year, his first with the Marlins, was a downswing. He struck out in 29.4% of his plate appearances and hit just .207/.295/.400 for a wRC+ of 98, missing significant time due to back spasms. He could have opted out of his contract but chose not to, likely a wise decision with that platform.

Here in 2023, he’s back on another one of his patented heaters. He’s hit five home runs already and has dropped his strikeout rate to a more manageable 23.6%. His .253/.337/.544 line amounts to a 137 wRC+. He’s largely served as the designated hitter but has been given five starts in right.

The torrid stretch for Soler is good for the Marlins in the short-term, but the long-term may be different. Soler has another opt-out opportunity after this season and would likely take it if he can maintain anything close to this pace, as he’d be walking away from just one year and $9MM.

Avisaíl García

García has a similarly inconsistent track record to Soler, posting above-average wRC+ figures in 2017, 2019 and 2021 but dipping below average in the following year each time. Last year was an especially low ebb, as his 28.7% strikeout rate and 4.5% walk rates were both career worsts, as was his 66 wRC+ from his .224/.266/.317 batting line.

Now that we’re in an odd-numbered year, García is scheduled for a bounceback but has actually gotten worse in the early going so far. He’s slashing just .161/.200/.274 for a wRC+ of 30. The .211 batting average on balls in play is due for some regression, but he’s also been punched out 32.8% of the time while drawing walks at just a 3.0% clip. The Marlins desperately need him to turn things around, as his contract pays him $12MM per year through 2025, with a $12MM club option for 2026 that has a hefty $5MM buyout. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald reported yesterday that the club haven’t considered releasing him, but a benching is on the table.

Bryan De La Cruz

De La Cruz came into this year with 574 plate appearances. His 24.9% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate were both a little worse than average, but he had 18 home runs and a .269/.318/.430 line for a 108 wRC+. He’s a little bit ahead of that pace this year, currently hitting .295/.341/.436 for a 114 wRC+ with fairly similar strikeout and walk rates.

He won’t maintain a .396 batting average on balls in play all year, but he is making solid contact. His average exit velocity is in the 88th percentile of MLB hitters, and his hard-hit rate sits in the 80th percentile. Even without elite plate discipline, he can still be a useful hitter with that kind of bat. The right-hander hitter actually has reverse splits, both in his career and so far this season, which would seem to lessen the likelihood of him ending up in the short side of a platoon.

Jesús Sánchez

The hot start of De La Cruz seems to have cut into the playing time of Sánchez, as he’s been given only 36 plate appearances in 16 games. He’s hit just .172/.333/.241 in that time, which isn’t doing much to get him in the lineup more.

A left-handed hitter, he has traditional platoon splits for his career. He’s hit .226/.310/.440 against righties for a 108 wRC+, but he has a dismal .195/.230/.323 against southpaws for a 49 wRC+. He could seemingly serve as a useful platoon lefty bat but probably won’t get a chance as long as De La Cruz continues to seem like a viable lineup regular. He’s out of options and can’t be sent to the minors without first being exposed to waivers, which might keep him on the bench until an injury opens a spot for him. Per Jackson and Mish, Sanchez is at risk of losing his roster spot, though the club won’t make a decision on that front until Joey Wendle is back from the injured list.

Peyton Burdick

Burdick got to make his major league debut last year and hit .207/.284/.380 for a wRC+ of 91 in 102 plate appearances. He’s been in Triple-A this year and utterly mashing. Through 20 games, he has a line of .309/.385/.654 and a 157 wRC+. He has a 37.4% strikeout rate and won’t sustain a .436 batting average on balls in play, but he’s already hit eight home runs and stolen four bases.

Jerar Encarnación

Encarnación also got a brief major league debut last year, stepping to the plate 81 times but hitting just .182/.210/.338. Like Burdick, he’s also having an excellent start to his 2023 in Triple-A. He has a current batting line of .292/.378/.472 for a wRC+ of 119. However, it’s bolstered by a huge .529 batting average on balls in play and comes despite a 42.7% strikeout rate. His 12.2% walk rate is encouraging but there’s surely some regression coming here.

