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Offishial signing
To the delight of punsters everywhere, journeyman right-hander Anthony Bass is now a Marlin. The club announced his signing—which was first reported last Friday—and gave the 33-year-old a tour of his new “office”. Bass has received uniform No. 52, most recently worn by reliever Brett Eibner last season and most famously worn by catcher Mike Redmond from 1998-2004.
Jordan Yamamoto was designated for assignment as the corresponding roster move. The Marlins better be confident in receiving some sort of trade compensation for him. Otherwise, I do not understand the urgency to sell low on Yamamoto now instead of using spring training to gauge his bounce-back potential as a starter or experiment with him as a short reliever.
Ultimately, this is a good problem to have. Yamamoto was viewed as the least significant prospect of the four that the Marlins acquired in exchange for Christian Yelich. He exceeded industry expectations by simply reaching the big leagues. Fish Stripes is rooting for him to steady himself and enjoy a long, lucrative career.
Composite prospect rankings
In recent weeks, Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and The Athletic have released their preseason 2021 MLB top prospects lists. MLB Pipeline joined the party on Thursday night. Five Marlins players are consensus Top 100 selections, with a sixth who’s been getting some league-wide recognition as well.
I value each of these perspectives, but don’t believe any particular outlet deserves our blind, unconditional trust. So here is a composite version (to be updated later in the spring with additional outlets):
- RHP Sixto Sánchez
- RHP Max Meyer
- OF JJ Bleday
- RHP Edward Cabrera
- SS Jazz Chisholm
- LHP Trevor Rogers
There is a substantial gap between Sánchez and Meyer in the rankings, as well as between Chisholm and Rogers. Outfielder Jesús Sánchez and first baseman Lewin Díaz are likely Miami’s No. 7 and No. 8 prospects.
Walk-off links
- Marlins prospects Alberto Guerrero (Panamá) and Anthony Maldonado (Puerto Rico) will compete in the Caribbean Series, and so will Harold Ramirez (Colombia). The tournament begins this Sunday and is scheduled to wrap up on Feb. 6.
- Craig Mish reports that the Marlins didn’t even pick up the phone to contact J.T. Realmuto during his free agency. He adds that Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi is a legitimate trade target for the organization, though nothing is imminent.
- Fantrax ranks the top 20 Marlins prospects for dynasty fantasy baseball league purposes.
- Christina De Nicola fields questions about the Fish outfield and bullpen competitions in the latest MLB.com Marlins Inbox.
- The spring training home of the Marlins and Cardinals will continue to be known as Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
- Former NL Cy Young award winner Jake Arrieta will throw on Friday afternoon for MLB scouts and front office executives. I’d assume the Marlins will have a representative there.