Marlins admit Jorge López miscalculation, lose him via waiver claim

Barely a month after acquiring Jorge López from the Minnesota Twins, the Miami Marlins quietly placed the struggling right-handed reliever on waivers. One of the last MLB teams in the waiver order, the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles, placed a claim on him. On Saturday, López went back to Baltimore where he was an All-Star closer in 2022. His departure created room for Johnny Cueto to return from the injured list.

The Marlins swapped Dylan Floro for López on July 26, valuing the latter's additional year of club control and trusting that he'd perform better with a change of scenery and subtle adjustments.

Well...

• López with the Twins in 2023: 5.09 ERA, 5.92 FIP, -0.24 WPA in 35.1 IP
• López with the Marlins in 2023: 9.26 ERA, 5.32 FIP, -0.28 WPA in 11.2 IP

As a Marlin, López allowed an average of nearly 2.5 baserunners per inning. He authored only one perfect inning (in a low-leverage situation on August 13 with the club trailing by four runs). He continued to show glimpses of his ability with high-90s fastballs and a deep bag of pitches, but still too much hard contact and too many walks allowed, both deficiencies attributable to lousy control. The Marlins evidently didn't have faith in López meaningfully contributing in September or doing enough to justify what a 2024 contract offer would've cost via the arbitration system.

Had López cleared waivers, he would have remained with the Marlins. In that scenario, presumably Geoff Hartlieb would've been optioned to make room for Cueto instead.

Even if López flips a switch and becomes productive for the O's again, he will not be eligible to pitch for them in the postseason. However, he could still help them lock up the AL East title and a top-two record in the AL, which comes with a bye to the ALDS (and home-field advantage in that matchup). Baltimore is on the hook for 30 days' worth of his salary (approx. $569k).

Checking in on Floro in Minnesota, he has a 6.30 ERA, 3.06 FIP and -0.25 WPA in 10.0 IP. The majority of his appearances have been successful, though his implosion on August 22 was largely responsible for a Twins loss.

To tie a bow on this, I don't fault the Marlins for shopping Floro's expiring contract. Kim Ng thought creatively, as she often does, and got somebody who could potentially fill his shoes for the rest of 2023 and beyond. In this case, I thought the front office got too cute and should've accepted a conventional 40-grade prospect in return while securing a controllable 'pen arm in a separate deal.

Photo by Danis Sosa/Fish On First