Are more Marlins trades coming before deadline? ‘I wouldn’t put anything past us,’ Ng says

The Miami Marlins made two big yet expected trades already this week as MLB’s trade deadline approaches. Are more on the way?

General manager Kim Ng certainly isn’t ruling it out.

“I wouldn’t put anything past us,” Ng said. “Always trying to get better and that involves all different kinds of potentials.”

So more moves are likely on the way before MLB’s 4 p.m. Friday deadline outside of the moves that sent Starling Marte to the Oakland Athletics for starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo and sent Yimi Garcia to the Houston Astros for outfielder prospect Bryan De La Cruz and relief pitcher Austin Pruitt.

Who are the likely pieces?

First baseman Jesus Aguilar and outfielder Adam Duvall are the primary position players getting attention. Entering Thursday, Aguilar leads the National League and is tied for fourth in all of baseball with 75 RBI. Duvall is tied for fourth in the NL and tied for ninth overall with 68 RBI while also hitting a team-high 22 home runs (tied for 14th in baseball) and playing solid defense.

Miami’s big-league starting pitching (namely Sandy Alcantara and Trevor Rogers) is likely off the table, but there’s a possibility the Marlins use their abundance of pitching prospects to sweeten a deal to get an MLB-caliber bat or a prospect close to the big leagues. Twelve of the Marlins’ top 30 prospects on Baseball America’s most updated prospect list are starting pitchers. Center field and catcher are the organization’s two biggest areas of need.

Who will be the Miami Marlins’ closer?

The Marlins trading Garcia on Wednesday opened the door for a new reliever to become the club’s closer for the final two months of the season.

So who gets the job? Marlins manager Don Mattingly wouldn’t commit to one pitcher in particular.

“I’m not quite sure what it looks like,” Mattingly said. “I don’t think we’ll have to like anoint anybody as the closer, probably as much by committee and trying to match up at the end of the game, depending on where we’re at, who’s available.”

Mattingly did mention a handful of relievers who would get looks at the closer spot, pending any trades made between now and Friday

The five:

▪ Dylan Floro: Has primarily pitched the eighth inning but has gotten five save opportunities. He leads Marlins relievers with 41 innings pitched and has a 2.63 ERA with 39 strikeouts against 18 walks. All 12 earned runs he has allowed have come in four of his 43 relief appearances.

▪ Anthony Bass: He started the season as Miami’s closer but blew both of his first two save opportunities, including the controversial walk-off hit-by-pitch against the Mets. He has primarily pitched as a setup reliever since and leads Marlins relievers with 45 appearances.

▪ Anthony Bender: The rookie’s production has regressed recently (nine earned runs allowed in his last 13 outings after not giving up an earned run in his first 21 appearances), but his pitch mix has the look of a future closer. His sinker averages 96.7 mph with movement and his slider has a 47.8 percent swing-and-miss rate.

▪ Richard Bleier: The main high-leverage lefty on the staff, Bleier has mostly been used as a middle reliever or in an early setup role. His best attribute is getting batters to keep balls on the ground, evidenced by his 69.6 percent groundball rate.

▪ John Curtiss: Acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays at the start of spring training, Curtiss has primarily been used as an opener on bullpen days, multi-inning pitcher and in low leverage situations. He has gotten good results (2.48 ERA over 40 innings, 40 strikeouts against nine walks), and Mattingly said he could be an option moving forward.

Mattingly also said Zach Pop, a rookie selected in the Rule 5 Draft, could also be used in more high-leverage situations moving forward.

Marlins’ first base depth without Garrett Cooper

Ng announced Wednesday that Garrett Cooper elected to undergo season-ending surgery to repair a small tear in the UCL of his left (non-throwing) elbow. The surgery will sideline Cooper for about five months.

“Hope to have him back by Opening Day next year,” Ng said.

With Cooper’s season over, the Marlins’ MLB ready depth at first base is thin beyond Aguilar and Lewin Diaz should an injury happen or the team trades Aguilar.

Shortstop Miguel Rojas has the most big-league experience at the position beyond those two, playing 225 1/3 innings at first over 99 career games (nine starts) but hasn’t started a game there since 2018. Joe Panik has also made three starts at first.

In the minors, 32-year-old Lorenzo Quintana has made 24 starts this year at first base with the Triple A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, primarily filling in when Diaz was in the big leagues or hurt.