Revisiting Marlins' lone deadline deal from 2022

A trade that initially yielded encouraging results for both sides is aging poorly.

Although plenty busy behind the scenes, last year's trade deadline was a snoozer for the Miami Marlins. They were sellers, as you'll recall, and reportedly came oh-so-close to sending No. 2 starter Pablo López to a contender. But when the dust settled, the fourth-place Fish retained López along with almost all of their other ill-fitting veterans and continued their dreary march toward a 69-93 record.

The lone vet that the front office flipped was right-hander Anthony Bass, who'd been enjoying a career year as a setup man. The Marlins packaged Bass and second-year reliever Zach Pop and a player to be named later to the Toronto Blue Jays for infield prospect Jordan Groshans, a former first-round draft pick.

Early indications were that this could be a win-win. I remember liking the deal for both sides, for what it's worth. One year later, however, the Marlins and Blue Jays are in thick of the playoff race despite negligible contributions from the three principal players involved.

Bass turned many Marlins fans against him in 2021 by frequently floundering in high-leverage situations, accumulating the second-most losses on the entire pitching staff. But then, he found his niche in 2022. Used primarily to protect leads in the seventh inning, he performed like one of MLB's elite relievers through the first four months of the season (1.41 ERA, 2.06 FIP, 1.42 WPA in 44.2 IP).

The remainder of Bass' season was bizarre. He maintained his terrific run prevention up north (1.75 ERA in 25.2 IP) despite allowing five homers. All of them were solo shots, conveniently. The Blue Jays made the playoffs, but were eliminated by the Seattle Mariners in shocking fashion. Bass was in the middle of their AL Wild Card Series Game 2 meltdown.

It was nonetheless an easy call for Toronto to exercise Bass' $3 million club option for 2023. The 35-year-old struggled from the get-go, though. He allowed runs in seven of his first 11 appearances and dropped down in the bullpen pecking order. His pitching was gradually turning the corner when he shared a video on Instagram expressing anti-LGBTQ sentiments during Pride month, and he wasn't exactly contrite about it afterwards. The Blue Jays officially released him on June 15 and no other team has scooped him up since.

The Marlins took a flier on Pop coming off Tommy John surgery. He was an adequate middle reliever for them (3.98 ERA, 3.52 FIP, -0.97 WPA in 74.2 IP) with the upside to become even better thanks to a sinker with good velocity and demonic movement.

Plenty of time for Pop's career to take off, but he is a non-factor for the Jays this season. The native Canadian encountered a rough patch in late April/early May, suffered a hamstring strain and was recently optioned to Triple-A after completing his rehab assignment. He was sub-replacement level while on Toronto's active roster.

The Marlins were banking on their bullpen holding up just fine without Bass and Pop, and for much of 2023, they've been proven right about that (not so much in the last couple series). Of course, their primary objective in this exchange was to turn Groshans into a big league contributor. The current outlook on him is not particularly promising.

Groshans had disappointing numbers with Triple-A Buffalo at the time of the trade. The brightest red flag: only one home run in 67 games. The change of scenery seemingly flipped a switch. He went yard twice during his first month with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, earned a September call-up and homered in just his third career game in The Show.

That being said, it was an underwhelming cup of coffee for Groshans overall (.262/.308/.311, 80 wRC+ and 0.0 fWAR in 17 G). He did not flash any plus tools—solid bat-to-ball skills, but nothing truly remarkable at the plate, in the field or on the bases. The Marlins deployed him exclusively at third base. Rather than leave the position vacant entering 2023, they signed free agent Jean Segura to a two-year deal to play there instead.

With shortstop no longer in his future, Groshans reported to spring training carrying additional weight. Perhaps he saw that as a way to generate more power? Well, it hasn't moved the needle. After posting a .689 OPS in the minors last season, he's at a .692 OPS this season (the International League average is .801). The 23-year-old's hard-hit rate of 33.1% in Triple-A is well below the MLB average. It puts him right on par with Jon Berti, except without the speed or defensive versatility. Groshans' top exit velocity of the MiLB season has been 109.4 mph, but he stroked it straight into the ground. His next-best exit velo is 105.6 mph, which is extremely low for an aspiring corner infielder.

Groshans is hiding in plain sight. He starts practically every game for Jacksonville at either third or first. Segura has shown that he's unfit to be an everyday player at this stage of his career, yet Groshans' name hasn't even been floated as a promotion candidate. Understandably so.

Time is still on Groshans' side. Although he is already repeating Triple-A, he's doing it as the youngest hitter on the Jumbo Shrimp roster. The Marlins have two more option years to use on him in 2024 and beyond if necessary. But make no mistake: the Marlins acquired him as a near-term reinforcement, not a long-term project. Things are not going according to plan.

And remember the "player to be named later" mentioned earlier? That's Edward Duran, a 19-year-old C/1B with a 158 wRC+ in the Florida Complex League this season. Even if none of the principal players pan out, the Blue Jays at least have a lottery ticket to dream on.

Photo by Kevin Barral/Fish On First