Marlins Add Bell, Weathers in Deadline-Hour Trade Duology

The Marlins, who acquired some thump earlier on Deadline Day within the type of Jake Burger, went out and purchased some extra proper after the bell rang, selecting up Josh Bell in trade for Jean Segura and prospect Kahlil Watson. Nearly concurrently, information broke that the Marlins had been buying and selling Garrett Cooper and pitching prospect Sean Reynolds to the Padres for left-hander Ryan Weathers. (The Marlins are additionally paying down Cooper’s wage to the league minimal.)

Burger’s addition made Segura surplus to necessities; if the Marlins had seen sufficient of him, it made sense to commerce him to the one group that loves slap hitters greater than they do. But the Guardians are releasing Segura and within the course of consuming the rest of his wage for 2023 and ’24 ($8.5 million), plus a $2 million buyout for ’25. In trade, they decide up a prospect and jettison Bell’s much more costly wage for subsequent yr. Here, I made a helpful chart:

I explored the Marlins’ causes for jettisoning Segura within the Burger piece, nevertheless it’s fairly simple reasoning to comply with: They wish to make the playoffs, and Segura is hitting .219/.277/.279.

The swap of first basemen is essentially the most attention-grabbing piece of this commerce for me. Both Cooper and Bell had extremely embellished 2022 campaigns — the previous made the All-Star group, and the latter received a Silver Slugger — however have disillusioned in ’23. On the floor, this seems just like the Marlins are swapping one reasonably disappointing first baseman/DH for one more dearer one.

So why would the Marlins do that? I can assume of some causes. First, Bell is a switch-hitter, and Cooper is a righty with related weaknesses to Burger — particularly, a lot of strikeouts and comparatively few walks. And Bell has attributes that make him extra engaging than Cooper as a bounce-back candidate. He walks extra, he strikes out much less, he’s two years youthful, and he has superior uncooked energy, even when accessing it in video games has all the time been an unsure proposition.

Then there’s the contract. Cooper makes $3.9 million this yr and is a pending free agent. Bell is within the first season of a two-year deal that pays him $16.5 million yearly. If the Marlins contemplate Segura a sunk price — i.e., in the event that they had been going to launch him anyway — what they’ve performed is basically purchased a one-year, $6 million flyer on Bell as a bounce-back candidate for 2024, assuming he doesn’t choose out. That strikes me as a reasonably cheap gamble.

From the Padres’ perspective, why would they need Cooper? First of all, they’re solely giving up Weathers. Yes, he’s simply 23, is a former top-10 decide, and is beneath group management till 2027. But he made his main league debut within the 2020 playoffs and has been given quite a few alternatives to assert a spot on San Diego’s pitching employees over the three seasons that adopted, and he merely has not performed so. Right now, over 143 huge league innings, he has a 5.73 ERA, a 5.54 FIP, and a Okay% of simply 16.8. Maybe the potential that impressed the Padres to draft him remains to be in there, however whether it is, they might’ve been in a position to entry it by now if that had been inside their functionality.

The Marlins, in the meantime, have made younger change-of-scenery lefthanders into their facet hustle over the previous couple years, with Jesús Luzardo and A.J. Puk amongst their present examples. They’d have purpose to be optimistic that they will proper no matter is mistaken with Weathers. But for the Padres? Now seems like a very good time to let him go.

In trade, San Diego will get a prospect, Reynolds (extra on him later), plus Cooper. Earlier, I wrote concerning the Padres’ acquisition of Ji Man Choi, a participant who was constructed to type the left-handed facet of a platoon at both first base or DH. At the time, essentially the most logical platoon associate for him gave the impression to be whichever of the group’s two catchers wasn’t sporting the instruments of ignorance on that exact night. Cooper is well-suited to that function. And with the Marlins kicking in just a little over $1 million to even out the salaries, the Padres get to attempt him out principally totally free.

As for Reynolds, he’s a 25-year-old conversion mission at present at Triple-A. The 6-foot-8-inch righty was as soon as a primary baseman himself and has obtained mid-90s velocity with good really feel for each a breaking ball and a changeup. The no. 22 prospect in Miami’s system earlier than the commerce, he’s hardly a headliner, however he’s near the majors now and might be a helpful huge league reliever beneath the appropriate circumstances. That, plus a bat the Padres may use, is an acceptable return for a pitcher they will’t use.

Now for Cleveland. A cynical studying of this commerce says the Guardians are dumping a disappointing contract for a reasonably cheaper one. Two years at $16.5 million per isn’t a backbreaker for many possession teams, however it’s for the Dolans. They save about $9 million, all-in, by swapping Bell for the appropriate to launch Segura. Raise a banner.

But Watson is an attention-grabbing prospect. The no. 16 total decide as a North Carolina excessive schooler in 2021, he has explosive instruments and was the no. 49 world prospect on the 2022 preseason high 100. Switch-hitting center infielders who can get on base don’t come alongside day by day. Since then, sadly, he has been suspended by the Marlins for utilizing his bat to pantomime taking pictures an umpire and failed to carry his personal in opposition to older competitors within the Midwest League. As is the case with so many gifted highschool place gamers, Watson nonetheless must show he can hit skilled pitching. At the time of the commerce, he was the no. 8 prospect on our Marlins checklist, with a FV of 45.

For taking over the much less helpful and barely costly finish of a bilateral wage dump, Cleveland may’ve performed worse. The modal end result for Watson might be that he doesn’t have a significant huge league profession, so in that respect buying him is a danger. But if he even comes near figuring issues out and reaching his potential, he’ll be one of the best participant within the commerce, until Bell will get first-half-of-2022 scorching once more. Suffice it to say, there’s so much occurring right here.

If I had been to criticize this commerce from Cleveland’s perspective, it could be on the grounds that the Guardians obtained cheaper and worse whereas they had been a recreation out of a playoff spot. Yes, they’re beneath .500 and half their rotation (the nice half, the truth is) is on the IL, however they’re simply as a lot within the playoff race than the Padres are. And as disappointing as Bell has been thus far this yr, if the Guardians had a greater inner alternative, they might’ve used him already. That’s disappointing. The rebuttal to that argument is that Bell has been so near alternative degree that dropping him doesn’t harm that a lot, and Watson and that $9 million in financial savings might be significant down the highway. So it goes.

The Marlins have an honest shot at getting higher now, the Guardians may get higher in the long run, and the Padres keep about the identical however with a participant pool that higher fits their fast wants. Plus everybody’s accountants get some additional work. Everyone has the chance to win.