The Marlins have reinstated pitchers Pat Venditte, Mike Morin and Josh A. Smith from the 60-day injured list and outrighted the trio to Triple-A, leaving the club with a 40-man roster, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. All three are expected to elect free agency, according to McPherson.
Because of a team-wide coronavirus outbreak early in the season, the Marlins had to scramble to assemble a bullpen, which helps explain why their relievers posted the majors’ fifth-worst ERA (5.50). Venditte and Morin were not part of the problem, however, albeit over a small number of innings.
The ambidextrous Venditte gave the Marlins 4 1/3 frames of one-run ball (unearned), allowed one hit, didn’t walk a batter and struck out 10. Morin was similarly effective, as he threw four scoreless innings with one hit and one walk, though he only posted two strikeouts.
On the other hand, Smith (not to be confused with Josh D. Smith, who was also a Marlins reliever in 2020) had immense difficulty keeping runs off the board. The right-hander recorded an ugly 6.84 ERA (with a more encouraging 4.67 FIP) and 6.15 K/9 against 3.76 BB/9 across 26 1/3 innings.
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