Miami Marlins: Roster Becoming Clear with More Cuts

The Miami Marlins made a series of roster moves on Wednesday morning, which makes what the team’s roster on opening day could be a lot clearer. Most of the moves are not surprising, but it’s hard to wrap your head around one of the moves.

Today happens to be J.T. Realmuto‘s birthday, so it’s unfortunate the Marlins gave him this news today, though the move was an expected one. Hopefully Realmuto has a great birthday and an even better season in Triple-A, forcing his way back to the big league roster. 

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Justin Bour was a long shot to make the team, as he’s primarily a first baseman and the Marlins have always preferred flexibility from their bench. His left-handed power bat would have been a great thing off the bench, but demoting him makes perfect sense. He could see time later this season if Michael Morse gets hurt.

Miguel Rojas, who has become the forgotten part of the Dodgers-Marlins trade this off-season is an excellent infield defender, particularly at short. However, he still has work to do with his bat in the minors and could be called upon later in the season if the Marlins want a better defensive shortstop option off the bench behind Adeiny Hechavarria.

The team also option right hander Andre Rienzo to Triple-A New Orléans, where he will join Justin Nicolino, Jose Urena and Adam Conley in a talented rotation.He came over to the Marlins in a trade with the White Sox for left handed reliever Dan Jennings this off-season.

The lone questionable demotion for the Marlins has to be of Derek Dietrich. Of all the bench options the Marlins had, Dietrich had the best bat. Dietrich came up as a short stop, but has played primarily second base in the majors. He also would have been an option at third base, first base, and in the outfield for the team. 

Dietrich provides strong left handed pop from the bench and offers the versatility that Bour does not offer. Ever since the Tino Martinez incident, it does not seem like the team has given Dietrich a fair shake.

Dietrich doesn’t have anything left to prove in the minors and with Dee Gordon and Martin Prado under contract, for at least the next two seasons, has no real role on the team moving forward. Demoting him today makes little sense.

Today’s demotions leave Reid Brignac, Don Kelly, Austin Nola, Scott Sizemore and Donovan Solano competing for the final reserve infielder spot. Of the four players, Nola is the most surprising, as he spent the all the 2014 season in Double-A and has no experience above the level.

We’ll have more on the infield competition tomorrow morning, with a look at which player makes the most sense for the Marlins to carry.

Next: Best Case Scenario for Dee Gordon?