Marcell Ozuna’s 33-game stint in Triple-A was “like a jail” to the outfielder, as he tells Adam Zuvanich of the Miami Herald. The Marlins demoted Ozuna in July ostensibly due to his early-season struggles, though agent Scott Boras believed the Fish were keeping Ozuna in the minors to deny his client MLB service time and prevent his arbitration eligibility. “I know what happened when they sent me down. I knew that’s coming,” Ozuna said. “I don’t go there for work, because they know me. I don’t need the work. One for 36, 1 for 100, every big-league player has it. I have it and everybody has it.” Ozuna rejoined the Marlins this weekend after Christian Yelich went on the disabled list.
Here’s more from Miami and elsewhere around the NL East…
- Some in the Marlins front office want to keep Ozuna rather than explore trades for him this offseason, the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reports, though “at least one prominent Marlins person is open” to moving the outfielder. Ozuna drew trade interest from several teams (including the Indians) prior to the deadline.
- Also from Jackson’s column, he writes that the Marlins want to wait until after the season to make their intended managerial change so that they know the full pool of candidates before making a decision. This will allow the team to include any current managers in their search should those skippers be fired; Jackson cites the Dodgers’ Don Mattingly as an example. Jackson adds that there’s no front-runner for the job, though previous managing experience will be an important criteria.
- Mets manager Terry Collins isn’t concerned about his contract status, telling Newsday’s Steven Marcus that he has “no idea” if the club will discuss an extension with him while the season is still going. “I’m telling you, I don’t think about it. I think about playing golf in November. That’s the only thing on my mind right now,” Collins said. Collins’ deal expires at the end of the season though the Mets hold an option on his services for 2016. A team spokesman tells Marcus that the Mets will “address [a possible extension] at the proper time,” which I would presume refers to after the season is over.
- Assuming the Mets make the postseason or fall just short, Matthew Cerrone of Metsblog.com suspects the team will exercise their 2016 option on Collins and extend his deal through the 2017 season. It would “border on disrespectful,” Cerrone feels, if the Mets didn’t have Collins extended before next Spring Training given how the skipper has exceeded expectations since being hired as somewhat of a transitional manager.
- The Mets need to acquire yet another bullpen arm to address their still-struggling relief corps, Joel Sherman of the New York Post opines.
- Phillies interim manager Pete Mackanin admitted that it’s difficult to find playing time for trade candidate Chase Utley, as Andrew Gruman of MLB.com writes.  “I mean, yeah, we like ’Ut’. It is an issue for me, because I have to try to play everybody, and the guys that deserve to play, like [Cesar] Hernandez and so forth, I want them to play. But I want Utley to play, too. It is not an easy task for me, but we’ll do what we can,” Mackanin said.
- Nationals assistant GM Doug Harris is profiled by James Wagner of the Washington Post. Harris oversees the club’s farm system and manages the Nats’ pro scouting department in addition to other duties, and is seen as a potential future general manager by many around baseball; just earlier today, the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo tabbed Harris as a contender to be the Brewers’ next GM.
Wow! Ozuna as an entitled punk! His demotion was earned and for goodness sake, it was a little over a month.
Really nice to say AAA is like a prison, ya know, to the 90% of MiLBers that never make it past there.
He’s just flapping his gums so that the Marlins trade him…isn’t it obvious?
He’s basically saying he mistrusts the organization and can’t wait to get out as a free agent in a few years but would be happy to make waves if it gets him out sooner
And I am sure those comments are going to encourage other teams to rush out and trade for him.. Sometimes these players shoot themselves in the foot when they want out of the organization they are in.. All he needs to do is put up solid numbers and avoid signing a cheap extension.. Loria will trade him as soon as his arbitration salary starts to rise..
1. How can he put up numbers when he’s not in the major leagues.
2. Why would he even be offered an extension since he’s not a free agent until 2020?
I think most teams would probably understand since the Marlins are shady at best.
The Marlins are the worst run organization in baseball. No team will be put off by a player and his agent pointing that out because it’s true.
He was demoted for the money. It’s the only plausible reason. The Marlins are a last place team using their GM as their manager and are wirely reviled as having the worst owner in the business.
