Struggling Jarred Cosart, Jake Marisnick swap places to see if that helps

The Marlins and Astros made a six-player trade before Thursday’s trade deadline, yet there isn’t a standout player to be seen in the bunch. That’s because it’s basically a swap of struggling young players from one team for struggling players on the other, with the idea being that maybe some new coaching eyeballs and a change of scenery can bring out the talent within. That might never happen, but you can understand why both sides would hope that it does.

The Marlins picked up starting pitcher Jarred Cosart, who might only be starting because he’s on the Astros. Cosart was originally part of the deal that sent Hunter Pence to the Phillies, and has been a disappointment during his two years in the majors. His stuff has been described in the kind of terms a prospect maven can fall in love with, but the results have been uninspiring. Cosart has struck out 5.5 batters per nine in his 30 major-league starts, while walking 4.4 per nine. He’s brought his walks down a bit in 2014 -- as in, he is no longer walking more batters than he is striking out -- but the two numbers are still far too close for anyone to be comfortable with, even if he’s inducing well over 50 percent grounders in the majors.

Cosart is probably a reliever in the long run unless he begins to throw more strikes in the right places, and if the Marlins eventually put him in that role, he might even be a quality one. For now, though, while they sit around. 500 in late July and dream of a miraculous postseason berth, they’ll likely keep him in the rotation just to see if they can wring the talent out of him that the Astros never could. The grounders are there, but an extra strikeout here or there in place of a walk would do wonders for reasons to be confident in his future in a rotation. They made it happen with the similarly hard-throwing, grounder-oriented Nathan Eovaldi and Henderson Alvarez, so let’s not give up on Cosart entirely yet.

Along with Cosart came 22-year-old Enrique Hernandez, who was batting .337/.380/.508 in the Pacific Coast League, and outfielder Austin Wates. Hernandez’s season came out of nowhere, as his previous career-high OPS at any level was just 736. The Astros sold high in order to get the kids they wanted out of the Marlins, but it could always turn out there’s something here. Like with Cosart, though, it’s difficult to tell. As for Wates, he’s 25 with no power, but can draw a walk. He could be a useful piece to bounce up and down between Triple-A and the majors as necessary, but given he’s not sending the ball over the wall in Oklahoma City and the rest of the PCL’s ballparks, you can safely assume it’s not going to start happening in Miami.

The Astros sent all this to the Marlins so they could get their hands on a couple of prospects who haven’t put it together. Colin Moran is the big one, as he was the Marlins’ first-round pick in 2013, at sixth overall. He hasn’t had a terrible year, but .294/.342/.393 from a college product in High-A isn’t awe-inspiring either. If he’s a late bloomer, the Astros will be the beneficiaries, and given his youth and inexperience, it’s worth betting on said bloom. Then there is Jake Marisnick, a 23-year-old, three-time top-100 prospect by Baseball America and MLB.com’s reckoning. Marisnick has struggled in his brief major-league exposure, and his return to Triple-A hasn’t gone much better with a line of .277/.326/.434. That’s not bad, but it’s not close to his High-A or Double-A performances, and it’s not going to get him back to the majors in a hurry.

The tools are there, but they haven’t translated into real baseball production yet. Again, maybe he’s a late bloomer -- he’s still all of 23, and this is his first go in Triple-A -- but the Marlins didn’t think that risk was worth holding onto him for, not when they could get a depth piece, a surprise breakout Triple-A bat, and a starter who very well might be a reliever. Along with Moran and Marisnick came 18-year-old Frances Martes, who is precisely the kind of player often packaged in the back of a July 31 deal: he’s young, he can miss bats, but he doesn’t always know where the ball is going. In that sense, he fits in perfectly with this bunch.

There might be a ton of talent here, with this trade turning into a major plus for both sides. Most of the key pieces involved could end up falling by the wayside and never flourishing, either. The Astros and Marlins both might have felt like the chances of the latter were too real to deal with, so instead, they swapped potential problems and called it a deadline. You have to appreciate that kind of joint resignation that at the same time isn’t keeping either side down.