——

It’s hard to glean definitive judgment from one month’s worth of data, but there are some trends and takeaways in the Miami outfield with nearly 15% of the season in the books. Chisholm’s defense in center has been at least passable thus far, so he’s likely to continue on in that role. De La Cruz could hit his way into an everyday role in left field, but right field looks like a continued problem unless Garcia can correct what’s now more than a full season’s worth of struggles. Sanchez’s grip on a roster spot appears tenuous, but while the primary alternatives in Triple-A (Burdick, Encarnacion) have flashy batting lines, their lack of contact calls into question whether they’d be improvements. It’s easy enough to see the outfield again being a point of focus at the trade deadline, whether the Marlins are looking to add a veteran bat to stay in the Wild Card race or looking to acquire a controllable outfielder as part of another selling effort.

Marlins Designate Sean Nolin For Assignment

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The Marlins have designated left-hander Sean Nolin for assignment, reports Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. He will be the corresponding move for the selection of righty Bryan Hoeing, a move that was reported on yesterday.

It’s a quick turnaround for Nolin, 33, who was just added to the club’s roster yesterday. The Fish needed a fresh arm, ideally one that could eat multiple innings, due to a couple of factors. Recent injuries to Johnny Cueto and Trevor Rogers thinned out the rotation, and then a Friday rainout led to a Saturday double-header which taxed the bullpen. In yesterday’s game, Miami were down 5-0 to Atlanta after five innings and put Nolin on the mound to soak up the last three innings. The southpaw allowed six earned runs on seven hits and two walks in that time, leading to the 11-0 final.

Nolin has had many twists and turns in his career, which started with the Blue Jays but has since seen him go to the Athletics, Brewers, Rockies, White Sox, the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League, the Mariners, the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball, the Nationals, the Kia Tigers of the KBO League, the Twins and now the Marlins. He’s only seen MLB action with the Jays, A’s, Nats and Marlins, with a 6.34 ERA in 61 career innings scattered from 2013 to the present.

The Marlins will now have a week to trade Nolin or pass him through waivers. Since he has previous career outrights, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Marlins To Select Bryan Hoeing

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The Marlins are turning to right-hander Bryan Hoeing to start tomorrow evening’s game in Atlanta, manager Skip Schumaker told the team’s beat (relayed by Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald). Hoeing doesn’t occupy a spot on the 40-man roster, so the club will have to formally select his contract.

A seventh round pick in 2019, Hoeing made it to the big leagues for the first time last year. He pitched in eight games (seven times out of the bullpen), allowing 17 runs in 12 2/3 innings of work. The Louisville product had spent the majority of the season with Miami’s Triple-A affiliate, where he started 17 of 18 outings. He pitched to a 5.07 ERA for their top affiliate in Jacksonville, inducing grounders at a very strong 53.7% clip but only punching out 12.1% of opponents.

At the end of the season, Miami successfully ran Hoeing through outright waivers. He remained in the organization and returned to Jacksonville, where he’s off to an excellent first few weeks. He’s allowed only six runs (four earned) in 17 1/3 frames over his first four appearances. Hoeing has maintained his stellar ground-ball rate while significantly upping the whiffs. He’s punched out just under 30% of batters faced while nearly doubling his percentage of swinging strikes per pitch.

Even in a limited sample, that was enough for the 6’6″ hurler to pitch himself back onto the radar. Hoeing still has two minor league option years remaining, so the Fish can cycle him between Miami and Jacksonville for the foreseeable future if he’s able to hold his 40-man roster spot for an extended stretch.

Miami’s 40-man roster is full, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move tomorrow. The Marlins just selected journeyman left-hander Sean Nolin onto the big league club this afternoon. Speculatively speaking, it’s possible they’re planning on a short-term stay in the majors for Nolin.

Marlins Select Sean Nolin

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The Marlins have announced to reporters, including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald, that they have selected the contract of left-hander Sean Nolin. Right-hander George Soriano was optioned to make room on the active roster while righty Jeff Lindgren was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man.

