MLB rumors: Major league teams interested in Tanner Scott deal include the Yankees and Dodgers
The pressure is on competing clubs to make some last-minute roster adjustments as they get ready to compete for a World Series title, with less than a month until the 2024 MLB trade deadline. It appears that the Miami Marlins reliever Tanner Scott is being eyed by the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers as a potential addition to their pen. Winning clubs can never have too many good arms coming out of the bullpen.
According to Will Sammon, Patrick Mooney, and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, it is a “virtual certainty” that Scott won’t be wearing a Marlins uniform past July 30 because the Marlins have already traded away Luis Arraez in the midst of yet another losing season (they are currently 30-54 as of this writing). Although Scott is attracting a lot of attention as one of the greatest relievers available on the trade market, the Yankees and Dodgers are not the only clubs interested in him.
The Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles were also mentioned as teams who had looked at trade for Tanner Scott, in addition to the Yankees and Dodgers. The Marlins front office should be overjoyed by this, as a bidding battle involving four of the greatest clubs in MLB should only increase the amount of money Scott may get, satisfying their goal to receive “a lot” for the 29-year-old southpaw.
For the previous 1.5 seasons, Scott has been among the top bullpen pitchers in all of baseball; in 78.0 innings (74 games) last season, the left-hander for the Marlins posted a 2.31 ERA. According to Fangraphs, that was good for a 2.8 WAR, mostly because of his excellent strikeout to walk ratio and general hard contact prevention.
The 29-year-old’s performance has, however, somewhat declined from the previous year. His 1.50 WAR for the Marlins is as perfect as it gets, but he’s allowed a more normalized.291 BABIP last season, and his strikeout and walk rates are lower. He’s also benefited immensely from his luck when hit balls are placed in play.
Scott’s worth is somewhat diminished by the fact that he will be a free agent at the end of the season, but the Marlins can still demand a king’s ransom – just ask the Yankees how much they have loved the return they received for Aroldis Chapman in 2016, despite the fact that he was scheduled to hit free agency. It is incumbent upon teams to bear the high expense associated with acquiring an outstanding bullpen arm.
The Dodgers and Yankees were two of the MLB clubs busiest this past summer as they tried to remove the lingering effects of a dismal 2023 season. The Dodgers exerted great effort to get Shohei Ohtani, while the Yankees made a deal for Juan Soto. However, the offseasons of the two dominant players culminated when they each went above and above to persuade Yoshinobu Yamamoto to sign.
