Miami Palms Blog

 After spending one season in Miami, Yasmani Grandal has moved on to a new home on the South Side of Chicago. The Palms will be looking for their third starting catcher in as many years, though Wellington Castillo remains in the fold if the team wants to try a platoon. 

 There have been rumblings that Matt Koch might be moved to bring back some sort of prospect or pitching return, but the front office noted today that Koch is indeed a prospect himself. Koch will continue to provide value on the depth chart, spelling every position around the diamond, while hoping to sustain the .770 OPS he brought to the table in his rookie season. Miami hopes that the stability and vote of confidence will allow the utility player to flourish in 2020. 

 One of the stronger options, and clearly the top lefty out of the Palms bullpen is returning. Wandy Peralta, who owned a sub-3.00 ERA for the second year in a row, will be back to pitch more important innings in 2020. The lefty will seek to increase his strike out total, while maintaining his low home run rate. 

 Perhaps confirming the pending departure of Travis Jankowski, the Palms have filled an open outfield position by signing a long time Yankee coming off a career year. Brett Gardner joins Miami a season after hitting a career high 28 home runs. Given the course of his career, it would be a stretch to expect Gardner to supply middle of the order thump, but he will provide additional veteran leadership for a team looking for a bounceback to contention in 2020.