Nolin, 33, is a journeyman to the extreme. A Blue Jays draft pick back in 2010, he then bounced around to the systems of the Athletics, Rockies, White Sox and Mariners, before expanding his range to independent ball and overseas. He spent the 2020 season with the Seibu Lions in Japan, returned to North America in 2021 for a stint with the Nationals and then went to the Kia Tigers in Korea last year. He posted a 2.47 ERA in 124 innings with the Tigers last year.

Nolin returned to North America this offseason, signing a minor league deal with the Twins in February. It was reported over the weekend that the Marlins had acquired him from the Twins and he’ll now join the big league club. He made one appearance in Triple-A, logging four innings on Wednesday. He’ll give a fresh arm to a pitching staff that has been taxed in a few ways of late. Injuries to Johnny Cueto and Trevor Rogers have dealt a few blows to the rotation. The club also had to play a doubleheader on Saturday, using nine different pitchers to get through that twin bill against the Guardians. Nolin has a career 5.74 ERA in 18 games, eight of those in the 2013-2015 period before getting 10 more with the Nats in 2021.

As for Lindgren, 26, this is the second time this year he has been selected to the roster and quickly designated for assignment, even though the season is just a few weeks old. Since he cleared waivers and was outrighted the first time, he’ll now have the right to reject a second outright and elect free agency if he clears waivers again. He got a five-inning emergency outing in his first stint but didn’t get into a game this time around. He posted a 4.21 ERA in the minors last year.

Latest On Sandy Alcantara

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  • Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara told reporters today, including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald, that he expects to pitch against Atlanta on Wednesday if everything goes well after skipping his last start due to biceps tendinitis. Before he gets to that point, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner will play catch today and throw a bullpen session tomorrow. Alcantara has struggled to open the season with a 5.47 ERA in 24 2/3 innings and a reduced 19.8% strikeout rate, though with only 43.7% of baserunners stranded to this point in the season, it’s easy to see how the 27-year-old ace has been unlucky in the early going this season, as punctuated by his 3.52 FIP being nearly two runs lower than his ERA.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/22/23

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Catching up on some minor league moves from around baseball, with a tip of the cap to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America….

  • The Yankees released catcher Nick Ciuffo earlier this month, according to Ciuffo’s MLB.com’s profile page.  Ciuffo signed a minor league deal in March but didn’t see any game action in New York’s farm system.  Ciuffo has played in three of the last five MLB seasons, last appearing with the Orioles in 2021 and amassing 21 total games in the big leagues (19 with Tampa Bay).  The Rays selected Ciuffo with the 21st overall pick of the 2013 draft, but he has posted only a .248/.294/.348 slash line over 2053 career plate appearances in the minors.
  • The Marlins acquired left-hander Sean Nolin from the Twins earlier this month, and Nolin made his debut with Triple-A Jacksonville last Wednesday.  Nolin signed a minor league deal with Minnesota in February, after spending the 2022 season in the Korea Baseball Organization.  Nolin pitched with the Blue Jays and A’s from 2013-15, and then with the Nationals in 2021, spending time bouncing around the minors, the independent leagues, the KBO League and in Japan with NPB amidst his brief stints in the majors.  The 33-year-old Nolin has a 5.74 ERA over his 58 career innings in the big leagues.
  • Sticking with the Marlins and their Triple-A affiliate, Jacksonville announced earlier this week that right-hander Enrique Burgos had been released.  Burgos signed a minors contract in the offseason but struggled to a 16.20 ERA over 3 1/3 innings with Jacksonville.  Burgos’ MLB resume consists of 68 1/3 innings with the Diamondbacks in 2015-16, and he has since mostly pitched in the Mexican League and in the independent Atlantic League, as well as regular appearances in winter ball.

Marlins Select Jeff Lindgren

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The Marlins selected the contract of right-hander Jeff Lindgren from Triple-A today, with Lindgren set to act as the 27th player for Miami’s scheduled double-header with the Guardians.  Right-hander Tommy Nance was moved to the 60-day injured list to create a 40-man roster spot.

