Marlins left-hander Jesús Luzardo has been identified with a light left flexor muscle pressure, the membership introduced to members of the beat, together with Isaac Azout of Fish on First. The workforce didn’t announce if this might influence his anticipated timeline.
Late final week, the lefty was scratched from his scheduled begin and positioned on the 15-day injured listing as a result 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 damage. 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 mentioned 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 counsel that plan isn’t potential. He performed catch on the ballpark as we speak, with some video relayed on X by Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. Together with his damage additionally reported as muscular in nature and never seemingly associated to any ligament injury, that additionally maybe suggests the worst fears have been prevented.
That’s undoubtedly excellent news for Luzardo and the Marlins, even when their season goes extremely poorly. They’re at present sporting a document of 6-23 and FanGraphs has their Playoff Odds down at 0.5%.
MLBTR’s Anthony Franco took a glance earlier as we speak at who the membership may be seeking to promote this summer season, with Luzardo some of the enticing items they may provide. He made 32 begins for the membership final yr with an earned run common of three.58, placing out 28.1% of batters in opposition to a stroll price of simply 7.4%. He stumbled out of the gate this yr with a 6.58 ERA by 5 begins, however that’s a reasonably small pattern measurement and the damage might have plausibly performed a job 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 typically probably the most sought-after property on the commerce deadline. On condition that possession and the brand new entrance workplace underneath president of baseball operations Peter Bendix have seemingly been centered on overhauling the membership’s farm system and participant growth equipment, it stands to cause that they’d have fascinated about promoting Luzardo now. By ready into future, his wage will rise through arbitration and his window of membership management will shrink, thus lowering his worth.
For Luzardo, he’ll clearly need 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 through arbitration within the coming seasons. He’s making $5.5MM this yr and is slated for 2 extra passes by 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 by 16 video games for a wRC+ of 92 earlier than touchdown on the IL as a result of an indirect damage. However that efficiency could have been pushed by a low batting common on balls in play, as his .233 mark to date this yr has been nicely beneath common and his earlier price.
He had a breakout 34-homer marketing campaign final yr, break 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-about an particularly robust defender however the lineup might use his bat. The workforce has a collective wRC+ of 73 to date 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.
