Jesus

Tinoco

Tinoco returns to Miami where he’ll continue rehabbing from last year’s elbow surgery. The 30-year-old reliever compiled a respectable 4.01 FIP, 1.29 WHIP and 10/8 K/BB ratio across 19 1/3 innings over four appearances with the Marlins last year. He made 32 appearances between the Rangers, Cubs and Marlins back in 2024.

All players will have the ability to enter free agency, if they so choose. Bellozo has been an up-and-down option for Miami over the past couple of years, and likely will have interest on the market as a depth piece if he doesn’t stay with Miami.

Both hurlers finished the season on the 60-day injured list, Nardi due to inflammation in his lower back and Tinoco due to a right forearm strain. Nardi suffered the back injury during spring training and simply never made it all the way back. It’s possible that the Marlins could attempt to bring him back on a minor league deal if he is indeed non-tendered.

The procedural move frees up a spot on Miami’s 40-man roster to acquire reliever Michael Petersen from Atlanta. Tinoco has been out since early June recovering from a forearm strain. There is no timetable for his return.

An MRI came back negative, so he might not miss too much time. While Tinoco is tied for the Marlins lead with four saves, he had taken a backseat to Calvin Faucher lately. He has a 5.12 ERA and a 10/8 K/BB in 19 1/3 innings this season.

That’s two nightmare outings in two days from the Marlins’ preferred closing options in Jesús Tinoco and Faucher. It’d seem to be good news for Anthony Bender, who got the Marlins’ first save back on April 1 but has none since. He has a 1.89 ERA in 19 innings this season, compared to 6.60 for Tinoco, who has four saves, and 5.63 for Faucher, who has two saves.

With the Marlins possessing a 6-3 lead, Tinoco was brought in to start the sixth tonight, his earliest appearance of the month. He wound up retiring none of the five batters he faced, though he did get one out when a runner was thrown out at home. Before that, he botched a roller down the first base line on which he should have gotten an out. Tinoco has a 6.60 ERA in 15 innings this season. Perhaps this will take him out of the mix for saves for a spell (he has four of the team’s seven saves this season), making Anthony Bender and Calvin Faucher better bets.

While the Marlins began the season a bit erratic with their late inning bullpen deployment, Tinoco has now received their last three save chances and seems to be their preferred ninth inning option. He did blow one of those three chances though – just yesterday against these same Cubs – and things can change fast, but all signs are pointing to him being the guy in Miami at this moment.

Oof. Tinoco came on with a 4-2 lead to protect in the ninth and things immediately got interesting as Carson Kelly reached on an error to open the inning. Tinoco then walked Dansby Swanson before getting Moises Ballesteros to ground into a fielder’s choice. Nico Hoerner followed with an RBI single that cut the lead to one and then Justin Turner finished him off with a walk-off two-run double. Tinoco may still be the Marlins’ best option in the ninth inning, but he just lost a lot of the good will that he had built up recently. He owns a miserable 5.68 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and an 8/6 K/BB ratio over 12 2/3 innings on the season to go with three saves.

Tinoco has half of the Marlins’ six saves. Calvin Faucher, who has two of the remaining three, pitched a scoreless seventh in a tie game and was credited with a win tonight. Anthony Bender, who has one save, struck out two in a perfect eighth tonight for a hold. We’re skeptical that any of these guys are worth rostering in shallow leagues at the moment, but Tinoco seems to be the preferred ninth-inning option of the bunch.