At 23-31 and nine games out of a National League wild-card spot, the Marlins are on track for a potentially interesting sale around the trade deadline, according to FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (video link). Barring a turnaround, the Marlins will be “wide open” entering the deadline, says Rosenthal, who reports they’d be willing to listen to offers for outfielders Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna and catcher J.T. Realmuto.
Miami has put Ozuna on the block in the past, but considering proposals for Yelich and/or Realmuto would represent a 180 for the franchise. Back in November, the Marlins weren’t interested in entertaining offers for either player, but the team surely had designs on contending for a playoff spot at the time. Now, with that looking unlikely, dealing from their young core could help the Marlins restock a farm system that ESPN’s Keith Law (subscription required and recommended) ranked as the majors’ second worst before the season.
Yelich, in Year 3 of a seven-year, $49.57MM contract that also includes a $15MM club option or $1.25MM buyout for 2018, would surely appeal to all outfield-needy teams as a trade chip. The 25-year-old established himself as one of the game’s top young outfielders from 2013-16, but he hasn’t quite performed to expectations in the first two months of the current campaign. Still, Yelich has hit a decent .270/.349/.410 with seven home runs in 229 plate appearances, posted a 10 percent walk rate in line with his career average (10.4 percent) and logged a personal-best strikeout mark of 17.5 percent (compared to a lifetime 20.6 percent). One of Yelich’s main problems, it seems, has been a .301 batting average on balls in play – down from a career .356. Defensively, the strong work Yelich did in left field from 2013-16 has transferred this year to center, where he has taken over for Ozuna and recorded four Defensive Runs Saved and a 7.5 UZR/150.
Ozuna doesn’t come with as much control as Yelich, on the other hand, but he’s on an affordable salary this year ($3.5MM) and scheduled to go through arbitration two more times. The 26-year-old is enjoying his best season, having slashed .322/.385/.563 with 14 homers and a personal-high 9.5 percent walk rate in 231 trips to the plate. While Ozuna’s .357 BABIP – up from a career .322 – might not last, his .371 expected weighted on-base average (via Baseball Savant) suggests his success hasn’t been a fluke. The defensive switch has paid off, too, as Ozuna has saved six runs and managed a 15.2 UZR/150 a year after logging minus-12 DRS and a minus-3.4 Ultimate Zone Rating in center.
Realmuto, meanwhile, is the cheapest of the three at the moment ($562,500 salary) and slated to go through arbitration for the first time during the upcoming offseason. Given that he’s under control through 2020 and among the majors’ premier catchers, the 26-year-old Realmuto would surely bring back a haul in a trade. Realmuto broke out last year when he racked up 3.5 fWAR and hit .303/.343/428 with 11 homers and 12 steals across 545 PAs. He was a mixed bag defensively, though, registering minus-8 DRS and ranking toward the bottom of the league as a pitch framer, according to both Baseball Prospectus and StatCorner. Realmuto did draw plus marks as a thrower and blocker, however, and that has continued this season. Moreover, he’s in the midst of a major turnaround as a framer, per BP, which has him near the top of the majors in the early going.
While the Marlins won’t have any difficulty moving Yelich, Ozuna or Realmuto if they’re motivated to do so, the same likely won’t be true regarding right fielder Giancarlo Stanton. The slugger could still rake in $295MM over the next 10 years on his current contract, and getting out from under that might make the up-for-sale franchise more palatable to potential buyers. However, the Marlins probably won’t be able to deal Stanton until at least the offseason, suggests Rosenthal, and his full no-trade clause only further complicates matters.
Wow, what kind of haul would Yelich get back from a club? Got to be at least 2 top 100 prospects right?
Adam Eaton returned 2 top-50 prospects (#38 R Lopez and #3 Giolito), I’d imagine Yelich would return slightly more because of his track record.
Meanwhile, I think Realmuto would also return at least 2 top-100 prospects, given that he’s one of the top 5 catchers and good offensive catchers are so hard to find.
