Marlins to place slugger on IL, activate promising RHP

The Marlins are placing third baseman Jake Burger on the 10-day injured list due to a left oblique injury, tweets Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. She adds that Burger likened the discomfort he experienced to a 2023 oblique injury where he only missed the 10-day minimum. The team hasn’t provided a timetable for his return just yet. The Fish will recall utilityman Otto Lopez, whom they claimed off waivers from the Giants earlier this season, to take Burger’s spot on the roster.

Burger, 28, is tied for the Marlins’ team lead with three homers and is currently pacing the club with 15 runs knocked in. His overall .228/.281/.421 batting line is still well shy of league-average production (86 wRC+), but he’s been one of the better hitters in a dismal Marlins lineup — particularly with runners on base. Even a short-term absence figures to be a notable hit to a Marlins lineup that has mustered a collective .209/.273/.316 slash to begin the season.

The injury to Burger is exacerbated by the fact that utilityman Vidal Brujan is also banged up at the moment. Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald tweets that Brujan is dealing with a right knee injury and is currently considered day-to-day. The Marlins are still in the process of evaluating that injury, and it’s possible he’ll wind up missing some time as well.

As such, the Marlins’ top options at third base right now are Emmanuel Rivera — acquired from the D-backs for cash following his DFA earlier this month — and Lopez. Rivera hit .261/.314/.358 in 283 plate appearances with Arizona last season but is out to a 3-for-17 start (all singles) in his time with the Marlins. Lopez is hitting .485/.528/.788 in a tiny sample of 36 Triple-A plate appearances this season and carries a career .288/.354/.401 slash in parts of four Triple-A campaigns overall. He’s spent far more time at both middle infield slots than at the hot corner, but he does have 205 career innings at third base.

It’s not all bad news for the Marlins. They’re expected to reinstate right-hander Edward Cabrera from the injured list to make his season debut tonight, reports Kevin Barral of Fish On First. De Nicola tweets that left-hander A.J. Puk had been slated to take the ball, but he’ll be pushed back a couple days due to an illness that’s been making the rounds in the Miami clubhouse and is currently impacting him. The Marlins will need to make a second roster move to open space for Cabrera’s return.

Cabrera, 26, has spent the first two-plus weeks of the season on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement. However, he’s made three Triple-A rehab starts now, allowing just one run in 12 2/3 innings. He walked seven batters over seven innings in his first two appearances, showing a bit of rust, but Cabrera punched out nine batters and walked just one over 5 2/3 frames in his most recent outing — yielding only an unearned run along the way. He’s pitched 171 1/3 innings over the past two seasons for the Marlins, working to a 3.73 ERA with a strong 26.6% strikeout rate but a dismal 13.7% walk rate that’s in need of further refinement.