Despite Christian Yelich’s unhappiness with the Marlins’ direction and the recent comments from his agent to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick indicating that the relationship between team and player is “irretrievably broken,” the Marlins maintain an understandably high asking price on the 26-year-old. MLB Network’s Peter Gammons uses the Braves as an example of that lofty asking price (video link), reporting that the Marlins at one point informed Atlanta that they’d be willing to talk about a multi-player package that would send Yelich to the Braves if and only if top prospect Ronald Acuna was the headliner of the deal. (Braves fans will undoubtedly scoff at the very notion, though it’s hardly a surprise to see the Marlins pushing for any team’s top-ranked prospect when peddling five years of Yelich at a maximum total of $58.25MM.)
Unsurprisingly, Gammons quickly adds, “That’s one guy the Braves are not going to trade,” in reference to Acuna. Despite the drama surrounding Yelich and teammate J.T. Realmuto, Gammons notes that the Marlins aren’t locks to deal the pair, with Yelich being especially difficult to pry away given the affordable half-decade of control he has on his contract.
More from the division…
- At today’s press conference to reintroduce Jay Bruce, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson suggested to reporters that his team likely has the budget to make one more notable addition (link via Ken Davidoff of the New York Post). Alderson confirmed recent reports that his preference would be to sign a free agent rather than make a trade. “If we were to try to improve in that area, I think we prefer to sign a free agent, only because it doesn’t require us to give up talent,” the GM said. Alderson acknowledged a trade as a possibility, adding that while his farm isn’t as strong as it once was, the Mets do still have players that have drawn interest from other clubs. There have been suggestions that young outfielder Brandon Nimmo could be on the table if the Mets and Pirates discuss a Josh Harrison trade, though the Post’s Mike Puma tweeted today that the Mets “aren’t particularly enthusiastic” about the idea of trading Nimmo for Harrison.
- Nick Williams has been working out alongside free agent Jake Arrieta for much of the offseason in Austin, he tells Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia, and the young outfielder has talked up Philadelphia in an effort to sell Arrieta on joining the Phillies. “He has told me he likes working with young guys,” said Williams. “I’m like, ‘All right, come on up.’ But I’m not writing the check. I don’t know what he wants. I don’t really dig into that because I’m not really in his position.” While Williams’ pitch to his workout buddy should hardly be characterized as a legitimate connection between the Phils and Arrieta, Salisbury notes that the team is still actively trying to add to the rotation. If the price tag for Arrieta or another top starter comes down to a shorter length — Salisbury suggests three years, though it’s tough to see Arrieta dropping to that point — the Phillies’ interest could be piqued.
- Though much of the attention in Washington D.C. is placed on the fact that 2018 is Bryce Harper’s final year before free agency, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale points out that Nationals GM Mike Rizzo is also entering the last year of his deal. The two sides haven’t spoken about an extension yet, per Nightengale — owner Mark Lerner tells Nightengale a new deal will be discussed “in the normal course of business” — but Rizzo hopes to remain beyond the ’18 season. Rizzo is wrapping up a five-year, $10MM deal, per Nightengale, and the GM somewhat candidly suggested that he feels he’s earned a deal more commensurate with the top executives in the league. “I just think I deserve to be treated like some of the best GMs in the game are, too,” he said.
delete
Rizzo is definitely one of the very top GMs in the game and should be paid as such. I hope for his sake he gets a ring to go with it– seems more a matter of when than if. If I could point to one area of improvement, I think he could do better on field manager selection.
majorflaw
Re: Nats Managers
Not sure whether it’s Rizzo’s or ownership’s fault but they have been hamstrung by their collective unwillingness to pay a competitive salary. Dusty was making $500K per year and Martinez will be making $300K. You aren’t gonna get a Francona, Girardi, Bochy, Madden or their like to work for that (relatively) little. (iirc each of the above makes or, in Girardi’s case, made $4-6M per annum.)