I think the Eaton trade is a pretty good framework to look at, but I’m not so sure Yelich would beat it. Eaton has been slightly better than Yelich and was much cheaper. Yelich has 5.5 seasons at about $60mm remaining while Eaton was 5/$38. Yelich is younger so you could hope on him improving, but he has taken a step back offensively this season. If the Marlins are serious about trading him I could see a top 50, top 100 and 2 more good prospects as a legitimate return.
He had a 2 week stretch where he struggled. He always turns it on around this time, which he did already start. Yelich will be where he usually is, if not better than usual with the career best K rate, and added power
Yelich is way superior to Eaton.
Not really…
Here are Yelich and Eaton’s stats the last 3 years.
Player A: .290/.363/.424, 118 wRC+, 13.2 fWAR
Player B: .291/.366/.432, 120 wRC+, 12.7 fWAR
Which one is way superior again?
I can’t remember Eaton age off the top of my head, but isn’t he like 2 or 3 years older than Yelich. I might be wrong
Eaton is 2 years, 364 days older to be exact.
As for those who say Yelich hasn’t been better, remember the big strides Yelich made last year in the power department. If he sustains that this year, he’s certainly a better player than Eaton.
Let’s just call him 3 years older.
I agree that if Yelich slugs .480 and can post a 130 wRC+ he is better. Unfortunately for him, he is slugging .410 with a 103 wRC+ right now. Honestly, if I was the Marlins I wouldn’t trade him and if they do I would love to see the Rays consider him. I’m just not sure he is more valuable than Adam Eaton was and many considered the Nats package an overpay.
People were also talking about Eaton as if he was trash after that trade, b/c of the overeating to the guys they gave up.
But again, as for Yelicj, he always turns it on around this time, and he definitely started that a week or 2 ago. He’ll be where he normally is, if not better, as suggested by the career low K rate and added power
Loria and Company will sell the team and sell some of their best players??
Ugh, how bad would that be?????
If Loria sells the team and the Marlins do this, someone should throw Loria in jail for contempt!!
yelich would be quite the pickup for any club. dude is amazing.
Stanton to the dodgers is the definition of a perfect fit
An injury prone player making too much money? Yeah, I think you are right.
No more like home town big right handed bat that would balance the lineup. You are always trolling. Dodgers seem to be doing fine despite your ridiculous opinions.
If you don’t stop with that bs
Where would you put him? With the addition of Taylor & Bellinger that are out hitting Stanton BTW. Remove Puig? No! Puig is the best defensive RF we’ve had since Raul Montesi. I know he’s a great player but his price tag is just too high
Puig is not the reason you don’t trade for Stanton. If I was the Dodgers I would send Puig and a couple of prospects not named Buehler and be very happy hitting him 4th and playing RF everyday for the next decade.
No way! And take on that contact too? C’mon. Remember you need something in the bank to retain Kershaw next year
Puig is definitely not the reason they wouldn’t aquire stanton. Puig is all defense, his offense is very meh. Absorbing stantons money just means you cant get machado in 2018. In fact they could give the fish kazmir and either because they have to give up some money
No but their record of not being able to keep big money OFs on the field mixed with a guy who’s had a sorted injury history (fair or not), the want to reset the threshold, and a conceivably horrific back loaded contract would be reasons why. Mix that in with a potential rental that is a better hitter in Martinez and you get a situation that isn’t conducive to be more than a dream. No one’s taking on that contract unless Loria eats a huge majority chunk. Yet in the way he structured it, he never had any intention of doing so. The Dodgers are stuck with 8 mill owed to Kaz over the next 4 years, due to the deferments, which does nothing to offset Stanton’s salary. This is a deal that happens in the offseason, but is so difficult to ever see happening.
would love to see yelich or Ozuna in a jays jersey. would cost too much though unfortunately.
Yeah, I’d love to see Yelich in left alongside Pillar and a seemingly rejuvenated Bautista. Sadly won’t happen, but I can dream.
Trump should jump on this too… PEDs are apparently better north of the border
@connerbyrne I think that the option year is for 2022.
