Marlins trade Jake Burger to Rangers for prospect package

[Ely Sussman]

Miami's leading run producer last season and a well-respected clubhouse presence, Burger has been flipped to Texas for three minor leaguers.

The Miami Marlins aren't leaving the Winter Meetings without making a splash. Infielder Jake Burger was traded to the Texas Rangers late Tuesday night, as first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The full prospect package coming back to Miami consists of INF Echedry Vargas, INF Max Acosta and LHP Brayan Mendoza. The Marlins announced the deal on Wednesday morning.

In parts of two seasons with the Marlins, Burger slashed .265/.315/.472 with 2.4 fWAR and a team-leading 38 home runs in 190 games.

Burger's tenure was successful though streaky. He raked immediately upon joining the Fish in August 2023, and coming out of the 2024 MLB All-Star break, he went on an epic power binge that included 14 homers in 26 games. However, he was ineffective throughout the first half of this past season. His OPS didn't permanently crack .600 until late June and he became a defensive liability at third base (-5 DRS and -5 OAA there).

Burger is still pre-arbitration-eligible, so there are no meaningful cost savings associated with this trade. He is under club control through 2028. His departure solidifies Jonah Bride's place on the Marlins Opening Day roster and could also be seen as a vote of confidence in prospect Deyvison De Los Santos whose offensive skill set closely resembles Burger's.

Although the Marlins have internal options who have the potential to fill Burger's shoes, they lack his track record and innate leadership ability. Losing him further diminishes their already-minuscule 2025 playoff odds.

A trade to Texas reunites Burger with former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker and bench coach Luis Urueta. Schumaker is serving as a senior advisor with the Rangers while Urueta has been hired as Bruce Bochy's bench coach.

Echedry Vargas ranked 10th on the 2024 midseason update of Baseball America's Rangers Top 30 prospects list. Max Acosta and Brayan Mendoza were both unranked. MLB Pipeline has added all three to their Marlins Top 30 list, with Vargas ranked 16th, Acosta ranked 17th and Mendoza ranked 29th.

Vargas spent his age-19 season in Low-A, slashing .276/.321/.545 with 14 home runs and 29 stolen bases in 97 games. He was being used primarily at shortstop.

Acosta, 22, already has a full season of Double-A baseball under his belt. He also performed well in the Arizona Fall League this year, slashing .338/.413/.521 in 20 games. The Rangers selected him to their 40-man roster last month.

Mendoza is coming off an especially impressive 2024 campaign. The 20-year-old lefty posted a 2.32 ERA across 101 innings at Low-A/High-A, including a 1.92 ERA from June onward.

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[Slacker Mills]

Burger figured to be among the first to go. The return of multiple MI was a little surprising, but neither figures to actually play for the big league club. You can never have too many southpaws.

[Hans Herrera]

Burger is a HR hitter who doesn’t play defence and doesn’t get on base, but still I don’t understand. Club house leader, cheap, only real HR threat in the lineup… I don’t get it.

I guess this is indeed a full rebuild. From now on, any player can be traded, even Sandy.

Being a Marlins fan is hard indeed.

[rurrusuno]

2 hours ago, Hans Herrera said:

Burger is a HR hitter who doesn’t play defence and doesn’t get on base, but still I don’t understand. Club house leader, cheap, only real HR threat in the lineup… I don’t get it.

I guess this is indeed a full rebuild. From now on, any player can be traded, even Sandy.

Being a Marlins fan is hard indeed.

True, his liability is defense, but now that he’s gone, who will our leader be on offense? The only one I can think of now is Jesus Sanchez.

[rurrusuno]

Wow, this was shocking news to wake up to. It’s safe to say by now that a lot of our main contributors that got us to the postseason last year are now gone.

We have officially bucked a trend of getting rid of our HR leaders within the same year (Jake Burger 2024, Jorge Soler 2023, Jesús Aguilar 2022, Adam Duvall 2021, Starlin Castro 2019, JT Realmuto 2018, Giancarlo Stanton 2017)

So is our guy at 3B Connor Norby now? We definitely already needed a new middle infielder, but now a corner outfielder may be the bigger priority. A power bat is what’s lacking the most in the lineup.

[MarlinFaninGA]

Oh, good! I was finding myself really liking Jake and that's not a good practice! You shouldn't feel good about your players. But it's too bad the Yankees didn't pick him up. We let them down. Sorry, Yanks!

[BMK3]

I am officially done with these guys. Sherman and Bendix can both take a hike. Trading one of your better hitters and painfully few power bats for three A and AA players, who will probably have to buy a ticket to get into their next major league ballgame, means we will be completely non-competitive this entire year. I wonder what Sandy is thinking. Probably "get me outta here". Wake me up when we actually have a major league team.

I have been watching baseball religiously for over 70 years.  If they can lose me, they can lose anybody.

[Slacker Mills]

Actually the team most needs guys who get on base and make decent contaact. The trade of Burger was a declaration in favor of Bride as the more valuable player of the two defensive misfits. Right now I'm building my lineup around Edwards, Lopez and Bride.

Side note: it really sucked that the Pirates were able to grab Joey Bart for nothing last season. He would have been the Marlins' top hitter ... and at the catcher position of all things.

[BMK3]

Did you read what you just wrote.  You are building your lineup around Xavier Edwards (who I also really like), Otto Lopez and Jonah Bride.   Enough said.

[Hans Herrera]

4 hours ago, rurrusuno said:

True, his liability is defense, but now that he’s gone, who will our leader be on offense? The only one I can think of now is Jesus Sanchez.

As of today, Norby, Sanchez, Bride and maybe De Los Santos might be the 2-5 in the lineup. I like DLS but has yet to debut, so not high expectations (yet).

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

Interesting. More confidence in Bride than we thought, perhaps, and an indication that DLS is heavily in the mix, I suspect. 

[Slacker Mills]

1 hour ago, Hans Herrera said:

As of today, Norby, Sanchez, Bride and maybe De Los Santos might be the 2-5 in the lineup. I like DLS but has yet to debut, so not high expectations (yet).

Norby's work product was similar to Jake Burger's. I expect to see him flipped as well. Jesus Sanchez can only contribute if he's limited to hitting RHP. Bride is a riser. De Los Santos is a loooong way from being a major league hitter.

[One Regend]

But my question is, will Vargas actually stick at SS? Our current solution to SS right now is Xavier Edwards, and that just can't fly. Defensively, he's a 2B at best, and that's a very generous claim -- He could be following the Luis Arraez path of being a 1B/DH. The next best option at SS would be Otto Lopez and Lopez leaves a lot to be desired offensively. We just don't have anyone -- either on the 40 man roster or in the lower levels -- that can take charge at SS and not be a liability one way or another.

Jake Burger needed to be traded though. We have a logjam at 1B, with Jonah Bride, DLS, and Agustin Ramirez all likely to be battling for that spot in the lineup. (Agustin Ramirez is not a catcher. You can't convince me otherwise.)
Whether it pans out for us, we have yet to see. We got a surprising value out of someone who doesn't get on base, doesn't play defense, strikes out a lot, and only gets value out of HRs.