With MLB trade deadline one month away, Bell, Burger ‘still grinding’ with Miami Marlins

This time a year ago, Josh Bell and Jake Burger, unlike lineup mainstays Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bryan De La Cruz and Jesus Sanchez, were a month away from becoming Marlins.

Bell was in Cleveland, bashing 11 homers and driving in 48 runs for a Guardians team that would finish 10 games below .500. Burger was with the White Sox, the team that had drafted him No. 11 in 2017 and waited patiently while he managed to overcome the trauma of two torn Achilles tendons that cost him three seasons.

While he was in the process of hitting 22 homers with 52 RBI, the team was going nowhere during what would be a disastrous 61-101 season.

That’s what brought him to Miami on Aug. 1, the same day Bell came aboard in trade-deadline deals. Together they provided the kind of punch that helped propel the Marlins to the postseason as a wild card, combining for 20 homers and 54 RBI.

It ended quickly, though, when Bryce Harper and the then-reigning National League champion host Phillies sent them packing by 4-1 and 7-1 counts. This weekend those painful memories have come flashing back when the Marlins returned to the scene of the “crime,” Citizen’s Bank Park.

What has to sting them even more is while the Phillies sport the best record in baseball, the Marlins have been in a freefall all season. “Any time you’re playing in Philadelphia you know the fans are going to bring energy,” said Berger, who blasted an eighth-inning, tie-breaking homer to key the Marlins 7-4 come-from-behind win in Thursday’s series opener, before left-hander Cristopher Sanchez hurled a three-hit, 2-0 shutout against them Friday. “Obviously last year left a bad taste in our mouths, but it’s a new season.

“Unfortunately we’ve had seven of our starting pitchers go down this year, which is the same story as last year in the postseason when we didn’t have Sandy [Alcantara] and Eury [Perez].

“But you’ve got to keep rolling with the punches.”

Bell will second that, especially since not only last season but also 2022 ended for him here when the Padres fell to the Phillies in the NLCS. “I’ve played quite a few games in postseason with these guys and they’ve drawn the better hand,” the 31-year-old Bell, whose was lauded by manager Skip Schumaker after an RBI double Thursday for his professionalism. “With the Padres, I thought we had more of an opportunity to win.

“But this is not exactly the same team we had last year, unfortunately. We’re still grinding through, still getting wins and still fighting for everything we can get.”

While Bell concedes he has struggled this year, but over the long haul he hasn’t been too shabby. “The first couple of months have been a grind, so I wouldn’t say I’m happy,” said Bell, a career .258 hitter with 160 homers and 576 RBI for Pittsburgh — where he spent his first five seasons — plus Washington, San Diego and Cleveland before the Marlins. “I’m happy with how my body feels.

“Happy with the work I put in. I wish I were happier about my career as a whole but part of being a baseball player is you’re never quite satisfied.

“I’m sure other people would love to have the career I’ve had, but I feel there’s more left in the tank.”

As for Burger, 28, he’s confident his tank has plenty of fuel left after such a rocky start. “I tore my Achilles twice and was out for three full years which ran right into the COVID season,” explained Burger, who as a result is still in the final year of his rookie contract. “So there was a lot of no-baseball for me.

“Any time I’m sitting there watching the game is just infuriating, because I want to be out there.”

Finally establishing himself in Chicago as a bona fide slugger, the kid from St. Louis had no idea his fortunes were about to change 11 months ago. “There weren’t any rumors or anything,” revealed Burger, who was drafted following a standout career at Missouri State, where he was recruited by former MSU great Ryan Howard. “I was in Texas to play the Rangers.

“I get called into the manager’s office and he told me I’d been traded. The next day I’m playing Philadelphia in Miami.”

Today, Burger and Bell, those two 2023 trade deadline-acquisition Marlins at the center of the lineup, are here to take on those same Phillies yet again.

No, this is not a recording.