Surprising Marlins wheel and deal into playoff berth
The back story on savvy under-theradar Marlins transactions that have helped make this a playoff team, with insight from Marlins president/baseball operations Michael Hill:
Acquiring first baseman/outfielder Garrett Cooper and pitcher Caleb Smith from the Yankees for pitcher Mike King and international bonus signing money (November 2017): The first trade of the Derek Jeter ownership group ranks among the biggest heists in recent Marlins history, considering that Smith was flipped this summer for high-end bat Starling Marte, Cooper has been productive (.283, 6 homers, 20 RBI this season) and King has done nothing for the Yankees (1-2, 7.22 in 10 career games).
“That one is totally [thanks to Marlins executives] Gary Denbo and
Dan Greenlee,” Hill said of two employees who had just come over from the Yankees. “They gave me a run down of the Yankee system and they knew the Yankees were facing a roster crunch. You pick up the phone and start working through it with [Yankees GM] Brian Cashman.
“The Yankees weren’t in position to carry them both, and we could. We felt Caleb would compete for a rotation spot and Cooper had [minor league] options and was a right-handed bat who could upgrade our offense.”
With Cooper, manager
Don Mattingly said: “We learned we got a guy who can hit. First base is probably the best place for him. Other than COVID, we’ve been able to keep him healthy this year and that’s been a huge thing.”
Acquiring Pablo Lopez
in a July 2017 deal that sent veteran reliever David Phelps to Seattle.
The Marlins also got outfielder Brayan Hernandez and pitchers Lukas Schiraldi and Brandon Miller — all of whom flopped and were eventually released. But Lopez (6-4, 3.61 ERA this season) looks like a long-term rotation piece.
Lopez was just 5-8 with a 5.04 ERA in Class A Modesto at the time of the trade, but the Marlins loved the upside.
“Phelps was throwing as well as any reliever in baseball; a lot of teams were calling and we shot bigger,” Hill said. “I remember asking for Pablo and Nick Neidert in that deal and they wouldn’t give us both. They said they couldn’t move Neidert but they would include Pablo and that’s where Miller got inserted in his place. We eventually got Neidert anyway [in the Dee Gordon deal months later]. Pablo was exactly what we were looking for in a talent package — 6-3, was pitching in the low to mid 90s, could already spin a breaking ball.”
Selecting pitcher Elieser Hernandez in the Rule 5 draft in 2017:
Though a strained lat muscle prematurely ended his season, he was very good this season, with a
3.16 ERA in six starts and a 6.80 strikeout-to-walk ratio that was second in MLB. Moving forward, he sets up as a potential No. 5 starter, helpful bullpen piece or trade chip.
He hadn’t dominated in six years in the minors in Houston’s system “but when you stacked out fastball movement with major leaguers, it was top 10 in the major leagues,” Hill said.
Signing Jon Berti as a minor-league free agent in December 2018:
He has been a valuable multi-position piece (can play everywhere but catcher) who hit .273, six homers, 24 RBI and 17 for 20 in steals last season and batted .258 with two homers and 14 RBI, and 9 for 11 on steals this season.
Berti hit just .258 in nine minor league seasons. But “we felt he could be a tremendous National League player given that speed and versatility,” Hill said. “He hadn’t played center in Toronto but we’ve gotten good with finding skill sets and growing the players, going back to when we made Alfredo Amezaga and Emilio Bonifacio center fielders.”
Four relievers who have been very helpful.
That group included two signed this year as free agents: Brad Boxberger (1-0, 3.00 ERA in 23 games) and Nick Vincent (1-2, 4.43 and three saves in 21 games) and two acquired via trade — Richard Bleier (1-1, 2.63 in 19 games) and
James Hoyt (2-0, 1.23 in 24 games).
Because “Adam Conley had proven inconsistent,” Hill called the Orioles on July 31, giving Baltimore only a prospect (shortstop
Isaac De León) who wasn’t in their top 30 for the lefthanded Bleier. And the Marlins landed Hoyt a day later, giving Cleveland only cash. “In our metrics, Hoyt’s slider was one of the three best in Major League Baseball,” Hill said.
CHATTER
Expect to see Andre Iguodala, Jae Crowder, Jimmy Butler and perhaps even Bam Adebayo or Derrick Jones Jr .on LeBron James in the HeatLakers NBA Finals. Iguodala has held James to 44 percent shooting on 139 field goal attempts when guarding LeBron since
2015.
The Heat is the fifth NBA finalist to have a different leading scorer in each of the first three rounds of the playoffs: Goran Dragic (first round), Butler (second) and Adebayo (third). Each of the previous four teams went on to win the title.
Adebayo and Wilt Chamberlain are the only players in history to average at least 18.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.2 steals and shoot at least 57.1 percent through 15 games of a single NBA playoff run.