Marlins continue search for hitters via trade market. Ten notes as spring training nears
.JPG "Miami Marlins’ Pablo Lopez pitches during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, in Milwaukee.")
Ten Marlins notes, less than a month before pitchers and catchers report to Jupiter:
▪ As the Marlins continue to discuss trading starting pitching, one thing hasn’t changed: Pablo Lopez remains at the forefront of those discussions.
Lopez, who isn’t eligible for free agency until after 2024, has drawn interest, but the Marlins are adamant that they want an every-day position player in return, preferably an outfielder.
Trade talks have cooled on Trevor Rogers and Edward Cabrera, pitchers who are under team control for more years than Lopez.
▪ The Marlins remain open to another bullpen acquisition and continue to monitor free agent right-hander Alex Reyes, who is working back from labrum surgery that sidelined him last season.
Reyes, who is doing his rehab in Miami, has told people close to him that he prefers to pitch for the Marlins. He might not be ready for opening day.
Reyes and Marlins Cy Young Award Winner Sandy Alcantara are close friends dating back to their days with the Cardinals.
Reyes was excellent for St. Louis in 2021 (10-8, 29 saves, 3.24 ERA) before giving up a walk-off home run to the Dodgers’ Chris Taylor in a 2021 playoff game. Reyes allowed just 46 hits and struck out 95 in 72 ⅓ innings during that 2021 season.
Miami has not made an offer to free agent closer Aroldis Chapman, who also is working out in Miami and hopes to sign with a club soon. Chapman, 34, declined considerably last season, finishing with nine saves and a 4.46 ERA for the Yankees, a year after producing 30 saves and a 3.36 ERA.
▪ Why did the Marlins trade Miguel Rojas to the Dodgers for shortstop prospect Jacob Amaya?
A source said the team did not want to get into a position where Rojas, who has been a starter since 2017, potentially could end up later in the season as a part-time player.
The Marlins have two clear-cut infield starters with Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jean Segura and are comfortable with Joey Wende starting as well. Barring injuries, that would have left Rojas as a potential backup or part-time starter with Wendle.
Rojas is set to earn $4.5 million this season; that money now could be used to upgrade the bullpen or in a trade for a hitter.
The Marlins also like Amaya, who – in 133 games last season (49 in Double A, 84 in Triple A) – hit .261 with a .795 on-base-plus-slugging mark, 17 home runs (a single-season high), 71 RBI (tied for a single-season high) and 85 runs scored (a single-season high). He also walked in 14.3 percent of his plate appearances.
“One of the nice things about Amaya is he already has had about 350 plate appearances in Triple A,” general manager Kim Ng said. “Look for him to be part of the club at least at some point in the 2023 season. Maybe it’s not at the beginning. Maybe it is. I don’t know. Injuries happen quite often.
“We could see him at some point in 2023; definitely hope for 2024. Jacob is a plus defender; offensively, one of the things very attractive to us is his plate discipline and offensive game overall.
“The last several infielders we acquired, it’s a certain profile. They have in their past - and we hope they have in the future - the ability to control the zone. Plate discipline is something we’re very interested in. We’re not going to have all our players be that way, but we feel it’s a foundational part of the offense.”
The Marlins initiated Rojas trade talks with the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers before striking a deal with Los Angeles. They preferred to send Rojas to a winning situation because of respect for what he has given the team during his tenure.
▪ The Marlins would like to add a veteran to share first base at-bats with Garrett Cooper and have had conversations with Astros free agent first baseman Yuli Gurriel, who hit .244 (.288 on base) with eight homers, 43 RBI and 40 doubles in 146 games and 584 plate appearances last season.
Gurriel, 38, had a sharp decline from 2021, when he led the American League in batting average at .319, to go with 15 homers and 81 RBI in 143 games.
Like Cooper, Gurriel is a right-handed hitter. Gurriel also can play third base.
▪ While new Marlins pitcher Johnny Cueto allowed a .267 batting average last season, here were two keys in him finishing with a 3.35 ERA that would have tied for 11th in the American League if he had enough starts to qualify:
1) He walked just 33 in 158 innings and
2) He allowed home runs in just 2.3 percent of batters’ plate appearances, his best since 2016. And his home run-to-fly ball rate dropped from 12 percent to 7.7 percent. The Marlins hope that trend will continue in a pitcher friendly stadium, though loanDepot Park actually permitted the ninth-most homers per game in baseball last season.
▪ The Marlins had a voluntary hitting camp the first week in January, and the response was encouraging.
Among those in attendance: Rojas (before his trade), Chisholm, Jorge Soler, Avisail Garcia, Cooper, Nick Fortes, Jesus Sanchez, Wendle, Xavier Edwards, and Bryan De La Cruz, among others.
The team flew in members of the coaching staff, including new Marlins hitting coach Brant Brown and assistant hitting coach John Mabry.
Manager Skip Schumaker and owner Bruce Sherman also attended.
Miami has been proactive this offseason in building better relationships in the clubhouse, and this was a step toward that.
Schumaker told the Miami Herald this week that he believes in having a group that will assume leadership responsibilities, similar to what some coaches or managers in sports call a leadership council.
The only season that a leadership group was used consistently by the Marlins was the 2020 COVID-shortened season, when Miami made the playoffs and advanced a round.
▪ The Marlins signed 30 new players at the start of the international signing period and that group included what is believed to be the franchise’s first-ever Asian-born amateur free agent in Hiroski Takahashi.
Marlins international scouting director Adrian Lorenzo says Takahashi was born in Japan, raised in Venezuela and then signed out of the Dominican Republic.
The franchise signed several Asian-born players in the past – including Ichiro, Hee Seop Choi, Junichi Tazawa and Wei-Yin Chen - but this is the first ever amateur signing from Asia.
Takahashi is a 16 year old pitcher who was signed for a reported $42,000.
▪ The Marlins added Matt Marks to the front office in January. Marks played a key role in arbitration this year. Five of the seven cases were settled; only Jesus Luzardo and Jon Berti are headed to arbitration.
Marks, who worked under Ng with the Dodgers, most recently had been working as a player agent with the John Boggs & Associates sports agency.
▪ Former Marlins president/baseball operation Michael Hill is a candidate for the Houston Astros’ general manager job, as noted by the Athletic and confirmed by a source. Hill is now the senior vice president for on-field operations for Major League Baseball.
▪ Quick stuff: Two Marlins were rated in the top among MLB Pipeline’s top 10 left-handed pitching prospects: Dax Fulton at No. 5 and Jake Eder at No. 8... Former Marlins Director of Pro Scouting Hadi Raad recently accepted a front office position with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he will be a professional evaluation team leader. Raad was heavily involved in scouting De La Cruz before the Marlins acquired him from Houston in the Yimi Garcia trade.
Herald senior baseball correspondent Craig Mish hosts Fantasy Sports Today from 11 a.m. to noon and Newswire from 2 to 3 p.m. weekdays on Sportsgrid. Follow him on Twitter at @CraigMish. Follow Barry Jackson at @flasportsbuzz
This story was originally published January 17, 2023 at 12:04 PM.
