Kevin Barral

Despite a good game for the Marlins offensively, Anthony Maldonado gave up three runs in the bottom of the eighth, which was just enough for the Tigers to take a 6-5 lead and win. On Saturday, the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies were tied at one apiece. Skip Schumaker went with rookie Anthony Maldonado, who had yet to give up a run in the major leagues. Maldonado left that outing giving up two runs (plus one runner inherited from Jesús Luzardo). On Monday in the series-opening game against the Detroit Tigers, the Marlins led 5-3 entering the bottom of the eighth inning. Schumaker went with Maldonado to see if he could redeem himself. Unfortunately, Maldonado gave up an RBI single to Andy Ibañez, and after striking out Matt Vierling, he threw a slider right down the middle that former number one overall draft pick Spencer Torkelson crushed for the longest home run of his career. That gave the Tigers a 6-5 lead in their eventual victory over the Marlins. Maldonado's best pitch is his slider and he has leaned on it heavily since being called up. That was especially true on Monday: all four of his pitches to Torkelson were sliders and so were 20 of his 23 overall pitches in the inning, "That's his out pitch," said manager Skip Schumaker. "I think he just failed to expand. It backed up, hung middle-up to a really dangerous hitter. Good big league hitters will make you pay. Unfortunately, he didn't miss it." Entering the game, the Marlins ranked second-to-last among MLB teams in hitter fWAR (-0.7), just ahead of the Chicago White Sox. Impressively, their offense scored five unanswered runs to come back from an early 3-0 deficit. Four players in the Miami lineup had multi-hit games. That includes Jazz Chisholm Jr.—his third consecutive multi-hit game—and Nick Gordon, who had his second three-hit game of the season. Gordon was inconsistent during his first month as a Marlin (he was acquired from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Steven Okert during the offseason). However, with more consistent playing time, he has begun finding more success. So far in May, Gordon is slashing .353/.371/.559/.930 with two home runs and four RBIs. Josh Bell is heating up in May as well, slashing .293/.408/.488/.896. On Monday, down 3-1 in the top of the fifth inning, Bell smacked an RBI double driving in Bryan De La Cruz from first base. Back-to-back-to-back RBIs for the Marlins tied the game up at three apiece. In the top of the eighth inning, Otto Lopez hit a two-run homer to take a 5-3 lead. Lopez has played in 17 games this season since being claimed off waivers by the Marlins and has been everything they could've asked more and even more. Including his two-run home run, Lopez is slashing .313/.371/.656/1.027. Lopez is expected to be a mainstay in the Marlins lineup due to the back injury of Tim Anderson. "He just goes about it the right way," said Schumaker. "His preparation is excellent. The way he goes about it in infield drills and batting practice, the whole thing. He's a real likable guy that you root for because of how hard he works and how hard he prepares. We're giving him an opportunity with the (Luis Arraez) trade and he's making the most of it and I am proud with how he's going about it." The Marlins starting pitcher on Monday was Sixto Sánchez, who had his best start of the season, going 4 ⅔ innings, giving up zero earned runs (three unearned runs), five hits, two walks and two strikeouts. Sánchez only generated three whiffs, recording swinging strikeouts on his four-seam fastball and cutter. A big factor working in Sánchez's favor was his 71% ground ball rate. If not for an error by Vidal Bruján, he would have likely pitched even deeper into the game. "Defense was making some plays other than the one error, which was good for him," said Schumaker. "I thought the velo increased again...Everything else is so much better when he's like that." The expectation is that Sánchez will be back on the mound on Sunday in the series finale against the New York Mets. With the loss, the Marlins now find themselves with an 11-32 record while the Tigers are back over .500 at 21-20 and at .500 in one-run games. Ryan Weathers takes the mound for Miami on Tuesday, looking to even the series at one apiece. First pitch will be at 6:40 pm. View full article

After a strong 2021, the National League Rookie of the Year runner-up has seen his career go downhill. What's been going wrong for Trevor Rogers and what can be done? Through eight starts this season, Trevor Rogers has posted a 6.57 ERA, 4.59 FIP, 7.54 K/9 and 4.14 BB/9. These are all career worsts for the 26-year-old as he goes into Detroit on Wednesday afternoon looking to rebound. In his previous outing against the Philadelphia Phillies, Rogers allowed a season-high nine hits and didn't even complete the fourth inning. The Marlins have lost every time he's taken the mound in 2024 and the struggles are clearly getting to him. Rogers originally reached the big leagues in 2020, then emerged as a promising starting pitcher in 2021. Three years later, he doesn't look anything like the rookie version of himself. The most obvious difference is his velocity. In 2021, Rogers' four-seam fastball averaged 94.5 mph and was his most-used pitch. In 2024, Rogers' four-seam fastball sits at 92.0 mph, the lowest of his career. It continues to be his most-used pitch, but the results have fallen off a lot. Per Baseball Savant, it's gone from being among MLB's top four-seamers with a plus-16 run value to being a below-average weapon (minus-3 run value). merge-73rf7k.mp4 Rogers dominated as a rookie with his four-seam/changeup combo in part because of the large separation in velo between the pitches (9.7 mph gap). However, that gap is only 6.1 mph this season, leading to much less swing-and-miss on the change. Rogers has tried to expand his pitch mix with a sinker. He now uses it 21.1% of the time and it's part of his approach to both lefties and righties. It is not working out, unfortunately. His sinker ranks last in his arsenal in PutAway%, Whiff% and batting average against (.344 BA). Durability has been an issue for the Marlins lefty. Injuries interrupted each of his last three seasons and limited him to only 18 innings pitched at the major league level in 2023. There is also the question of his stamina during starts. In 2021, Rogers completed six innings of work or more nine times. Since then, he has completed six innings or more only