Offishial News: Peter Bendix's take on Max Meyer

[Ely Sussman]

Marlins news roundup for 4/16/24

On Monday, the Marlins made a flurry of roster moves. Max Meyer was sent down to Triple-A Jacksonville while Jake Burger (left intercostal muscle strain) and Christian Bethancourt (viral illness) landed on the 10-day injured list. Edward Cabrera and Otto López both impressed in their season debuts (Jhonny Pereda was selected to take Bethancourt's spot). The Marlins led most of the game, but George Soriano and Andrew Nardi allowed the Giants to rally in the seventh inning. The Marlins lost, 4-3. 

Down on the farm, Low-A Jupiter OF Mark Coley II was named Florida State League Player of the Week. Coley slashed .400/.464/.760 with three stolen bases during those six games.

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🔷 Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix did not make himself available to local media to explain Meyer's demotion, but he did take some questions from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Marlins could have moved A.J. Puk to the bullpen or optioned Ryan Weathers to the minors instead of Meyer, and those alternatives were "strongly considered." Bendix admits that “I don’t have the exact answer on how to best keep anybody healthy, let alone someone like him. But we’re trying." Bendix's objective is to keep Meyer pitching consistently—for the time being, in three-inning spurts—without reaching an "irresponsible" workload.

🔷 My rebuttal: If the main factor behind the move truly is workload management, Meyer should be contributing to the Marlins bullpen, which has been a f****** disaster in 2024. He had experience as a reliever during his amateur career. This pitching staff is irrefutably better with him than without him and most of Miami's bullpen arms have minor league options as well (including the struggling Soriano and Nardi). Sending down Meyer unjustly deprives him of money and MLB service time while making this cellar-dwelling club less competitive. Especially this early in the season, when you decline to optimize your roster with the best talent, you piss off your own players and signal to your fanbase that the current team is not worth their time and emotional investment.

🔷 We had a long segment about Meyer on the latest episode of Fish On First LIVE. Check it out if you missed the original airing. FOF LIVE is presented by Berger & Hicks. If you’ve been injured as a result of somebody else’s negligence, give them a call at (305) 670-7050.

🔷 As expected, recently DFA'd Matt Andriese cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Jacksonville.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, there is somehow still a team that's even worse than the Marlins: the White Sox, who were shut out again and have been averaging only 2.1 runs scored per game this season.

🔷 Today's MLB game: (probable starter LHP Ryan Weathers) host the Giants (RHP Jordan Hicks) at 6:40 p.m. ET. The Marlins have a 46.8% chance to win, per FanGraphs.

🔷 It is Autism Acceptance Night at LoanDepot Park. Our own @Noah Berger discusses his journey with Autism.

🔷 Today's MiLB schedule:

• Triple-A Jacksonville vs. Norfolk, 11:05 a.m. ET 
• Double-A Pensacola vs. Rocket City, 7:05 p.m. ET
• High-A Beloit vs. South Bend, 2:05 p.m. ET 
• Low-A Jupiter at Fort Myers, 7:05 p.m. ET

 

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