What in the name of Bob Buhl is he talking about? No one has had a streak of 1 for 100. Even pitchers.
i mean i don’t think he should have been demoted just because he could get work in, in the bigs because the team wasn’t contending but those comments don’t make him look good.
In roughly a half season’s worth of at-bats this season, Ozuna has a 75 wRC+. If you want to talk about how you’re just being held down by the man to avoid paying you, well, I think it behooves you to put up numbers first.
4.5 bwar and 3.7 fwar last year, so he has put up numbers.
That would be why they didn’t send him down last year. It also bought him extra time to be mediocre this year, but at some point it needed to happen.
to be fair though, he hadnt been that terrible until that slump right before he went down, and that slump coincided with the fact that Stanton, and others, were out of the lineup (which hasnt been fully healthy pretty much all season), so it was pretty much Ozuna and company out there. His lack of power was an issue, but before June he had been somewhat decent. The one thing I would say though is that he probably wasnt in the best conditioning to start the season
Nothing wrong with what Ozuna said. He had no business being sent down in the first place. Then, he should have been called back up after a few games when he was raking down there. He is 2 years into his career. Its ridiculous that the Marlins held him down, specifically to make him miss the Super 2. Its not like he is still a prospect, waiting for his call to the big leagues. I would want to keep him for multiple reasons, but after seeing that story, I know for a fact they’re going to trade him for 25 cents on the dollar. The quote just sounds so familiar with Loria. He will be “insulted” by what Ozuna and Scott Boras said, and want him out
As for our managerial situation, we desperately need someone that understands matchups, and that doesnt do things that make you want to pull your eyes out. Based on my understanding of the Marlins, considering the fact that I’ve been a fan for essentially my entire life, I would bet that they dont get someone that is competent in those areas. That being said, as long as he is at least better than Jennings (which shouldnt be difficult) and at least better than Redmond (which also shouldnt be difficult), I guess I would have to take that
Get outta here. Ozuna has been AWFUL this year. OPSing at .600. His job was to protect Stanton this year, instead he K’s on 3 pitches 30% of the time. He puts up terrible ABs. He had a well deserved demotion and is closer to playing himself out of the league than he is to a big contract. Boras should shut his mouth and worry about his clients actually producing before he worries about their paychecks.
So you’re saying that when he went down, and was raking, it made sense to keep him in the minor leagues for over a month, while the team struggled mightily and fell into where they are right now….totally ridiculous
Pretty reasonable amount of time to straighten his swing out. If someone struggles mightily at the big league level, and you send him down..a hot streak for a couple of days at AAA doesn’t always justify an immediate promotion.
The situation is different when they’re already an established big leaguer, and the issue was fixed within that first week. Also, the GM (jennings) had been receiving reports about how he was doing, and was questioning why he wasn’t back with the team. As the Super 2 cutoff date approached for Ozuna, we started hearing that he should be back in a few days. It was very clear what they were doing.
I guess he wasn’t so established was he?
There’s absolutely no doubt that the arb cutoff had something to do with it – that’s just business. But the fact does remain, he was a 24 year old, coming off a decent but not spectacular season the year before, who was struggling mightily this year – a AAA stint is justified.
When you’re young, struggling, and your contract has options – don’t be shocked if you get optioned. Coming out and saying it was like jail is just furthering the perception.
He’s a good player and will most likely continue to be a good player. But, if you regress terribly from a .317 OBP/26.8K% season – and that’s your MLB track record – a demotion without an immediate recall shouldn’t be surprising.
Just because a player rakes against AAA pitching does not mean they’ve worked out all their flaws to become extremely successful against MLB pitching. If that were the case, guys like LJ Hoes, Ed Lucas and Nick Evans would be in the majors.
Man, if Im a Brother I changing my name from Hoes !
Oh please. Ozuna has been terrible this year. OPS .600 and less than .200 with RISP. He deserved it. Boras needs to worry about production and less about $$.
Players have to be on drugs to Sign with this Organization with Lurie as Owner !
Another Bud Buddy screwing Florida Fans and MLB. Give us our Tax Money Back .
When a significant chunk of players don’t have any free trade rights, they don’t get a choice.