six times. A lot of it has to do with the adjustments that opponents make once they get multiple looks at him. The first time through the order, hitters are slashing .258/.306/.470/.775. The second time through the order, hitters have an OPS of .927, and if he makes it to the third time through the order, hitters have a 1.234 OPS. In 2024, Rogers has yet to complete six innings. In 2021, only 5.0% of fly balls against Rogers went for home runs—that rate was lower than any qualified MLB starter. He hasn't been able to replicate that magic. Looking at 2024, his HR/FB rate is at 13.2%. He's allowed five home runs this season, only one away from tying his 2021 total. It's hard to just give up on Trevor Rogers, especially for a rebuilding team like the Marlins. He once showed that he had the chance to become of the best pitchers in baseball. With several members of the team's projected starting rotation on the injured list, there is nothing to lose by seeing what he can do. That being said, expectations for Rogers must be lowered. With reduced velo and an inability to go deep into games, he'll need to command his pitches better or consider a new role in the bullpen (following in the footsteps of Bryan Hoeing, for example). Maybe Wednesday's start against the Detroit Tigers can be a turning point for Rogers. This is a matchup where he should have the advantage given the ballpark he will be pitching in and how thin the Tigers lineup is. View full article

Left-hander Jesús Luzardo took the mound for the Miami Marlins on Saturday. Although he worked into the sixth inning, it wasn't enough as the Marlins fell to the Philadelphia Phillies. MIAMI, FL—The last time Jesús Luzardo stepped foot on a Major League mound was April 20 against the Chicago Cubs where he completed six innings. Luzardo then went on the 15-day IL due to left elbow tightness and made one rehab start before rejoining the team on Saturday. The Venezuelan went 5 ⅔ innings and struck out eight. Despite the strong performance, it wasn't enough as the Miami Marlins fell to the Philadelphia Phillies by the final score of 8-3. "He did enough for us to win," said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, citing how Luzardo threw 72% of his pitches for strikes. "I thought he was as good as I've seen him all year." Schumaker added that Luzardo's approach against the Phillies was similar to Trevor Rogers' on Friday, except he had better execution. "Similar to what Rogers was trying to do yesterday, throwing the fastball in to open up the changeup and then throwing the slider off of it. Zeus was successful at that. When hitters think inside or have to think a little bit, it opens up everything else. His velocity was there, his command was there, first-pitch strikes a lot." Swing-and-miss was the name of the game for Luzardo on Saturday afternoon, striking out eight (all of them swinging) and throwing 57 strikes against 22 balls against the potent Phillies lineup. The Marlins starter kicked off his afternoon striking out Bryce Harper and he wouldn't look back from there. Great placements of his slider and changeup were the key to generating 18 whiffs. "I know that they're an aggressive team," said Jesús Luzardo following the game. "Top-five offense in baseball, probably. A lot of great hitters one through nine. We know that they're somewhat aggressive and they're looking to jump in early. Just the game plan that I took tonight and thankfully, it worked out for the most part." Aside from Harper, all of Luzardo's strikeouts came on low-inside pitches to right-handed hitters with great placement of the slider specifically, generating six of his eight strikeouts. Luzardo's eight strikeouts tied a season high, which he set on Opening Day against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Only once had Luzardo completed six innings of work this season. He had a chance to do it a second time, but gave up a double to Whit Merrifield in the top of the sixth and then an RBI double to J.T. Realmuto. After Luzardo recorded his eighth strikeout of the afternoon, Skip Schumaker made the decision to remove him from the game and go with Anthony Maldonado. The Marlins reliever went on to load the bases and give up a bases-clearing, three-run triple to second baseman Bryson Stott, giving the Phillies a commanding 4-1 lead. One of the runs counted towards Luzardo and the other two—who reached on Maldonado walks—were charged to him. Luzardo was scheduled to face Alec Bohm right before being taken out. Entering Saturday's game, Bohm had gone 1-for-11 with four strikeouts. Through two at-bats in Saturday's contest, Bohm struck out the first time, but knocked in a base hit in his second at-bat. "I'm not going to push him after an elbow injury," said Schumaker about removing Luzardo after 79 pitches. "I was not going to push him at all and I felt good about Maldonado. Maldonado has been great for us all year and just happened to struggle tonight. As tough as it is to take out Luzardo, I felt good about Maldo. Just didn't work out." Maldonado had not given up a run through his first six MLB outings. "The big thing was walking the two righties to get to the lefty," said Anthony Maldonado. "That just can't happen. I gotta get those guys. I gotta get the righties...I have to relook at the pitch to Stott to see where I missed on that 2-2, but at the end of the day, it's walking those two righties." Entering Saturday, Vidal Bruján had been hot at the plate, slashing .341/.396/.500/.896 with four RBIs and only five strikeouts over his previous 14 games dating back to April 26. He broke the scoreless tie with a solo homer to right-center field in the fifth inning off of Taijuan Walker to give Miami an early 1-0 lead. That was Bruján's first home run since October 5, 2022 when he was still a part of the Tampa Bay Rays organization. In his first season with the Marlins, Brujan is slashing .271/.338/.429/.767 with one home run and six RBIs. He continues to play around the infield every day as a nice switch-hitting option in the lineup. The Phillies pulled away by adding four more runs against Burch Smith in the eighth inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Marlins second baseman Otto Lopez hit his second home run of the year to make it 8-3. The ball left the bat at 107.7 mph and went 421 feet into the air. With the loss, the Marlins fall to 10-31 on the season while the Phillies improve to 28-12. The Marlins are back at it on Sunday with Braxton Garrett (left shoulder impingement) making his 2024 season debut. First pitch is at 1:40 pm. View full article

