Blue Jays Swap Pitchers With Marlins in Minor Trade

This year’s Toronto Blue Jays sure look like they’re on their way to being buyers at the trade deadline. It’s a nice and wholly welcomed change from the past few years where they seem to have been stuck right in the middle of buyers and sellers.

Just this past year, the Blue Jays shipped off every single rental they had on their payroll, as well as a few controllable assets. Now, sitting at 42-36, Toronto is just two-and-a-half games out of the top spot in the American League East and currently occupies a Wild Card spot.

On Tuesday night, the Blue Jays pulled off their first trade of the season (per Christina De Nicola of MLB.com), this one with the Miami Marlins. Heading north of the border is right-hander Robinson Piña, while relief-pitching prospect Colby Martin is heading back to the Marlins.

This move is not going to immediately knock anyone’s socks off, but Piña is going to take a spot on the Blue Jays’ 40-man roster and could conceivably see some big-league time in the near future.

Let’s take a closer look at the pieces involved on both sides of this deal.

Blue Jays Acquire Robinson Piña From the Marlins

From the Blue Jays’ standpoint, this trade looks like yet another one Ross Atkins makes to land an AAAA (“Quad-A” is how older players who are too good for the minors but not quite good enough for the majors are referred to) player in hopes of catching lightning in a bottle.

Even if he is an AAAA type of player, this is something Atkins and the Blue Jays have made work in the recent past. There’s nothing wrong with compiling other team’s castoffs and seeing if you can be the team to make a life-altering tweak for the player.

Piña is 26 years old and only just made his MLB debut on June 20. He went just one inning, giving up a home run to Austin Riley of the Atlanta Braves. Prior to his debut, Piña had been floating around the minor leagues for multiple organizations dating all the way back to 2017.

The 2025 season is the best Piña has had as a professional, so the time to strike for the Blue Jays was now. The right-hander posted a 3.47 ERA and 3.73 FIP in 13 Triple-A outings (11 starts) in the Marlins system. In that time, he was in the 83rd percentile in chase rate (31.9%) while striking out 22.2% of batters and walking 6.2%.

There’s not a whole lot that’s game-changing about what Piña brings to the table, but he’s an arm capable of either starting games or going multiple innings in relief. Both of those are things the Blue Jays could use, as they’ve gotten some concerning results from their most reliable bullpen arms, and their rotation has been hit hard by injuries and underperformance.

Piña’s repertoire consists of a four-seam fastball, sinker, slider, and splitter. While none of his offerings are considered elite, he’s got a handful of different weapons he can utilize to get hitters out. What undoubtedly made him even more attractive to Atkins is the fact that he comes with three minor league options.

What Are the Marlins Getting in Colby Martin?

Then there’s Martin, a 24-year-old relief pitcher who only just reached the High-A level for the first time in his pro career. The right-hander is a converted second baseman who’s only got 32 minor-league innings on the mound under his belt.

In that time, Martin has shown some promise. His 1.54 ERA and 11.6 K/9 to start 2025 are both highly encouraging, but he came his fair share of warts; primarily his lack of control. Still, the Marlins are landing a pitcher we just recently labeled as a Blue Jays pitching prospect whose name you need to know.

Martin primarily leans on a four-seam fastball that comfortably sits around 97mph but has been known to reach triple-digits in the past. Since he’s still so new in his pitching journey, his inclusion in this trade is as nothing more than a flyer for the Marlins. Their current status as a rebuilding team puts them in the perfect position to try out lottery-ticket type players like this, so don’t be surprised when Martin gets his control figured out and turns himself into a late-blooming weapon.

Closing Thoughts

The Blue Jays have desperately needed help in the pitching-depth department for a while now. Adding Piña isn’t an earth-shattering move, but it’s one that could end up paying off for them, at least in the short-term.

Last year, the Blue Jays acquired a litany of players just like Piña and so few of them ended up turning into anything. However, Eric Lauer, Ryan Yarbrough, Brendon Little, Ryan Burr, Braydon Fisher, Tommy Nance, and Easton Lucas are some of the names that have given the Blue Jays some meaningful innings dating back to this time last year. They’re proof that Atkins’ constant wheeling-and-dealing approach can work.

It seems unlikely that Piña will take the active roster spot of Spencer Turnbull, so he could be ticketed for Triple-A, where he’d join the Buffalo Bisons and remain available for a spot start or stint as a long reliever with the big league club.

Bowden Francis and Max Scherzer are both on the injured list while Chad Green and Jeff Hoffman are struggling to find their footings this year. Over the past 30 days, five pitchers on the big-league staff have an ERA of 4.89 or higher, so the need for a fresh arm is apparent.

Landing a cheap, flexible player you can plug in and hope you get something out of is a strategy Atkins has pulled off in the past, so we’ll see how this one works out.