The O’s are in dire need of an upgrade in the OF, but I don’t think they have the pieces to get a trade for Yellich done.
Do the O’s really need the pieces? Just taking on the salary should be enough when it comes to the fish.
Yes they really need the pieces. The only player a team would need to eat money for would be Stanton. Yet again Stanton has a NTC. So he can essentially dictate everything.
The A’s are primed to contend and are loaded with an interesting array of prospects and have pretty glaring holes at C, LF and CF. Hmmm…
1B Alonso
2B Lowrie
SS Barreto
3B Chapman
C Realmuto
LF Ozuna
CF Yelich
RF Olson
DH Davis
Pow pow what a lineup, and finally some defense.
They’d have to give up their whole farm system to get all 3 of Yelich, Ozuna AND Realmuto, and I’m still not even sure if that would be enough. Only 4 top-100 in the system, Yelich and Realmuto probably would return at least two each. No way the Marlins package even two of these guys together because it minimizes total return.
Enough to get possibly 2 of them
Not really
They are loaded with prime short stop pieces
If Oakland wanted either of Yelich or Ozuna, Barreto would have to be included in one of those deals. They would give up at least 4 of their top 10 prospects to get those guys.
I think the A’s can pull this off. It would probably take a combination of Gray, Phegley, and a handful of prospects.
( Holmes, Brugman, Olson) to name a few.
Exactly what Im thinking – Gray, Semien plus the guys you named, maybe get a 3rd team involved to send Ryon Healy to for a top 100 pitching prospect to flip over could work.
And if Yelich is the target, say goodbye to Barreto for sure. If Ozuna is the target, and Barreto is off the table, say goodbye to Chapman. Good plan.
Doesn’t Stanton seem like a perfect fit for the Giants? They have Cain coming off the books after this season, they have a gaping hole in left field and are next-to-last in the majors in runs scored.
That does seem like a good fit. But from a pure entertainment standpoint I’d love to see the Yankees get Stanton so he and Judge could look like linebackers out there in the outfield together. Not to mention trying to out-tape measure each other’s home runs in games.
Cant have Harper & Giancarlo tho, theyre not paying $800M for 2 guys.
I hope to anything holy Bryce Harper goes somewhere other than NYY.
Why not. One of the top three players on the planet and you make this statement. If you’re supposed fan of the Yanks,then by all means turn in your fan card!
As a Baseball fan I’d agree it make perfect sense, as a Dodger fan it makes me sick to think about it
Stanton fits with Giants. The problem is that Giants have nothing in their farm system that would intrigue Marlins. Stanton’s contract is bad; but, if Marlins were to make him available teams would still be willing to send real talent to Miami in order to get him.
I wonder if Chris Shaw + Austin Slater would be enough to get ether Osuna or Yelich to San Francisco. They might not compete this year, but they’re going to need a cf for 2018 (span probably not the answer).
Add beede and Reynolds ad that might start the conversation on ozuna
If they offered Shaw and Slater for Yelich, I don’t even think the Marlins would return their call.
Maybe that could be a good starting point for Ozuna though. Slater plus two of Shaw, Beede, or Reynolds for Ozuna might get it done.
Thats not even close to what it would take. All 29 teams would be making an offer if thats what the fish would take
Not even close to what they’d ask for Yelich/Ozuna. They’ll want a Top 20 prospect in a package.
Chris Shaw and Austin Slater would have to first be considered top prospects! Those prospects might land them a #4 starting pitcher at best. The Giants needs are so much greater than adding one bat or one pitcher and their farm system is weak. They should explore selling. The only problem is, sell what?