One short-term question which needed to be answered with the departure of Luis Arraez was who would bat lead off for the Miami Marlins for the remainder of the season. For Jazz Chisholm Jr., it's a return to a familiar role. Dating back to the final month of the 2023 season, Luis Arraez served as leadoff hitter for the Miami Marlins whenever he was in the starting lineup. That had to change in recent days after Arraez was dealt to the San Diego Padres. Marlins center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. is getting the first opportunity to fill the void and had another productive game on Monday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Although the Marlins lost by a final score of 6-3, Chisholm went 2-for-4, scoring the first run of the game. The Marlins are now 10-27 on the season. Marlins manager Skip Schumaker did an in-game interview with Bally Sports Florida and was asked about the decision to go with Chisholm as the team's new leadoff hitter. "I was trying to figure out who to put in that spot and did my homework," said Schumaker. "I think he loves setting the tone and showing what he's capable of...As the leadoff hitter, I feel as if he's more free and able to go. He's been really good at the top of the order the last couple of games." Entering Monday's contest, the 26-year-old had slashed .245/.299/.436/.735 with 25 home runs and 73 RBIs during his career in the leadoff spot. Schumaker noted that Chisholm had a .840 OPS in that role in 2022, when he earned an All-Star Game selection. "When we acquired Luis Arraez—who's a pretty good leadoff hitter—we had to move him down the order," said Schumaker smiling. "He liked hitting leadoff better, but he said, 'I'll do whatever you want'...So it just shows you what kinda teammate he is." In his first at-bat of the game, Chisholm worked a full count in a nine pitch at-bat against Walker Buehler, who was making his first start since June 10, 2022. Chisholm got to his sinker, which was way outside the zone, but got just enough for an opposite-field infield hit. He was driven in by Bryan De La Cruz to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. WGczWWtfVjBZQUhRPT1fVUZKVFZWUlNYd2NBQzFNRkJ3QUFCbEJYQUFCWEFnSUFBbElHQUF0WEJ3QldBVlpS.mp4 Chisholm worked another full count in his second at-bat against the Dodgers starting pitcher. Buehler left a cutter in the zone on his seventh pitch of the sequence, allowing Chisholm's sixth double of the season (exit velo of 98.0 mph). This season in particular, the center fielder had struggled when hitting with a full count, slashing .059/.304/.118/.422, but had a lot more success the previous two years. Doesn't mean that Chisholm is turning the corner in higher-leverage moments, but certainly good to see him look like what we saw the last two seasons. WGczWWtfVjBZQUhRPT1fQVZCUVVWUlNVVlFBWEZBQkFBQUFBMVZVQUFBSFVnY0FCd1JUQ0ZjQ1VGY0JDQVZR.mp4 The Marlins' early lead did not hold up. On the bump for Miami was Roddery Muñoz who went 4 ⅔ innings, giving up six runs off of seven hits. Unlike his past two starts, Muñoz struggled to locate the strike zone at the beginning of his start, but ended the night striking out five with 12 whiffs. Also he walked four. Muñoz broadened his pitch usage in this start, going with five pitches, using them each at least 12% of the time. His slider was the only pitch that he did not allow any hard-hit balls. The story of the night for the Dodgers was their four home runs against Muñoz. In the bottom of the first inning, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman went back-to-back to immediately erase Miami's 2-0 lead and make it 3-2. In the bottom of the second inning, nine hitter James Outman took Muñoz deep. The final blow would come in the third inning as Teoscar Hernandez hit his ninth homer of the season. All of the Dodgers' runs scored directly on those homers. Eli Villalobos, Declan Cronin and Anthony Maldonado combined to limit the damage from there. With injured starters Jesús Luzardo and Braxton Garrett both looking impressive in their recent minor league rehab outings, this could prove to be Muñoz's last turn in the rotation for the near future. Either of them would be fully rested by the time this rotation spot comes up again. The Marlins will look to tie the series up on Tuesday with Edward Cabrera taking the mound. For the Dodgers, Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start. First pitch at 10:10 p.m. ET. View full article

The Marlins and Cubs are logical trade partners this season. What could a deal between these two teams possibly look like? Following the blockbuster trade sending Miami Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez to the San Diego Padres, the Miami Marlins have begun a rebuilding process once again. Arraez was the first to go, but certainly won't be the last. Particularly for Marlins players who are nearing free agency, it is just a matter of when they will be shopped to contending teams. At 22-15 entering Wednesday, the Chicago Cubs should be aggressive buyers. Their main weakness to this point in the 2024 season has been the bullpen, which ranks 23rd in the majors in fWAR, 24th in ERA and 26th in walk rate. According to Dave Kaplan of ESPN 1000, the Marlins and Cubs "could be working on a deal for a reliever." Miami closer Tanner Scott would make the most sense to be dealt if that is the case. Since being acquired by the Marlins in 2022, Scott has posted a 3.14 ERA, 3.03 FIP, 12.2 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9 with 36 saves in 154 ⅔ innings pitched. Last year, he had one of the best seasons in franchise history for a relief pitcher. Earning a salary of $5.7M this season, the 29-year-old is a pending free agent. 