Pirates acquire RHP Arquimedes Caminero from Marlins for cash

While there are rumors flying around about the Miami Marlins interest in signing James Shields, the team made a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday afternoon. The team shipped out recently designated RHP Arquimedes Caminero to the Pirates, according to Bob Nightengale of the USA Today (via Twitter).

Interesting that the Marlins are getting cash considerations, considering they are interested in James Shields. But I highly doubt there would be enough money involved in the deal to make a dent in the Marlins attempt to lure Shields to Miami.

Caminero was designated for assignment by the Marlins on January 28th in order for the team to accommodate Ichiro Suzuki to the Marlins 40-man roster. His career 4.5 BB/9 in the minors, added on top of his struggles in the majors, likely had the Marlins brass holding a lower opinion of the right hander, after 8 seasons with the organization.

Caminero posted a 2.77 ERA and a 4.12 FIP in 13 innings of work in 2013, striking  out 23% of the hitters that year and walked just under 6%.

Last year, the numbers for Caminero were not pretty, as he posted a 10.80 ERA and a 6.43 FIP in just 6 2/3 innings. He was able to improve his strikeout to 25.8%, but he walked over 12% of them as well, which led to his struggles.

Caminero, like Marcell Ozuna, is a recent International Signing for the Marlins that made the majors. However, unlike Ozuna, Caminero didn’t pan out like the Marlins had hoped.

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The fact that the Marlins never seem to spend more than $300,000, nor have a major impactful International Signing in their recent past, outside of Ozuna, should be a reason the team needs to make a run at someone like Yoan Moncada. Of course, the chances they sign him are doubtful.

Caminero should have a decent chance to make the Pirates 25-man roster coming out of spring training. His 100-mph fastball still holds a ton of potential and there’s a good chance he can still become the power reliever the Marlins envisioned. Too bad it won’t be with the Marlins.

Next: ZiPS Projections for Prado