It appears to be the Nats organizational belief that GMs win pennants by acquiring the right players while managers are sort of glorified tour leaders who get to bask in undeserved glory. If that’s the way they view the job it’s no surprise that they would seek to pay their manager as little as they can get away with.
Seems penny wise and pound foolish at a time when they sign a LOOGY like Ollie Perez for $2-3M a year to haggle with their manager over much less. But if the Nats go on to win a couple of championships it may become a trend.
Jamespfunk
Dave Martinez contract is 2.8 million over 3 years with a 4th year option of 1.2 to bring the total to 4 million over 4 years. How does that equal 300k a year? Looks to be a little over 900k a year over the first 3 years. I agree it’s still a very low amount. I believe Dusty was making about 2 million a year but wanted 4 million a year in his new contract.
aceofrainbows
I wanna make 900k per year.
Hmph. “Very low amount”
CursedRangers
The $300k of income probably is what he is making with Help. 80
dimitriinla
Not much to indicate, to me anyway, that Rizzo’s a great GM. I’d love to know how you came to your conclusion.
bradthebluefish
The team always goes to the playoffs and always gets young talent to come up through their farm systems and always gets good players in the free market. GM Rizzo is a HUGE reason for all of that.
natsgm
I’d like to know how you decided he isnt? Look at what he built the Nats from, his trade history, Nats record under him etc.
natsgm
Nats need to pay Rizzo what he wants. Lots of angry fans if he leaves because of money. If the Lerners wont pay a manager at least pay the GM!
ZMZobeck
Telugu is unhappy with the Marlins because they are going to lose a lot right? What would be any different if he was on the braves?
ZMZobeck
Yelich^*
#L1C4Life
Well let’s see, Marlins are just starting to rebuild, Braves are almost done. Braves roster has more talent, up and down the organization, they will win more games than the marlins. Any other bright questions? Oh, and he doesn’t have a choice of where he is dealt.
outinleftfield
Got to love autocorrect.
wrigleywannabe
I don’t know that he would be. That is the problem requesting a trade. He can’t control the landing point.
He might see Atlanta as closer to contending, more committed to getting there, etc.
ericl
The Braves are closer to contending. They have a franchise player in Freddie Freeman already established. They also have a very good farm system, even with all the players they had taken away. Also, a lot of their top prospects are close to the majors. The Marlins could take 7 years before their contending with their awful farm system
badco44
Guys you all can talk prospects all you want but til it translates to the majors and wins…. all you have is talk! Be that the Braves or who ever!
wrigleywannabe
Baez, Caratini, Almora and the choice of two minor league pitchers for Yelich.
If it takes more, throw in Montgomery.
Miami gets their replacement CF, 2B for Gordon, catcher for when they make that move and up to 3 pitchers, one who can start right now.
Happ moves to 2B full time. Zobrist becomes the backup at 2B, LF, RF and Happ can play CF when Yelich needs a break.
Yelich
Bryant
Rizzo
Contreras
Schwarber
Happ
Heyward
Russell
michaelw
Jose is rolling over in his grave.
Sad
gholly618
You write like Trump. Not a great example.
ericl
I understand the Marlins wanting a lot for Yelich. They need a great package to help their awful farm system. However, they need to be a little more open to negotiating. Saying we want Acuna or we want Bichette or we’re not even discussing a trade isn’t smart. Yes, ask for those type of prospects, but don’t shut the door if the other team refuses to trade their top prospect. The Marlins would benefit from acquiring a team’s #3, #4 & #5 prospects in a trade. One player isn’t going to turn the fortunes of the Marlins around. They need multiple high end prospects & should be willing to discuss a deal that doesn’t necessarily include a team’s top prospect
#L1C4Life
Shoot, Atlanta’s 5th best prospect would be 1st in marlins system
stymeedone
Doesn’t matter. You build with young talent. Yelich is cheap affordable young talent. While fans hope Acuna becomes as accomplished, thats all it is, hope. Houston fans hoped on Singleton. Texas fans hoped on Profar. Boston fans hoped on Swihart. You build with Yelich. No need to trade him. Its not like his agent stating to the media his trade request is going to cost the Marlins ticket sales.