745f1362-e81fe94a-53e97fc8-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 Scott has frequently struggled with his control during his career, including at the start of this season. Fortunately for the Marlins, he's been more effective lately, striking out the side against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday while averaging 97.5 mph on his fastball. He has allowed earned runs in only two of 15 appearances in 2024. Although the MLB trade deadline is nearly three months away, Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix can maximize the return for Scott by moving him earlier so that the acquiring team can use him more. Waiting until the deadline would allow Bendix to negotiate with more teams, but there is also the risk of an injury occurring between now and then. The Cubs opened this season with Adbert Alzolay as their closer, but have since switched to Héctor Neris. Even if Scott doesn't move into that role, he can be used in high-leverage situations, especially when there are left-handed batters due up. In the Arraez trade, the Marlins focused on quantity over quality. Let's imagine that for Scott, they try to get the best individual prospect possible. Kevin Alcántara, 21, was acquired from the New York Yankees in the Anthony Rizzo trade. The Dominican outfielder has progressed to the Double-A level where he is currently slashing .220/.268/.385/.653 with four home runs, six RBIs and a 97 wRC+. He is ranked as Chicago's #6 prospect, according to Northside Baseball. (There is no relation between him and Sandy Alcantara, to be clear.) Year Age AgeDif Tm Lg Lev Aff G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB 2019 16 2 Teams 2 Lgs Rk-FRk NYY 41 174 161 26 41 8 3 1 19 5 3 8 36 .255 .305 .360 .665 58 3 4 0 1 0 2019 16 -3.5 Yankees East GULF Rk NYY 32 128 123 19 32 5 2 1 13 3 3 3 27 .260 .289 .358 .647 44 3 2 0 0 0 2019 16 -1.8 Yankees DOSL FRk NYY 9 46 38 7 9 3 1 0 6 2 0 5 9 .237 .348 .368 .716 14 0 2 0 1 0 2021 18 2 Teams 2 Lgs Rk CHC 34 138 119 32 41 4 5 5 24 5 0 17 36 .345 .423 .588 1.012 70 2 0 1 1 0 2021 18 -1.9 Cubs ACL Rk CHC 25 107 92 27 31 3 5 4 21 3 0 13 28 .337 .415 .609 1.024 56 2 0 1 1 0 2021 18 -2.0 Yankees FCL Rk NYY 9 31 27 5 10 1 0 1 3 2 0 4 8 .370 .452 .519 .970 14 0 0 0 0 0 2022 19 -1.8 Myrtle Beach CARL A CHC 112 495 428 76 117 19 6 15 85 14 3 55 123 .273 .360 .451 .811 193 6 6 0 6 1 2023 20 3 Teams 3 Lgs A+-AA-Rk CHC 102 435 391 71 111 26 3 13 71 15 4 36 105 .284 .345 .466 .810 182 6 3 0 5 0 2023 20 -3.7 Tennessee SOUL AA CHC 5 21 16 4 4 1 0 1 4 0 0 3 7 .250 .381 .500 .881 8 1 1 0 1 0 2023 20 -2.3 South Bend MIDW A+ CHC 95 408 371 65 106 25 3 12 66 15 4 31 97 .286 .341 .466 .807 173 5 2 0 4 0 2023 20 0.1 Cubs ACL Rk CHC 2 6 4 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 .250 .500 .250 .750 1 0 0 0 0 0 2023 20 -2.4 Mesa AZFL Fal 21 97 86 11 22 7 1 5 23 3 1 8 30 .256 .330 .535 .865 46 1 2 0 1 0 2024 21 -2.8 Tennessee SOUL AA CHC 22 92 87 11 19 3 0 4 6 2 1 5 27 .218 .261 .391 .652 34 2 0 0 0 0 Standing at 6'6", 188 pounds, what stands out about Alcántara is the impressive speed and outfield defense he has at that size. He is capable of sticking in center, but his strong arm can profile him well in right field. Along with Jakob Marsee (Arraez trade) and Shane Sasaki (Jon Berti trade), the addition of Alcántara would complete the makeover of the Marlins' Double-A outfield. The righty hitter has the potential to be a middle-of-the-order run producer in Miami as soon as 2025. Would you be willing to trade Scott to the Cubs right now if Alcántara was being offered? View full article

Summarizing key takeaways from multiple interviews that the Miami Marlins president of baseball operations conducted on Saturday regarding the club's controversial trade. On Friday night, the Miami Marlins and the San Diego Padres struck a deal to send second baseman Luis Arraez to the Padres in exchange for prospects Dillon Head, Jakob Marsee, Nathan Martorella and Woo-Suk Go. Any trade involving a player with Arraez's track record and accolades would be big news, but that's especially true so early in the MLB season, nearly three months in advance of the trade deadline. Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix had some explaining to do on Saturday once the move became official. In 180 games played with the organization, Arraez slashed .343/.384/.450/.834 with 10 home runs, 74 RBIs and a 127 OPS+. Arraez also notched the first cycle in franchise history and became the first player in Major League Baseball history to win the batting title in back-to-back seasons in different leagues. "It was an incredibly difficult decision," Bendix told Bally Sports Florida's Kelly Saco. "He's not just a great player, but he's a phenomenal person, phenomenal leader and we don't take those types of positions lightly. Ultimately, it felt like this was the right decision for the Marlins organization to help us get to the place that we need to be." A report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic noted that the Padres expressed their interest in Arraez throughout the offseason, but the talks didn't amount to anything at that point. "It really came together very quickly," Bendix explained. "It felt like this was too good of a deal to pass up, frankly." Bendix elaborated further to the Marlins Radio Network: "It came together in the last 24 hours when things really picked up to the point where there was a deal on the table that we felt like we had to say yes to." Bendix also held a formal press conference with local and national media. The full recording of it is available for Fish On First SuperSubs here, but let's summarize his key answers below. The Marlins were coming off of an 84-78 season last year, clinching a spot in the playoffs, but coming up short against the Philadelphia Phillies. With the departure of general manager Kim Ng, the Marlins hired Bendix from the Tampa Bay Rays. Bendix insisted that he was looking to build both for now and for the future of the franchise. However, the Marlins currently find themselves with a 9-25 record, which is the third-worst in baseball. Bendix admitted in his availability with the media that the team is unlikely to make the 2024 postseason, convincing him to proceed with a future-focused trade like this. "I understand that it's a difficult message in the short term," said Bendix. "I'm not gonna run from that and this is a very difficult type of move to make. Ultimately, this was the move that we felt like we needed to make to get the organization to the level of long-term sustainable success that I set out when I came here." The early-season struggles "opened us up to the possibility," he said. "When we have the record that we have, the frustrating start that we have, we have to take the incoming calls and we have to listen. Ultimately, we have to be open to moves that are going to help us in the long term." The Marlins took Arraez to an arbitration hearing prior to this season when they could not bridge a $1.4M gap in proposed salaries. With the Venezuelan infielder only under club control through 2025, Bendix confirmed that there was never a formal