MIAMI (AP) — Right-hander Bryan Morris was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Miami Marlins, who gave up the 39th overall pick in Thursday’s draft.
Miami also placed catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia on the seven-day concussion list Sunday and recalled catcher J.T. Realmuto from Double-A Jacksonville. Saltalamacchia was hurt when he took a foul tip off his face mask in Saturday’s game against Atlanta.
Morris will join the Marlins on Monday and is expected to give their struggling bullpen a boost. Through Saturday, Miami’s relievers ranked 21st in the majors with an ERA of 3.96, while the starters ranked 10th with an ERA of 3.70.
“We’ve had some issues in the bullpen, and we just wanted to make it deeper,” president of baseball operations Mike Hill said.
Morris is 4-0 with a 3.80 ERA in 21 games this year, and he has a career ERA of 3.46 in 81 games. He was a first-round draft pick by the Dodgers in 2006.
“We’ve seen a lot of him,” Hill said. “He was a first-round pick out of high school — a power arm up to 97, and a power curveball behind that.”
The Marlins traded away their third pick in the draft. They still have six of the first 107 picks.
Realmuto, a third-round pick in 2010, batted .301 with five homers and 31 RBIs for Jacksonville.
“We want to try to get him in a couple of games,” manager Mike Redmond said. “We’re hoping that Salty is just a short-term deal, but you never know with concussions.”
Saltalamacchia batted only .177 in May, dropping his average for the season to .237, and he has committed eight errors.
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