I think the the braves will have big interest in yelich, he’s young, a five tool player, under control for a while. Just imagine the outfied defense of him encierte and who ever they put In right would be a great defense for their pitching. But to be honest there aren’t many teams with a need for their services that have the prospects they would want
I don’t think Yelich would be a good fit for the Braves. Don’t get me wrong, Yelich is really good, but the braves severely lack power, and if they are replacing Kemp with Yelich, it would be even worse in the power department. I see Kemp eventually getting replaced with a similar type of player that Kemp is. Someone that can protect Freeman
Don’t get me wrong Yelich he is a very good player having said that the Braves have Ronald Acuna 19 year old RF who is hitting around 350 in Mississippi. Acuna might be call up in September if not sooner then that. I rather the Braves put Acuna at at either RF or LF then rather trading for Yelich and having to give up guys such as Kolby Allard and Kevin Maltan. Now if the Marlins for Yelich does not include any of the Braves top 10-12 prospect then the Braves should jump on it otherwise they should wait until Acuna is ready.
you don’t think they would look at the catcher more out of the three?
Might be a little far fetched but I would love for the Padres to pick up Yelich.. he is from Vista, not north of SD and he would fit perfect in left field. I’d be willing to give up Espinoza and other prospect for him.
If I’m not mistaken he’s from Thousand Oaks and went to Westlake High.
You are correct! Have a buddy that played high school ball with him
I thought so. When I was playing at juco I helped my friends dad out during the summer I vaguely remember him being one of the players that gave us fits. Not necessarily power but just his ability to hit.
Padres have enough OF talent. Margot cordero cordoba renfoe dickerson torres gettys even jankowski if he can fix things. Theyve got OF talent in spades. Unless yelich can play 3rd or ss no go.
Dickerson and Jankowski are just fourth outfielders, but I can’t see the Padres trading for anybody at this point who isn’t a prospect. They aren’t trading for major-league players.
I think the Cardinals will probably look into Yelich or (more likely) Ozuna if they continue struggling to score. They have a loaded farm, and Grichuk is looking more and more like a 4th OF/bench bat.
Loaded..that’s stretching it a bit!
They have 5 in top 100, but it would take 2-3 of those to get a trade going. Definitely Reyes.
they’d better get talent and some warm bodies because ozuna, yelich, and realmuto have top notch potential and they’re cheap as hell. the marlins are about to get stiffed badly.
also, they will get at least one top prospect whose engine will sputter in miami, then get moved to an AL team and barrel everything.
If they’re smart, they’ll hold on to Yelich and Realmuto as franchise cornerstones and trade Ozuna for at least one top 100 pitching prospect along with at least two more good prospects…
Maybe potential buyers just want a full strip down and willing to let Loria sit on the stake.
wouldn’t they want their own personnel management doing the deals?
Well then they’d be stuck with the unfair stigma of “just like the same old regime.” If Loria were to tear it all down again perception might be that they are the white knight riding in to save the day.
I agree that’s a possibility, but I also think most marlins fans will believe anything the herald writers scribble. if local writers give the new ownership 1 firesale, it can easily be sold as “changing the culture” or new leadership or whatever other platitudes.
from my (amateur) perspective, the marlins need to create a team image that reflects the culture of baseball where locals grew up. that will establish a base. they also need to win, because that is the only way of selling sports in miami.
serious question, because ive never been to a baseball game outside of south florida… do other teams have girls dancing in short shorts and t-shirt guns and stuff?
Ya, the Indians have this too. Super awkward for a team that otherwise has excellent game day presentation.
What’s Prado’s status these days? Bosox could use a player like him.
DL
Realmuto would be real cool on the Mets
Angels have pujols coming off the books. They HAVE to do something to stop wasting Trouts prime years. Taking on a Stanton contract wouldn’t require prospects the Angels don’t have. I’d imagine Stanton would waive his no trade to go home to Cali and hit behind the greatest ball player he’ll have played with/against.
But they don’t have Pujols coming off the books for a while. Plus owner has used the threshold as a line he won’t cross.
pujols is on the books for quite a few more seasons. And stanton is not the player arte should go all in on, nor is now the time to do so.
Pujols is signed through 2021.
