Marlins Trade 39th Overall Pick to Pirates for Bryan Morris

The Miami Marlins front office continues to confuse the hell out of their fanbase. The team made a surprising acquisition on Sunday morning, acquiring Bryan Morris from the Pirates.

The Marlins, who are desperate for relief help, got fleeced by the Pirates here. It would be one thing to trade for a player to be named later for Morris, but the Marlins essentially traded a first round pick for a reliever that owns a career 5.01 FIP.

The move is an obvious signification that the Marlins are not very high on advanced metrics. Despite a deceptive 3.46 career ERA in 93 2/3 innings, Morris’ 5.01 FIP, 4.33 xFIP, and -1.8 WAR paint a completely different picture.

For his career, Morris strikes out under 6 hitters per nine innings and walks over 4. He has given up 1.15 home runs per nine innings and has a 60.6% groundball rate for his career.

In his 2014 season with the Pirates, Morris has a deceptive 3.80 ERA. He has actually been far worse. Due to a very lucky 83.8% left of base percentage, Morris actually owns a 5.86 FIP on the season has cost the Pirates nearly a win in 21 appearances and 23 2/3 innings of work.

This trade makes zero sense in my eyes and even more troubling is what Rotoworld expects Bryan’s role to be with the Marlins:

The pick is the 39th overall selection. Morris holds a 3.46 ERA over 81 relief appearances since the beginning of the 2011 season, but he’s also struck out just 57 over 93 2/3 frames and has a 5.01 FIP. Getting a top-40 draft pick for him looks like a wise move on the Pirates’ part. Morris will join the Marlins and Monday and will be used in a setup role.

Marlins fans, if you were already frustrated with the Marlins backend of the bullpen, be ready to be even more disappointed. And the disappointment should be felt even more next week, when the Pirates will likely use the 39th pick and add a useful player to help them down the road.

According to My MLB Draft’s latest mock draft, the Marlins were projected to land Stanford third baseman, Alex Blandino, with the 39th overall pick.