Padres interested in Anthony Bender

The Padres are one of multiple clubs with trade interest in Marlins right-hander Anthony Bender, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.  Bender was listed 38th on MLBTR’s most recent ranking of the top 50 trade deadline candidates, and he is a controllable player who isn’t eligible for free agency until after the 2027 season.

A 20th-round pick for the Royals back in the 2016 draft, Bender has spent all four of his Major League seasons in Miami, where he has quietly established himself as a very solid bullpen arm.  Bender has a career 2.98 ERA over 178 innings, including a 1.83 ERA over 44 1/3 frames this season.  The grounder specialist has a 50% groundball rate, and Bender’s key pitch is a sweeper that has dominated opposing batters since the reliever introduced the pitch to his arsenal prior to the 2024 season.

Bender’s strikeout rates have been inconsistent, and his modest 19.9 K% this year is well below the league average.  As a groundball pitcher, batted-ball luck is a more prominent factor in Bender’s results, and his .188 BABIP explains why his SIERA (4.16) is far above his eye-opening ERA.  Bender has also allowed a lot of hard contact this year but not high-impact contact, as he has strong barrel metrics and has given up only three homers in his 44 1/3 innings this year (and 14 home runs in his career).

The Marlins haven’t really had a primary closer this season, and Bender has been in the mix by recording three saves.  It would seem that most teams interested in his services would probably view him as a set-up man more than a closer candidate, though the Padres’ situation is interesting in this regard.  Closer Robert Suarez is technically under contract through the 2027 season, though he is widely expected to opt out of the final two years of his deal and test free agency this winter, making him unofficially something of a rental player heading into the deadline.

There has been speculation that the Padres could look to trim some salary by dealing Suarez to a team in need of saves, and then having one (or a closer committee) of Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam, and Adrian Morejon handle the ninth inning.  Bender could hypothetically be added to this mix, giving San Diego another experienced arm for high-leverage work.  The Padres are known to be working within pretty tight payroll parameters while trying to remain in contention, so trading Suarez and acquiring a reliever like Bender at a lower cost would be a creative way of threading the needle.

It should be noted that Miami is 25-14 over its last 39 games, bringing the Fish up to a 50-55 record.  While this is a sign that the rebuild is moving in a positive direction, there is no indication that the Marlins will be doing anything but selling before Thursday’s trade deadline.  Cal Quantrill is the only impending free agent on Miami’s roster, so the Marlins seem likely to trade from their long list of controllable players with some MLB experience (like Bender) to continue to add more young talent.