Pax vobiscum
How many Profars and Singletons, Drabeks will it take for people to realize that prospects are just that. Asking other teams for multiple top prospects increases the probability that the selling team hits on at least one.
UGA_Steve
Swihart was ESPN and Boston press hyped. He was nowhere near as talented as Acuna. For that matter, Singleton was not either. Profar is arguable.
Eric made a good point. Go after three or four of Atlanta’s top 20 and you are better off than stating Acuna or bust. L1C4 validated that by basically stating the Braves system is loaded and ruling out any trade without Acuna is just asinine on Florida’s part.
– Marlins aren’t going to win for 5-6 years.
– Marlins are bleeding money due to poor attendance, ZERO corporate sponsorship worth anything, and a poor TV contract.
– Yes, Yelich is a value for them, but what’s the point. Take the best offer and move on. If you can get three of the Braves top 30 prospects (assuming one in each tenth tier) then do it, even without Acuna.
– Also realize trading within the division is a GOOD thing, as you will weaken the Braves system and Yelich will almost certainly be gone by the time you are ready to compete (2023 maybe) and Yelich is playing for a big market team elsewhere.
– Do not piss off one of the teams with the deepest systems in baseball with a ridiculous stance. You could get the top three prospects from some teams and they wouldn’t be as good as Braves 7, 12, 23 or something like that.
therealryan
I agree that a package highlighted by Acuna would be an overpay, Yelich will still cost a lot more than what you are suggesting. History shows us that the market for Yelich is something along the lines of two 55 FV, one 50 FV and maybe another 45 FV type. For the Braves a more realistic offer would be something along the lines of Wright, Soroka, Pache and maybe someone like Cumberland. That would be the Braves #3, #4, #10 and a #20something.
southi
Actually if you go by MLB’s prospect list the Marlins have ZERO top 100 prospects while Atlanta has 7. So even the Braves 7th best prospect would automatically become the Marlins top rated one.
Not all minor league depth is created equal.
outinleftfield
How does that matter in this discussion about a trade? How does any prospect compare to a proven, consistent 4.5 WAR, 26-year-old MLB OF on a team friendly, long-term deal?
rivera42
Agreed. Teams with deep farms such as Atlanta, you don’t even need to get Acuna to extract a very nice package from them. They are loaded with arms, which the Marlins could sure use some of. Gohara, Wright, Soroka, Allard, Anderson, Wentz, Newcomb, Fried, etc.
sandman12
Agree with Agreed. Atlanta’s list of useful pitchers is even longer than that!
Mjm117
The Marlins haven’t shut the door on anyone. Their demands are high, and rightfully so. Even higher when dealing with a team from the same division. If Yelich goes to the Braves, the Fish should make them pay the most.
tbonenats
Yelich being controlled for 5 years at a bargain rate is super valuable to a rebuilding team like the Marlins. I don’t think there is anything wrong in setting their asking price and telling teams that if it isn’t met they are happy to build around Yelich.
This summer or next winter or the summer after that or the winter after that (you get the picture) the Marlins can still get a couple of a teams top 10 prospects for Yelich. No sense in making a trade now, they could make in a year.
Plus Marlins already have financial constraints so selling a player like Yelich, one of the last recognizable players on the team, could mean even less ticket revenue. Tons of considerations beyond just the set of prospects coming back.
Yelich isn’t Chris Sale, but he also plays every day and comes with longer team control.
I don’t want the Nats to trade Robles but if all it cost were Robles and Fedde I would do that for Yelich. I mean Robles may take 1-3 years to become as good as Yelich if he ever does. He could be better than Yelich but safer bet is Yelich.
Mjm117
Tbonenats gets it
Wildboyz
Yelich and Realmuto
For
Manny Machado
Manny becomes the face of
Miami for the rest of his life. The End.