negotiation between Arraez's agency and the organization regarding a possible contract extension. "It's something that we had considered," said Bendix. "It was part of the conversation, we have a lot of different conversations about how to handle our roster and how to handle a player like Luis (Arraez). We never got to the point of having those conversations formally, but we decided that right now given our record so far this year, given the state of our minor league system, given our stated goals of developing this franchise into sustainably successful team that's winning 90-plus games a year in and year out." Other veteran Marlins players seem likely to become trade chips for Bendix and his staff as the trade market heats up. "We knew that this was going to be a series of difficult decisions to get us to where we want to go. Wasn't necessarily predicting that this would be the first of them, but that's what happened just given where we are so far in the season." As much as the public trade reaction has largely focused on what the Marlins gave up, the return is substantial beginning with reliever Woo-Suk Go, who signed a two-year free agent deal with the Padres in January. "He had quite the illustrious career in Korea," said Bendix. "I think sometimes the transition from a Korean league or any league that you're unfamiliar with coming into a new country where you don't speak the language, that transition can be very difficult. We're hopeful and optimistic that he's shown the ability to make that transition. We like his stuff, we like his demeanor, we like things that he's been able to do so far in his short professional career. We're optimistic that he can contribute to our major league bullpen." The main piece in this package is 19-year-old Dillon Head, who the Padres drafted with their first-round draft pick last year. Although Head is off to a tough start this season, slashing .237/.317/.366/.683, there is a lot of upside and belief that he will be just fine. "He's probably furthest away from the big leagues," said Bendix. "He has relatively minimal professional experience...He also probably has the highest upside of the group. The athleticism, the speed, the overall impact on both sides of the baseball is pretty exciting for us." The two other players involved in the deal were outfielder Jakob Marsee and first baseman Nathan Martorella. "I believe they've both been roommates throughout their entire professional career together," said Bendix. "They're both right around 23 years old. Both very well-rounded players—Marsee a good center fielder, Martorella a first baseman who can really hit." Head will report to Low-A while Marsee and Martorella will head to Double-A. Go will report to Triple-A Jacksonville. Bendix won't use the word "rebuild" despite clearly following that playbook. He has even borrowed the phrase "sustainable success" that Derek Jeter used when he first bought the team with Bruce Sherman in 2017. In his defense, Bendix comes from Tampa Bay where the Rays made the playoffs in each of his last five years as their general manager. "I've seen it be successful in other organizations," said Bendix. "I have people that work for us that have experiences other very successful organizations. There's a lot of different ways that you can be successful in this game regardless of where you rank in payroll, or different things. Ultimately, it relies on discipline in the long-term vision." Bendix ended off his press conference by offering a message to the fans: "We want the short-term payoff. Nobody wants to lose, we don't want to lose. We are taking this as hard as anybody and I understand the fans that are clamoring for a winner, fans that have seen frankly not as many winning Marlins teams as they would like to see. We have the same goal as you: we want to turn this organization into perennial winner. We're committed to doing that. I think this is one step towards in that direction." Meanwhile in Oakland, the Marlins will try to tie their series against the Athletics on Saturday. Not too far away, Luis Arraez is debuting for the Padres against the Arizona Diamondbacks, serving as their designated hitter and batting in the leadoff spot. View full article

Marlins baseball was still played on Friday night even with Luis Arraez on the verge of being traded to the Padres. Miami dropped to 9-25 on the season. Nine minutes before the start of Friday's game, the first reports surfaced that the Miami Marlins were finalizing a trade to send 2023 National League batting champ Luis Arraez to the San Diego Padres in exchange for four prospects. With Arraez scratched from the starting lineup, the Marlins still kicked off a three-game set against the Oakland Athletics with Ryan Weathers taking the mound. "Nothing's official yet, but one of my favorite players I've ever been around," said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker after the game in regards to the trade. "Pulling him late is not easy for any of us in the clubhouse, but it's part of the business and we understand it's part of this game." Schumaker received the news about 15 minutes before first pitch through a phone call and had to begin scrambling to set a new lineup and get everything ready. h0luiz.mp4 Expect more detailed comments from Schumaker on Saturday assuming that the trade is completed. In his seventh start of the season, Weathers went six innings, marking the sixth time that a starting pitcher has gone that deep into a game. It was Weathers' second time doing so. Going with his usual fastball/changeup combo, Weathers did get 13 whiffs, with the changeup responsible for nine of them. "Thought Weathers was good," said Schumaker. "Slider/changeup was excellent. I thought the command on both of those pitches and swing-and-miss was really good. One tough pitch that he probably wants back, but other than that, six innings, three runs kept us in the game, just couldn't get anything going on the offense." Compared to his last start, Weathers did use both the fastball and changeup more, shying away from the sweeper. Despite less usage on the sweeper, it did generate three whiffs. All of Weathers strikeouts came on the changeup. Weathers best start still came when his sweeper was the most used pitch in his arsenal, but since then, he's gone away from it. Weathers' only true mistake came in the bottom of the fourth inning when designated hitter Brent Rooker took the southpaw deep for a two-run homer, giving the Athletics