Revisiting the Marlins 2018 deadline trades and what can be expected in 2019

The Miami Marlins were entering the first year of a rebuild project (or what they simply refer to as a “build”) in 2018 and had a few veteran players left to trade for prospects.

They sent Cam Maybin to Seattle for infielder Bryson Brigman, Brad Zeigler to Arizona for pitcher Tommy Eveld and Justin Bour to Philadelphia for pitcher McKenzie Mills.

None of the players traded made an impact for their new clubs nor resulted in a postseason berth so whatever production came from the return felt like house money.

The Mariners selected Brigman in the third round of the 2016 MLB Draft out of San Diego and after batting just .245/.330/.294 in his first two pro seasons, shipped him to Miami with international bonus pool money to acquire Maybin. He rebounded to hit .310/.370/.395 in 2018 and gave the Marlins hope that they landed a steal.

Brigman started the season in Double-A Jacksonville and ranked 24th among the Marlins top 30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline. A .236/.322/.296 slash line in 70 games saw him demoted to Single-A Jupiter and while the 20-game slash line of .267/.349/.307 seems like an improvement, 2019 is proving to be a step back year for the 24-year-old.

Eveld was an intriguing find for the Marlins considering he grew up in South Florida and went to the University of South Florida as a quarterback. He never saw the field and an injury to his right knee prompted the switch to baseball. Naturally going from throwing position to throwing position, Eveld thrived as a pitcher for the Bulls and was selected in the ninth round by the Diamondbacks in 2016, same draft as Brigman.

He followed the steps of his older brother Bobby, who also played quarterback at South Florida and pitched in the Blue Jays and Rangers system.

Acquired from Arizona last July in exchange for Brad Ziegler, Eveld impressed in his first big league Spring Training with the Marlins and cracked the top 30. He started the season in Triple-A New Orleans but like Brigman, a 7.71 ERA in 18 appearances led to a demotion to Double-A Jacksonville. This was supposed to be the year he breaks into the big leagues but it looks like he has more ground to cover.

Mills was a Single-A pitcher during the time of the Bour trade. This year he started in Double-A Jacksonville as a starting pitcher but moved to the bullpen after his seventh start. He currently has a 5.20 ERA in 20 appearances (eight starts) this season but in his last 10 outings, he has a 2.66 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 20.1 innings. It’s quite possible Mills remains as a reliever and gets soon fast-tracked into the big leagues as soon as next season.

From Thursday: Marlins manager Don Mattingly on his team’s veteran players and Starlin Castro pic.twitter.com/iFS39fNgtS

— Tony Capobianco (@TonyCapobianco) July 19, 2019

Which leads to this year. The Marlins have a handful of veterans in the last years of their contracts. Starlin Castro, Martin Prado, Neil Walker, Curtis Granderson and Sergio Romo. Most of those veterans are at the stage of their careers where they play a clubhouse leadership role rather than a main contributor to the lineup type role. Getting anything for Walker, Prado and Granderson may seem highly unlikely but there is certainly a strong possibility to get more of a return for Castro and Romo than last year.

Romo has been the Marlins closer this season and has converted 16-of-17 save opportunities with a 3.79 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 35.1 innings pitched. Nearly every team could use a stronger bullpen come playoff time. The Cleveland Indians last season traded their top prospect to the San Diego Padres for their closer, former Marlin Brad Hand. While Romo is not at the same level as Hand, someone could send over one of their top-30 prospect for two-three crucial months of Romo, a veteran with two World Series rings.

Castro might bring out a legit prospect considering he’s an everyday second baseman who has been slashing .298/.310/.452 in his last 30 games with three home runs and 13 RBI. Over the course of the season, Castro is batting .252 with a .633 OPS and 7 home runs and 40 RBI.

“Star knows he can hit,” Mattingly said. “I talked about early in the year, water reaches its level. Guys that can hit, hit, and are .270-.280 career guys, somehow they are close to that by the time the season ends.”

He is still owed roughly $4.7MM of his $11MM salary for the 2019 season, and his $16MM club option for 2020 can be bought out for $1MM. He is currently blocking second base prospect Isan Diaz, who is the No. 6 prospect slashing .306/.396/.582 with 23 home runs and 63 RBI in Triple-A New Orleans.

Granderson got to spend the longest time in the big leagues with a batting average below .200 despite over 250 at-bats. When he was still a serviceable starter with the Mets, he was traded to the Dodgers in 2017 for relief pitcher Jacob Rhame. When he was with the Blue Jays in 2018, he was traded to Milwaukee at the end of the August 31 waiver trade deadline for minor league outfielder Demi Orimoloye. In Single-A Dunedin this year, he’s slashed .237/.298/.380 in 75 games so far that qualifies as minimal return.

Martin Prado is a 35-year-old veteran infielder who often gets injured. Batting .237 with a .563 OPS in 156 at-bats. He is at the final season of a three-year, $40M contract which includes a $15M base salary this season. The Marlins would be hard pressed to fine any suiters.

Walker was last traded in 2017 from the New York Mets to the Milwaukee Brewers for a player to be named later. It turned out to be reliever Eric Hanhold, who made his MLB debut last year but is currently pitching in Double-A after struggling in Triple-A. His slash line with the Mets (.264/.339/.442) is similar to this year with the Marlins (.274/.351/.403) so it’s safe to suggest the return for a veteran infielder that can play first and third base and come through with a pinch hit here and there is going to be similar to that of Maybin if not less.

That trade occurred in August before the waiver trade deadline. That is gone now so the July 31 trade deadline is final. So we all get to play the waiting game.

“It’s very interesting because you don’t know if it will happen today, you don’t know if it could happen in the deadline, you don’t know if it will happen at all,” Walker said. “So you try to not have it affect you on a daily basis. Coming here, I knew that it was a possibility. You just try to keep it in the back of your mind and compete if it case it does happen.”