Nerve irritation sidelines Marlins closer Fairbanks. Triple-A standout Cade Gibson gets the call to fill the prominent bullpen role.
The Miami Marlins placed Pete Fairbanks on the 10-day injured list on Tuesday after their closer left Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a nerve irritation in his thumb.
Fairbanks experienced numbness in his right hand and exited with the bases loaded before the Dodgers won 5-4 on a walk-off single by Kyle Tucker.
Fairbanks told MLB.com after the game that it was “just a lot of diminished sensation.”
“Felt like any movement of the wrist would exacerbate, just loss of sensation in the index finger,“ Fairbanks said. “I've dealt with the nerve stuff before, and it is still just as frustrating, because it's such a complex chain from neck to fingertip with a lot of entrapment spots.”
The last time Fairbanks landed on the IL with a nerve-related issue with his throwing hand was on April 22, 2024, when he was with the Tampa Bay Rays. He returned May 11, a timeframe, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said he hopes is the case this time around.
“It was around the 16-day mark,” McCullough said told reporters on Tuesday. “We'll all hold out hope that it's a minimum stay on the IL, but I think we'll just have to wait certainly over the next few days, just to see how he continues to feel and respond to treatment.”
The Marlins signed Fairbanks to a one-year, $13M contract over the offseason, which is the highest amount of money dedicated to a relief pitcher in franchise history. Miami didn’t have a closer last year and had nine relievers recorded a save.
“I think what we'll do is go into each game with what we have available and try to just win moments throughout the game,” McCullough said. “The good thing is we feel like we have a lot of confidence in a number of the pitchers that we have down there.”
Cade Gibson was recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville to take his place. Gibson has a 2.63 ERA, a 0.73 WHIP and 15 strikeouts in 13.2 innings pitched over 10 minor league games this season.
“Cade had been throwing the ball really well,” McCullough said. “He improved his stuff and how he was attacking left-handed hitters. As far as the handiness of our ‘pen, how many lefties, how many righties, I think it comes down to we want eight guys who are really good.”
Gibson, 28, made his MLB debut with the Marlins last year and posted a 2.63 ERA in 44 appearances as a rookie. He narrowly missed out on a spot on the Opening Day bullpen to Andrew Nardi coming back from missing the previous year to injury.
“Cade showed last year that he was a very dependable pitcher for us and took down a lot of important innings and was having a good camp,” McCullough said. “He'll get a chance to come up here now and fit into the ‘pen and whatever role usage we need from him on a given night.”
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