Marlins Trade Rumors - Tuesday

After a thrilling victory last night against the Mets in Miami the Marlins are feeling good about themselves. I think it’s only fair for the front office to show some confidence in the young team for the rest of the season by adding a quality bat or arm to the bullpen by the trade deadline. It would give a huge boost in morale that the front office believes this team can make the playoffs. Let’s run through the rumors for Tuesday before we hit Thursday’s trade deadline.

• Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports: The Marlins are the most aggressive suitor for Rangers catcher [[Gerald Laird]], but add the Brewers to the list of interested clubs, which also includes the Reds and Yankees. The Rangers are seeking a young starting pitcher in return for Laird, and also fielding calls on their other catcher, [[Jarrod Saltalamacchia]]. The Marlins, according to the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, are considering three catchers besides Laird: The Giants’ [[Bengie Molina]], Orioles’ [[Ramon Hernandez]] and Pirates’ [[Ryan Doumit]]. [[Matt Treanor]], the Marlins’ starting catcher, is suffering from a sports hernia.

• Jayson Stark at ESPN: The Marlins continue to hunt for what one baseball man described as a “battle-tested” left-handed bullpen arm. [[Brian Fuentes]] and [[George Sherrill]] have been at the top of their list. But the Marlins have been at a standstill on Fuentes for a couple of weeks, and they don’t appear to have the centerpiece prospect Baltimore is looking for in a Sherrill package — a young shortstop who is near-big-league ready. So unless they can make headway on Kansas City’s [[Ron Mahay]], they could turn to someone like Seattle’s [[Arthur Rhodes]], who is turning into the most popular back-burner option for all the teams in the left-handed relief market.

• Tracy Ringolsby @ Rocky Mountain News: A power bat and late-inning reliever are vital, but Marlins refuse to trade away any player with a future, which leaves them dangling the likes of 1B [[Mike Jacobs]], CF [[Cody Ross]] and RHP [[Kevin Gregg]].

• Joe Frisaro @ MLB Pro Blog: Giants veteran [[Bengie Molina]] is high on the Marlins’ shopping list for catchers. But the team is exploring a number of options, and they might even be finding themselves in the mix of a either a three-way deal or two separate deals, both involving the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays have contacted the Royals regarding catcher Miguel Olivo. So if Toronto pulls off a deal with Kansas City, it could set the stage for another move. The Marlins recently had a personnel representative in Toronto, leading to speculation that veteran [[Gregg Zaun]] could be on the Marlins’ radar. Zaun, 37, was with the Marlins in the mid-1990s.

Marlins Fodder

Chew on this…

• The Marlins were white washed by the Braves last night 9-4. Ricky Nolasco struggled once again against the Braves and still look lost on offense. Someone should tell these kids the All Star break is over and it’s time to get back to business. Can’t live and die by the home run. Nolasco is now 0-3 against the Braves this season. He is 10-2 against everyone else. His ERA against the Braves is an unsightly 10.56. His ERA against all other opponents: a nifty 2.70.

• Justin Miller, who has been on the DL with right elbow inflammation, was activated by the Marlins today. To make room for Miller, the Marlins optioned Ryan Tucker back to Double A Carolina.

• Joe Frisaro from the MLB Trade Talk blog breaks down the Marlins trade plans. Here is a small excerpt…

  According to the source, the Marlins don’t appear willing to up the ante of prospects to pull off a trade. Florida has a number of talented pitching prospects. The team, however, is not willing to part with right-hander Chris Volstad, recently called up from Double-A.

  The article goes on to talk about the Marlins interest in Willy Tavares and Yorvit Torrealba. It’s also been known that the Marlins have sent scouts to watch Orioles closer George Sherrill.

Your thoughts on who the Fish should target?

Source: MLB.com, MLB Trade Rumors, Fish Bytes

Update: Marlins Very Aggressive for Fuentes

Will Carroll over at Baseball Prospectus has an update regarding the Brian Fuentes sweepstakes. According to Will the Marlins are heavy buyers this year and have the payroll to make the moves. From BP…

The Marlins certainly have the payroll room to be buyers, but they seem more focused on the small fish. They’d like to get a closer and Brian Fuentes is at the top of their list. The Rockies closer is available and seems likely to go before the deadline. Several other teams are in on this, but two sources have told me that the Marlins are very aggressively pursuing a deal.

Read more trade deadline rumors here.

Source: Baseball Prospectus

Marlins Are Thinking Big Reliever

Small update coming from Ken Rosenthal via MLBTradeRumors.com. It was noted weeks ago that the Marlins were involved in the Brian Fuentes sweepstakes and it appears they are still major players as there efforts have shifted from catcher to a big time relief pitcher named Brian Fuentes. From FoxSports…

The Marlins, who are far more focused on acquiring bullpen help than adding a veteran catcher, are expressing interest in all of the top available relievers, according to major-league sources. Catching is indeed an area of need for the Marlins, but Matt Treanor, recovering from a strained left hip, is close to beginning a rehabilitation assignment. The Marlins would rather go with Treanor and rookie John Baker than pick up a veteran such as the Blue Jays’ Gregg Zaun or Reds’ Paul Bako, sources say.

Quite frankly I love this idea. First of all, I have been bitching for years now that John Baker needs to get his shot and he has proven, in a small sample size that he is more capable than Paul Hoover and Mike Rabelo. Kid is aggressive at the plate and handles the pitching staff well. If you take a look at Reynel Pinto’s numbers as of today, he leads the league in appearances and giving him some lefty help makes sense.

Stay tuned to SporTech and MLBTradeRumors as we get closer to the deadline.