The Marlins sent first baseman Christopher Morel outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. Miami designated him for assignment over the weekend when Griffin Conine returned from hamstring surgery.
Morel will surely accept the assignment and remain in the organization. He has less than five years of service time, so he’d forfeit the remainder of his $2MM salary to test free agency. Teams passed on taking that money off Miami’s books.
Miami made four big league free agent signings last offseason, all on one-year deals. Chris Paddack and Morel have already been jettisoned from the roster. Their big acquisition, Pete Fairbanks, has a 6.75 earned run average over 24 innings. Lefty sinkerballer John King — signed for just $1.5MM on the eve of Spring Training — has been by far their best of the free agent pickups. King has given Miami 34 2/3 innings of 2.08 ERA ball while handling hitters of either handedness.
The Fish added Morel to take over first base even though he’d been coming off consecutive replacement level seasons. The position unsurprisingly remains an issue. Connor Norby, their leader in first base playing time, was just optioned to Triple-A this evening. Liam Hicks has had a breakout season but went on the injured list over the weekend with a lower back strain. Miami has used Kyle Stowers as their primary first baseman of late.
Miami has been the hottest team in baseball this month. They entered June eight games below .500 but are now 42-39 and within a game and a half of a Wild Card spot. It’s plausible they’ll approach the deadline looking to add a bat. Acquiring a first baseman would allow them to move Stowers back to his natural left field position.
Morel, who missed most of April after straining his oblique warming up on Opening Day, has appeared in 22 games this season. He hasn’t homered and is batting .162 with 28 strikeouts in 73 plate appearances. He’ll qualify for minor league free agency at the end of the season if Miami doesn’t call him back up.
