Miami Marlins further shake up bullpen, trade for A.J. Puk

The Miami Marlins continued to revamp their bullpen Saturday night with a swap of former firsts, sending JJ Bleday to Oakland for A.J. Puk.

For much of Saturday, the biggest Miami Marlins story wasn’t about a new player at all, but rather what a former one was going to say.

For weeks, the Marlins had teased a special announcement from two-time Marlins World Series champion Jeff Conine about which throwback uniform the team would occasionally wear during their 30th anniversary season. That announcement came Saturday afternoon at the team’s annual Fanfest. All week leading up to that event, the focus had been on the current Marlins roster, as those players criscrossed South Florida signing autographs, posing for selfies, and projecting optimism about the club in 2023.

One of those players was outfielder JJ Bleday. Saturday morning, he was a Marlin. Saturday night? He and many fans were likely asking themselves, what the Puk just happened?

Rather, what the A.J. Puk. Wrapping up a 24-hour stretch that had been full of notable reliever related transactions across MLB, the Marlins traded their 2019 first round selection in Bleday to the Oakland Athletics for their first selection in the 2016 MLB draft in Puk. It’s likely a win for both sides, but one of much more immediate benefit to the Marlins.

On Miami’s end, they get another low-risk, high-upside, high-leverage option for the back of their bullpen. After early injury issues, he returned to full health last season, posting a 3.12 ERA in 66.3 innings of work. More importantly, he was a Top 25 MLB option in holds (20). That number led all Marlins who finished the season with the team, and was just three less than Anthony Bass, the player he most clearly projects to replace in Miami’s bullpen. Bass was dominant in the seventh inning for Miami until he was traded at the deadline last August, and the seventh was unquestionably Puk’s best inning (given a reasonable sample size), with a 2.21 ERA and a .186 batting average. Puk did also have four saves last season, but was shaky in the ninth (albeit with just over 7 IP), allowing a .400 OBP and sporting a 7.36 ERA in the final frame.

Of course, the Marlins would only have made this trade if they thought the potential was there to develop him into an elite late inning threat. Given pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre’s track record of success in recent years, that seems like a safe bet. Particularly, perhaps as his most recent reclamation project was Jesus Luzardo, another former Athletics top prospect. At any rate, the 2023 bullpen is much stronger than it was when Marlins woke up Saturday morning, whether he becomes a high end closer or just an above average middle relief arm.

As for Oakland? With no prospect of contending this season and much thinner outfield depth than the Marlins had, they are hoping for a Bleday bounceback. The plate discipline and pedigree is there for him to still be a more than serviceable big league regular, and maybe a change of scenery is just the ticket for Bleday’s swing to catch up with his patience. It’s a gamble, but one that a team with the A’s payroll constraints needs to take (just as Miami did on their end).

One interesting wrinkle to this is Puk himself, and what his plans were projected to be for the 2023 season before the trade was made. All indications were that he genuinely wanted to try to be a starting pitcher again, and that he was going to be given that chance with Oakland in spring training. Obviously, as presently constituted, the Marlins system is not going to give him that chance. Puk was the fifth-, maybe sixth-best starting pitching option the A’s had at worst. With the Marlins, at best, he might be ninth entering camp.

How Puk handles that adjustment will be interesting to watch over the next few weeks. As will how Miami’s rotation, and overall record, shakes out over the next year. If things go the way Miami hopes, adding Puk might not just be about bullpen strength. It could be about regaining the flexibility to deal away another pitcher for another affordable bat.

In any event, this is a great get by the Marlins. The roster just might now be complete.