a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Esteury Ruiz was just about to ground out to end the inning, but a misfire from Tim Anderson allowed Max Schuemann to score from third. That was Rooker's sixth home run of the season. The ball left the bat at 108.3 mph, which ended up being the hardest-hit ball of the game and the distance was 440 ft, also marked as the longest hit ball of the game. Athletics starter JP Sears went 6 ⅓ shutout innings, striking out six and only giving up four hits. For the first time in his career, Dane Myers was the lead-off hitter for the Marlins, taking over for Arraez. Myers ended the game with one hit and one walk. "Dane's one of our hottest hitters," said Schumaker. "He's really good against left-handers. Thought there was a good chance that he would get on base a couple times in front of the big boys which he did. I thought he was our best chance to get multiple at-bats because he's our hottest guy." In the top of the ninth inning, Vidal Bruján drove in Nick Gordon from first base. Bruján, who got off to a slow start, is now proving to be one of the Marlins' best hitters (127 wRC+ this season). On Friday, he had a three-hit night against Sears, who was cruising against the rest of the Marlins lineup. It wasn't enough as the Marlins fell by a final score of 3-1. With the loss, that moves the Marlins to 9-25 on the season and 0-1 post-Luis Arraez era. "I think it's human nature," said Schumaker when asked about how the Arraez news impacted the team's performance. "Arraez is one of our leaders in the clubhouse and great teammate, so of course, I think that it's human nature that there's an initial shock when it happens. When he gets pulled out of the lineup, I think these guys aren't dumb. They know what's going on and I think that the initial shock factor is definitely real." The Marlins and A's are back at it on Saturday with Trevor Rogers getting the start at 4:10 p.m. EST. For the Athletics, Paul Blackburn will be taking the mound. View full article

Three days after being disciplined by the Marlins for his lack of effort, the Dominican outfielder delivered the decisive 10th-inning hit to extend Miami's winning streak. MIAMI, FL—Monday was a low point for the Miami Marlins and for outfielder Jesús Sánchez in particular. He was removed from the game after the top of the third inning due to a lack of effort as the Washington Nationals completed a four-game sweep of the Marlins. However, the Marlins have not lost since. On Thursday afternoon, they beat the Colorado Rockies by a final score of 5-4 and it was Sánchez who walked-off the Rockies to clinch the three-game sweep. "Credit to him, he's moved on and I think he's grown from it already," said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. "I told him I still love him and doesn't mean I'm not gonna play you anymore. His teammates also built him up after that. There were a lot of good conversations and I'm super happy for him." Sanchez, who primarily faces right-handed pitching, saw himself going up against a lefty in Jalen Beeks. "Beeks is not easy to hit." said Schumaker. "He's got that induced fastball with a real cutter. That's not easy to hit against, especially as a lefty." Entering this afternoon's game, Sánchez had slashed .196/.228/.312/.541 in his career against lefties, but this season had only ten at-bats against them. "I was really feeling comfortable," said Sanchez through an interpreter when talking about the at-bat. "With a left-handed pitcher, he was throwing that fastball so I was thinking, 'let's go open up the field on this one.' Got me on two strikes and continued with the same plan. I was able to make contact." Per Marlins communications, with two walk-off wins vs. the Rockies this series, it marks the first time that the Marlins won multiple games in walk-off fashion in the same series since 2022 (July 13 and July 14 vs. Pittsburgh). After getting roughed up in his last start, Marlins starting pitcher Edward Cabrera took the mound against the Colorado Rockies and went four innings, giving up four runs off three hits and four walks. Despite some control issues, Cabrera now leads the team in strikeouts with 30. "It's lights-out stuff, but the walks hurt him," said Schumaker. (Jacob) Stallings set one off of him, but I think overall, three hits. He doesn't give up a ton of hits because it's hard to hit off of. It's just the walks again." During his two seasons as Cabrera's teammate, Stallings hit only one home run at loanDepot park, but his three-run shot in the top of the second inning was a no-doubter. Other than that mistake, Cabrera picked up a high amount of whiffs from what was a very aggressive Rockies lineup. Out of Cabrera's nine strikeouts, seven came on swinging strikes. Cabrera didn't rely on one specific putout pitch, keeping the opposing hitters guessing throughout most of the afternoon. Cabrera did enter the top of the fifth, but was unable to record an out as he walked Jake Cave, gave up a base hit to Stallings and walked nine hitter Hunter Goodman to end his afternoon. Following his start, Cabrera noted that he was under the weather and not feeling 100%. The Marlins offense would provide Cabrera with run support throughout the entirety of his outing. In the bottom of the first inning, Luis Arraez led off with a double and after Bryan De La Cruz worked a walk, Jazz Chisholm Jr. drove him in, moving De La Cruz to third. Sánchez drove in De La Cruz on a sacrifice fly to give Miami an early 2-0 lead. Josh Bell took Rockies starter Peter Lambert deep for a solo homer, his fourth of the season. With the home run, Bell finds himself on a three-game hitting streak, which can potentially lead him to turning the corner and getting back on track (69 wRC+ this season). "The guy works a lot," said Schumaker. "He is early hitting every day. He's hitting after watching video and hitting after the game. He really cares and he's trying to figure it out. He's not happy about his start. It's tough for me to take him out of the lineup because I know it's coming. There's been some really good, hard outs...He's walking, that tells me he's seeing it. That tells me he's really, really close. It's not surprising when guys work and that success comes." The Miami Marlins now travel to California to take on the Oakland Athletics, who have a record of 15-17 this season. Miami's projected starters for the series will be Ryan Weathers, Trevor Rogers and Sixto Sánchez. First pitch on Friday will be at 9:40 p.m. View full article