I could see them trading Ozuna and Realmuto but not Yelich. He is their future along with Stanton. Yelich would cost a lot to bring back I think they would be looking for a young #1 or #2 starter(or a pitching prospect that is close to becoming a front of the rotation arm) along with a top 50 prospect to start the conversation which I think would scare most teams off. Ozuna would probably bring back a top 100 prospect and a middle of the rotation or slightly above average bullpen arm and Realmuto would probably bring back the same as Ozuna. I think their asking prices might scare some teams away but their will be a few contenders that are just missing either an outfielder or a catcher(or maybe even both) and would be willing to part with a decent chunk of their future to acquire them
thank you someone on here that actually objective about how much all this would cost. I think you’re a little low on realmuto I think his value is closer to yelich not many catchers are that good offensively and defensively and he’s dirt cheap for the next five years
He won’t be dirt cheap by the last year or two of arbitration, but he will be relatively cheap compared to his production
No way Yelich brings in a #1 or #2 with another top prospect. Probably a #3-4 and a excellent prospect.
As a Marlins fan, neither Yelich nor Realmuto should be moved unless its for something crazy, meaning several top prospects/young pieces under control. Ozuna is a different story since they won’t sign him, but they’ll definitely screw that deal up. I’d pretty much be willing to move anyone not named Stanton, Yelich or Realmuto; maybe Hech into that mix as well.
I’m also sick of the Stanton bashing. He only has 3 years at like 71 million or so left after this year. That’s team friendly. If he can stay healthy, he’ll be a monster again this year. Hopefully no fluke/freak injuries.
Where in the Hell did you go to school for math? Stantons contract is backloaded and is not up till 2028! His salary for 17 is 14.5 million,18-25,19/20-26 mil,2023-2025-32 mil,2026-29 mil,2027-28 25 mil,though 2028 contains a club option of 10 mil!
That is one of if not the biggest reason people as you say are bashing him..not to mention he can’t stay on the field!
There’s an opt out clause…so if you want to play that game, where did you learn reading comprehension? If Stanton is healthy, he guaranteed opts out, and it was only a 6 year/$106 million deal, which is a massive bargain for the Marlins
And my bad, I didn’t look up the exact total for the next 3 years, and was trying to go off memory, so it’s more like $76 million than 71. Sorry for the approximation…but Stanton at that price in today’s free agent market makes sense. He only has to put up between 3 and 4 WAR to justify it, assuming you value WAR/$ between 7 and 8 million…
and for the Marlins he is even more important as the face of the franchise, and the only actual player they’ve ever actually at least appeared to try to keep, and build around. He is a necessity b/c of the feeling towards ownership around here. If you’ve ever been to baseball games in south florida, it couldn’t be more obvious how important it was to sign him. Unfortunately, they didn’t do anything else, amd the other face of the framchise tragically died, putting them in this position now
You’re right about the opt out & it is heavily backloaded. He wouldn’t get that same amount on the open market so it is unlikely that he would opt out unless it was to get out of Miami bc he wanted to win. His contract is pretty untradeable, so I think the fire sale is also trying to push Stanton to opt out by making him look forward to another 4-5 yr rebuild. If he opts out then you are correct about the Marlins having him on a team friendly deal, but if he opts in then the team is pretty much screwed financially.
Per ESPN it’s a 107 million and 77 mil left leading up to his opt out. He has the ntc and even if he accepted the trade the club taking on that albatross would have to be convinced he’d opt out. This of course is for a player who has averaged 115 games a season the last five. So bashing is deserved in this situation!
7 years/$218 million would definitely be beaten on the open market in 3 years from now, if he stays healthy, which I expect him to b/c his injuries have all been freak accidents
As I said below, 7/$218 million for Stanton on the open Maret 3 years from now will definitely be beaten if he stays healthy. But even if he opts in, that’s still not terribe for the face of the franchise. It’s ony bad b/c it’s the Marlins, but if Loria actually sells the team, that point becomes moot anyway
rude response
Right? Why does everything always have to turn into some insult thing? Totally unprovoked. This site never used to be like that. It used to be about the discussion
One thing I think we all can agree on is that Stanton is a superstar player. And the whole injury thing really wasn’t his fault (like getting crushed in the face with a fastball). His value is really high, and IF prices continue to rise the way they have for superstar players, his contract would be right in line.