Make it happen.
birdsonbat
Just that little problem of manny and free agency. So you would of given up 5 years of yelich and not sure how many on realmuto for 1 year of manny.
Christopher_Oriole
But the thing is, Miami could then flip Machado to the highest bidder and acquire some serious, MLB ready talent. I’m an Orioles guy (obviously) and would hate to see manny go, but that’s probably the smartest move for the Orioles; which means there’s no way they do it
mlb1225
Yelich and Realmuto would both bring back more or better prospects than Machado would right now. Though Realmuto, Yelich, and Machado are young, Realmuto and Yelich have years of control left on their contract, where as Machado has just one more year left, and would most likely sign somewhere else.
Christopher_Oriole
True, but the Orioles could also deal from their relief depth to make a deal happen. Givens, Brach, etc. it’s not like they “need” a closer right now.
tbonenats
Marlins are not looking for anything the O’s have to offer. Machado doesn’t interest the Marlins. Neither do relief pitchers. they want top prospects.
michaelw
Macho would never stay there. He be out there on Oct 1st as fast as you can count to 5
Mjm117
I think Marlins would do this, but would want more from Baltimore, if Machado signs an extension with the Fish, which is highly unlikely.
seth3120
Why would they trade Stanton to shave payroll then acquire Machado to pay him even more money? They aren’t getting a “face of the franchise” type guy anytime soon unless he comes from their farm system.
bastros88
You have to feel bad for Marlins fans, even though they have a new stadium, a great manager, and a championship this century. Free Yelich!
Mishimacool
Free Christians…from the Miami Coliseum.
jd396
Yeah. I feel bad for both of them.
outinleftfield
Both Marlins fans? LOL That is the post of the day.
matthew102402
Remember when we couldn’t get enough of the Shohei Ohtani, and Giancarlo Stanton rumors? Well here we are, this time our host being Christian Yelich.
bradthebluefish
This is exactly why you don’t take extensions with team’s that are notorious for selling all their pieces.
sandman12
On the other hand, signing an extension guarantees wealth for life.
Cashford64
Two options:
1) Sign the extension, get rich, and just suck it up if the situation turns sour.
2) Don’t sign the extension, gamble on yourself, but maintain your freedom.
But either way, the choice is 100% up to the player, so for goodness sakes don’t complain after the fact!
mike.gordon34
Marlins send Yelich and Realmuto
Nats send MAT, AJ cole, Carter keiboom, Daniel Johnson, Pedro severino, and Andrew Stevenson.
Who says no?
Mjm117
Marlins.
michaelw
Agreed the Marlins
tbonenats
Man that would be amazing but not nearly enough. If we want both it would cost MAT, Robles, Fedde, Keiboom, Stevenson, Severino. Even that might not be enough.
BaseballisLife
After he gets his breathe back from laughing so hard, Hill says thanks for the great laugh and hangs up.
bravesfan
Braves need to back out now. We have plenty of other elite prospects to get the trade done, and if they are asking for a multiple player deal that includes acuna, then they are out of their minds and that will kinda negate the benefit of going to get yelich. Listen, the marlins are making the right ask, but being unwilling to budge when we have a lot of other elite prospects is just silly. Back out now so a couple years from now we aren’t regarding our former players beating the heck out of us
easykaya
agreed. and I don’t understand the hype. Yelich is not that wow. he’s good don’t take me wrong but outfielders are not that difficult to find. and we have Pache coming up also in the next couple of years.
bravesfan
The standard the marlins set with their trades with the cardinals and Yankees is what we should go off of. That is market value for quite honestly, better players. Neither of those trades involved the best prospect in baseball, this shouldn’t either. Braves shouldn’t budge at all from that standard and if we don’t get yelich then so what, move on.
tbonenats
Acuna isn’t universally considered the best prospect in baseball. He’s in everyone’s top 5. Anyways, I think it depends on the Braves goals. I don’t think they should trade Acuna since they are still 2 years away and need to see what he becomes and what their SPs become before making a huge trade imo.
