The Marlins have been one of baseball's fun little stories in 2026, and a big chunk of that has been Owen Caissie, the outfielder they scooped up from the Cubs over the winter. So it stung a little extra on Thursday when Miami announced it was placing both Caissie and lefty reliever John King on the injured list in one swoop.
Caissie, 23, was the headliner of the deal that sent Edward Cabrera to Chicago back in January, and he's made the Cubs look silly early on. He's been hitting .296/.355/.593 with the Marlins this year, a far cry from his brief, rough cup of coffee in Chicago last season, and he even delivered a walk-off homer against Colorado back on Opening Day weekend to help Miami start 3-0 for the first time since 2009. Now he's headed to the 10-day IL with a right calf strain, and after an MRI, manager Clayton McCullough pegged his return timeline at 2-4 weeks.
King's injury is the weirder one. The lefty, one of Miami's offseason bullpen signings, rolled his ankle stepping awkwardly on a platform during outfield pitching drills, landing him a left lateral ankle sprain and a trip to the 15-day IL. That's a real loss for a Marlins pen that leaned on him heavily. He'd quietly been their most reliable lefty option out of the bullpen, running a 2.48 ERA and 0.75 WHIP with a save and 4 holds across 40 appearances this season.
Miami didn't just leave the roster short-handed. The club recalled outfielder Rece Hinds and right-hander Ryan Gusto from Triple-A Jacksonville to help fill the gaps, and also reinstated Janson Junk off the 15-day IL while optioning righty Zach Brzykcy back down. It's a full shake-up on the same day, which tells you the front office is trying to plug two holes at once rather than just sit on a short bench.
None of this derails the bigger picture for Miami, but it does test how deep this roster actually is. Caissie's timeline puts him in play to be back within the month, which is the best-case version of this news. King's absence is the tougher one to paper over given how much the bullpen leaned on him, so expect the Marlins to lean on that fresh Triple-A depth until both guys are back.