The Philadelphia Phillies have traded minor league pitcher, James McArthur, to the Kansas City Royals for minor league outfielder Junior Marin and cash considerations.
Phillies make a trade with the Royals
Marin is a 19-year-old right fielder out of Venezuela. In his limited time in the Royals system, he has shown some long-term upside offensively. He slashed .380/.469/.696 for Royals Blue in the Dominican Summer League in 2021 with 7 HRs and 32 RBIs while appearing in 32 games. Marin continued to show his offensive potential in 2022 playing in the Arizona Complex League (Rookie ball), slashing .315/.379/.413 with 6 RBIs, 8 XBHs, and 3 stolen bases.
There is some obvious pop in his bat, but Marin also struck out 31 times last season in 103 plate appearances. He never raised to the top of the Royals’ prospect rankings, despite their system not being highly rated, overall. Marin should be looked at as a long-term project as opposed to a noteworthy prospect.
The Royals are receiving James McArthur, a starting pitcher, who was recently designated for assignment on May 4 as a result of the Phillies calling up Jeff Hoffman. In Lehigh Valley (AAA) this season, the 6-foot-7 McArthur was struggling to the tune of a 7.31 ERA and 1.688 WHIP across 4 starts and 1 relief appearance. His prior two seasons in Reading (AA), he combined for a 4.73 ERA with a 24.7% strikeout rate against an 8.4% walk rate in 131 innings.
The Royals have Major League Baseball’s third-worst rotation ERA and fourth-worst bullpen ERA, so they were more than willing to take a flier on the big right-hander. Kansas City is assigning him to their Triple-A affiliate in Omaha.
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