SporTech Matter Archived Site

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.