In his second career start, 24-year-old Roddery Muñoz went six innings, allowing only run and striking out seven. He also cemented himself into Marlins history. MIAMI, FL—Entering Wednesday night's game against the Colorado Rockies, the Miami Marlins looked to clinch their first series of the season and win back-to-back games. Along with accomplishing those feats, Dominican pitcher Roddery Muñoz earned his first major league win and Anthony Maldonado earned his first career save. The Marlins defeated the Rockies by a final score of 4-1. Acquired in the offseason in exchange for cash considerations, nobody thought that right-hander Roddery Muñoz would do what he has done through his first two Major League starts. After a strong first start, Muñoz went six innings against the Rockies, giving up one run off three hits. He struck out seven in the process. "I thought Mel (Stottlemyre Jr.) had a really good game plan with with Roddery and Christian Bethancourt," said Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker after the game. "The demeanor was great out there. Saw some fist pumps maybe after every inning, but that's a rookie being excited out there and we're excited for him." The only Rockies run came in the top of the sixth inning, when Elias Diaz grounded out, scoring Brenton Doyle. Compared to Muñoz's debut (eight whiffs), he made opposing hitters whiff a lot more (12). His four-seam fastball velocity averaged 95.9 mph and topped out at 97.5 mph. What stood out to Schumaker was the 70% strikes thrown and how successful he was in balancing that along with making opposing hitters whiff. "The slider was real, fastball command was great. Just excellent job by Roddery." Against the Rockies, Muñoz went cutter-heavy (38% usage) while utilizing five different pitches overall. Two of his strikeouts came on the slider while three came on the cutter and two with the sinker. "That is my best pitch right now that I can have confidence in," said Muñoz via intrepreter in regards to his cutter/slider. "Threw it quite a bit in in Chicago," said Schumaker. "Probably more tonight, but he threw it quite a bit and talking with the other side, they couldn't pick it up...In Chicago, some of the guys there said that it was just a really tough pitch to pick up." Muñoz became the fifth Marlins starter this season to complete six innings. Jesús Luzardo, Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers have all done it once while Max Meyer did it twice. He also became the sixth pitcher in Marlins history to strike out at least 14 batters in his first two career games. The last to accomplish this feat was Sixto Sánchez in the 2020 shortened season. Along with Muñoz's strong outing, the Marlins offense backed him up, getting to Colorado Rockies starter Dakota Hudson. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Luis Arraez drove in Emmanuel Rivera to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead. Bryan De La Cruz followed Arraez with an RBI double, scoring the Venezuelan from first. The Marlins extended their lead in the bottom of the eighth inning when Dane Myers, who pinch-hit for Christian Bethancourt, smacked an RBI single, driving in Otto Lopez and Rivera to give Miami a 4-1 lead. Since being recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville, Myers has gone 4-for-8 with five RBIs. For him, performing in late-game situations is nothing new. "I enjoy it," said Myers. "It's kind of been my type of thing my whole life. I pride myself in coming through in those situations." Although Myers walked it off in game one against the Rockies, he showed a lot of emotion in game two as well, knowing he very likely clinched the first Marlins series win of the season. "Yeah, 2-1 and 4-1 is a big difference going into the ninth. Giving Maldonado extra cushion is pretty big and showing a little motion, I felt good and I was pumped to get those couple extra runs." Anthony Maldonado earned his first career save with a scoreless ninth inning. "I've watched Maldo pitch now for a couple of years and stuff is electric," said Myers, who had been AAA-Jacksonville teammates with him dating back to 2023. "I think he has one of the best sliders in the league. You guys are seeing that a lot of swing-and-miss and he's a good guy. I think he deserves it all." Schumaker added that the intention originally was not to place Maldonado in this situation, but following the Myers hit, Tanner Scott had to sit for an extended period between innings and for him to go back out there was just too risky, so he put his confidence in the rookie. "I felt really comfortable with Maldonado coming in with especially a three-run lead." With the 4-1 victory over the Rockies, the Marlins have clinched their first series victory in 2024 and it was their first time winning back-to-back games. The Fish will conclude their homestand and go for the sweep on Thursday. Edward Cabrera will take the mound for the Marlins, while for the Rockies, Peter Lambert takes the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. View full article

Josh Bell speaks to Fish On First about the importance of Tuesday's comeback win and how he's working to break out of his early-season slump. View full video

Miami Marlins outfielder Jesús Sánchez addresses the media after being removed early from Monday's loss, accompanied by interpreter Luis Dorante. View full video

As the Marlins dropped their seventh straight game and to 6-24 on the season, outfielder Jesús Sánchez made a lackluster play in the outfield, costing a run and resulting in a teammate's injury. MIAMI, FL - On Monday night, the Miami Marlins looked to avoid their first four-game series sweep of the season, but were unsuccessful. Starting pitcher Trevor Rogers gave up three runs and despite a Jazz Chisholm Jr. two-run homer, the Marlins bullpen gave up four runs in the top of the seventh inning which helped Washington Nationals defeat the Miami Marlins by a final score of 7-2. On their way to losing a seventh straight game, Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker made a statement move by removing Marlins outfielder Jesus Sanchez from the game after the Dominican outfielder made a costly lackluster play. The right-fielder attempted to cut a ball off in the gap and once he retrieved it, Sanchez back-pedaled five times, allowing Alex Call to reach second with ease. Sanchez's throw was delayed and Tim Anderson ended up suffering a mild left thumb