Lindgren was designated for assignment and then outrighted off Miami’s 40-man roster earlier this month, after he’d made his MLB debut.  That first game came in somewhat unexpected fashion, as an early injury to starter Johnny Cueto meant that Lindgren was called upon to pitch five innings of relief work (allowing four ER on four hits and three walks) in the Marlins’ 11-1 loss to the Twins on April 3.

It’s possible that Lindgren’s latest trip to the Show might only last through the doubleheader, but the 26-year-old might get another chance to show Miami’s coaching staff what he can do against big league hitters.  Lindgren was a 24th-round pick for the Marlins in 2019 draft, and has worked almost exclusively as a starter since the beginning of the 2021 season.  His work at Triple-A Jacksonville (both last season and this season) has been shaky, with only a 5.26 ERA over 78 2/3 innings for the Marlins’ top affiliate.

Nance has yet to pitch this season due to a strain in his throwing shoulder, and his move to the 60-day IL is backdated from his initial placement on the 15-day IL.  As such, Nance won’t be eligible for activation until the end of May, which might represent something of a setback considering that he seemed to be making decent progress.  Just yesterday, the Marlins told reporters that Nance had thrown a 30-pitch bullpen session.  It could be that Nance emerged from that session with some shoulder soreness, or the 60-day IL placement could simply indicate that Nance might need more build-up time considering that he missed most of Spring Training.

Sandy Alcantara Skipping Start Due To Right Biceps Tendinitis

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The Marlins have been dealt an injury blow with the news starter Sandy Alcantara will miss today’s start against Cleveland due to right biceps tendinitis, per Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. Mish adds that the team doesn’t believe it to be serious, and Alcantara should be ready to go for Miami’s series in Atlanta starting Monday.

Alcantara is off to a disappointing start to the season, working to a 5.47 ERA through his first four starts. Though it’s an ugly ERA, it’s worth noting that the bulk of the damage was done in an ugly nine earned run outing in Philadelphia, with his other starts giving up just three earned runs or less, including one three-hit complete game shutout against the Twins.

While the news appears to be positive at the moment, there is always a bit of concern when the ace of the staff has any sort of injury concern. Alcantara has been one of the best pitchers in baseball in recent years, winning the NL Cy Young award last year on the back of a 228 2/3 inning season of 2.28 ERA ball.

Devin Smeltzer will get the ball in place of Alcantara for the first game of today’s double-header, with Braxton Garrett and Jesus Luzardo to handle the other two starts of the series.

Marlins, Ronald Bolanos Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Marlins have signed right-hander Ronald Bolaños to a minor league deal, as noted by Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. He was assigned to Triple-A Jacksonville, where he tossed four scoreless innings in his first start of the season tonight.

Bolaños, 26, has reached the major league level in each of the past four seasons. He broke into the professional ranks with the Padres and debuted at the MLB level with San Diego in 2019. The following summer, the Friars traded Bolaños alongside outfielder Franchy Cordero to the Royals for left-handed reliever Tim Hill.

Over the last three years, Bolaños has seen sporadic MLB action with Kansas City. He made two starts during the shortened 2020 season and was limited to three big league outings in 2021, largely because of an extended injured list stint with a forearm strain. He returned to throw 18 1/3 frames over eight relief appearances last year but walked and struck out 12 batters apiece. Midway through the season, K.C. designated Bolaños for assignment and ran him through outright waivers.

The native of Cuba spent the second half of the season in Triple-A Omaha. He posted a 6.26 ERA over 41 2/3 frames, working primarily as a multi-inning reliever. Bolaños qualified for minor league free agency at year’s end and remained on the open market until catching on with Miami.

Altogether, Bolaños owns a 5.25 ERA in 48 major league frames. He’s allowed just under five earned runs per nine innings over 413 1/3 career innings in the minors. The 6’2″ hurler relies primarily on a sinker that averaged just north of 93 MPH last season and has a decent track record of keeping the ball on the ground. He’ll offer the Fish a depth option for either the rotation or long relief. Bolaños is out of minor league option years, so if he earns an MLB call at any point, the Marlins would have to keep him in the majors or again designate him for assignment.

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