The Miami Marlins Front Office Making Questionable, Under the Radar Moves

A few questionable moves the Miami Marlins front office have made this past week have gone under the radar. With the MLB July 31st trade deadline looming, the constant dissection of whether the Miami Marlins should be buyers or sellers, questions about Giancarlo Stanton‘s future with the team, and the team’s recent winning streak, its not hard to understand why this is the case.

However, the moves that the Marlins front office has made in regards to some of their top prospects over the past week has not gotten past my eyes.

Here is a look at the three transactions that the Fish have made over the past 8 days that have left me puzzled:

• 07/20/14 Miami Marlins optioned 2B Ed Lucas to New Orleans Zephyrs, recalled RHP Anthony DeSclafani from New Orleans Zephyrs.
• 07/25/14 Miami Marlins recalled C J.T. Realmuto from Jacksonville Suns, optioned Anthony DeSclafani to New Orleans Zephyrs.
• 07/28/14 Miami Marlins recalled Jake Marisnick from New Orleans Zephyrs, optioned J.T. Realmuto to Jacksonville Suns.

Excluding Jake Marisnick, who was called up earlier today, the players that the Marlins have called up have made 0 appearances in a major league game in their call-up time span.

The Marlins decided to call-up DeSclafani after two straight short outings by Nathan Eovaldi and Henderson Alvarez. The concern was the team did not trust Brad Hand and Jacob Turner to last deep into their ballgames.

All that is fine and it makes sense, but DeSclafani did not appear in a single game, because the Marlins wanted to “save” him for a game in which he’d need to pitch multiple innings.

As a result of this strategy, DeSclanfani had not pitched in a live game since July 12th. He made a start last night for the New Orleans Zephyrs, 16 days in between appearances for Desco.

Like I expected, rust may have played a huge factor into his start. Desco lasted just 3 1/3 innings, allowed three earned runs on six hits. Desco did have good control, walking just one hitter and striking out six. 16 days between starts is not fair to Desco at all.

When both Hand and Turner surprised the team with decent starts, the team decided the need for Desco was not there with the major league team anymore. As a result, the team decided to option him and call-up J.T. Realmuto.

Once again, the Marlins decision was understandable. They wanted to use Jarrod Salatalamacchia as their Designated Hitter for three games in an American League ballpark. With Salty out from behind the plate, the team needed a backup catcher in the case that Jeff Mathis got hurt behind the plate.

The problem? Salty only started one game as the DH and Realmuto saw zero game action in the majors.

Granted, the move was only for a total of three days, but the Marlins also have another catcher on their 40-man roster they could have given a call to, one who the team could live with just rotting on the team’s bench and give the Marlins with a left hander they are lacking off the bench.

That catcher would be Rob Brantly.

Brantly would have been a more logical move for the Marlins to call upon, as getting Realmuto as many at bats as possible should always be the priority for the Marlins.

The same thought process should have been used with the Marlins move from earlier today. The Marlins, as noted above, recalled outfielder Jake Marisnick and demoted Realmuto.

Why the Marlins recalled Marisnick is beyond me at this point. He would benefit from additional reps at Triple-A now. With the Marlins unlikely to bench any of the Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna, and Giancarlo Stanton trio. The Marlins are also likely to use Reed Johnson in a pinch hit situation before they use Marisnick.

So why call-up Marisnick when you have another outfielder, once again, on the 40-man roster that could contribute to the team right now.

The 26-year old Kyle Jensen is not getting any younger at this point and is nothing more than a bench player for the Marlins down the road. He has 21 home runs in 432 plate appearances.

At this point, the Marlins would greatly benefit having a bat like Jensen’s coming off their bench, providing instant pop off the bench, as opposed to the slap hitting Donovan Solano they have currently as their main pinch hitter.

Currently, the Marlins have Rob Brantly and Kyle Jensen on their 40-man roster. Yet the team refuses to deploy the two of them and give them a shot in the majors. They instead opt to rush their top prospects that need more seasoning and would benefit from daily at bats, not rotting on the bench for the Major League team, gaining “experience.”

The Marlins need to #FreeKyleJensen!