Marlins place veteran outfielder on 10-day IL

The Marlins announced a flurry of roster moves Sunday morning, highlighted by the club placing veteran outfielder Avisail Garcia on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. 

Outfielder Dane Myers was recalled from Triple-A in a corresponding move. The Marlins also selected the contract of right-hander Emmanuel Ramirez, with lefty Kent Emanuel being designated for assignment in the corresponding move. 

Craig Mish of the Miami Herald first reported that Myers and Ramirez would be joining the club, while MLB.com’s Cristina De Nicola first reported Garcia’s IL stint and Emanuel’s DFA. Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El ExtraBase first reported that Garcia was headed to the shelf with a hamstring injury.

Garcia, 33 in June, signed a four-year, $53M contract with the Marlins before the 2022 season and has struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness ever since. He’s been limited to just 153 games since arriving in Miami by hamstring and back injuries and has posted a paltry .218/.260/.322 slash line with a 61 wRC+ and -1.3 fWAR when healthy enough to take the field for the club. 

His 51 trips to the plate for Miami this year have been a moderate improvement over his previous work in the organization, though his wRC+ of 75 is still well below league average. 

While it’s not yet clear how long Garcia will be on the shelf, his previous hamstring strains with the club have typically sidelined him for about a month at a time.

Filling in for Garcia in the club’s outfield mix will be Myers, a 28-year-old who made his big league debut with Miami last season. Initially drafted in the sixth round of the 2017 draft by the Tigers, Myers appeared in just 22 games for the Marlins last year, slashing a pedestrian .269/.286/.358 in 70 trips to the plate. 

He’s struggled similarly at the Triple-A level this season with a .237/.336/.323 slash line in 107 plate appearances with the club’s affiliate in Jacksonville. Nonetheless, Myers figures to be part of the club’s rotating outfield mix alongside Jesus Sanchez and Nick Gordon, serving as a right-handed complement to the pair of lefties.

On the pitching side of things, the Marlins are set to welcome Ramirez onto the roster ahead of what will be his big league debut once he makes it into a game. 

The 29-year-old has spent more than a decade in the minors while pitching in the Padres, Braves, and Yankees systems but will now get his first major league opportunity with Miami after being impressive with seven strong outings at the Triple-A level for the club this season. 

During that time, Ramirez has pitched to a 3.86 ERA in 11 2/3 innings of work while striking out a whopping 32 percent of batters faced. If the right-hander can keep that level of production up in the majors, he’ll surely be a major asset to a Marlins bullpen that has a lackluster 4.84 ERA, which is good for the eighth-worst figure in the majors.

As for Emanuel, this is the second time he’s been designated for assignment by Miami this season. He’ll return to DFA limbo just one day after being selected back onto the roster with a 10.50 ERA in six innings of work for the club across his two stints in the majors. 

The Marlins will once again have seven days to either trade the lefty or attempt to pass him through waivers. If they succeed in doing the latter, Rivera will have the choice between remaining with the club as non-roster depth until and unless they decide to select him to the roster a third time or simply electing free agency in hopes of finding a better deal elsewhere.