Infielder/outfielder Nick Gordon has been sent outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week.
Gordon, 28, is a former first-round pick and top 100 prospect with some major league success on his track record. But the fact that no club was willing to claim him off waivers demonstrates how much his stock has fallen lately.
His best major league season was 2022, when he got into 138 games for the Twins. He hit .272/.316/.427 for a wRC+ of 111 while stealing six bases and bouncing around the diamond, playing the three infield spots to the left of first base as well as the outfield.
But then he put up a dismal line of .176/.185/.319 in 2023 before fracturing his tibia by fouling a ball off himself, which ended his season in mid-May. He was traded to the Marlins coming into 2024 and bounced back a bit, but not much. He slashed .227/.258/.369 on the year before getting cut from the roster this week.
Despite his former prospect pedigree and defensive versatility, he’s now out of options and has a .244/.283/.386 batting line in over 1,000 major league plate appearances, which translates to a wRC+ of 86. Any club could have nabbed him off waivers but they all passed.
Gordon has more than three years of major league service time, which gives him the right to reject this outright assignment and elect free agency. But since he has less than five years of service, he would have to forfeit what’s left of his salary in order to do so. He’s making $900K this year, leaving roughly $246K left to be paid out. Rather than leave that on the table, he might report to Jacksonville and provide the Marlins with some non-roster depth.
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