After agreeing to terms with starter Wei-Yin Chen, the Marlins now seem rather unlikely to deal away young outfielder Marcell Ozuna, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reports on Twitter. Miami had reportedly been dangling Ozuna in hopes of landing a young rotation piece, but seemingly moved on to strike an agreement with Chen when it could not find a trade arrangement it liked.
Of course, much of the impetus for the apparent organizational inclination to trade Ozuna seemed to come from owner Jeffrey Loria. Though there had been discussions about an extension, things turned south after the Scott Boras-represented Ozuna declined to pursue a contract and then struggled to open the 2015 season.
When Jon Heyman asked Loria today whether Ozuna would be moved, he reportedly responded: “he’s here!” (Twitter link.) That line is hardly definitive, of course, but it certainly seems to suggest that it could stay that way in the context of the Chen agreement and the aforementioned report.
While the Marlins were said to be comfortable deploying Christian Yelich in center if a deal had come together involving Ozuna, it seems preferable to keep him and Giancarlo Stanton at the corners. Indeed, as I wrote in addressing the lynchpin decision on Ozuna in the Marlins’ offseason outlook, there is still tremendous appeal in keeping that trio together for the foreseeable future.
dodged a Loria bullet
Loria as bad as Boris two thing why would you let Boris rep you and play for Loria as a manager – players are ok in fish ville but never know where or when but you will get trade thanks to Stanton contract cost more than fish ville
…….what?
Loria is as bad as Boras. Two things: why would you let Boras represent you AND play for Loria as (an owner)? The players are ok in Miami, but they never know when or where they’ll be traded. Thanks to Stanton’s contract, Miami’s payroll is higher.
(That’s my translation, anyway.)
Marlins fans, you can thank Mattingly and Bonds for this.
Of course, they have to save him now to attach to a Wei yin chen trade in 2 years to get someone to take his back loaded salary if he doesn’t op out of his contract
I could see the following trades
Ozuna to Reds for Iglesias
To the mets for conforto
To the Cubs for soler
All could use a CF upgrade and move yelich to CF. then Mets could resign cespedes.
The Reds won’t trade Iglesias for and for two even if they move Bruce they have Winker, Duvall, Yorman Rodriguez, Kyle Wahldrop, Schlebler and other specs they want to give a chance in the OF.
Don’t understand the hype on Ozuna. He has never hit .300 got on clip at over a .320 mark other than one year in the rookie league. He strikes out at an alarming rate / he’s body type won’t let him stay in CF for a long period of time. Know that he has a lot of power but don’t like his future predictions that much.
Yes we definately Thank Bonds and Mattingly for keeping Ozuna. I really hope Loria finally listens to the people that know a little something about baseball. Ozuna is a young player a lot of talent who has not fully shown his potential. Ozuna can easily be a 30 hr 20 steal player with a Canon for an arm. He is also a good guy to have in the dug out and a player that hustles… Yes he needs to loose some weight and lay off bad pitches… I am glad we are keeping him.
I can’t wait to see Bonds feces eating grins on the television this year again. It’s been nice not see much of him for some years now. Maybe he can hook up Ozuna with his steroid connections and turn him into a big headed muscle bound beast too.
In the right place for it in Miami.
Wake me up when the Marlins actually do something that they’re threatening to do. All show, no go in Miami.