Is he a superstar? Yes. Is his contract worth taking on if a team knew he was going to opt out in 3 years? Yes. Here’s the issue we’ve seen a sustained effort for almost all teams to get younger. Contracts have been doled out shorter and teams have spent smarter. No longer are the days where a guy is going to get extended to his 34/35/36+ years unless he plays a premium position. So super star players will get huge contracts but the way Stanton’s contract is set up you have to justify paying him 32M at age 34 and 35 followed by 29M at 36 and 37. I’m sorry but I don’t see him receiving that type of contract on the open market especially as we will start to get a first hand look at how Pujols and Cano decline. Financially it’d be a terrible idea for him to opt out. We are judging his contract on what use to be a norm, but we’ve seen fundamental change over the last two off seasons.
Except Stanton is going to be a young free agent, and inflation will continue to go up over the next 3 years. He isn’t Bautista age, and he is a really good defensive OFer,so his value isn’t only from his bat
He really won’t though. He’d be a 31 year old to start the contract if he were to opt out. Which makes him older than Upton and a year younger than Cespedes. His contract is so outrageously backloaded. Inflation is one thing but it’s still a major mark that’s not going to be touched. Inflation won’t rise so significantly in three years as to make age irrelevant. Not only that we also have to figure big markets are going to gobble up Machado and Harper. In the same year a big market will also probably view Arenado more favorably so that’s three teams that will most likely be out of the running. In a sport were there are few teams who can support his contract its hard to see a necessary amount of teams to upsell his market. In the 20 market I still view Arenado as the best position player in that market and the prize.
I just think that if he stays healthy, the contract isn’t an issue. I’ll leave it at that.
I can respect that. I agree to disagree. I guess we shall see.
Stanton and Judge in Yankee outfield would be awesome
No future Catcher in System and not helping out Braves or Mets or even Phil’s,Nats. Need to add like Bullpen/SP not get rid of.
If the Marlins want to trade away the financial burden of Giancarlo Stanton, they must throw in other quality players. to make it worthwhile… and I do expect it to be within the year.
He has an opt out. His contract is excellent for the team assuming he opts out, which should happen
JT Realmuto, Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna, and Giancarlo Stanton for Blake Swihart and Pablo Sandoval.
Hey, give me back my phone Nick Cafardo!
This seems like a move to get Stanton to opt out also. He’s stated he is not having fun bc of the losing. Another rebuild & he’d probably leave & accept less $ on the open market. Loria knows he can’t get as much in a sale bc of the teams poor financial situation. This is a great way to reduce the debt for new owners & give them a blank slate to rebuild the team how they’d like.
I think Loria was valiant in trying to win his winter, even after Fernandez died, but there is no way they could replace him.
Marlins Farm system is very weak and clearly the MLB roster isn’t much better. Best move for them is to go on (another) firesale, and get better ownership soon.
MLB team would be very ugly to watch for 3-4 years, but they could get a haul for Yelich, Ozuna and Realmuto
He didn’t try to win this offseason. If he did, he wouldn’t have gone part way as he always does, and would have tried to add at least another SP. Could have got Nova for $9 million per. Instead he threw away $3 million at Jeff Locke for no reason
Marlins management = stupidity! Horrible owner! I say this with all due respect-scumbag!
Seems like a smokescreen to get rid of Stanton’s contract somehow. Why would they even consider trading good, young and relatively cheap players.
Trading all the mentioned players might get them a decent farm system, but almost all the value is in Yelich and Realmuto. I consider Stanton untradeable simply because he’s not opting out, MLB won’t sign off on Miami paying down the contract after Loria is gone, and no team is taking on the entire contract.
Yelich for chris archer, fill in pieces as necessary.
I would love to see Stanton in a Mariners uniform at last. They could sell off pieces and use Stanton as a long term replacement in the middle of the lineup. I’m not sure they have the pieces still though. Maybe if they still had Walker as a starting piece.