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Eight years after acquiring Miguel Rojas from the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Miami Marlins are sending him back, as first reported by Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. They received minor leaguer Jacob Amaya in return. The trade is now official.
8 years of valuable memories on and off the field. Grateful for each one.
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) January 12, 2023
Gracias, Miggy Ro. pic.twitter.com/BPDPaslyRT
The National League Gold Glove finalist at shortstop last season, Rojas did not perform up to his usual standards offensively (.236/.283/.323, 73 wRC+ in 507 PA). To be fair, he played through a right wrist injury throughout the second half of the season. He underwent surgery in early October and has had a setback in his rehab.
Rojas per sources had a minor issue pop up recently after undergoing wrist surgery back in October. He’ll need a procedure on it from what I understand, but it didn’t hold up the deal with the Dodgers. The trade is complete.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) January 12, 2023
Turning 34 next month, Rojas is earning a $5 million salary in his final year before free agency. This news breaks on the heels of the Marlins signing Jean Segura ($6.5 million salary in 2023) and Johnny Cueto ($6 million) to free agent deals.
Rojas ranks seventh in franchise history with 870 career games played as a Marlin and 11th with 707 career hits.
Drafted and developed by the Dodgers organization, Amaya is a 24-year-old shortstop who split the 2022 season between Double-A and Triple-A. He slashed .261/.369/.427 between the two levels with a super-high 14.3% walk rate. Amaya has two minor league options remaining.
Jacob Amaya, headed to the Marlins for Miguel Rojas, made one of the coolest plays I've seen last year. pic.twitter.com/R6j5LGtreH
— Zach Buchanan (@ZHBuchanan) January 11, 2023
Amaya ought to be highly ranked on updated Marlins top prospects lists, in a similar tier as recently acquired Jordan Groshans and Xavier Edwards. MLB Pipeline slots him 13th.
By Baseball Trade Values’ algorithm, the one-for-one swap favors the Marlins.
The #Dodgers have reportedly acquired SS Miguel Rojas ($4.9M median trade value) from the #Marlins in exchange for IF Jacob Amaya ($7.0M).
— Baseball Trade Values (@BaseballValues) January 12, 2023
The deal is accepted by our model as a minor overpay by Los Angeles.
Although Amaya may get an opportunity to compete for an Opening Day job—he’ll go straight onto the 40-man roster—Joey Wendle seems to be the logical next man up for Marlins starting shortstop duties. Craig Mish of SportsGrid is reporting the same.
Prior to this, the most recent Marlins-Dodgers trade was consummated in February 2021, sending Alex Vesia and Kyle Hurt to LA in exchange for Dylan Floro. That one has been a win-win.
With Rojas gone, the only player remaining from the Marlins’ 2018 Opening Day roster is Garrett Cooper.
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