Miami Marlins move top first base plan back behind curtain with Leo Jimenez trade

At least Miami Marlins prospect Deyvison De Los Santos got to wear that beautiful teal jersey.

Well that, and collect the first hit of his MLB career. Not to mention going viral celebrating the Marlins' walk-off victory Sunday. All in all, an exciting MLB debut.

That'll have to do for now though for the big league ambitions of De Los Santos, as the Marlins announced Monday that he would be going back down to AAA to make room for newly acquired infielder Leo Jimenez. If you were wondering whether Jimenez was bringing some refreshing first base experience with him, you might find yourself disaapointed. Jimenez is a middle infielder by trade and will be backing up Xavier Edwards and Otto Lopez. First base will remain the revolving door it has looked to be all offseason, though Marlins insider Craig Mish suggests that Connor Norby should see the majority of the work there.

Which means it's right around this point that I probably need to offer a slight mea culpa on Saturday's assertion that the De Los Santos era was here for the Marlins.

Now, there is some wriggle room with the definition of an era in sports fandom. Months, years, titles, etc. Unfortunately, none of those definitions tend to involve a single game, and that is all Marlins fans will be getting from De Los Santos for the foreseeable future.

For De Los Santos himself, that likely is the best thing for his development. It's not as if his not making the roster out of spring training was a case of service time manipulation. There's still work for him to do, and Christopher Morel's oblique betraying him Friday didn't change that fact. If the past couple years have proven anything about these Marlins under President of Baseball Operations Peter Bendix, it's that they have a process...and will stick to that process. Suggesting their hand would be forced was foolish, becuse there hasn't been any evidence of that happening since Bendix took over.

However, the assertion that De Los Santos was the top plan at first base...that's one i'll stand by.

Caring this much about his development underscores that fact. As do all the details of Miami's inactive offseason when it came to bringing aboard a proven MLB commodity at first base or designated hitter. It's a conversation among the fan base that could heat up as soon as this week, when the White Sox come to town with the very reasonably priced free agent slugger Munetaka Murakami. His swing and miss issues in Japan were actually worse than De Los Santos' AAA track record but his transcendent power potential would have changed the tone of Miami's offseason dramatically.

Moving De Los Santos back behind the curtain quickly, after a positive debut, kicks the Marlins first base can back down the road until Morel returns and attempts to reclaim the job the vast majority of fans had zero interest in him taking. It also gives Connor Norby time to just lock down the job outright- he already had some good plays there this weekend and has looked more comfortable there than Morel did at any point during spring training. At least until De Los Santos is deemed ready to return himself.

As for Jimenez? I won't pretend to have any deep insights here at this time. He comes aboard as a name that once had some buzz but was now seen as disposable by his previous organization. Yet judging the move by the Bendix track record here in South Florida, Marlins fans should probably be optimistic there is upside here. While the proof of concept is all over Miami's roster, one really needs to look no further than one of the positions Jimenez will be primarily backing up. He might not be Otto Lopez, but he also doesn't need to be to justify the relatively low cost of obtaining him.

For now? De Los Santos remains a mystery box for the Marlins, and they have a new one in Jimenez. Not a bad spot for the team to be, especially paired with the so far successful start to the season.