Offishial news, 8/1/22: Rule 5 guys arrive; Pablo López; updated trade values

Marlins Game Coverage

Marlins Podcast Episodes

• Sunday’s minor league scores: Triple-A Jacksonville lost, 10-6; Double-A Pensacola won, 7-4; High-A Beloit won, 4-3; Low-A Jupiter lost, 1-0. Griffin Conine (Pensacola) finished a mostly mediocre month of July by homering in back-to-back games. The Blue Wahoos have begun experimenting with Paul McIntosh at first base. Nasim Nunez (Beloit) nearly stole his 50th base of the season. Instead, his long streak of successful steal attempts was snapped. Yiddi Cappe (Jupiter) has not struck out once in his first eight games at the full-season level.
• Victor Victor Mesa is being promoted to Jacksonville, as his brother announced. The $5.25 million man has been a disappointment in the minors, lacking the batted ball quality and intangibles to be anything close to an everyday major leaguer, but he has truthfully played well over the last month-plus since returning from an injury. It’s not unreasonable to think he may get a cup of coffee with the Fish in September considering how desperate they are for competent center field defense.
• Every Monday, Wyatt Van Dyke dispenses a complete roundup of Marlins MiLB transactions.
• Former minor league Rule 5 Draft selections Charles Leblanc and Jake Fishman both got called up and contributed. Leblanc struck out in four of his seven plate appearances, but ripped extra-base hits in the other three. He was picked off of second base, but made a slick play at the hot corner. More good than bad!
• Daniel Rodriguez and Noah Berger of Fish Stripes got one-on-one time with Leblanc and Fishman, respectively.
• July is mercifully over. The Marlins posted a minus-39 run differential, their worst in any calendar month since August 2019.
• Jesús Luzardo (left forearm strain) is set to take the mound for the Marlins tonight for the first time since May 10. Anthony Bender (back stiffness) could be back to reinforce the bullpen any day now.
• The Marlins and their last remaining unsigned draft pick, high school right-hander Evan Chrest, have until 5:00 p.m. ET today to agree on a deal.
• Revisiting our Marlins vs. Mets series predictions, about half of the prognosticators correctly picked a Mets series victory, though nobody saw it being a sweep.
• Join us for another Marlins series preview edition of Fish Stripes LIVE from 5:30-6:30 p.m. ET on YouTube/Facebook/Twitter! As usual, the Fish Picks props have been updated for the start of a new series.

• FanGraphs gives the Marlins a 57.3% chance to win their series opener against the Reds.
• Kim Ng was vague about Miami’s trade deadline plans. She would not concede that they’ll be selling despite playoff odds that have plummeted to around 1%.
• Greg Cote of the Miami Herald ranks the biggest South Florida sports stars, including Sandy Alcantara (No. 3), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (No. 10) and Pablo López (No. 19).
• John Perrotto of Forbes explains what makes Alcantara seem like he’s “from another era.”
• For those who enjoy using the trade simulator on Baseball Trade Values, note that player values have just been updated. Braxton Garrett is a big gainer and BTV remains high on Jesús Sánchez. On the other end of the spectrum, I feel they are too low on JJ Bleday and Kahlil Watson.
• On this day 25 years ago, Marlins reliever Dennis Cook delivered a walk-off hit in the 12th inning to beat the Braves.