Marlins swing two more trades, getting Josh Bell from Cleveland, Ryan Weathers from Padres

The Miami Marlins made two more trades just before the trade deadline buzzer on Tuesday.

The deals: Acquiring Josh Bell from the Cleveland Guardians for third baseman Jean Segura and infielder prospect Kahlil Watson and trading first baseman/designated hitter Garrett Cooper and right-handed pitcher prospect Sean Reynolds to the San Diego Padres for Ryan Weathers.

This comes after Miami also acquired third baseman Jake Burger from the Chicago White Sox for left-handed pitcher prospect Jake Eder. The Marlins also acquired a pair of relievers last week in righties Jorge Lopez and David Robertson to fortify their bullpen.

In summation, Miami sent two regular starters and three of their top-30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline.

The moves, in addition to the returns of outfielders Avisail Garcia and Jazz Chisholm Jr. from the injured list, signal what the Marlins were hoping to show after a strong first half: That they are willing to beef up their lineup as they make a push for their first postseason berth in a full season since winning the 2003 World Series.

Here’s a quick look at each of the Marlins acquired on Tuesday.

Jake Burger

The Marlins’ pursuit of an impact bat was well noted. The offense, while improved, still ranks in the bottom third of the league in runs scored, home runs and on-base-plus-slugging.

And Burger, 27, gives them a player who can add some instant power to the lineup as long as Miami can deal with the elevated swing-and-miss and strikeout rates.

Burger, who is under team control through the 2028 season, entered Tuesday hitting just .214 but with 25 home runs — a mark that ties Jorge Soler for the most on Miami’s roster — to go along with 15 doubles, 52 RBI and 44 runs scored.

Over 154 career MLB games the past three seasons (all with the White Sox), Burger has 34 home runs, 27 doubles, 81 RBI and a .791 on-base-plus-slugging mark.

But Miami will have to take the good — among the top in the league in average exit velocity, hard-hit rate and barrel rate — with the bad.

Burger has a career 31.6-percent strikeout rate. This season, he has 102 strikeouts in 323 plate appearances. He ranks among the worst in the league this season in strikeout rate (seventh percentile), swing-and-miss rate (35.4 percent, fifth percentile) and chase rate (38.9 percent, sixth percentile).

Defensively, Burger primarily plays third base but has made a few starts at both first and second base. His defensive metrics, however, are below average with minus-4 defensive runs saved this season at third base.

The cost, however, is steep. Eder, ranked as the Marlins’ No. 4 prospect by MLB Pipeline, is one of the top pitchers in Miami’s system who has been returning to form over the past month after his return from Tommy John surgery in August 2021.

Josh Bell

Bell, 30, is a switch hitter with a career .798 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 141 home runs, 516 RBI and 462 runs scored over 949 career games. He signed a one-year, $16.5 million deal with the Guardians this offseason that includes a player option for the 2024 season. Miami had pursued him over the winter.

Bell has primarily played designated hitter this season but has 725 career starts at first base. He’ll likely split time there with Yuli Gurriel after the Marlins traded Cooper.

Bell was an All-Star in 2019 and won a Silver Slugger Award in 2022. His previous stops before signing with Cleveland included the Pittsburgh Pirates (2016-2020), Washington Nationals (2021-2022) and Padres (2023).

For Bell, Miami gave up Segura and Watson, the former the team’s primary starting third baseman this season and the latter their first round pick in 2021 who was playing in High A Beloit.

Ryan Weathers

Weathers, 23, has a career 5.73 ERA over 43 games (29 starts) in three seasons with the Padres. This year, he has played 12 games (10 starts), pitching to a 6.25 ERA with 29 strikeouts against 17 walks over 44 2/3 innings.

The lefty has a three-pitch mix, utilizing a four-seam fastball that averages 94.9 mph, a changeup that averages 86.7 mph and a sweeper that averages 80.4 mph. None of the pitches has a whiff rate above 30 percent this season.

To acquire Weathers, the Marlins gave up Cooper (who was an impending free agent) and Reynolds (a pitching prospect on the rise).

Roster moves

In addition to the trades, the Marlins optioned right-handed pitcher Edward Cabrera to Triple A Jacksonville in order to add left-handed pitcher Andrew Nardi to the active roster.

The team also recalled utility player Garrett Hampson to the active roster.