The Marlins are “under the impression” that Jose Fernandez’s representation will be seeking $30MM per year when the pitcher hits the open market, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Â The Marlins have no intention of meeting that number and, therefore, they have made peace with the fact that they will not retain him past 2018. Â Of course, the Marlins could also trade the young hurler before the 2018/19 offseason and get something in return rather than lose him for nothing.
Monetary problems aside, there are also some issues between Fernandez and team management.  For starters, a friend of Fernandez tells Jackson that the pitcher was bothered by the team’s trades last summer.  The Marlins made a number of deals in July, including trades that shipped out notables like Sam Dyson, Dan Haren, Mat Latos, Michael Morse, and Steve Cishek.
Fernandez was also bothered by the removal of pitching coach Chuck Hernandez, who has since been replaced by Juan Nieves, according to the friend.  On the whole, the source close to Fernandez contends that ex-Marlins player Jeff Baker soured Fernandez – and other players – on the Marlins’ front office.
A Fernandez trade could bring back a significant haul of prospects for the Marlins, but the Wei-Yin Chen signing this winter would indicate that the Marlins are hoping to contend in the immediate future.  Chen’s five-year, $80MM deal includes an opt-out after two seasons, giving the Marlins a strong rotation arm to pair with Fernandez for the next two years at least.  Then again, a Fernandez trade could bring back a mix of prospects and MLB-ready talent, so the Marlins wouldn’t necessarily be signing up for a rebuild if they moved him.
Fernandez won NL Rookie of the Year in 2013 when he pitched to a 2.19 ERA with 9.7 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 across 28 starts. Since then, Fernandez has made a combined 19 big league starts, pitching to a 2.71 ERA with 11.5 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 between 2014 and 2015.
The Marlins should trade Gordon, Hech, Prado, Yelich, Ozuna, Capps, Dunn, Ramos, Morris, Fernandez and Dietrich.
That would give them the top farm in baseball, probably. You’d get 3-4 top prospects for Fernandez, another 2 for Yelich, another 2 for Gordon, etc.
Ya cuz having a top farm system is what baseball is all about right????
But it looks so good on paper.
When you have one of the worst farms and no flexibility financially, a maybe-.500 MLB team, rebuilding isn’t a bad idea
The Marlins were 71-91 last season, when did they become a “maybe .500 team?” Shouldn’t they actually try to get to .500 or maybe even better at least once before you metaphorically sentence them to death?
Or they should just trade Fernandez for like 5 pretty good players and be a contender still?
Assuming you meant “pretty good” as in pretty good MLB players? A solid contender would most likely be in the market for Jose Fernanadez and his 3 remaining years of arb-eligible control. It would be hard to imagine any such team surrendering 5 “pretty good” MLB players off their active roster to simply add one starting pitcher, even a stud like Fernandez.
“Pretty good”, whatever that means, might turn into pretty “meh” from a contender. It’s far more likely such a club would only be willing to offer a “pretty good” MLB ready player or two, along with and a couple of top prospects…teams like the Cubs, Dodgers and Red Sox for instance. How that helps the Marlins compete in the short term is anybody’s guess?
Still? The Marlins are not a contender this year, nor were they last year. They were 10 games under .500 last year and this year does not look any better.
nah
Morris will get a mid-level guy at best. Dunn will get nothin. Capps will get a mid level. Dietrich won’t get anything.
Why don’t they just pay him deferred money? Or pay it out over 30 years? Loria’s got enough money.
You ready for this? Cubs get Jose Fernandez and Mathis; Marlins get Soler, Underwood, Mckinney, Contreras, Hendricks, cash
Nowhere near enough on Chicago’s end.
As in Cubs would want more or Marlins? I think it’s already a heavy hit on Cubs farm ironically meaning that’s more than fair buddy it would make em actual contenders in 2 years too
lol. The Marlins would want multiple elite prospects back, not one good guy and a bunch of lesser prospects.
Well for what they wanted from the dodgers, seager pederson Urias and others, dodgers said no.