A team like the Nats I think it makes a little bit more sense to trade Robles if they feel Yelich can play CF.
outinleftfield
Isn’t Eaton going to play CF? Yelich in left, Eaton in CF and Harper in RF with Taylor as a 4th OF that can play all 3 well is a great OF. If Eaton plays up to 2016, arguably the best in baseball.
tbonenats
Agreed. At first I didn’t want the Nats to trade Robles for Yelich, but now I’m sold on it. Yelich could also play CF once in a while…and may even be better than Eaton at it, who knows. MAT would be great utility OF.
RunDMC
Stanton was a salary dump while Ozuna has 2 years of control which both will be more than what Yelich is making due to arb, compared to Yelich’s 5 years of control at a fixed rate. That’s a much much better deal for them, which is why they haven’t needed to get rid of him while cutting payroll – every team can afford that. Is that enough to get a top prospect ? If not they can wait just like TB can wait to maximize value on Archer.
Bert17
If all the reporting has been right, out the manager pay issue on the owners being cheap about that particular thing. Rizzo has done an amazing job with most of his trades – everyone has a few turkeys – and it seems like he’s the only one who has done well with a crazy mega contract when he gave one to Scherzer. He seems to have overcome his bullpen blind spot and catching problem was foisted on him by ownership giving Boras/Weiters a stupid 2-year deal.
marlins17
Wow, i am so so Proud of Michael Hill standing his ground for once. I hope he keeps it up. Someone is going to give in and flip their top top prospects or very near top prospects for either at some point, even if at the deadline.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
Huntingdon (on High Heat yesterday) strongly implied that Harrison would be starting the season with the Pirates.
It would be hard to get value for him right now with so many free agents poised to sign bargain deals meanwhile he’s exactly the type of guy teams will be looking for at the deadline, given his versatility.
He and Rivero could be two of the biggest chips at the trade deadline this year.
dj227
Blockbuster trade scenario from a Braves fan. Let me know what you guys think.
Braves get Yellich, Realmuto and Prado.
Marlins get Mike Soroka/Kolby Allard, Ian Anderson, Joey Wentz, Sean Newcomb, Johan Camargo, Christian Pache, Alex Jackson, Max Fried, Tyler Flowers, and Nick Markakis.
The only reason I include Prado, Markakis, and Flowers is to fill temporary needs on each team. The Braves would need to clear an OF spot and a Catcher (still have Suzuki) and the Marlins would have traded their entire starting OF. Plus Markakis would help offset the Prado’s salary while still saving Florida some money.
realgone2
That’s ridiculous.
Steven P.
Braves would be trading ten players? How does that make any sense?
tbonenats
No way Marlins do that. If Braves want both it will cost Acuna, Gohara, Pache, Soroka, Jackson and some low level guys.
easykaya
Marlins can keep Yelich. next year free agent market has better players available that don’t require giving away prospects.
and Yelich is not worth that much. I see Yelich as a good player but not a super star.
marlins17
Why do people still bring up the money thing. Marlins dont give a sh*t about saving anymore short term money, they traded away what they needed to trade away, now its all about top top prospect. They’ve literally said this a hundred times.
outinleftfield
Jeter, Sherman and Hill have never once said what they are doing is not about short-term money. Just the opposite.
The Marlins have only ever needed to save short-term money. By 2021 they will have a new TV deal, a new ballpark naming rights deal, and other revenue sources. Long-term money has never been an issue. The Stanton trade was about the fact he started making $25 million this season.
After the Ozuna trade, Hill said that the Marlins were shooting to get their payroll to $85-90 million. It’s at $104 million currently. That means they need to get $14-19 million lower for 2018. He also said they want to get to $81-82 million for 2019. Short term money.
BaseballisLife
There you go again with facts. Stop it.
outinleftfield
OK.
Mjm117
A new ballpark naming rights can happen at anytime let alone by 2021 AND when the new Tv deal is renewed, which expires in 2021 and the worst deal in all of MLB, it isn’t a guarantee that it’ll be a massive increaase as projected by the August 2017 version of project Wolverine
Mjm117
At the very least, that would definitely grab the Marlins attention and make them think about it.
