Marlins acquire Matt Mervis from Cubs

A week to the day that they sent fan-favorite Jesús Luzardo to division rival Philadelphia, Peter Bendix and the Marlins front office struck again on Sunday afternoon. 1B Matt Mervis is headed to Miami in exchange for utility man Vidal Bruján, as Jeff Passan of ESPN reported, with the Marlins also receiving cash considerations. The trade has been made official.

Mervis, 26, was signed by Chicago as an undrafted free agent in 2020. After struggling in 2021, the former Duke Blue Devil delivered great seasons at the plate in 2022 and 2023 between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A. Notably, in Triple-A in 2023, Mervis finished with an OPS of .932, mashed 22 home runs, and drove in 78. Baseball America described Mervis as having "excellent bat speed and natural timing, which allows him to crush fastballs over the plate." Defensively, Mervis is average and defensively limited to first base, but possesses a plus arm as a former college pitcher.

Unfortunately for Mervis and Chicago, that level of production was not seen at the big league level. In 116 at-bats in MLB, Mervis has slashed a lowly .155/.222/.259 with an alarming 9/40 BB/K ratio. It is worth noting that Mervis has had a very short leash in the majors, only being called up for a week-and-a-half in 2024 before being sent back down.

Mervis suffered a hamate injury in early July. Upon returning from the IL, he struck out 40% of the time in his final 26 Triple-A games. It is a prototypical buy-low deal that Bendix has gravitated to in his short time leading the ship in Miami.

Mervis is set to receive plenty of opportunities to find his footing against major league pitching and hopefully translate his upper-minors production to a Marlins team that is going to be lacking power. The left-handed hitter is a potential platoon partner for the likes of Jonah Bride and Eric Wagaman. In case there isn't a clear fit for him on the Opening Day roster, he does have one minor league option remaining.

For Bruján, his time in Miami comes to an end after just one season. Once regarded as a consensus top-100 MLB prospect, Bendix's first trade as POBO last November was landing the switch-hitting Swiss Army knife from the Rays along with Calvin Faucher.

In 102 games as a Marlin, though, it was much of the same. Bruján slashed .222/.303/.319 in 248 at-bats with two triples and two long balls while displaying mediocre defense all over the diamond. On the bases, Bruján was caught stealing more times (6) than bases he swiped (5). The Marlins designated him for assignment last week.

Bruján is expected to be a bench bat in the Windy City. Miami is set to visit Chicago from May 12-14.