Yah, that’s SIGNIFICANTLY more than the proposed Cubs offer. They’d have to start a package off with Bryant or Russell and then add a handful of top prospects from there.
If I was the cubs and looking for another pitcher, why not make a big package to get Sonny Gray? I mean Bryant and Russell are prolly untouchable, so my guess they would have to start the package around Schwarber and others.
Kris Bryant and Addison Russell are all but untouchable. A package for Jose Fernandez would have to start with Kyle Schwarber, just as it would for a young ace like Sonny Gray.
A package starting with either Jorge Soler or Javier Baez would likely net the Cubs a pitcher in the next tier, perhaps a Jose Quintana, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, Jake Odorizzi or Tyson Ross.
Hojo, that is 3 of the Cubs top 10 prospects, all of whom rank higher than any Marlins prospect, and 2 MLB players. Too much for Fernandez.
They’re not actually a good match. MIA would be trading to contend, so they wouldn’t need Soler, McKinney, Baez or Russell. Bryant-Fernandez straight up could work if either team feels like getting bold. Realistically I’d say Schwarber 100% has to be in the deal, with Contreras, Hendricks, Baez (if they think he could play 3B or LF), Torres, Underwood, Almora, Happ.
You are dreaming if you think you can get Fernandez without completely gutting your farm though, just as a note for future ideas.
I only didn’t include Schwarber bc I don’t like him ._. The guy has a glove for no reason I’d be turned of if he was included in a deal for any of my players
I disagree , If they were going to trade Schwarber it would be for sonny gray, Not Fernandez.
I believe the Marlins could find a place for a soon to be 23-year old left-handed hitter with .900+ OPS potential over the next decade. (lol)
they have some good players. jose is a handful it appears, but he doesnt have to be the leader. they should make a run at it. can always deal him in 18.
….and then trade him in ’19.
The Marlins do have some star power.
I’m sorry, but I would not pay $30MM per season for a guy that only has 48 big league starts in three seasons. I don’t care how good he is because I think I can find someone nearly as good, if not better, for a lot less than almost $2 million per start. Of course he has two years to gather more starts, but he also has two years to avoid injury and/or falling off a cliff as well, so really this point is 100% moot.
We are still talking about the dream of the 2018 offseason, because apparently what is actually occurring right now is just too boring. Why can’t people just sit back and enjoy the ride instead of always looking ahead to some imaginary destination that is not even visible yet?
Hmmmm ….
1 awesome pitcher with injury history for 10yr/$300 million
OR
2-3 reliable players for basically the same price
It’s to the point where I pull for my teams rivals to handcuff themselves with contracts like these
Exactly…I hated to see Greinke go to the Snakes, but throughout the process when the Gnats were said to be bidding so highly on him I started to feel the same way…it takes up such a high percentage of your payroll it handcuffs you from being able to easily add other pieces necessary…and by the back end of a contract for an older player you’re typically not going to get the value you’re paying for
I actually like the signing by the dbacks of getting greinke, they had a good offense and all they needed was an ace, And I liked it even more because they snagged greinke from the dodgers.
“Monetary problems”. What a crock of sh*t. The local media here in Miami loves to tell you how much money Loria doesn’t have, yet that fool is making art deals for just as much as the teams payroll and is rolling in the cash with revenue sharing. As a frustrated Marlins fan, I don’t care if it takes $50 million annually to keep Jose Fernandez, Loria better pony up and keep him.
People like Jeff Loria didn’t get their riches by running unprofitable businesses. Expecting him to operate the Marlins as if it’s a hobby instead of a business is probably a little unrealistic.
If its unprofitable for him he would have sold it a long time ago. From what I heard he collects enough money from revenue sharing to turn a nice profit. If the Rays are unsuccessful with getting a new stadium in St Pete I would love to see MLB force the Rays and Marlins to switch cities. It would be interesting to see if having an ownership group committed to winning would do anything to help attendance in Miami.
As long as there are systems in place, there will be a portion of people operating under that system looking for ways to exploit the system to their advantage. What Jeffrey Loria has been doing is unethical and make him not really a great person, but he hasn’t broken any rules. He is just good at exploiting loopholes in baseball’s system (and apparently the system governing stadium construction).
