Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Marlins trade
Adeiny Hechavarria going to the Tampa Bay Rays.
MIAMI — The Adeiny Hechavarria era is over for the Miami Marlins.
The team traded its injured starting shortstop Monday to the Tampa Bay Rays for two minor leaguers, center fielder Braxton Lee and righthander Ethan Clark.
For the Marlins, the deal brings a bit of salary relief — the Rays will pay Hechavarria the rest of the $4.35 million he is owed this year, according to a source with knowledge of the situation — and two marginal prospects, plus a path for rookie JT Riddle to remain the big league team’s everyday shortstop.
It was Riddle’s emergence, president of baseball operations Michael Hill said, and not a desire to shed salary that motivated the trade.
“I don’t think any of it was salary-driven. I know what’s out there.
I know historically we’ve had to battle that,” Hill said. “We’ve seen how this is a young player who is comparable to Hech at shortstop, with a left-handed bat. It gives our offense a different dynamic than we got with Hech.
“When we saw him this spring and we saw how he changed physically, maturity-wise, we felt like he had really turned a corner in his development and had really become an option for us as a major league shortstop.”
That stance was reaffirmed when the Marlins called on Riddle twice, when Hechavarria strained his left oblique in April and again in May.
Riddle, who has been slumping, has slashed .230/.251/.354 with three homers, 23 RBI and sound defense in 51 games, regularly drawing rave reviews from manager Don Mattingly.
This marks the end of Hechavarria’s nearly four and a half seasons as a Marlin. Long a glove-first, batdistant-second shortstop, Hechavarria’s offense never really developed.
He hit .255 with a .292 OBP and .336 slugging percentage in 599 games with Miami. That included a .277/.288/.385 slash line in 20 games this year, Hechavarria’s time on the field limited by the twicestrained oblique.
Hechavarria, 28, was worth about 0.4 Wins Above Replacement per season with the Marlins, according to Baseball Reference and FanGraphs.
“He will admit, as we all saw, that there was a little bit of a regression offensively last season,” Hill said. “But he’s always been a pro and has done whatever we’ve asked him to do, be it offensively or defensively, to help this organization.”
Hechavarria was on the Marlins’ disabled list since May 10. He had been tentatively scheduled to rejoin the team Tuesday from his rehab assignment with High-A Jupiter.
The Marlins acquired Hechavarria in the infamous November 2012 blockbuster with the Blue Jays, when Miami sent Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle to Toronto weeks after the conclusion of their first season at Marlins Park. In return, the Marlins received seven players, including Hechavarria.
Left-hander Justin Nicolino is the only one who remains from the trade.
Second baseman Dee Gordon will be the Marlins’ backup shortstop until Miguel Rojas (thumb surgery) returns around mid-July or the team brings one up from Triple-A New Orleans.
Lee, 23, will join Double-A Jacksonville. He was hitting .318 with a .387 OBP and .391 slugging percentage with Tampa Bay’s Double-A affiliate. He has 13 extrabase hits (nine doubles) and 16 RBI and was a Southern League All-Star.
Clark, 22, will join Low-A Greensboro. He had a 3.11 ERA and 1.00 WHIP while working mostly as a starter with the Rays’ Low-A team. Listed at 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds, Clark has above-average command of his fastball and a three-pitch mix, Hill said.
Neither Lee nor Clark ranked among the Rays’ top 30 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline and Baseball America.
Hechavarria is the first of what could be several Marlins traded this summer. Hill acknowledged that the organization will need to decide in the coming weeks, as the July 31 trade deadline approaches, in which direction to move.
“Our immediate plan is to win as many games as possible,” Hill said. “Our May really put us in a hole in terms of the standings. We’ve played [better] of late, but we do know the deadline is quickly approaching.
“If we were to go to the market, we have players that would be attractive, but our goal continues to be to win as many games as possible.”