Marlins left-hander Jesús Luzardo has been recognized with a light left flexor muscle pressure, the membership introduced to members of the beat, together with Isaac Azout of Fish on First. The crew didn’t announce if this might impression his anticipated timeline.
Late final week, the lefty was scratched from his scheduled begin and positioned on the 15-day injured record on account of left elbow tightness. That naturally led to some concern, as is at all times the case when a pitcher’s throwing arm is talked about as a part of an harm. On high of that, the Marlins had already seen their rotation hit laborious by Tommy John surgical procedure. Since Sandy Alcántara and Eury Pérez have been already on the IL recovering from Tommy John surgical procedures, seeing Luzardo go down the identical path could be one other devastating blow.
Fortunately, it doesn’t appear as if something like that’s within the playing cards. Shortly after being positioned on the IL, Luzardo stated his IL placement was precautionary and that he felt he would solely miss one or two begins, and there hasn’t but been something to recommend that plan isn’t potential. He performed catch on the ballpark right now, with some video relayed on X by Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. Together with his harm additionally reported as muscular in nature and never seemingly associated to any ligament harm, that additionally maybe suggests the worst fears have been averted.
That’s undoubtedly excellent news for Luzardo and the Marlins, even when their season goes extremely poorly. They’re at present sporting a file of 6-23 and FanGraphs has their Playoff Odds down at 0.5%.
MLBTR’s Anthony Franco took a glance earlier right now at who the membership is likely to be seeking to promote this summer season, with Luzardo one of the vital enticing items they might supply. He made 32 begins for the membership final yr with an earned run common of three.58, hanging out 28.1% of batters in opposition to a stroll fee of simply 7.4%. He stumbled out of the gate this yr with a 6.58 ERA via 5 begins, however that’s a reasonably small pattern dimension and the harm may have plausibly performed a task in that.
Luzardo is controllable for one more two seasons after this one, so the Marlins actually don’t must commerce him this summer season. However non-rental pitchers are usually probably the most sought-after belongings on the commerce deadline. On condition that possession and the brand new entrance workplace beneath president of baseball operations Peter Bendix have seemingly been targeted on overhauling the membership’s farm system and participant growth equipment, it stands to purpose that they’d have considering promoting Luzardo now. By ready into future, his wage will rise by way of arbitration and his window of membership management will shrink, thus decreasing his worth.
For Luzardo, he’ll clearly wish to get wholesome and again on the mound. Getting traded is at all times difficult however maybe he would welcome the chance to hitch a aggressive membership for the ultimate months of the season. On high of that, higher well being and efficiency will assist him improve his wage by way of arbitration within the coming seasons. He’s making $5.5MM this yr and is slated for 2 extra passes via the arb system.
Elsewhere on the roster, infielder Jake Burger is anticipated to begin a rehab project within the coming days, per Azout on X. He was out of a little bit of a sluggish begin this yr, hitting .228/.281/.421 via 16 video games for a wRC+ of 92 earlier than touchdown on the IL on account of an indirect harm. However that efficiency might have been pushed by a low batting common on balls in play, as his .233 mark thus far this yr has been nicely under common and his earlier fee.
He had a breakout 34-homer marketing campaign final yr, cut up between the White Sox and Marlins after a midseason commerce. He hit .250/.309/.518 on the yr total for a 120 wRC+. He’s not thought of an particularly robust defender however the lineup may use his bat. The crew has a collective wRC+ of 73 thus far this yr, a mark that places them forward of simply the White Sox. The membership has been utilizing Josh Bell, Emmanuel Rivera and Vidal Bruján to cowl the infield corners these days, however none of that trio is hitting particularly nicely, making it pretty simple for Burger to get again within the lineup as soon as he’s wholesome.