Greg Pinto
Love the idea of the Phillies throwing more money at guys on shorter terms.
Hate the idea of Jake Arrieta.
danlcat
If 3 years,sign Arrieta or,Darvish. Me,id sign Cobb,Tillman/or trade for Archer. If we signed Cobb,Got Archer,id give up the farm. Sanchez is high value. Hernandez,Hererra,Rupp or Alfaro…Neris,any starter 2x other than Eishelman. If i HAD to consider Nola,i would. If Yelich and Rialmuto. Lots of potential,$ saved by Fish. Heck..if we had to,id swap Crawford too. A combo of above. A CF and Catcher…worth some of those prospects,proven players
Hernandez,Hererra are proven ,young and STOOPID players,id swap in a,second for those 2. With prospects…even if 1 is Crawford.
Matthew 3
If Miami is dead set on Acuna, then they might as well not talk to the Braves. Acuna’s ceiling is higher than Yelich’s, great contract notwithstanding.
Having said that, I don’t blame the Marlins for asking for the moon. I would expect that Miami gets 2-3 really good prospects (a la Allard, Riley, and Anderson from the Braves) rather than one potential star. But if Washington wants to send Robles + 2-3 other top tier prospects, then I guess Yelich will hang out with some senators.
nutbunnies
Yelich’s floor is significantly higher, though. Can’t miss prospects often do.
realgone2
They want Acuna? They can go screw
Backatitagain
Would Trade Acuna, Suzuki, Markakis and Wisler for Yelich, Realmuto and Dietrich.
Brixton
Getting Acuna is cool, but don’t think they can put all there eggs in one basket like that
tbonenats
Yeah Marlins will want way more for JT & Yelich. For just Yelich sure Acuna and filler but adding in JT will require some more SPs from Braves.
marlins17
Lol what? Add about 2 more top pitchers, Riley and Alex Jackson and maybe you get somewhere. They can get A better return than that for Yelich alone.
southi
Backatit, I think in that package the Braves would be very happy to give up Acuna.
melj
Rizzo’s forcing out of James Riggleman some years ago and the lack of post-season process since then clearly reveals that Rizzo misprivileges his role as General Manager of the Nationals. He simply brings no value added to the job.
The Nationals should not bring him back, and his next job should be a general manager in a Class A league.
The man is a liability to professional baseball.
tbonenats
lol
citizensbankparksouth
The Marlins should be asking for an arm and a leg for Yelich. Yelich for Acuna is not nearly as crazy as people are saying. The Nationals traded away one of the best prospects in baseball, Lucas Giolito (AND Reynaldo Lopez) for Adam Eaton (who does not have the value and skill combo of Yelich). The Yankees traded away one of the best prospects in baseball in Gleyber Torres for TWO MONTHS of Aroldis Chapman. Trading Acuna for FIVE YEARS of Yelich is not ridiculous. Yelich is an established All Star. The only way the Marlins win this deal is if Acuna becomes the next Trout or Harper. Even then, the Braves are still getting five years of cheap control over one of the best outfielders in baseball. People think that because the Marlins got little for Stanton, a trade which revolved almost entirely around the salary dump, that means they should expect peanuts for Ozuna (Cardinals underpaid, in my opinion) and Yelich.
tbonenats
Eaton is actually a pretty good Yelich comp. Both good defensive OFs that can play CF but be way above average in a corner slot. Both good hitters, Yelich with more power and Eaton with more speed.
Eaton doesn’t have the ceiling of Yelich but his contract is less expensive….Yelich should cost a little more but not a ton more.
Jon429
I don’t think many people would argue that Yelich for Acuna is crazy at all. It just doesn’t make sense for the Braves right now. If Acuna wasn’t MLB ready and the Braves were ready to contend this year it would make more sense. If the Braves also had deep pockets and could afford big name FAs it would also make sense to trade Acuna.