sprain on the slide from Call and was removed from the game. Following Sanchez's mistake, starting pitcher Trevor Rogers surrendered a two-run homer to CJ Abrams. "I have literally no rules except for giving me everything you have," said Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. "He lost the ball in the lights. I've lost the ball in the lights many times. I felt like the effort wasn't there, so I decided to remove him from the game." Sanchez then spoke on the issue and he accepted his mistake and knew that he deserved to be removed from the game. "I didn't get upset," said Sanchez when asked if he was upset when he was taken out. "I took myself out of the game. That's something I have to understand and he made that decision." Prior to the game, Schumaker mentioned that he would like to see Trevor Rogers complete six innings. On Monday night, Rogers was only able to complete and allowed three runs on four hits and three walks. Rogers also struck out three. The home run that Rogers gave was on a 2-0 count where the Marlins starter went with a middle-middle fastball. CJ Abrams took Rogers deep to right field for his seventh home run of the season, giving Washington a 2-0 lead. The final run Rogers surrendered came in the fifth when he walked Jesse Winker with the bases loaded. Rogers' biggest frustration is not being able to go deep into games, something he made clear during his postgame press conference. "The only thing is that I can't go deep into ballgames," said Rogers. "I am really pissed off right now and I'm not happy with it." The last time Rogers completed six innings was on April 14, 2023 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Schumaker added. "I thought he was good. I think he'll tell you a couple of walks hurt him. I put one of the guys on obviously in Senzel to get to Winker, but other than that, I thought there was some soft contact. Thought he pitched well, overall. Think the fifth inning just caught up to him a little bit." The Marlins offense, despite being limited to four hits, made the game interesting in the bottom of the sixth inning. Vidal Brujan, who pinch hit for Sánchez, got a base hit and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit his fourth home run of the season, making it a 3-2 ballgame. d The Nationals blew the game out of reach for the Marlins in the top of the seventh inning, though. Calvin Faucher, who struggled on Friday, made his first appearance since then and struggled once again, unable to find the zone and gave up a hit. He was taken out in place of Andrew Nardi, who along with Faucher, gave up a total of four runs, with only one of them being being earned. With the loss, the Miami Marlins have lost their first four-game series against the Washington Nationals since 2014, lost their first series against the Nats since April 30-May 2 of 2021 and first time they lose a series against Washington in Miami since June 25-27 of 2019. The Marlins are now losers of seven straight, holding a 6-24 record. On Tuesday, the Marlins kick-off a three-game set against the Colorado Rockies. Sixto Sánchez will take the mound in game one at 6:40pm. The Rockies will counter with right-hander Ryan Feltner. View full article

Prior to Sunday's game against the Washington Nationals, president of baseball operations Peter Bendix addressed the state of the Miami Marlins. MIAMI, FL—The Miami Marlins are off to the worst start in franchise history and currently on pace to win 35 games. President of baseball operations Peter Bendix did not hide his disappointment while addressing the media prior to Sunday's game. "It's been very frustrating. There's no other way to characterize it," said Bendix. "It's not the start I was hoping for, it's not the start anybody on this field was hoping for. I've been happy and impressed with the way the group has really held it together." Marlins manager Skip Schumaker shared the same sentiments the night before. Christian Bethancourt, who recently came back from the IL, collected his first hit of the season on Saturday, while Nick Fortes had a -4 wRC+ through 53 plate appearances as of Sunday morning. "I think it's very fair to say that our catchers have struggled," said Bendix. "I think both of these guys have track records to suggest that they're going to bounce back. These guys have a lot of talent, especially defensively, with our pitching staff and lot of the things that don't show up in their stats. I'm also very confident that their offensive performance is going to improve." Starting pitcher Jesús Luzardo was placed on the 15-day IL Friday due to left elbow tightness. With Luzardo heading to the IL, that opens up a second spot in the Marlins rotation, meaning depth is needed more than ever. With Max Meyer recently sent down to Triple-A Jacksonville, the Marlins rotation has seen Sixto Sánchez, Roddery Muñoz and Anthony Maldonado make spot starts. The Marlins lost each of the games that they started, in part because they couldn't last deep into those games. In regards to Luzardo, there's no new update—results of the testing that was done recently has not arrived yet. "We're always going to be addressing the depth," said Bendix. "The more guys that are injured, the more important that depth is. Unfortunately, that's something that is the case around the league. We knew this was going to be the case. It will be opportunities for guys to step up...We're going to have guys with that opportunity and it's up to them to take it." This past offseason, Bendix signed only one player to a major league deal: Tim Anderson. Through 26 games as a Marlin, the shortstop is slashing .222/.263/.244 with four RBIs and a 45 wRC+. Bendix did note that it is still only April and he's not ready to jump to conclusions about his offseason acquisitions. He did note he's been pleased with reliever Calvin Faucher. How much more losing would it take for the Marlins to begin behaving like "sellers" and shop some of their top current players in exchange for long-term assets? "We're always assessing," said Bendix. "We're assessing those moves from day one of the season, determining what the 26-man roster should look like, who should be on the team, who should be in AAA, what trades we might want to make and waiver claims. All of that is really an ongoing process." View full article

Prior to Sunday's game, Marlins outfielder Dane Myers discusses his promotion from Triple-A Jacksonville and how he fought through an early-season slump. View full video