The Marlins are ready to sign the first baseman Matt Mervis from the Cubs, according to a report from Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports on this infielder Vidal Brujan travels to Chicago in exchange for Mervis’ services. Brujan was designated for assignment by the Marlins last week. Maddie Lee of the Sun Times also reports that the Cubs are sending money to Miami along with Mervis.

Mervis, 26, signed with the Cubs as an undrafted free agent in 2020. After struggling in his first professional start in 2021, the slugger stormed the minor leagues in 2022 with outstanding .309/.379/.606 marks with 40 doubles and 36 home runs in 137 games across three levels of the minors. That included a long streak at the Triple-A level, where he hit .297/.383/.593 with 15 doubles and 15 home runs in just 57 games. The performance was strong enough to earn Mervis some buzz among top-100 prospects in the 2022-23 offseason, and his rapid rise through the minors provided some optimism for a Cubs franchise that recently dealt the longtime first baseman had Anthony Rizzo to the Yankees before the 2021 trade deadline.

Unfortunately, Mervis was unable to make the most of his opportunity when he reached the major leagues for the first time in 2023. While he continued to reach Triple-A (.282/.399/.533 in 100 games), he struggled mightily in 99 big league plate appearances with a lackluster .167/.242/.289 slash line in that one Year was good for a 48 wRC+. Strong batted ball data and a .317 xwOBA suggested that Mervis may have had some bad luck in his first cup of coffee in the majors, but his high 32.3% strikeout rate would have been a clear warning sign even if he had had better luck would have concepts like hit balls finding holes. That led to the Cubs turning away from Mervis last winter and trading him to the Dodgers Michael Busch and establishing him as the club’s everyday first baseman.

Busch was an above-average hitter from the start with Chicago, posting a wRC+ of 119 and an fWAR of 2.3 in his rookie season. In contrast, Mervis appeared in just nine games and posted a terrible -4 wRC+ in that limited playing time. Even his minor league numbers dipped this year, as he hit just .235/.329/.434 (97 wRC+) in 81 Triple-A games last season. All of this made Mervis completely expendable to Chicago, so the club’s decision to trade him is hardly a surprise. With a rebuilding Marlins club, the Triple-A slugger expects a bigger big league opportunity than he ever received in Chicago. He will compete with the incumbent first baseman for playing time at first base Jonas Bridewho impressed with a 123 wRC+ in 71 games for the Marlins last year but has yet to start a season in the majors, was 29 years old.

While Mervis is hardly a surefire big league player, the Marlins are giving up very little to sign him. Bruján, 27, was DFA-signed by the Marlins last week to free up space on the 40-man roster after struggling to emerge as a big league starter in 2024. Once one of the Rays’ top-100 prospects, Bruján failed to score at all in 99 games for Tampa over three seasons before moving to Miami last winter. The Marlins made him a regular part of their bench mix this year, but he hit just .222/.303/.319 (73 wRC+) in 278 at-bats at the plate. Despite this lackluster performance at the plate, Brujan provided modest value as a decent baserunner and extremely versatile outfielder. The switch-hitter split his time primarily between shortstop, second base and third base last year in Miami, but is also capable of playing all three outfield spots and even had brief cameos at first base and third base last year Pitcher’s Mound.

That should be enough to give Brujan a chance to compete for a backup spot with the Cubs this spring. Chicago has completely overhauled its bench this offseason and is parting ways with it Christian Bethancourt, Mike Tauchman, Nick MadrigalAnd Patrick Wisdom last month to make room for alternative options. Carson Kelly joined the club’s squad to form a tandem Miguel Amaya That will take up a spot on the bench and an outfielder Alexander Canario currently appears poised to serve as the club’s reserve outfielder Ian Happ, Pete Crow Armstrong, Seiya SuzukiAnd Kyle Tucker. That leaves two spots still up for grabs, and Brujan currently appears poised to compete with the Rule 5 draft pick Gage Workman and internal options Miles Mastrobuoni And Luis Vasquez for those two spots, although another outside addition could certainly fill at least one of those bench roles and only the catching tandem appears to be fully locked in for 2025.