They aren’t loopholes, they are the rules of operation of MLB as agreed to by the 30 team owners. If the team owners wanted different rules, they’d make them. They don’t change the rules because the large market teams benefit by having teams like the Marlins who don’t try to hold onto their best players and are almost never competitive.
Sure. This is why I’ve suggested that the media revenue from all the teams be pooled and split up equally 30 ways, and the teams who are net beneficiaries of the revenue sharing be required to spend some minimum percentage of it on team operations or return it to the pool.
The Marlins have the smallest TV contract in baseball with no chance to improve it before 2020. That is why Stanton’s contract starts to pay him what he is worth that year.
I really don’t like the Marlins there are multiple reasons why, one is the handling of Dan Jennings also this, Marlins want the world and some for an injury prone pitcher, he’s has what? 2 Tommy John Surgeries? It could be one but having one is already detrimental as it is. The only upside is that he’s young. God the Marlins piss me off
It was one TJ surgery and it’s a little premature to label him as injury prone. Missing a year at like 22 years old hardly means anything for the rest of his career and he is one of the most dominant starters in the majors when he is healthy. Try telling Matt Harvey that a TJ surgery is detrimental after the year he put together this past season.
Yeah that last inning Harvey put together was a lollapalooza. LOL
Matt Harvey had a 4.3 WAR season. He was good definitely, but not exactly Pedro Martinez in 2000 or anything. You are trying to make it sound like he had an otherworldly type season. He wasn’t even in the top 5 starters in the NL last year. Pull back on the reins just a bit.
Harvey’s 4.4 WAR = $32+ million per year if he was eligible for free agency. Also puts him in top 17 in baseball. Considering he was returning from Tommy John, it puts him in rare company.
WAR is another junk statistic dreamed up by the stat nerds. I always ask the question: Show me one WAR that has been proven as correct. Can’t be done because it is not a stat based on anything other than other BS stats.
Typically, TJ survivors have shorter careers than non-TJ pitchers.
There are no statistics to support that claim.
We all know there isnt gonna be a trade for Hernandez unless the price goes down.I know every fan wants there team to pull off the next Shelby Miller fleecing,but I dont see other GM’s doing it..
The Dodgers or Cubs wouldnt trade Seager or Bryant straight up for Jose more less throw multiple top prospects with them.Both them guys will be super stars in there own right and have dbl the years of control and play everyday.
Basicaly Jose will stay put,and in a couple years he will be dealt for less or just leave without any compensation.Teams value their prospects too much now,even tho we all know most dont make it to the show.
What are you guys going to think if Shelby Miller wins 2 or 3 Cy Youngs? It’s going to be the same as the James Shields/Wil Myers trade. Everyone KNEW that trade was going to absolutely ruin the Royals and set the Rays up for the next 10 years. How did that one work out? I’m pretty sure that all baseball GMs (even Dave Stewart) know far more about the game and their personnel that the people on this (or any) Internet comments section.
It really doesn’t matter if Shelby Miller wins Cy Youngs in the future. At the time of the trade, it was a huge overpay. No one trades the value of a player’s ceiling for that player, especially when he hasn’t shown it yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if they could have gotten Sonny Gray for that package.
Its possible he could.Everyone is looking at it on paper of course right now,just like all the other baseball minds of which some has went on the record saying they gave up way too much.If it works out Stewart will look like a genius,especially if Miller does it in that hitters park in the desert and not the pitchers park in Atlanta.Were all armchair GM’s just like you Ray Ray.The trade will definately get both teams some attention this year.
Is Loria so afraid of him that his GM won’t even say the name Boras? They have to say, Fernandez and his representation?
Here is the reality of the situation. If Fernandez can put together a couple of 200 IP seasons with anywhere near his performance to date, he is easily going to get $30 million per season when he becomes a free agent at the very young age of 26.
> rather than lose him for nothing.
You mean, a first-round draft pick.