Continuing to trim their 40-man roster in preparation for a potentially busy offseason, the Miami Marlins elected to outright three more players to Triple-A late Wednesday. Miami’s 40-man roster now sits at just 34 players, coupled with the organization’s loss of Scott Cousins and Sandy Rosario via waivers (by the Blue Jays and Red Sox, respectively) yesterday.
The day’s latest roster casualties included utility infielders Nick Green, Gil Velazquez, and Donnie Murphy.
Green has seen time with eight different organizations over his seven seasons in the Major Leagues, batting just .236/.303/.347 in 1,155 plate appearances over that span. The 34 year old saw action in just seven games for the Marlins last season, going 4 for 23 at the plate. Spending most of the season with Miami’s Triple-A affiliate he hit .344/.397/.599 with 12 HR and 47 RBI in 237 plate appearances.
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Velazquez, 33, hit .232/.246/.250 in 57 plate appearances for the Marlins, mostly coming at third base during a September callup. In 461 plate appearances at Triple-A he batted .312/.391/.384 while spending most of his time between second base and shortstop.
Meanwhile, Murphy easily received the bulk of the playing time between the group, appearing in 52 games this year. While playing third, second, and shortstop he hit .216/.281/.379 on the year, mostly entering games late as a defensive replacement. Over 143 plate appearances in the minors he hit .309/.392/.724, turning 22 of his 38 hits into extra bases.
Green and Velazquez don’t project to be significant losses for the Marlins moving forward, given their age and lack of playing time this past season. Veterans are often nice to have as organizational depth but both are replaceable. Murphy showed the occasional glimpse of promise that led to some belief that he’d be able to stick as a bench option but he had never been able to put things together consistently enough to warrant keeping him on the 40-man roster. The added flexibility will make it easy for Miami to upgrade the roster this offseason. It’s assumed that all three players may reject their outright assignments and become free agents.