Rays trade Vidal Brujan to Peter Bendix’s Miami Marlins

The former Rays GM’s first trade in charge of the Marlins is with his former team.

• By
  
  Daniel Russell
  
• on November 17, 2023 7:12 pm

Earlier today we noted former Rays GM Peter Bendix’s first move in charge of the Marlins was to sign a member of the Rays 2023 short stop depth chart. Now his first trade in charge is to acquire a member of the Rays 2023 short stop depth chart.

We’re sensing a trend!

In the deal the Tampa Bay Rays have acquired prospects INF Erick Lara, RHP Andrew Lindsey and a player to be named later in exchange for INF Vidal Bruján and RHP Calvin Faucher, with the latter being designated off the 40-man roster at the Rule 5 deadline earlier this week, necessitating his trade.

Here’s a closer look at the Rays return.

INF Erick Lara

According to the team press release:

Lara, 17, hit .305/.416/.445 (39-for-128) with eight doubles, two triples, two home runs and 32 RBI in 34 games for the DSL Marlins after signing as a free agent on January 15, 2023.

There isn’t much other information on Lara readily available (we will update accordingly if found). He is listed as a 6’2” at a lean 165 lbs and as a left handed hitting third baseman.

RHP Andrew Lindsey

Lindsey, pitching at age-24 in the complex league, has thrown less than five innings as a professional, but that’s not a big concern. He was selected in the fifth round of the 2023 First-Year Player Draft, signing for $340,000 of out the University of Tennessee.

He was rated the Marlins No. 16 prospect according to MLB Pipeline and No. 18 at Baseball America, where he is described as having, “an assortment of quality pitches, a strong frame and a solid history throwing strikes.” Here is his draft day profile from Baseball America, where he ranked No. 394 on their draft board:

Lindsey has had a long and winding college career. He started at Walters State (Tenn.) JC, where he pitched for two seasons before joining Charlotte in 2021, where he led the team with 81 innings as a starter and reliever. After not playing in 2022, Lindsey transferred to Tennessee for the 2023 season, where he pitched out of the bullpen until transitioning to a starting role in late April when he struck out 10 batters in 6.2 innings against Vanderbilt. He eventually moved into the team’s Friday night role and overall posted a 2.90 ERA through nine starts and 71.1 innings, with a 24.6% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate.

He attacks hitters with a hard, sinking fastball that sits in the mid 90s and has been up to 98 mph, and primarily goes to a hard, upper-80s slider/cutter as his go-to secondary and bat-misser. Lindsey has also used a slower curveball in the upper 70s with more top-down shape, and will flash the rare low-to-mid-80s changeup as well. He has an assortment of quality pitches, a strong frame and a solid history throwing strikes, but he will already be 23 years old on draft day.

The Rays roster is now at 39.

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