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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff WriterDec 11, 2024, 01:00 AM ET
- ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
DALLAS — The Texas Rangers have agreed to a trade for power-hitting corner infielder Jake Burger, sources told ESPN on Tuesday night. In exchange, the Miami Marlins will receive two shortstop prospects in Echedry Vargas and Max Acosta and a young left-handed starting pitcher in Brayan Mendoza.
Burger, 28, is controllable for four years and compiled 63 home runs with the Marlins and the Chicago White Sox over the past two years, batting .250/.305/.488 while playing first and third base in 278 games.
In Texas, where Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Jung man first and third base, respectively, Burger seemingly slots in as the everyday designated hitter, adding more length to a lineup that, at full health, can be among the sport’s most prodigious.
The Marlins acquired Burger from the White Sox in August of 2023, one of the final pieces to a team that made a surprising run to the playoffs. They have since gone into a full rebuild under current president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, parting with a litany of established players — Luis Arraez, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Tanner Scott and Trevor Rogers among them — in an effort to build sustainability.
The Burger trade represents another stage of that pursuit. The headliner of Marlins’ return is probably Vargas, a 19-year-old who was ranked 17th in the Rangers’ system by MLB.com and produced a .775 OPS with 14 homers and 29 stolen bases in Class A last season. Acosta, 22, produced a .777 OPS with 34 extra-base hits and 26 steals in Double-A in 2024.
Mendoza, a 20-year-old signed out of Venezuela, is coming off a big year at both of the Rangers’ Class A affiliates, posting a 2.32 ERA with 109 strikeouts and 25 walks in 101 innings.
