Marlins claim 1B Aguilar, trade for 2B/SS Villar

The Miami Marlins acquired two infielders on Monday, claiming first baseman Jesus Aguilar off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays and making a trade to add second baseman/shortstop Jonathan Villar from the Baltimore Orioles. Miami sent left-handed pitcher Easton Lucas to Baltimore in exchange for Villar.

Aguilar, 29, split last season between the Brewers and the Rays, a year after he was an All-Star for Milwaukee. He hit a combined .236 with a .325 on-base percentage, a .389 slugging percentage, 12 homers and 50 RBIs in 131 games this year. All of the numbers were down sharply from 2018, when he batted .274/.352/.539 with 35 homers and 108 RBIs in 149 games.

Aguilar, who is eligible for arbitration this winter, has a career batting line of .256/.334/.472 with 63 homers and 215 RBIs in 448 games for the Cleveland Indians (2014-16), Milwaukee (2017-19) and Tampa Bay (2019). Villar, 28, played in all 162 for Baltimore this year, hitting .274/.339/.453 with 24 homers and 73 RBIs. He also ranked third in the American League with 40 steals.

He is arbitration-eligible this offseason after making $4,825,000 last season. Villar will be reunited with former teammate Aguilar, as Villar played for the Astros from 2013-15 and the Brewers from 2016-18 before spending part of 2018 and all of 2019 in Baltimore.

Lucas, 23, was the Marlins' 14th-round draft pick out of Pepperdine in June. This summer, he went a combined 1-2 with a 3.63 ERA in 13 games (nine starts) for two Miami farm teams in the low minors. 

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