Agent Scott Boras says the Marlins are leaving outfielder Marcell Ozuna at Triple-A New Orleans to potentially delay his arbitration eligibility, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. The agent claims that Marlins players are upset about the situation and this “is not what Marlins fans deserve.” The Marlins, meanwhile, deny that Ozuna is being kept in the minors for financial reasons. Here’s more out of the NL East..
- Phillies interim manager Pete Mackanin is doubtful that new acquisition Matt Harrison will be on the mound in 2015, Matt Breen the Philadelphia inquirer writes. “I said, ’I know you feel bad, but we’re looking at you for what we’re about to become rather than this year,’ ” Mackanin said. “Because, we’re really not playing for a whole lot this year.” Harrison came to the Phillies from Texas as part of the Cole Hamels deal last week.
- The development of Jorge Alfaro could dictate the final verdict on the Phillies’ return in the Cole Hamels trade, Jake Kaplan of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Alfaro, who could miss the rest of this season because of a left-ankle injury suffered June, was labeled “one of the minors’ best catching prospects” recently by ESPN’s Keith Law.
- Several Marlins players were not happy about the club’s trades last week, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. “Can we go home now? Can we go home now? They got rid of everybody,” one prominent player said loudly in Miami’s clubhouse on Friday, according to Jackson. Other players expressed disappointment privately about the roster moves, he writes.
- In order to open up a roster spot for Yoenis Cespedes, the Mets demoted top prospect Michael Conforto, as Anthony Rieber of Newsday writes. Conforto previously impressed at Double-A, now he’ll experience Triple-A for the first time.
Ozuna is tearing the cover off the ball at AAA with a .936 OPS. It’s not logical that he isn’t in the majors. As much as it pains me to say it, Boras has a point.
Especially with the marlin’s sell-off of talent for little more than salary relief, the fact that Ozana had a 4.5bWAR player last year, and seems to have found his hitting legs in AAA, you would have to say that Boras is almost certainly right. And there’s nothing that can be done. This is the way the CBA works, and many teams take service times into consideration in call up. Then, there is this approach, which is a little more aggressive.
I do agree about Ozuna.
However, the other part of the discussion about veteran player’s being upset about recent trades I actually think the trades were kind of prudent.
The players lost were bailing at season’s end and Morse was terrible. The season was already lost before this trade.
The job of the GM is to do the best for the team in the long term if they are not going anywhere. As much as Boras dislikes it there is nothing he can do about it other than get some cheese for his wine. They can negotiate this again when they negotiate the collective bargaining agreement.
It’s also the job of the GM to put the best team he can on the field. He’s not and he should. Hardly matters what the future holds if you’ve alienated your players and your fanbase.
He had a 77 OPS+ through 79 games this year.. I would say that he was given a healthy chance in the majors this year.. If the Marlins choose to keep him in AAA that is their prerogative.. He could have simply looked into the Marlins history before he chose to sign with them and he would have seen that they do whatever they can to save a buck.. As an amateur free agent he could have gone anywhere but I am sure he signed for the biggest bonus that he was offered.. Boras needs to quit telling teams how to manage their assets.. Sooner or later he is going to be detrimental to his players and their future contracts if he keeps alienating clubs like he has this year..
Actually, Ozuna didnt get much when he signed in international free agency
Can’t blame Boros looking out for his client, just as he was for Kris Bryant. But the GM of any team has to look out for the long term interest of the team and service time is a part of the decision making process. Short term pain vs long term gain.
Wasn’t the selling point to Stanton when he signed his new contract was that the Marlins were going to be competitive? Keeping Ozuna down in AAA is the opposite of that. If I was Stanton, I’d be pissed.
Stanton’s error was in believing it. Bur he also knows that, given the way his contract escalates, he probably won’t be in a mariin uniform three years from now.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if he opts out, he will walk away from 7 years, and like $215 mil. That may be a little hard to do no matter who you are
It’s not that he’ll definitely opt it. He’ll most likely be traded before he get too expensive.
Only if he agrees. He has the first and only full NTC in Marlins history.
If he stays healthy, he’ll easily make way more than that in free agency by then
I sympathize with Miami players that want to compete…but their also grown men being payed extremely well to do a job.
Exactly, and besides they only got rid of Morse (who sucked bad this year) Latos & Haren (who are free agents after this year) and Cishek (who had his own problems and was expensive).. Its not like they traded away controllable guys like Gordon, Prado, or Fernandez.. They can still compete next year when everyone is at 100%..
With an already terrible bullpen, which has been an issue for 8 years, it would probably make more sense to hold onto one of your only good relievers, and someone you have control over for 5 years, like Sam Dyson, rather than trading him to Texas for non prospects
Seriously? The Marlins are a next to last place team and their players are upset that they decided to sell their soon to be free agents? No one should enjoy losing a friend in the clubhouse, but if you didn’t expect it, and then start whining about, then the problem is on your attitude.
Agreed.. The A’s sold off better players than the Marlins did.. I would expect nothing would have been written had this been any other team but the Marlins..
I think its the fact that they pretty much got nothing back, but salary relief
The Marlins will always be the Marlins: a BS franchise led from the top by a BS owner. As they say, sh*t rolls down hill.
But this is what Stanton signed up for. He didn’t have to resign, and would’ve likely been paid a contract similar received somewhere else.
I don’t agree with basically anything the Marlins do. That being said they had enough talent to be better this season. You win and this isn’t happening right now.
injuries, lack of depth b/c of bad trades, once more not being able to get lefties out with anyone in the bullpen, and replacing a bad in game manager with a somehow worse in game manager kind of contributed to the whole not winning situation. Early in the season, it was more on the bullpen and manager than anything
I really have a lot to say regarding this situation, especially after what Michael Hill said, but I have my eye surgery in a couple of days, and it would probably take the time remaining to type it all out. At the end of the day, all this has been is an endless cycle of ridiculous mistakes, and then trying to cover up those mistakes, while also making as much money as possible. I saw reports mentioning how the Marlins were interested in looking for controllable, young arms. How about all of the controllable young arms, and other pieces they gave away in the offseason?!?!?! They finally just started playing Dietrich, only 3 years after Loria was apparently “insulted” (his favorite word) by him being one of the guys involved in the Tino Martinez situation. Marcell Ozuna is still in AAA b/c they’re trying to make him miss the super 2, which is ridiculous, especially 2 years into his career! Small tidbit, but personally, I just think this year has by far been the WORST this organization has ever been, and the things they’ve done have been the most sheisty of any other time in their history, including under Loria
On a side note, the future isnt brighter. We should know that by now, and its especially true b/c our farm system is non existent at this point
Stanton did what he had to do. Nobody would have turned down the contract he got. Much like A-rod signing with Texas. He got paid and in a year or two he will force his way to a big market team that is competitive and can afford him.
Just FYI, guys, Conforto is back with the Mets. Kirk Nieuwenhuis got put on the DL.