The Marlins could get Eury Pérez back from the 15-day injured list as soon as next week. The 6’8″ righty tossed 3 2/3 innings and 51 pitches in a rehab start with Triple-A Jacksonville yesterday. Manager Clayton McCullough told reporters (including Christina De Nicola and Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru of MLB.com) that Pérez will throw a pitch design session in the next few days and may not need another minor league start before he rejoins the MLB rotation.
Pérez has made remarkably quick progress since sustaining a right gracilis strain in late May. That initially came with an eight-week timeline that it seems Pérez will beat by a month. It’ll be a welcome boost to a team that has patched together the last couple rotation spots. Janson Junk went on the injured list with a shin injury just two days after the Fish lost Pérez. Those injuries came less than two weeks after rookie starter Robby Snelling underwent season-ending elbow surgery, while top prospect Thomas White went down with a shoulder injury in Triple-A.
Sandy Alcantara and Max Meyer are the only two Miami starters who have held a rotation spot all year. Tyler Phillips moved from long relief to the rotation after the Pérez and Junk injuries. They’ve brought up Ryan Gusto to start three games since the beginning of June. Gusto hasn’t completed five innings while struggling to prevent runs in two of his three appearances. He’ll start Sunday’s series finale against the Giants. They’ve used bullpen games, mostly opened by Lake Bachar, for the fifth rotation spot.
Junk seems a couple weeks away. Jordan McPherson of The Miami Herald writes that the right-hander threw a pitch design session this afternoon and should progress to live batting practice in the coming days. McCullough said he’ll likely need multiple rehab starts before he’s ready for an MLB return.
Despite the patched together back of the rotation, Miami has played very well of late. Today’s 4-3 win over San Francisco improved them to 12-4 in June, the best record in MLB. They’ve climbed back to .500 at 38-38, pulling within two games of a Wild Card spot. It’s the team’s best effort to change what had seemed a selling trajectory after they finished May at 26-34.
That places a lot of importance on the team’s play over the next six weeks. Meyer and Alcantara would be two of the better starting pitchers on the trade market if the Marlins made them available. Meyer is arbitration eligible for three seasons after this one, so there’s certainly no urgency. That said, they’ve also traded Jesús Luzardo, Ryan Weathers and Edward Cabrera with multiple years of remaining control.
Those were seemingly motivated by injury trepidation, and Meyer’s spotty health history before this season could give the front office pause. It’d be a tougher sell to trade either Meyer or Alcantara, who is controllable for next season via $21MM team option, if they’re still within a couple games of a playoff spot at the end of July.
In that case, there’d be an argument for Miami to add a back-end arm. Junk or Phillips could move to a swing role if the Fish add a league average starter to slot behind Meyer, Alcantara and Pérez. Miami’s bullpen has been quietly effective throughout the season but would benefit from a better second left-hander to pair with John King after they lost Andrew Nardi to a rib injury.
The corner infield has been an issue all season, and they should upgrade at least one of those positions as well. The Christopher Morel signing hasn’t panned out, leading them to use Kyle Stowers more frequently at first base. Upgrading there would give them the freedom to put Stowers back into an everyday left field role.
